Bulb - Final bill mistake

springmagpie

We were with bulb in our old house during 2019. Final bill all sorted and switched to another provider at the new house. 

3 weeks ago I had an email from them saying they had re-calculated our final bill and we were now £308 in credit, I then had 2 further emails, with recalculations saying they now only owed us £269. 

I contacted them which isn't easy as they are in special administration, but I spoke to several people, who informed me they would send the money to the account on the deactivated direct debit, bit in order to do this they had to reactivate the direct debit. 

I waited the 10 working days and nothing was received so I contacted them again, they said sorry it'll be in your account in 5 working days. 

Low and behold I see a pending transaction from Bulb for £269 due today. 

I logged into my banking this morning to see that it wasn't a credit but a debit, so now Bulb owe me £538. 

I have checked my online bulb account and it shows a refund as paid out on the 17th June. 

My question is: Bulb haven't refunded and now owe me £538, and left us short of money, what are the chances of me getting this money back today? Also does this break the DD guarantee? I'm fuming with them, they call centre aren't uk based and because they are in administration there isn't a CEO etc to contact. Any advice welcome

QrizB

Yes, from what you've said it breaks the DD guarantee. Call your bank and get it reversed.

Then cancel your DD and get Bulb to post you a cheque instead.

[Deleted User]

Forgive me for saying this, but I struggle to understand how anybody would just accept a Final Bill without checking it for accuracy; particularly, as there was such a large credit balance on the account at the time of the switch.

With the Ofgem average bill heading up towards £3000/year in October, are consumers just going to trust their suppliers to get everything right? Over the years, I have had incorrect Final Bills; the application of incorrect tariffs; the use of different opening and closing readings on switch, and the use of fixed calorific values to name but some of the billing errors.

The mantra of the aviation industry has always been DON’T ASSUME - CHECK. It’s a good mantra for life imho.

springmagpie

I managed to get the bank to stop the direct debit. Bulb customer service aren't being helpful, I keep being told the refund has been processed and I should receive it by 30th June. Today I had an email saying my bill payment failed and they will try again in 5 days!

When we left the property I took meter readings and believed the final bill was correct, it was not significantly higher than a normal month. I am not sure where these "adjustments" on the bill have come from. 

Bulb contacted me out of the blue to say they had made adjustments and now owed me money. I will believe it when it appears in my account