Bulb Energy random charge

al_kay

I left Bulb when I moved house a year ago because they couldn't process the move. I got a final bill and was refunded the credit in my account, and I got a clear statement off them saying I don't owe anything now.
This month, almost a full year since closing my account, they have debited £35.75 from my account, claiming they have recalculated my bills now and I owe them that. This seems like a huge scam - has anyone else had this? With 1.5 million customers, that's £50M they'd get from doing this.

[Deleted User]

You need to check the statement and see what has changed. Is it a scam: the answer is ‘no it isn’t’.  The supplier’s right to amend a Final Bill is contained in their Supply Licence:

MorningcoffeeIV

al_kay said:

I left Bulb when I moved house a year ago because they couldn't process the move. I got a final bill and was refunded the credit in my account, and I got a clear statement off them saying I don't owe anything now.
This month, almost a full year since closing my account, they have debited £35.75 from my account, claiming they have recalculated my bills now and I owe them that. This seems like a huge scam - has anyone else had this? With 1.5 million customers, that's £50M they'd get from doing this.

Won't be a huge scam. Won't even be a little scam.  And 1.5million people won't receive a £35.75 final statement bill.

So - check your usage, verify the cost and Bob's your uncle, or other family member of your choosing.

al_kay

Thanks - unfortunately I can't check anything as I haven't been a customer for a year but as long as loads of people aren't seeing the same then fine. Just seems weird that they get bought up then suddenly "recalculate and correct" dead accounts...

al_kay

[Deleted User] said:

You need to check the statement and see what has changed. Is it a scam: the answer is ‘no it isn’t’.  The supplier’s right to amend a Final Bill is contained in their Supply Licence:

Thanks - I had the final bill a year ago and within about 6 weeks of moving, and settled up (I was refunded £400 I had overpaid). I logged into the account today and just get an error when I try to view this statement, and the helpdesk just says "we have corrected a mistake" but won't give any details. I guess I should just have cancelled the direct debit when they "closed" my account.

MorningcoffeeIV

al_kay said:

I guess I should just have cancelled the direct debit when they "closed" my account.

Good job you didn't, or you could be looking at additional costs and credit file impacts. So at least that's one positive.

brewerdave

al_kay said:

[Deleted User] said:

You need to check the statement and see what has changed. Is it a scam: the answer is ‘no it isn’t’.  The supplier’s right to amend a Final Bill is contained in their Supply Licence:

Thanks - I had the final bill a year ago and within about 6 weeks of moving, and settled up (I was refunded £400 I had overpaid). I logged into the account today and just get an error when I try to view this statement, and the helpdesk just says "we have corrected a mistake" but won't give any details. I guess I should just have cancelled the direct debit when they "closed" my account.

Absolutely vital ! Too many times customers forget to cancel the DD authority after the account is settled - I got caught a couple of times in the past when utility companies took DDs after I had moved away from them without any reason.  
IF they want to come back with a corrected final bill make them justify the sum "owed" - not just dip their sticky fingers in your bank account!

t0rt0ise

I would complain to Octopus as Bulb belongs to them now. Ask for a final bill showing corrections. I would also ask my bank to refund the sum and say that I'm no longer a Bulb customer.

Qyburn

MorningcoffeeIV said:

al_kay said:

I guess I should just have cancelled the direct debit when they "closed" my account.

Good job you didn't, or you could be looking at additional costs and credit file impacts. So at least that's one positive.

Surely there's no way any supplier could penalise an ex-customer for not leaving the DD in place for a year after the account closed.

EssexHebridean

Qyburn said:

MorningcoffeeIV said:

al_kay said:

I guess I should just have cancelled the direct debit when they "closed" my account.

Good job you didn't, or you could be looking at additional costs and credit file impacts. So at least that's one positive.

Surely there's no way any supplier could penalise an ex-customer for not leaving the DD in place for a year after the account closed.

They could try - but they'd rapidly find out that they were in deep doo-doo if they hadn't followed the correct procedure to notify the customer of a DD being taken. 

This is absolutely a good reason why DDs should be cancelled once a move away from a supplier has taken place. They don't even need it left in place to process a refund of any outstanding credit either!  however - as sa note of caution, it is always good practise to ensure that you check any emails that arrive from a former supplier as they could well be notification of additional charges being made! 

OP - that is something you could check - did they actually notify you that they were taking an additional payment? If not, then you may have a claim under the DD Guarantee scheme. (And them notifying you by sending a message to an account that had been closed for a substantial amount of time does not count!)

MWT

EssexHebridean said:

They don't even need it left in place to process a refund of any outstanding credit either! 

It is true that they don't need a DD to refund money to a bank account, but thanks to GDPR, many if not all, will remove any bank details they hold for you if you cancel the DD as the contractual basis for holding the bank information was for the processing of the DD.

Personally I'd leave the DD in place if you are expecting a refund and then cancel it as soon as it is received.

Otherwise it make take longer to get a cheque produced mailed out...