Debt Collection Email

brewerdave

Devongran said:

Originally had an email/letter from BSB dated 7 July 2023 and replied by post with a 'prove it' letter. Not had a reply. Now had another email/letter dated 21 August 2023 telling me to pay the amount without 72 hours to 'prevent further action being taken'. I have now written another letter referring them to my original letter of 8 July 2023 and enclosing the same as before - a copy of their letter/email and a copy of my final bill from Together Energy showing a credit balance. (The Together Energy account was taken over by British Gas.) 
Should I email them just to say that I have written an actual letter to them? I have put in my letter 'please correspond with by post or not at all'.

If you check on the T.E customers support  Facebook page ,you will find that loads of people are being treated the same way by BSB. Just carry on pushing for ALL evidence. Most likely they will give up as they can't produce any meaningful evidence !!

CliffL151

@brewerdave yes, i'm in the same situation with BSB; i sent them a letter dated on the 4th of July asking for evidence of my amount owed, didn't get a reply, and like you, just received the email demanding payment with 72 hours? 
Think i'll wait!! Cliff

Stewah1

I had received an email form BSB on behalf of Together energy and thought is was a scam and now discovered this forum  and have had a final email  for payment of  £2405- have sent the prove it letter so will see what comes from that as the account was closed with them and clear when i moved in 2019 

Raigar

Managed to resolve this yesterday.

I was a TE customer up until Nov 2020 & final settlement was completed in Jan 2021 which resulted in a credit being returned to me. Despite this BSB started sending me requests to pay in the summer 2023 for surprisingly exactly the amount I was refunded in 2021. (£500)

I was responding to each email from BSB requesting them to explain the charges which until this week met no response. This week they responded asking me to call them. Reading the advice on here I tried contacting the administrators who just referred me back to BSB. After trying to call BSB a couple of times & being unable to get through, I summarised the situation at a top level via email, stated I had been trying to contact them & that I really needed them explain why I now owed this money.

I received an email back confirming my account is closed & no money was owed. A relief as £500 is a lot of money.

My feeling here is BSB are trying firm tactics, but are not sure of the data they have so are just trying to reclaim anything & everything. It seems TE were not the best at record keeping. My experiences from dealing with TE support this, it took me many attempts to provide final readings & close the account.

Advice - definitely don't ignore it, but make sure you get BSB to provide evidence as to why you now owe the money & keep all interactions written if you can.

PascalG

Does the OFGEM back billing not kick in here, not on debt but on what clearly seems to be poor accounting?

If these claims go back to 2021 then they are well past the 12 months

I would also be wary of acknowledging any debt as it will already be 2 years down the off statute road

Another route would be to do a subject access request for all data they hold on you.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-energy-back-billing-rules

QrizB

PascalG said:

Does the OFGEM back billing not kick in here, not on debt but on what clearly seems to be poor accounting?

No.

Ofgem regulates licenced energy companies, and licenced energy companies are required to adhere to the terms of their supply licences.

Together Energy is not a licenced energy company (it lost its licence when it ceased trading in January 2022) so Ofgem's rules do not apply.

BobT36

Pretty funny, that. Companies that don't play by the rules and do "bad", are rewarded with more leeway and freedom to rifle your pockets.. Sure they can't continue on as a company, but that doesn't matter to those dodgy directors who are used to continuously creating and winding up companies as part of normal "business" for them. 

You'd think customers would have MORE protection from companies who have lost their licenses.

CliffL151

Just received another email threatening bailiffs in three days, and yet they still haven't shown me any evidence yet, despite me writing to them on paper back in July?? 

ArbitraryRandom

I'd respond saying you sent them a letter on x date disputing the debt and asking them to provide proof of liability (attach a copy of the letter if you have it). They have failed to do so and therefore you will consider any further contact from them (by email or in person) that does not contain the requested evidence to be harassment.  

Then I'd redirect the emails to my junk folder and ignore then until/unless they send a physical letter (bailiffs can only be sent after a court action and that involves physical paperwork). 

You can also try reporting them to the FCA for harassment (the FCA regulate debt collection) - they won't take up individual cases but do fine companies when they see a trend in reports. 

CliffL151

@ArbitraryRandom - thanks....well it's difficult to respond, their emails are "no reply" emails, but i did reply to an address fro someone who works there, and i did say, look, you haven't replied to my letter i sent in July? As yet, she has not replied to me. CL