Harassment from Southern Water

cuddlyclementine · 26 September 2015 at 12:50PM

Robo-44 wrote: »

Send emails when possible, its free and you have a log of everything.

Thank you for your helpful responses. Luckily I keep all my emails so I have detailed logs of all the people I've contacted regarding this issue.

patanne · 27 September 2015 at 3:57PM

£160 must be a couple of months water bill, so either you were quite a bit in arrears when you left and they would have told you on the phone if you were OR (as I think is more likely) your landlord told them that you were still responsible for the bill as your tenancy was not over. That way he didn't have to pay for water until the new tenants were in. Put it another way - he lied to save money.

cuddlyclementine · 27 September 2015 at 4:25PM

patanne wrote: »

£160 must be a couple of months water bill, so either you were quite a bit in arrears when you left and they would have told you on the phone if you were OR (as I think is more likely) your landlord told them that you were still responsible for the bill as your tenancy was not over. That way he didn't have to pay for water until the new tenants were in. Put it another way - he lied to save money.

It certainly is for 2-3 months! I never paid that much in one go and I paid monthly so I'm not sure what's going on.

You know, it never occurred to me the landlord might have said I was still there. I signed the bit of paper that said I left the property, and I believe I still have my copy in my pile of UK paperwork, but I was renting through a letting agency so surely they wouldn't allow that? Or am I being naive?

Actually, thinking back to all the problems with the flat and how the letting agents handled it, I think I am being naive. I shall have to dig out the paperwork so I know I have proof I left on x date.

Thanks for the help!!!

DandelionPatrol · 28 September 2015 at 9:35AM

cuddlyclementine wrote: »

Because I was already up to date on my payments. £160 was what I would pay for 3 months of water for my flat. I like that you say "doing the right thing" is paying them when I owe them nothing, and was even told so by southern themselves.

The statement that you are up to date on payments counts for very little. What you need is a final bill.

You need to write and ask for it. And when you receive it, you need to go through it and check it. And then you can dispute the bill on the facts.

I don't think that the above is a particularly unobvious approach and I cannot help thinking that you are bringing most of this down on yourself and your relatives

patanne · 28 September 2015 at 9:41AM

It does make you wonder why they didn't actually send a final bill to the contact address they had though doesn't it. This is one reason why I think the landlord had a hand in it.

cuddlyclementine · 28 September 2015 at 11:05AM

DandelionPatrol wrote: »

The statement that you are up to date on payments counts for very little. What you need is a final bill.

You need to write and ask for it. And when you receive it, you need to go through it and check it. And then you can dispute the bill on the facts.

I don't think that the above is a particularly unobvious approach and I cannot help thinking that you are bringing most of this down on yourself and your relatives

Already written to them, giving them my address in Sweden and asking why they are charging me. Surely they would have sent me a final bill when I did this?

I also called 2-3 times (I forget exactly) and one person simply hung up on me. The other two (?) refused to answer my questions and told me I "needed to pay" and referred me to their website. I asked them to write to me and explain why I needed to pay, gave them my new address, spelling it out for them very carefully seeing as Swedish has 3 extra letters in the alphabet, and they didn't even care and/or sound like they were taking note.

It is an obvious thing to do. But seeing as they won't even respond to me what else am I supposed to do?

patanne wrote: »

It does make you wonder why they didn't actually send a final bill to the contact address they had though doesn't it.

The estate agents told me when they mark the flat as "empty" to all the suppliers and they shuffle all the bills over to the landlord. The estate agents had my forwarding address just in case something went wrong because, as I was told, the company would go to them first and then the estate agents would forward on my details. Again, if Southern really were trying to get a final bill out to me - why didn't they go through the estate agents? It just doesn't seem to make sense. Everything I was told when I left seems to of been a lie.

DandelionPatrol · 28 September 2015 at 11:36AM

cuddlyclementine wrote: »

Already written to them, giving them my address in Sweden and asking why they are charging me. Surely they would have sent me a final bill when I did this?

I also called 2-3 times (I forget exactly) and one person simply hung up on me. The other two (?) refused to answer my questions and told me I "needed to pay" and referred me to their website. I asked them to write to me and explain why I needed to pay, gave them my new address, spelling it out for them very carefully seeing as Swedish has 3 extra letters in the alphabet, and they didn't even care and/or sound like they were taking note.

It is an obvious thing to do. But seeing as they won't even respond to me what else am I supposed to do?

The estate agents told me when they mark the flat as "empty" to all the suppliers and they shuffle all the bills over to the landlord. The estate agents had my forwarding address just in case something went wrong because, as I was told, the company would go to them first and then the estate agents would forward on my details. Again, if Southern really were trying to get a final bill out to me - why didn't they go through the estate agents? It just doesn't seem to make sense. Everything I was told when I left seems to of been a lie.

You need the final bill. Ask for the final bill. Get them to declare their position.

Estate Agent this, Landlord that is all pointless until you see that final bill. The more you mess around with phone calls and handwringing here, the longer it is going to take to get that final bill, to find out whether it is wrong and the harder it will be to make your position prevail.