big 6 supplier refers customer to debt collectors two days after bill issue

Imvrasos

I was an SSE Energy customer for a brief period last autumn after moving to a property and before switching away. SSE sent me the final bill last month but I was left aghast by a second letter arriving two days later after the bill: a notice on my account being passed to debt collection (!).

 For clarity, the two days mentioned aren’t only postage timescales, that’s the date discrepancy between the bill and the referral to debt collector.

 Is there any regulation protecting customers from this? I have already complained to SSE but doubt it would lead to anything more constructive than a deadlock letter.

Cardew

Is there a reason why it has taken several months for a 'final bill' to be produced after you left last autumn? e.g.was there an outstanding amount from an earlier bill?

Imvrasos

Final bill was delayed indeed as SSE tried to challenge the switching readings I gave to the new supplier (tried to increase the readings as expected); I requested this to be pushed back and the readings are indeed correct in the closing bill.

I believe this is unrelated to the debt referral issue, as a switching customer my responsibility is to evidence the switching readings and provide these to the new supplier which is exactly what happened. Time between meter takeover and final bill is 3.5 months, maybe on the long side but this was due to the utility, and in my view does not justify an escalation to debt collectors on Wednesday after a bill issued on Monday.

Have any other forumites faced such an aggravating behaviour from their supplier? I generally aim to close these interactions as swiftly as possible but it sometimes feels like they want you to complain whatever it takes.   

Gerry1

SSE were so bad that they had to agree that unresolved complaints could be taken to the Ombudsman after six weeks rather than the usual eight.

Seems like nothing has changed.

Imvrasos

Interesting to hear other people have issues with them. My general interaction was sketchy to say the least as I spent so much time on the phone just trying to inform them I moved in. They initially advised I need a smart meter to keep my E7 tariff, essential due to storage heaters. That was the main reason I switched however their final bill is still based on E7. Quite random and inconsistent.