Joint Account - Duel Fuel

gispaul

Can anyone advise here.  Since April 2019, my wife and I were jointly named on the account of a well known energy supplier.  I complained about a number of poor service issues and their reaction was to remove me from the account.  They wouldn't even speak to me as they said I wasn't the account holder.  We subsequently swapped providers and they chased my wife only for the final estimated bill.  We complained officially and ended up going to the energy Ombudsman who was an absolute waste of time.  After around a year, my wife and I both received claim notification from the Court and I discovered that the energy company put my name back onto the account to make that claim against me.  I Neve asked them to remove me and I certainly gave them no permission to add me back on after 12 months.  The question is therefore, are they legally/lawfully allowed to add me back onto the account without my consent?  Thanks

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

gispaul said:

The question is therefore, are they legally/lawfully allowed to add me back onto the account without my consent?  Thanks

Energy companies can chase anyone who was resident in the property at the time for any outstanding amount.

When did you switch to a different supplier? When you switched suppliers did you get a final bill? Did you pay it?

gispaul

Hi, the question isn't about whether they can chase me, it's about whether they can remove me from the account and refuse to engage with me about the debt for approximately 1 year and they say I wasn't the account holder.  Only when they submitted their claim to the Court did they add me back onto the account.  

In my opinion, it seems that they terminated the contract between them and myself as soon as they removed me from the account.  I fully agree that I was jointly responsible during the usage period.  However, after a year without interaction with me of any kind (and I have letter to my wife saying things like 'further to your husband's letter, we can not discuss anything with him as he is not the account holder') they put me back onto the account to get around any legal obstacles they may face.

With regard to that, they never asked my permission or sought my agreement to put me back on that account.  The question really is therefore only about that aspect, can they add somebody to the account without first seeking their permission or agreement.  Even if that question relates to data sharing.  As a customer I would accept their terms and conditions but the way they have added me, forfeits me of any choice.