First Utility chasing me - never been a First Utility customer

Cheezykins

In 2013 I moved into a flat, the supplier for both gas and electricity was British Gas.

I did a few comparison sites but decided to stick with British Gas.

A few months into the tenancy I got an email from first utility welcoming me on board. I tried phoning them, eventually got through and told them I had not signed up, they said "oh, ok, well mark that cancelled then".

I carried on paying British Gas and when I moved out of there a year later in 2014 I paid them my final bills and had to show proof of that to my letting agency to get my deposit back, which was all done fine, on my credit report the only accounts ever shown were for British Gas and are marked as settled.

Then the emails from First Utility started.

"You owe us outstanding bills" "you have overdue payments" etc.

I repeatedly phoned them each time, and told them I was not a customer, and they said they would look into it, then a few months would go past and the emails would start again.

Now it's gone through to a company called MIL Collections, who have my email address and apparently nothing else, in fact I have no idea what details they have for me, because when I tried to call them I couldn't get past the security questions as whatever info they do have is wrong.

They are trying to claim I owe £740 on a first utility account going up to 2015, well after I moved out of the property in 2014.

I have replied to their emails saying everything that has happened, and explicitly disavowing the debt, but that has been met with no response. I would try writing to them but frankly I'm sick of having to deal with it, and as they don't appear to have any information beyond my email address I wouldn't want to give them the extra info to track me down.

What are my rights here? As far as I can see they would have to prove I owe the money and in theory there's no way they could prove that.

cono1717

Do you have all the proof that you paid to British Gas and got a confirmation of the change of supply? If so I would first get in touch with the collections company to inform them as such and that you would pursue any further harassment (there are templates on the forum I think).

I'd also do the same to First Utility, send them a letter by recorded delivery advising them of the proof (including copies if you wish) and that you want the matter settled and logging as a formal complaint, keep any letters from that and after 8 weeks if nothing has changed report them to the Ombudsman Services https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/energy/complain-now

DoaM

Dear MIL,
As you appear to be ignoring any communication explaining that the debt is denied in its entirety, I refer you to Arkell vs Pressdram. Accordingly I suggest you return this to your client.

Ectophile

You don't need to explain yourself to a debt collection agency. Simply tell them that you do not owe the money, and they must refer the matter back to First Utility.

Then make the formal complaint directly to First Utility.

dogshome

If you are absolutely sure BG were the encumant supplier to the dwelling when you moved in, and you didn't just choose them without checking who the who the supplier was, then it's likely you became enmeshed in an "Erroneous Transfer"

These happen when someone else initiates a transfer and the data somehow gets scambled as is it goes through the system, with the result that entirely wrong account is taken over.

WRITE to FU, heading the letter Complaint, setting out the history of your occupancy and billing from BG, and pointing out that their, and their Debt Collection Agents continued demands, amount to harressment which is actionable in law.
( Oddly, if in fact if turns out that FU were your authorised supplier and not BG, though you would have to pay FU, BG would have to repay you all the money you had paid to them )

bertiewhite

Cheezykins wrote: »

when I tried to call them I couldn't get past the security questions as whatever info they do have is wrong.

I had a similar experience with Npower back in 2006 when I was receiving bills for someone with a similar name at a similar address which didn't appear to exist.

I repeatedly phoned them but could not get past the security bit - if I gave them my name & details they said I wasn't a customer and if I tried the name on the letter they said the details I gave were incorrect.

In the end I told them to take me to court because I'd love to see who would turn up!! It soon got sorted after that.

Heliflyguy

dogshome wrote: »

then it's likely you became enmeshed in an "Erroneous Transfer"[/I]

Bet that the letting agent signed the OP up, seeing as they wouldn't release the deposit without looking at the final utility bills says a lot about them.

cono1717

Heliflyguy wrote: »

Bet that the letting agent signed the OP up, seeing as they wouldn't release the deposit without looking at the final utility bills says a lot about them.

This happened with me when I moved into my first place, Reeds Reins signed me up with Spark the problem is they did so about 6 weeks after we moved in, after we had already set up our own provider...

dogshome

First Utility customers have their problems, ( The Cos. initials seem apt),but I've not seen any evidence so far that they do a 'Spark' by bribing Letting Agents to get their customers