Being billed for services never rendered

FireflyPach

Hi All,

Back in 2021 I moved into my first rental property and took out an energy, broadband and phone package with SSE. At the time I moved in and for some months afterwards, there was scaffolding at the property, so when BT openreach came to me and found that a previous tenant had cut the cable, they were not able to put up a new one. They came out twice more, said there was nothing to be done and I called SSE and cancelled the contact. They never sent me a cancellation letter, but in all the excitement of moving and a new job I neglected to notice that.

It's now been 2 years and in their new guise as Origin Broadband, they're now trying to bill me for £450 for a telephone line and broadband that I have never had installed! I've had this conversation several times but Origin just keep sending me letter saying I have to pay as they have billed me in good faith - I have told them to test to line or call the number, that it doesn't work and never had but they persist in billing me. Ive advised them I will be reporting them for fraudulent billing (as they're trying to bill me for a service they never provided) but I've already got a case with the ombudsman against my car insurance company and I don't want to put in another one and look like a time waster - is there anything I can do?

ladruid

The broadband issue should come under the purview of the Communications Ombudsman, which would be a totally different body to a car insurance issue which would be the Financial Ombudsman Service...

Although, I can't see why having disputes with both services being an issue, and I don't know why having multiple open disputes with the same ombudsman would matter anyways... it is possible to have issues with multiple companies at the same time.

As to your issue, the onus would have been on you to make sure the contract was cancelled. Unless you can prove you cancelled the contract, I am not sure where you could go with this without getting the ombudsman involved.

You might be able to do a SAR with SSE to see if they have evidence of telephone or email interactions with your account. After two years though, it might be too late.

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-do-i-make-a-subject-access-request