SSE and Debt Collection Agency

Becles

My son was in rented accommodation for the academic year 19/20 and on quarterly electricity bills with SSE.

They were over estimating his bills. The bill for April 20 was an accurate meter reading and due to previous overpayments, he only owed 33p! He didn't pay that as he was in the process of finding somewhere else to live.

He left the property on the 30th June 20 and gave them the final meter reading. He rang back mid-July to ask how much he still owed. They gave him a figure and he paid over the phone. He was told his account was now closed, so he didn't bother logging in to his account again.

Unbeknown to him, an e-bill was issued in August 20 with estimated readings and standing charges ongoing.
Another e-bill was issued in November 20, with estimated readings and standing charges.
The e-bill in Feb 21 included a further estimated reading, standing charges and a collections visit.
An e-bill was issued in March 21, still including estimated readings, standing charges and more charges for warrants, collections visit and a locksmith.
We assume at this point, either the new tenant or landlord told them he didn't live there anymore.

In April 2021, a paper bill was sent to him at my address. This has several corrections wiping out all of the e-bills from August onwards. However it doesn't make sense as they start with a large opening balance instead of 33p and the payment he made in July is missing. He rang up and explained this to them. He was told yes the bill has errors and they could see he had settled the account. He was told to ignore the bill and they would mark the account as settled. 

In August 21, he had a letter from a debt collection agency claiming he still owed them money for the bill he was told ignore. He has told them he disputes he owes SSE any money. He wrote to SSE and asked them to explain why they think he owes them money but they did not respond.

In October, the debt collection agency added more charges on for non-payment. He told them he still doesn't believe he owes SSE any money but if they can explain why he owes them money, he will happily pay it. By my calculations, if you add up the 33p outstanding bill, the actual usage from April 20 to June 20, actual standing charge and VAT, he overpaid them in July 20 and SSE owe him £4.76!

At the moment, he's had no response from SSE at all. The debt collection agency that SSE have told them that they are correct and he does owe money. The debt collection agency are now hounding him with constant letters and emails demanding payment.

How do we get this sorted out? We have sent a letter to SSE through Resolver showing my calculations and asking for an explanation of why they think he owes them money but we've not had a response to that.

He's currently in temporary accommodation until he finds a permanent job after graduating, so he doesn't want anything on his credit record that will hamper finding work or a permanent place to live in the future. 

alphawhisky

Sorry to hear this, @Becles. I had a slightly similar experience with a disputed charge from a mobile provider a number of years ago. It's a horrible situation to be in. The problem is the debt collection agency does not care about any dispute. They may say that they do, they may even offer a settlement payment, but, ultimately, they just want the money.

The problem is, many suppliers will automate the process of passing outstanding debts to collection agencies without much of a process in place to eliminate disputed balances. I would ensure you contact SSE through their complaints process - I'd do this by post and document the process. Once 8 weeks have passed, you can escalate it to Ofgem if you don't feel they have resolved it satisfactorily. 

However, one thing to note - the debt collection agency situation may have already impacted your son's credit file. This can be disputed (and should be), but it can be difficult. I had to live with that for a number of years, though it didn't really hamper me getting credit. 

alphawhisky

The other issue - just as it came to mind - is that there is probably no point in contacting SSE through any other means than post. Calling them probably won't resolve - you'll never get to speak to anyone with any authority to cancel the debt collection process, and quite often when it is passed to debt collection, the call centre staff won't even touch it. I'm not sure if the Resolver complaint is sufficient in terms of escalating things to Ofgem. You may also want to speak to your local Citizen's Advice if that's possible. 

Gerry1

In the case of SSE you can go to the Ombudsman after six weeks rather than the usual eight.  This was agreed because their customer service record was so poor.

It seems that little has changed.

wittynamegoeshere

It will need a separate process to deal with it, but he should be able to get the marks removed from his credit record.

Assuming he's over 18 and therefore an adult, it will probably be simpler if he deals with all of this himself, you may encounter problems trying to talk to people about it as you are not the person concerned.

Becles

wittynamegoeshere said:

It will need a separate process to deal with it, but he should be able to get the marks removed from his credit record.

Assuming he's over 18 and therefore an adult, it will probably be simpler if he deals with all of this himself, you may encounter problems trying to talk to people about it as you are not the person concerned.

It's a joint effort as he's dyslexic. He's done the telephone calls and basic email replies but asked me to help with the formal letters as he struggles with writing.

polarcubhugz

I've recently dealt with SSE and the debt collectors on behalf/with my son. (Similar to you - joint effort, my son is autistic)
My advice - Stop trying to communicate with SSE and go straight to the ombudsman. Give them all the info - upload copies of any communication from you, communication from SSE and communication from the debt collectors. Let the Ombudsman deal with it.
Also inform the debt collectors that you have taken it to the ombudsman and suggest they refer back to their client. Also give them the Ombudsman case reference number.

We had been trying to get back a positive balance from a Pay as you go meter from SSE - They decided that my son owed them £125 or another day it was £250 or another day it was £33 etc etc. They also used three different debt collectors.
BTW SSE had no evidence on how they had come to these numbers

We won - Ombudsman told SSE to apologise, to return the £65 credit due and compensation of £100 - and then SSE said they had raised the cheque and after waiting we told the ombudsman it hadn't been received. Turned out SSE hadn't bothered to raise it. Eventually we got the cheque!