Letter Before Action for final bill

[Deleted User]

Hi,

I've been dealing with the energy supplier from hell. I won my case with the Energy Ombudsman and the supplier were obliged to send me an accurate bill, pay me compensation and close my account (even the supplier admit there's a credit balance in the triple figures). They have not done any of this but they told the Ombudsman that they have, so my case has been closed and no doubt recorded as successfully resolved :mad:

So I need to issue a claim on the small claims track and am doing the LBA. However, is the production of an accurate bill a remedy that the court can enforce? There's no way that the supplier will respond to a threat of court action alone, so I will have to follow through.

For context, Ombudsman action has been going since November and the supply stopped in May so I have been more than patient.

Has anyone been through this process before?
Thank you!

tacpot12

I'm not sure I would ask the court for the remedy of getting an accurate bill. I would ask the court to award you the amount you are owed, explain why you don't know what this is and let the defendant produce their evidence as to what they owe you (which they have to send you prior to any trial).

wavelets

lackofenergy wrote: »

Hi,

I've been dealing with the energy supplier from hell. I won my case with the Energy Ombudsman and the supplier were obliged to send me an accurate bill, pay me compensation and close my account (even the supplier admit there's a credit balance in the triple figures). They have not done any of this but they told the Ombudsman that they have, so my case has been closed and no doubt recorded as successfully resolved :mad:

So I need to issue a claim on the small claims track and am doing the LBA. However, is the production of an accurate bill a remedy that the court can enforce? There's no way that the supplier will respond to a threat of court action alone, so I will have to follow through.

For context, Ombudsman action has been going since November and the supply stopped in May so I have been more than patient.

Has anyone been through this process before?
Thank you!

Contact the ombudsman. They will ensure the supplier complies with the agreed resolution.

It's free. ... and you should have been given full details by the ombudsman when your resolution was agreed.

All a court will do is charge you a hefty fee to tell you you have both previously mutually agreed a resolution, and so throw out any claim you make.

[Deleted User]

wavelets wrote: »

Contact the ombudsman. They will ensure the supplier complies with the agreed resolution.

It's free. ... and you should have been given full details by the ombudsman when your resolution was agreed.

All a court will do is charge you a hefty fee to tell you you have both previously mutually agreed a resolution, and so throw out any claim you make.

I have tried for months and months, believe me. But the company mocked up an invoice showing a resolution and sent it to the ombudsman, which they accepted. I have shown multiple times that they sent different, conflicting invoices to me and that I have not received a penny into my bank account but they do not care. I have shown that the readings are wrong but I am told that they cannot help me any further.

It sounds bizarre but the Ombudsman is just bad, unbelievably bad. This wasn't even a complicated case - the supplier immediately admitted the shortcomings!

If the court will just reject the case I could start again with the ombudsman I suppose. I don't care about the gesture of goodwill, I literally just want a bill and refunded balance.

System

lackofenergy wrote: »

I have tried for months and months, believe me. But the company mocked up an invoice showing a resolution and sent it to the ombudsman, which they accepted. I have shown multiple times that they sent different, conflicting invoices to me and that I have not received a penny into my bank account but they do not care. I have shown that the readings are wrong but I am told that they cannot help me any further.

It sounds bizarre but the Ombudsman is just bad, unbelievably bad. This wasn't even a complicated case - the supplier immediately admitted the shortcomings!

If the court will just reject the case I could start again with the ombudsman I suppose. I don't care about the gesture of goodwill, I literally just want a bill and refunded balance.

Before you go down the legal route, talk to Citizens Advice and ask them to pass the matter on to their Extra Help Unit. The EHU has direct access to top management.

wavelets

lackofenergy wrote: »

...
If the court will just reject the case I could start again with the ombudsman I suppose....

No, because they will not accept it for the same reason the court won't
i..e. you have already agreed a resolution to this complaint in full and final settlement.

Follow the advice I gave you previously.
It's what the ombudsman should have already informed you about.
You didn't seem to have any issue contacting the ombudsman to raised the complaint, and they seemed to respond because you claim " I won my case with the Energy Ombudsman"

If you can contact the ombudsman to attempt to raise a duplicate complaint, you can contact the ombudsman to follow the course of action I previously recommended.

wavelets

lackofenergy wrote: »

I have tried for months and months, believe me. But the company mocked up an invoice showing a resolution and sent it to the ombudsman, which they accepted. I have shown multiple times that they sent different, conflicting invoices to me and that I have not received a penny into my bank account but they do not care.....

I'm sorry, I am trying to believe you ... but it is extremely difficult in the circumstances you describe.
And the ombudsman obviously doesn't believe you either.:cool:

Either that, or that the invoices you have been sent are incorrect, but the one supplied to the ombudsman is the correct version. You presumably have a copy of that, and that presumably shows you are not entitled to a penny.;)

[Deleted User]

wavelets wrote: »

I'm sorry, I am trying to believe you ... but it is extremely difficult in the circumstances you describe.
And the ombudsman obviously doesn't believe you either.:cool:

Either that, or that the invoices you have been sent are incorrect, but the one supplied to the ombudsman is the correct version. You presumably have a copy of that, and that presumably shows you are not entitled to a penny.;)

I won't take your lack of belief personally, because the whole situation is unbelievable!

Steps with the ombudsman have been as follows:
- I complain to OS. They find in my favour and supplier admit they have billing problems and service shortfalls. Agreed resolution is £gwg and manual bills.
- Energy company mocks up an invoice showing £gwg credit and sends to OS (not me!). Meanwhile, posts completely conflicting invoices to my account, showing different readings and no £gwg.
- OS sees invoice, is happy, closes case.
- I sent OS a spreadsheet showing all of the overlapping, conflicting invoices in detail (including the invoice they did for OS, which OS forwarded to me). I attached a further spreadsheet showing all payments between me and energy supplier extracted from my bank account, showing that I have not received anything from energy supplier. I attach evidence from my new supplier showing that the closing readings are incorrect.
- Ombudsman tells me (direct quote): "[Supplier] confirmed the actions it has taken to resolve your complaint and we have now closed your case as remedied." They attach the conflicting invoice as proof.
- The final bill has the incorrect readings, but there is no doubt that I am due a credit refund (it's a matter of quantity only). I have received nothing. My £gwg is a line on a piece of paper alone. Ombudsman refuses to assist.

So months later, the bills are even more confused. The £gwg is sub-£100 and a nice to have, but I don't really care - I just want to close the :mad: account properly and have the credit refunded.

If MSE are still doing their investigation into Ombudsman failings I am more than happy to be contacted behind the scenes in order to be used as a case study. For obvious reasons I can't post the invoices and my bank statements here, but I am happy to help MSE Towers with their work if I can.

I haven't named the supplier here and have hidden the exact details as I am trying to take the high road, but there are multiple threads on this forum alone on their failings.

System

OP - I agree that The EO process leaves much to be desired: in fact, one might argue that it falls well short of what consumers should expect. In your posts, you have identified a key weakness: The EO never asks the complainant to confirm that its Decision has actually been complied with in full. My other ‘whinge’ is that The EO bases its Decision on the information that it receives from the supplier which the complainant doesn’t get to see. I would have thought that the rules on Disclosure should apply.

I have an ongoing complaint at the moment. I may well have to escalate it as the supplier is just not responding. I have tried e-mails and Resolver but apart from one standard e-mail receipt, I have heard nothing. Before I decide to go to The EO, I will submit a Subject Access Request so I have some idea of what they might be basing their submission on. If this request for information fails, then this might well result in a complaint to The Information Commissioner. Like you, I have better things to do with my time.

[Deleted User]

Hengus wrote: »

I have an ongoing complaint at the moment. I may well have to escalate it as the supplier is just not responding. I have tried e-mails and Resolver but apart from one standard e-mail receipt, I have heard nothing. Before I decide to go to The EO, I will submit a Subject Access Request so I have some idea of what they might be basing their submission on. If this request for information fails, then this might well result in a complaint to The Information Commissioner. Like you, I have better things to do with my time.

Oh, I have the skeleton of a complaint to the ICO because they (the EO) have breached my data rights in three different ways. I have the evidence. However, I do not expect the ICO to be any different to the EO so I will save my time.

[Deleted User]

Hengus wrote: »

I will submit a Subject Access Request so I have some idea of what they might be basing their submission on.

Oh yes - I did try this - it revealed nothing :rotfl: