Igloo Energy Administrator BSB chasing 2 yr old final bill I thought I'd paid

debtdragon

I've just received a letter from BSB Ltd, apparently a debt recovery agency working for the administrators of Igloo Energy asking me to pay an outstanding balance of £157.

When I moved house in March 2020 the property was being supplied by Igloo and I quickly changed to another supplier which switched on 28 Apr 2020.  Igloo sent me a Final Bill and clearly stated on the bill that they would collect the £157 by Direct Debit on 2 June 2020.  I assumed the payment was successfully made by DD and I never heard from Igloo again, no reminder letters, no emails, nothing.

Now, 21 months later, I am being asked by BSB to pay within 7 days or face legal action!

Do I have any recourse here?  I feel it is Igloo's incompetence that is at fault for failing to collect the monies as arranged and not following up with me at the time if there had been issues with payment.

MWT

debtdragon said:

Do I have any recourse here?  I feel it is Igloo's incompetence that is at fault for failing to collect the monies as arranged and not following up with me at the time if there had been issues with payment.

If the DD was not taken, you still owe the money and they are entitled to collect it, so no, no recourse if the debt is valid.

If Igloo was still trading you might have got a small gesture from them, but as they are in the hands of the administrators that isn't likely to happen.

debtdragon

MWT said:
If the DD was not taken, you still owe the money and they are entitled to collect it, so no, no recourse if the debt is valid.

If Igloo was still trading you might have got a small gesture from them, but as they are in the hands of the administrators that isn't likely to happen.

Yep, I suppose I have to agree with you.  It's funny how an administrator managed to find these unpaid amounts (I'm sure there are others) and chase them for payment, but Igloo never did anything about it all this time.  No wonder they went bust!!

Curiousgirl1

debtdragon said:

I've just received a letter from BSB Ltd, apparently a debt recovery agency working for the administrators of Igloo Energy asking me to pay an outstanding balance of £157.

When I moved house in March 2020 the property was being supplied by Igloo and I quickly changed to another supplier which switched on 28 Apr 2020.  Igloo sent me a Final Bill and clearly stated on the bill that they would collect the £157 by Direct Debit on 2 June 2020.  I assumed the payment was successfully made by DD and I never heard from Igloo again, no reminder letters, no emails, nothing.

Now, 21 months later, I am being asked by BSB to pay within 7 days or face legal action!

Do I have any recourse here?  I feel it is Igloo's incompetence that is at fault for failing to collect the monies as arranged and not following up with me at the time if there had been issues with payment.

Did you set up a direct debit with igloo when you moved in even though you changed suppliers straight away? Did you not notice the money hadn’t been taken from your bank account? You say you assumed the money had been taken so I think there in incompetence on both sides 

debtdragon

I can’t remember any details now, nearly 2 years later.  But for sure I would have paid them had they brought the problem to my attention which they never did.

greyteam1959

Why not look on your bank statements to see if the money was taken ??
Fairly simple thing to do.

FreeBear

BSB rings alarm bells.... A bunch of scammers appear to have harvested data from BSB and have been sending out emails making bogus claims. So far, it would appear that just ex-customers of Solarplicity, Northumbria Energy,and  Brilliant Energy have been targeted, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are others on the list.

Have a read of this thread before you do anything - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6322778/solarplicity-debt-collection-scam

debtdragon

greyteam1959 said:

Why not look on your bank statements to see if the money was taken ??
Fairly simple thing to do.

Yes, I did that.  They did not take the DD on the date indicated on the statement, but they could have taken it at another date, I have not yet gone through 21 months of statements, but I certainly will before making payment.

debtdragon

FreeBear said:

BSB rings alarm bells.... A bunch of scammers appear to have harvested data from BSB and have been sending out emails making bogus claims. So far, it would appear that just ex-customers of Solarplicity, Northumbria Energy,and  Brilliant Energy have been targeted, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are others on the list.

Have a read of this thread before you do anything - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6322778/solarplicity-debt-collection-scam

Thanks for the tip FreeBear. My first thought when I read the letter was it was a possible scam, and I am still not 100% sure.  I did speak to them on the phone and they seemed to have plenty of info about my account, but these days you never know!!

FreeBear

Disclaimer - I have a real dislike for the debt collection industry, the tactics they use, and the stress & suffering they cause...

In light of the data breach involving BSB, I'd be going the extra mile to get them to prove that they are legitimate and have the authority to collect any debt on behalf of Igloo. Perhaps going as far as telling them where to go and deal directly with the administrators.

debtdragon

FreeBear said:

Disclaimer - I have a real dislike for the debt collection industry, the tactics they use, and the stress & suffering they cause...

In light of the data breach involving BSB, I'd be going the extra mile to get them to prove that they are legitimate and have the authority to collect any debt on behalf of Igloo. Perhaps going as far as telling them where to go and deal directly with the administrators.

Hi again FreeBear, I couldn't agree more.  I found the tone of their letter to me, the first contact regarding this old Igloo account for nearly 2 years, to be unreasonably aggressive. 
I have just read through the other thread you pointed me to.  I will write to BSB raising my concerns and my doubts that their claim is legitimate.