united utilities

supermezzo

Arrrgh!!!!!!!!!
I am at my wits end with them, I really am!
Long story but here goes:-

Moved into flat Nov 2005, tenancy agreement states no water meter, so rings UU and puts bills into my name from date of occupancy and awaits six month bill.
Bill arrives of an estimate on a water meter! Goes into cupboard where there are meters for every other flat but none for ours. Calls them about this, they say 'oh, built in last 10 years must have one somewhere, we'll send an engineer out to trace it'.
BUT, they can't give you a time or date for the enginner to call and as it's a secured entry building, I can't guarantee to be in when he calls.
Sure enough, I miss him and find a card in the letter box outside. Can I call this 0870 number to re-arrange? ( If I could've arranged it in the first place...............):rolleyes:
Meanwhile I gets a solicitor letter demanding payment of original estimate for non-existent water meter but account is placed on hold.

So runs up the 'phone bill and re-arranges and the engineer comes out and says 'there's no meter here' and goes away again. I gets a letter saying 'we need to install one' and I say I have to ok this with the landlord first.

Another letter from solicitors and account is on hold again.

Then another engineer appears and looks for the meter and finds the wires but nothing else! Another letter and another phone call later and it turns out that they've been estimating the flat for over 10 years as they've never found the meter!

Then another engineer and another letter demanding payment and I lodge a formal complaint with U.U. Am told at this point that the enginner notes state that the wires are in the flat itself, not the cupboard. Astounding, I say, as they've never been into the flat as the wires lead away from the flat and was told by first engineer theres no way it would be in there!
I am told that the account is closed as I inform them that we are leaving the property and they say that the account is wiped as compensation for all the hassle and as they cannot actually produce a bill anyway for me to pay.

All well and dandy then, then about 3 months ago I got a text message (?) from them saying 'you need to get in touch with us re your debt' and of course, it's a debt collection agency. Other occupant who I share with spoke to them and they said to her that 'sorry - account has been wiped, our mistake. We'll sort it and call you back'. They never did call of course, but we heard no more until last week when another debt collection letter fell threw the front door demanding £477 for the 12 months that we were at the flat! Oh except of course, they had the wrong dates down so were under the impression that we still lived there (in 2 houses? I don't think so). And if they though that we still lived there, why send the bill to our new address?????
Quite where the £477 comes from is beyond me as there is no meter to read and despite me repeatedly asking for a bill, they didn't provide me with one. And I suppose I could've played nicely and set up a DD with the bank for some money every month til it got sorted but I was so cross by then I was determined not to give them a penny til they'd sorted it out!

So last week, I rings UU yet again and yet again, they tell me its for a meter bill which they've had to estimate but that she'd deal with it and ring me back! Of course, she didn't so I contacted CCWAT and they gave me the complaints dept direct dial. I rang them at explanied it all yet again and she assured me that she was getting in touch with the debt collection agency and asking for the account to be returned to her and then, guess what? She'd ring me back with her proposed payment plan (Now reduced to £200 incidentally) but only if I pay it all in one go. Of course, she doesn't ring back either and so I contacted the debt peeps direct (you guessed that right too - 0870!) and they say that she has rung them but not confirmed the action by e-mail so the deadline (tomorrow) still stands and that the account won't be returned to her unless she does that. So i explains it all again and the debt peeps agree to another 21 days on hold and I ring the complants dept again and get someone else again because she's on the other line and she doesn't know what to do about it 'cos it's not her notes etcetcetc...BUT, the original lady will call me back tomorrow. However, reading her notes back to me, turns out that she has me as agreeing to payment plan of £200 over 4 months. Ve-ery interesting that one........

I am now so incensed that i am tempted to either demand a further reduction (bear in mind that shes working on a average figure of 2 peeps on a flat for less that 12 months (working away a lot etc) and has opted for the lesser end of that figure so has only really givena discount of about £60 for all this hassle, OR, pay the lot then sue 'em for phone bills, time off work for engineers and the quite genuine distress (and tears last week) of a bill for £477 being handed to a debt agency (wescot).

I was fuming when I started writing this and now that I have and rread it, I'm actually crying again. It's just all so ridiculous.

Cardew

I can understand you wanting to get this of your chest.

From what I can see from you have done everything on the phone and haven't written to anyone on this matter; and will have little proof of the sequence of events.

I would just outline everything you have written above and send it to ofwat(in a 'proper' letter) with a copy to UU also an email copy to UU as it will get there quicker.

Just don't deal with matters like this on the phone.

supermezzo

Blow me down, they actually rang me back today! Apparently the original email was sent and has been re-sent today to make sure - we'll see.
Meantime, I have demanded a letter with the fact that the account has been recalled from Wescot, the times that they are charging us from and how they arrived at the £200 they have suggested as payment. I also requested a copy of all the notes on the system, but she is sure that they have to charge for this!!

The final irony.......When I asked which address she would be sending this letter to, she quoted me the old address as the system still shows us as living at the old one.

I give in........

supermezzo

Oh and the saga and incompetence continues!
I rang them today asking where the letter was detailing the payment plan as outlines in their letter to me dated 3/9/07.
Guess what? Having recalled it from the original debt company so that we can finally pay it off, they didn't set up a payment plan on their system so it's now been referred to another debt agency! I'm guessing the postal system hasn't caught up yet as it was sent to them on the 5/10 - So I can expect yet another letter demanding money from yet another debt agency.
Does anyone know if this affects your credit rating as when I applied for a loan a few weeks ago (pre-05/10) I was quoted one interest rate but the car I wanted fell through. When I re-applied, I was told that my rating had gone down and have had to pay a slightly higher rate of interest, and I'm wondering if this might be the cause?

aleksrothis

By CCWAT do you mean Consumer Council for Water? If you've already been through them with no joy you really should get in touch with OFWAT and make a formal complaint. Or else, next time you speak to them insist on speaking to the Chief Executive... If they're anything like the water company I work for they'll at least have to put you through to his/her PA.

supermezzo

I simply don't believe how just plain stupid they can be! I specifically told her that we would be away from Fri lunchtime onwards until Tues.
So, I find out yesterday evening when we got back that she called at 3 pm on Fri and left a message saying that the account has been recalled from the debt peeps after all (we'll see) and that as she's on annual leave next week, she'll get someone else to call me on Monday to discuss it.
Except of course, I'd told her that we weren't here on Mon and in the event, they didn't bother to ring anyway.

supermezzo

And I'm still waiting, of course............
I think it's time to speak to OFWAT now.

Badger_Lady

Do make sure you check your credit record for defaults - if they have applied one, you will need to ensure they correct it.

To check, sign up with www.creditexpert.com for a 1 month free trial - in fact, go via www.quidco.com and get £6 cashback.

This will list all the creditors and their histories with you - you're looking for green blobs with 0, 1 or 2 in them! If there is a red blob with an 8 in it, you've been defaulted and this can have a very negative effect on your credit rating.

It's sad that you should have to do this in writing - in this day and age, large companies should have a comprehensive CRM system that logs all calls and notes so that any adviser can easily check your sequence of events. But you simply can't trust them (as your experience clearly shows!) so you have to start using post, sadly.

supermezzo

Guess what dropped through my letterbox this morning? That's right - a bill sayng that the payments were overdue on the account and that the amount due immediately is £150 or the solicitor will be involved again. !!!!!!....
I have now called OFWAT and CCWAT and copied all coorespondence to them - have also informed UU of this fact and that they can either cancel this debt entirely or I will be suing them now for the hassle, phone clals , time wasted, damage to my credit rating and genuine distress for 2 years of problems with them.

Cardew

supermezzo wrote: »

Guess what dropped through my letterbox this morning? That's right - a bill sayng that the payments were overdue on the account and that the amount due immediately is £150 or the solicitor will be involved again. !!!!!!....
I have now called OFWAT and CCWAT and copied all coorespondence to them - have also informed UU of this fact and that they can either cancel this debt entirely or I will be suing them now for the hassle, phone clals , time wasted, damage to my credit rating and genuine distress for 2 years of problems with them.

As you appear to have done everything by phone(according to your posts) how do you intend to prove your version of events in court when you sue them?

supermezzo

The later calls have been backed up in writing by UU - Sorry, didn't make that clear.