Anglian water

fusionx212

I have a dispute with anglian water I wanted to get some assistance with.
I logged this via resolver

Anglian water added my self as an account holder
My wife has an account with Anglian water she is the person responsible for the property we rent and the account was in her name.
she asked Anglian water to allow me to assist in getting her water bill issue resolved.


it now appears that off of the back her requesting I deal with this on her behalf with Anglian water
you have added me as an account holder alongside her,


This was never requested or agreed by me.
as such you have added this to my credit report. Which I did not agree to,

You have also stated I opened the accounts with you dating back to 2006 on the credit report which again is not correct, my wife authorised myself to speak to you in regards to the account. at which point we setup a payment plan to clear the balance.


it now states the arrears on the account are in my name which they should not of been placed.


To action this I would like you to Anglian water need to remove all entries of the account from my credit report.


you also need to remove my self as an account holder, but leave me as an authorised contact on the account.


I would also like compensation, due to the impact of the incorrect information placed on my credit file


this was anglian waters reply.
I did not agree or accept any responsibility for the water bill or credit facility to which they have applied.

I do not have a cca nor have I received any information affirming I am taking respospibility.

Liability


I see we added your name to the account on 2 September 2013 when you called and made a payment by debit card, and due to Data Protection we added your name so you would be able to deal with the account.





As you are occupying the property, you are using the service, and therefore jointly and severably liable for the bill. Experian have also confirmed that you are on the voters role at the property.





You are liable under Anglian Water Charges Scheme made by Anglian Water Services Limited under Section 143 of the Water Industry Act 1991 as follows;





PART A: INTERPRETATION


Definition of Occupier


has the meaning ascribed to it by the common law and therefore includes any person in actual occupation of Premises, or any person who


1) uses the Premises





PART B: GENERAL PROVISIONS


3. Liability for Charges


Liability of Occupier


(1) Water and Sewerage Charges are payable by the Occupier of Premises to which we supply water and/or provide Sewerage Services or such other person as may be made liable under the Act or under any other Act of Parliament, as the case may be, unless specified otherwise in this Charges Scheme or agreed separately by us in writing.


(2) The Occupier is liable for charges applied to each and every connected water and sewage service point where a service is received from us.





Credit reporting


The first reporting made against yourself was the default that was registered for £204.67 on 31 August 2014, a Direct Debit was set up in joint names in June 2014 for £40.00, this was cancelled when a payment was returned to the bank. A notice of default letter was sent in joint names on 4 July 2014.





Previous to the Direct Debit being changed into joint names on 2 June 2014 it was in your name only, after an email you sent us in May 2012 asking for the Debit to be set up. This started on 1 July 2012.





The invoice for this default is after the date you were added to the account, therefore you have not been negatively reported for any debt that you were not jointly liable for.


As we have added your name correctly and you have not been reported for any debt for usage before the date of 2 September2013, there is no compensation to consider.



Has anyone else had any dealings with them in regards to the above. I feel they have taken a massive liberty and broken financial law with out providing any relevant credit agreements as such the credit entries should not exist.

fusionx212

Any assistance or knowledge in this area??

Dobbibill

Make a SAR (Subject Access Request) to them. It does cost £10, that is a standard cost.

They will provide any information they hold which should include the letter they refer to.

This is what I found in their privacy statement.......

Your rights

You can request a copy of the information that we hold about you at any time by contacting us at the address below. The provision of this information may be subject to the payment of a fee (currently £10).

Contacting us

AWG welcomes your questions and comments about privacy. Questions related to this privacy policy and access to any personal information you have provided to us should be addressed to:!

Anglian Water Data Protection Officer!
Henderson House!
4 Lancaster Way!
Ermine Business Park!
HuntingdonCambs!
PE29 7DU

GingerBob_3

Some points to bear in mind when dealing with water companies:


1) They credit check you and report your accounts without your consent.


2) There are no T&Cs concerning your relationship with them.


3) They create illegal financial associations.


Write to them asking on what basis they are providing information about you to the CRAs, given that you haven't consented to this.


Specifically ban them from carrying out a credit check against you.


Demand that they withdraw any financial association they may have set up. You might also like to contact the CRAs about this one - ask them how these illegal associations are permitted and justified.


For the future, when dealing with water companies NEVER provide them with any identifiable information about yourself, especially not your DoB or previous address. All they need is your surname - and maybe not even that.


I've noted that some water companies approach the CRAs to obtain data about members of a household, and then between the CRAs and the water company they have a stab at who is responsible for the bill and then assault that person with credit reporting. If you find this outrageous, contemptible, behaviour has affected you or members of your household, then report it to the ICO. They are a load of blundering fools in the pockets of the CRAs, and will probably do nothing, but you never know.

Smodlet

I used to be under the impression that water companies always put accounts in joint names but have just checked with our supplier, no longer AW, and this is not the case at all. They would ask when the a/c is set up whose name/names you want it to be in. I asked, would they then automatically add a name if a customer's partner became involved and they said, no, not unless we were asked to.

Water companies are the last monopoly in the utilities industry and therefore a law unto themselves. It is long past time they were regulated and made to be accountable.

Used to be with AW and found their customer service absolutely, atrociously appalling. Good luck and fight on! HTH.

fusionx212

thanks guys, interesting reading here.

I don't owe any money to them it's more about the principle here and like

you say they seem to believe they are entitled to place what ever they feel on my report.

im going to raise this with ofwat

fusionx212

i rang the ico and experian not much help.

but ofwat were really interested in my complaint so have asked me to register it with them.

[Deleted User]

GingerBob wrote: »

Some points to bear in mind when dealing with water companies:


1) They credit check you and report your accounts without your consent.


2) There are no T&Cs concerning your relationship with them.


3) They create illegal financial associations.


Write to them asking on what basis they are providing information about you to the CRAs, given that you haven't consented to this.


Specifically ban them from carrying out a credit check against you.


Demand that they withdraw any financial association they may have set up. You might also like to contact the CRAs about this one - ask them how these illegal associations are permitted and justified.


For the future, when dealing with water companies NEVER provide them with any identifiable information about yourself, especially not your DoB or previous address. All they need is your surname - and maybe not even that.


I've noted that some water companies approach the CRAs to obtain data about members of a household, and then between the CRAs and the water company they have a stab at who is responsible for the bill and then assault that person with credit reporting. If you find this outrageous, contemptible, behaviour has affected you or members of your household, then report it to the ICO. They are a load of blundering fools in the pockets of the CRAs, and will probably do nothing, but you never know.

Again, you SPOUT some completely wrong information from under your tin foil hat.

My water company has never credit checked me and doesn't report to the CRAs. They haven't created any financial associations either with my partner who is also on the bill.

Now, maybe because you don't pay your own bills you have a grudge on here because those nasty companies *shock horror* would like their money that you owe them.

Of course, you won't be using any form of credit, utilities or otherwise, and never use a bank account because why would you want to have anything to do with those nasty financial institutions and CRA's.

Unless you are a complete hypocrite and take advantage of credit facilities. That would just make you even more pathetic.

GingerBob_3

camelot1971 wrote: »

Again, you SPOUT some completely wrong information from under your tin foil hat.

My water company has never credit checked me and doesn't report to the CRAs. They haven't created any financial associations either with my partner who is also on the bill.

Now, maybe because you don't pay your own bills you have a grudge on here because those nasty companies *shock horror* would like their money that you owe them.

Of course, you won't be using any form of credit, utilities or otherwise, and never use a bank account because why would you want to have anything to do with those nasty financial institutions and CRA's.

Unless you are a complete hypocrite and take advantage of credit facilities. That would just make you even more pathetic.

Clarification; it started with Yorkshire Water, I think the year before last, and more and more water companies are now getting on the CRA bandwagon. My own supplier, Northumbria Water, started last November. If yours doesn't report your account or hit you with credit check, then all the better for you. The key point is that they carry out these actions without your consent, which rather drives a coach and horses through the popular line pedalled by the CRAs, that everything to do with credit reporting is consensual.


Now, desist from your personal attacks, or push off and find another forum within which you can vomit your bile.

fusionx212

the point here is they have applied a credit check without consent and straight off the bat ofwat were interested in that aspect as it is against all general credit regulations other companies have to follow.

just because the water company are the only suppliers near us.

does not give them cart Blanche over my credit report any other company would have to take accountability. the bill is upto date and as such it should reflected on my wifes credit report. who signed for the contract when she moved in 10 years ago. when I did not live with her.

Smodlet

Energy companies never used to do credit checks either, but now they do. It's in their Ts and Cs. It does not surprise me water companies are getting involved as well.