wasn't sent a bill, now have debt collectors after me!

gherkinfiend

I'm new to this site so forgive me if I'm in the wrong place...

Today I got a letter from a debt collection agency for a debt of £75.65 owed and outstanding to Powergen...only problem is that I never received a bill for this amount or a red letter reminder...so have never had the chance to pay them.

I actually left Powergen over a year ago and therefore can't remember all the details of my saga with them, but I was told after they did a credit transfer from my gas account to electric that my final bill was 12 pence which they would waive...my transfer to eDF went through and I never heard a peep again...until today!

They are now saying that they can't take the debt out of the hands of the agency which only gives me 11 days to pay the money or risk bailliffs and what not...

Is that true and does having had a debt agency come knocking have an impact on my credit rating? And is there anything I can do about the whole thing?

Any advice would be gratefully received...

PS: I'm on benefits so not exactly flush and coming up with £75 isn't going to be easy!

geordie_joe

Did you swith supplier or move home?

I understood that you could not switch suppier until you had paid all you owe to your present supplier.

If you just switched suplier why did powergen allow it when you still owed them money?

alwaysonthego_2

contact energywatch and ask them to get powergen to put the account hold due to a dispute. Can you not get powergen to send you paperwork/proof you owe this money and check the readings with your present supplier.

gherkinfiend

I was duel fuel with british gas when I first moved to my flat...then I was lured by cheaper prices with Powergen and switched to them which was a total disaster so I moved to EDF (who have been great!)

But that is a very good point about why they let me transfer if I owed money? I'm reminded that EDF sent me a bill with an unexpected extra £75 about 6 months ago...which seems co-incidental...so i'll check all that and get in touch with EnergyWatch too!

Glad

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

JohalaReewi

gherkinfiend wrote: »

I'm new to this site so forgive me if I'm in the wrong place...

Today I got a letter from a debt collection agency for a debt of £75.65 owed and outstanding to Powergen...only problem is that I never received a bill for this amount or a red letter reminder...so have never had the chance to pay them.

I actually left Powergen over a year ago and therefore can't remember all the details of my saga with them, but I was told after they did a credit transfer from my gas account to electric that my final bill was 12 pence which they would waive...my transfer to eDF went through and I never heard a peep again...until today!

They are now saying that they can't take the debt out of the hands of the agency which only gives me 11 days to pay the money or risk bailliffs and what not...

Is that true and does having had a debt agency come knocking have an impact on my credit rating? And is there anything I can do about the whole thing?

Any advice would be gratefully received...

PS: I'm on benefits so not exactly flush and coming up with £75 isn't going to be easy!

Write to the debt collection agency requesting proof of debt. They can't just say you owe us £xxx (although many do), they have to be able to back it up with evidence. Don't phone the debt collection agency (usually an 0870 or 0871 revenue generating number), always write. Also copy Powergen. Pop down to the Citizen's Advice Bureau for legal advice. Contact Energywatch.

Xbigman

Your first step is to write to whoever currently has the debt and to the original creditor and dispute the bill. If you do that the debt should be passed back to the original creditor. IE Powergen. You can then deal with them regarding their offsetting one bill against another. Send all letters recorded delivery and keep copies. If the current agency keep trying to contact you just keep repeating that the bill is disputed.

Don't ask for the debt to be proved, its unlikely their is a signed contract in the energy supply service and Powergen will have past bills that you paid as proof that their was a relationship between you.

In future my advice to anyone is to keep all bills, especially final ones, for 7 years at least. You never know when these errors will reappear to trip you up.
Regards


X

maypole

What is the name of the debt collector? I have recently received one too, but I do not owe the money. It was on behalf of powergen too, but I am not even with them! Don't phone them. Write to them and if they ring you, tell them you want them to put whatever they have to say in writing.

Terrylw1

Hi,

The old supplier has a period to object to your transfer, if they miss this window it's tough and they have to live with it. That rules been in place for a long time...