SSE Threatening Debt recovery Action rather than responding to a Complaint

Jayaneric

I am helping support my neighbour who has been billed by SSE for her use of electricity unfairly because they they have not taken into account payments she has made. Although we have made several attempts to raise our concerns they have failed to respond to any one them, except by sending out a letter threatening debt recovery action. This seems unreasonable and unnecessarily heavy handed, and seems more in line with a culture of intimidation and bullying rather than customer service. Does any body have experience of this, what the SSE policy is in terms of debt recovery, time limits and so forth. I will be taken the complaint  to the Ombudsman if they do not respond within the 8 weeks guidline but I am concerned that they will be pursuing the debt recovery before this period is complete. Is it legitimate, are they allowed to ignore a complaint and take unilateral action that does not take account of or seek to address customer concerns?

Reed_Richards

The Citizens Advice Bureau should be able to help with this type of problem.

Jayaneric

I have approached Citizens advice and they gave me several website addresses to follow up . So far I have not anything specific about legal processes while a complaint is still in process. It does not seem legitimate but I have yet to find anything that acknowledges this in an authoritive way.

JJ_Egan

How much does she owe ?

Robin9

Has SSE acknowledged your complaint ?   (was the complaint in writing rather than by phone)

My understanding that all debt recovery should be frozen once the complaints procedure has kicked in.

Jayaneric

It is the amount we are disputing, her account is in debit by £360, but they are not taking into accounte £200 that has been paid in. It would a reasonable expectation to have payments made into an account to bne taken into account before threatening debt recovery action. I would have thought this was not a legal option but I am struggling to find anything to indicate this.

[Deleted User]

Jayaneric said:

It is the amount we are disputing, her account is in debit by £360, but they are not taking into accounte £200 that has been paid in. It would a reasonable expectation to have payments made into an account to bne taken into account before threatening debt recovery action. I would have thought this was not a legal option but I am struggling to find anything to indicate this.

A debit balance is not a debt. Before recovery action is initiated most suppliers have to notify the consumer that there is a debt, and enter into some form of discussion about a repayment plan. Recovery action will only be taken if the debt has been outstanding for more than 28 days. It is also worth pointing out that a debit balance is only accurate provided that it is based on an actual meter reading and then only for that day. 

What paperwork has SSE provided in support of its claim? Were the £200s worth of payments made before the claim was issued or afterwards? 

Jayaneric

I presume a letter of notice declaring a default on the the electricity bill and an intention to take debt recovery action is indication that SSE is treating the debit balance as a debt. This has come about because my neighbours bill was based on estimated readings, following an accurate reading being provided earlier in the year it was apparent that the bills provide did not cover the amount for electricity actually used. The bill in April did but the amount owed was calculated only on electricity used and did not include the payments that had been made for the previous year, which is recorded on their website. We have asked for a clear statement of account that includes these payments, which my neighbour is happy to pay, but is some £200 less than is being demanded. We have explained this,by phone, by online complaint, by letter, on more than one occasion, but the only response we have received from SSE is the letter notifying my neighbour of a default on her bill.It does not seem justified but no one at SSE is prepared to offer an acceptable lternative explanation or a corrected statement of account.

niktheguru

I'd be careful about your sums first. 
It seems odd that they are going for debt collection proceedings for a new debit balance from april. Have you cancelled your direct debit and refusing to pay them? (usually doesn't go down well)

Have you got all the old bills and details of all the previous payments. Please do check that in actual fact the difference between the new reading and the old estimated one isn't just the debit amount that they are now asking for.
I.e it would be very bizarre that previous payments are not taken into account, it would be more likely that these low payments were taken into account but the actual value of the amount of energy used far exceeds it so now there is a balance to pay.

If you can upload bills here we can help you.
When was the last time before april that an ACTUAL reading was used and not an estimate?

If her account is in debit it would be reasonable to make small payments monthly to show SSE that you are contributing, rather than not paying a thing and waiting for a complaint. This may again help in restricting any debt collection.

Jayaneric

It would be helpful to have someone check , but I don't think I can upload the bill which is pdf or my calculations in excel

Robin9

You would need to print off the pdf - then blank out the personal info, address and MPAN - then scan it