Me vs. Past Due Credit Solutions vs. nPower

OCrossland

Hello MSE,

New member here who has been reading lots of posts regarding Pastdue Credit Solutions but all have been around 3-4 years old, so I'm desperate for some up to date information.

Everything was going great until today. Me and my partner are 2 weeks away from moving into our first ever house and finally climbed the property ladder after years of hard working and saving. Today, we received a scary letter from PDCS.

2 years in September, my partner owned a Milkshake bar in our town. We was only open 3 months as she was offered a dream job she couldn't turned down and agreed to close the business. We was with nPower for our electrically who gave us a bill for around £400 for 3 MONTHS ELECTRIC. As soon as we got this bill, we rang and queried the bill and eventually after giving meter readings, etc, nPower admitted their mistake, in writing, and gave us a bill for £191, which we paid, closed the account with £0 balance and happy. As we didn't give a meter reading when we first moved in, they said they was going to get in contact with the previous business in the property. (nPower we're absolutely terrible with us and bullies on the phone to my partner but we got their in the end.) Unfortunately as we are moving, we cannot find these old letters anywhere and fear we may have lost them.

Today, the whole situation came back. We was walking in town when the guy who now occupies the building (and somehow knew us!) and gave us a letter. We had no idea what it could of been but turns out it's a letter from PSDS demanding £495 by the 15th October. (Crazy, as we wouldn't of even got this letter if we wasn't walking past the shop at that exact time!). No other contact had been made by this company.

Stupidly, we rang nPower and asked about this who said that we never closed the account with £0 balance and that we owe the money but it is now done to Pastdue. She asked us to find letter to prove we don't owe the money... but we haven't got any letters TO PROVE we owe the money. We paid our final bill and closed the account. She agreed the account had been closed but again, she was a bully and was reading from a screen and wasn't listening to a thing we said.

We have tried calling Pastdue Credit Solutation twice, 1 15 minute phone call and the other 31 minutes. We gave us and now we're a little scared and want advice.

Do I need to find proof that we don't owe the money? I can't get in touch with Pastdue over phone but I don't want to write to them as I don't want to give them my address (and if we write to them, they'll just write back to the old address of the business which we don't want!).

Please help us.
We don't owe this money.

sourcrates

Hi,

Some bloke hands you a letter in the street, was it addressed to you ???

Or just the occupier ???

You don't have to prove a thing, that's there job, not yours.

Stay off the phone to these people, only deal with them in writing, if the letter was addressed to you, then send them the provit letter.

If it wasn't, then it's not your problem.

National_Debtline

Hi Ocrossland and welcome to MSE.


You can start by sending the provit letter to give yourself more time to deal with this, but from what you have described you would expect a letter back saying it is money owed from the original electric bill for the 3 months the business was open (before you had the bill adjusted). To dispute the money isn't owed, you will need some evidence, otherwise you will just end up in a battle of 'he said, she said'. I would suggest you keep this in writing, or at the very least, email.


May I suggest checking old bank statements as a start, this will give you an idea of the dates it was resolved and then you can go back to NPower and make a Subject Access Request for the phone transcripts and a copy of letters sent/received around this time to help prove what was discussed. Hopefully, you can get the evidence together you need to dispute this. Remember, it can be escalated to the Energy Ombudsman if necessary. Good luck,


Laura
@natdebtline

OCrossland

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,

Some bloke hands you a letter in the street, was it addressed to you ???

Or just the occupier ???

You don't have to prove a thing, that's there job, not yours.

Stay off the phone to these people, only deal with them in writing, if the letter was addressed to you, then send them the provit letter.

If it wasn't, then it's not your problem.

The guy in the street is the person that currently occupies the building where my partners business used to be. It was address to her but at the wrong address. The business was at number 14 but the letter actually states 18.

I was going to send a letter asking them to prove it but there is a chance I won't receive the letter they reply with as it'll be send to the same address as it's sent to now and I don't fancy giving these guys my home address.

Think what could of happened if this guy hadn't seen me and gave me letter? They would be thinking I'm ignoring them or playing dumb.

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hi Ocrossland and welcome to MSE.


You can start by sending the provit letter to give yourself more time to deal with this, but from what you have described you would expect a letter back saying it is money owed from the original electric bill for the 3 months the business was open (before you had the bill adjusted). To dispute the money isn't owed, you will need some evidence, otherwise you will just end up in a battle of 'he said, she said'. I would suggest you keep this in writing, or at the very least, email.


May I suggest checking old bank statements as a start, this will give you an idea of the dates it was resolved and then you can go back to NPower and make a Subject Access Request[/FONT] for the phone transcripts and a copy of letters sent/received around this time to help prove what was discussed. Hopefully, you can get the evidence together you need to dispute this. Remember, it can be escalated to the Energy Ombudsman if necessary. Good luck,


Laura
@natdebtline

Thanks for your reply. We're struggling for bank statements as the bank account is now closed and this was all 2 years ago. I cannot log on to internet banking on the account anymore and have no idea on the old account number to ask the bank for statements.

As said, we rang nPower and they just asked us to find letters from 2 years ago to prove we don't owe the money. Shall I just call and ask for subject access request? I can remember the conversations and even recall the letter from the department manager apologising for the mistake, the way they spoke to us and confirming the account was closed with £0.00 balance.

Safe to say, I hate nPower.

sourcrates

I would take past due out of the equation and deal directly with N-power.

Keep the dispute in writing, as advised.

ND' s advice above is good, remember all of the utility/communications/and financial buisness sector have there own ombudsman to settle disputes of this nature, if you don't get anywhere with N power.

nPower

OCrossland wrote: »

Hello MSE,

New member here who has been reading lots of posts regarding Pastdue Credit Solutions but all have been around 3-4 years old, so I'm desperate for some up to date information.

Everything was going great until today. Me and my partner are 2 weeks away from moving into our first ever house and finally climbed the property ladder after years of hard working and saving. Today, we received a scary letter from PDCS.

2 years in September, my partner owned a Milkshake bar in our town. We was only open 3 months as she was offered a dream job she couldn't turned down and agreed to close the business. We was with nPower for our electrically who gave us a bill for around £400 for 3 MONTHS ELECTRIC. As soon as we got this bill, we rang and queried the bill and eventually after giving meter readings, etc, nPower admitted their mistake, in writing, and gave us a bill for £191, which we paid, closed the account with £0 balance and happy. As we didn't give a meter reading when we first moved in, they said they was going to get in contact with the previous business in the property. (nPower we're absolutely terrible with us and bullies on the phone to my partner but we got their in the end.) Unfortunately as we are moving, we cannot find these old letters anywhere and fear we may have lost them.

Today, the whole situation came back. We was walking in town when the guy who now occupies the building (and somehow knew us!) and gave us a letter. We had no idea what it could of been but turns out it's a letter from PSDS demanding £495 by the 15th October. (Crazy, as we wouldn't of even got this letter if we wasn't walking past the shop at that exact time!). No other contact had been made by this company.

Stupidly, we rang nPower and asked about this who said that we never closed the account with £0 balance and that we owe the money but it is now done to Pastdue. She asked us to find letter to prove we don't owe the money... but we haven't got any letters TO PROVE we owe the money. We paid our final bill and closed the account. She agreed the account had been closed but again, she was a bully and was reading from a screen and wasn't listening to a thing we said.

We have tried calling Pastdue Credit Solutation twice, 1 15 minute phone call and the other 31 minutes. We gave us and now we're a little scared and want advice.

Do I need to find proof that we don't owe the money? I can't get in touch with Pastdue over phone but I don't want to write to them as I don't want to give them my address (and if we write to them, they'll just write back to the old address of the business which we don't want!).

Please help us.
We don't owe this money.



Hi OCrossland

Thank you for posting, I'm sorry to hear you are experiencing problems with your final bill amount. I will be happy to take a look at this if you would like to send me an email (using the address from my profile) with your account details.

Thanks

Vicky

OCrossland

nPower_company_representative wrote: »

OCrossland wrote: »

Hello MSE,

New member here who has been reading lots of posts regarding Pastdue Credit Solutions but all have been around 3-4 years old, so I'm desperate for some up to date information.

Everything was going great until today. Me and my partner are 2 weeks away from moving into our first ever house and finally climbed the property ladder after years of hard working and saving. Today, we received a scary letter from PDCS.

2 years in September, my partner owned a Milkshake bar in our town. We was only open 3 months as she was offered a dream job she couldn't turned down and agreed to close the business. We was with nPower for our electrically who gave us a bill for around £400 for 3 MONTHS ELECTRIC. As soon as we got this bill, we rang and queried the bill and eventually after giving meter readings, etc, nPower admitted their mistake, in writing, and gave us a bill for £191, which we paid, closed the account with £0 balance and happy. As we didn't give a meter reading when we first moved in, they said they was going to get in contact with the previous business in the property. (nPower we're absolutely terrible with us and bullies on the phone to my partner but we got their in the end.) Unfortunately as we are moving, we cannot find these old letters anywhere and fear we may have lost them.

Today, the whole situation came back. We was walking in town when the guy who now occupies the building (and somehow knew us!) and gave us a letter. We had no idea what it could of been but turns out it's a letter from PSDS demanding £495 by the 15th October. (Crazy, as we wouldn't of even got this letter if we wasn't walking past the shop at that exact time!). No other contact had been made by this company.

Stupidly, we rang nPower and asked about this who said that we never closed the account with £0 balance and that we owe the money but it is now done to Pastdue. She asked us to find letter to prove we don't owe the money... but we haven't got any letters TO PROVE we owe the money. We paid our final bill and closed the account. She agreed the account had been closed but again, she was a bully and was reading from a screen and wasn't listening to a thing we said.

We have tried calling Pastdue Credit Solutation twice, 1 15 minute phone call and the other 31 minutes. We gave us and now we're a little scared and want advice.

Do I need to find proof that we don't owe the money? I can't get in touch with Pastdue over phone but I don't want to write to them as I don't want to give them my address (and if we write to them, they'll just write back to the old address of the business which we don't want!).

Please help us.
We don't owe this money.



Hi OCrossland

Thank you for posting, I'm sorry to hear you are experiencing problems with your final bill amount. I will be happy to take a look at this if you would like to send me an email (using the address from my profile) with your account details.

Thanks

Vicky

Will send over an email now, thanks.

JazzaG

Hi Vicky,
I am experiencing problems with this company with regard to an outstanding bill with Npower.
I did not pay the original bill as I disputed the amount. I was told by Npower that there was nothing they could do as I had now moved out of the property. I then received separate bills for the gas and electric. I was in temporary accommodation at the time, September 2016, and moved again shortly after. Suffice to say I then forgot about these outstanding bills. In June this year I received a letter from a different debt collection company for the outstanding gas bill. I paid it immediately as it was for the correct amount. I expected a similar letter regarding the electric bill to arrive immenently, but received nothing until 21 September, when I received a letter from PDCS dated 18 September. It stated they were acting on behalf of Npower, but the amount was £57 more than the original debt. I called them to clarify, and they said that Npower had applied late payment charges. They also said that they had also written to me on the 8 September, I told him I had not received that letter. I called Npower, who stated that they do not apply charges like this, and the amount that had been sent to PDCS was for the original amount. I today called PDCS, who have again told me that it was definitely Npower who had added the charges. He said they could not add their own charges as they did not own the debt, but were just collecting for Npower. They also advised me that if it was only the extra £57 that I was disputing, they would check With Npower to see if it was possible to get me a settlement figure, which he then went away to do. He then came back with a figure £1 higher than the original debt, with the hope that I would pay the amount as it was so close to the original. I was quite suspicious by this time that I was being spun a load of tosh, so I told him that I would ring Npower anyway, because if the late payment charges had been added in error, then perhaps when they were removed, my settlement figure would be even lower. (I nearly told him he had been too clever for his own good, but saved my smugness for when I told my husband about it later).
On reading forum entries about the company, it seems that the first letter is usually for the correct amount, with charges added on to the amount in the second letter for not paying in the time started in the first letter. So they lied to me. Do I bother calling Npower again, or am I just wasting my time after being misled by this company once again.
PS.I offered to pay the original amount of the debt the first time I called PDCS, but was told that I Would still be taken til court for the outstanding balance, and this could mean bailiffs calling round, and my credit rating would be affected etc. I am not really daunted by the threats of this company, just really angry that they can lie so glibly.
Next time they call, write, text or email, I will tell them that I am a disabled lady, who has my grandson living with me, and that I am also on income support. There are laws about harassing vulnerable members of society of which I am a member of three of these vulnerable groups. I will invite them to return my account back to Npower, as I now have no intention of repaying this debt as long as this disreputable company has charge of it.

Molly01

Dear All


Newbie here to forum..........


It would appear that NPOWER are the worst company to try to communicate with, if you are facing financial difficulties, as they do not believe that you 'can't pay a bill', if you are 'between jobs' and claiming the 'you know what', as opposed to actually 'don't want to pay', which are two distinctly different things.


After many emails back and forth to NPOWER, plus a letter in the post, it would appear that NPower, as a company DO NOT help if you have financial problems........ and sadly their staff need to be trained in communication skills as well. (Very poor service from NPOWER.)


Today, I received a telephone call from that awful company PDCS, claiming the call was for 'a personal matter', and that they needed to talk to the account holder.


As I refused to hand the phone to the account holder, who is under enormous stress as it is, just trying to find a new job, the pressure applied by PDCS is immense.


Their number has now been 'blocked'........ please do not under any circumstances contact PDCS directly, or speak to them on the phone......they will get hold of your details and harass you in any way they can, just to get a payment. Sometimes for bills which have already been paid.


Only contact the supplier directly and the supplier themselves have to call off PDCS. If PDCS do not back off from contacting you, their communication can be classed as 'harassment'. (Scottish law can be slightly different to English law - please remember that.) So if you have made payment and the supplier have not updated PDCS, then you can claim for 'harassment'.


Please also remember if you have an old debt, the details stay on your credit record for 6 years. So even if the debt has been paid, and PDCS manages to get hold of your details, then if they try to claim money from you for a cleared debt, again, that is classed as harassment. Something to remember for the future.


Only deal with the supplier directly...........


Please note that if you have made a payment in-between receiving a bill and being chased by PDCS, they have no legal grounds to harass you for full payment. As this payment can be classed as 'attempting to make payment'.


If you are 'between jobs' neither company understands the financial hardships that can happen with this ridiculous new government system and neither of them understands that any phone calls chasing payments can be deemed as 'harassment', causing 'undue stress' leading to 'distress'.


If you are attempting to make a payment, then by law, they have to accept that.


Please just block the number on your phone, if you can, PDCS are a vicious company.