Paying by standing order

Watercompanyvictim

la531983 said:

In which case there is more to this then you are letting on. No company in the country takes someone legal if they dont actually owe any money.

No they just want me to use their preferred method. Everything else is the same. 

akm2018

Watercompanyvictim said:

I've never refused to pay and indeed still pay weekly but now they have sent my account to a debt collection agency 

If there's no debt, then a debt collection agency wouldn't be interested. What are you not telling us?

(also what's an "incomplete company"?)

Watercompanyvictim

akm2018 said:

Watercompanyvictim said:

I've never refused to pay and indeed still pay weekly but now they have sent my account to a debt collection agency 

If there's no debt, then a debt collection agency wouldn't be interested. What are you not telling us?

(also what's an "incomplete company"?)

They just want me to pay via their desired method after 65 payments paying standing order. This is their only issue. It was meant to say incompetent. They were sending bills to an address which didn't exist despite me giving them the correct address. Took 6 months of back and forth just for them to send a bill I could actually receive.  

la531983

Surely you only get these letters if the account goes delinquent, the above is totally nonsensical. 

Get £100 in credit with SO payments, get a quarterly bill for £90 - whats the issue? No "debt collection" agency is going to be interested , because there is no debt.

Have you actually had one of these letters yet?

mmmmikey

la531983 said:

Surely you only get these letters if the account goes delinquent, the above is totally nonsensical. 

Get £100 in credit with SO payments, get a quarterly bill for £90 - whats the issue? No "debt collection" agency is going to be interested , because there is no debt.

Have you actually had one of these letters yet?

It's possible that what's happening here is that the standing order payments aren't being applied to the account automatically which leads to delays in them showing up and an account that is permanently in arrears. If the OP refuses to co-operate and use a recognised payment method then they should accept the hassle that goes with it.

la531983

Maybe. Perhaps the OP would be better making a bulk one-off payment of a few hundred quid, and then resume the weekly method, to build up a buffer.

Watercompanyvictim

mmmmikey said:

la531983 said:

Surely you only get these letters if the account goes delinquent, the above is totally nonsensical. 

Get £100 in credit with SO payments, get a quarterly bill for £90 - whats the issue? No "debt collection" agency is going to be interested , because there is no debt.

Have you actually had one of these letters yet?

It's possible that what's happening here is that the standing order payments aren't being applied to the account automatically which leads to delays in them showing up and an account that is permanently in arrears. If the OP refuses to co-operate and use a recognised payment method then they should accept the hassle that goes with it.

Ive made 65 payments using standing order without any late letters or correspondence from the company. In fact they describe me as a consistent weekly payer. 
Apparently nothing has changed from the IT systems to their policies and yet from July 2023 till April 2025 I've not received a single letter saying I've paid late or this was not an acceptable method of payment and why would they if I'm a regular payer. This has only been an issue since April this year. No one can answer why it was acceptable for 20 months then all of a sudden it's not now. 

noitsnotme

Watercompanyvictim said:

la531983 said:

You are building a rod for your own back. Whats your problem with direct debits? If they take the wrong amount you can claim it back.,

Not in the habit of allowing incomplete companies access to my bank account. Took them over a year to get the correct address despite me contacting them saying I was recieving no bills. 

A direct debit agreement does not give them access to your bank account.

la531983

How much have you been charged in late payment charges so far? How are these letters from the "debt collection agencies" actually worded if you arent actually in debt?

Watercompanyvictim

noitsnotme said:

Watercompanyvictim said:

la531983 said:

You are building a rod for your own back. Whats your problem with direct debits? If they take the wrong amount you can claim it back.,

Not in the habit of allowing incomplete companies access to my bank account. Took them over a year to get the correct address despite me contacting them saying I was recieving no bills. 

A direct debit agreement does not give them access to your bank account.

Yes it does. They can change the amounts, can accidently take multiple payments and generally charge fees which don't exist. This happened with my council tax and although I got it back the month after it left me broke for a month. A standing order can only be changed by myself and since it's a set fee rather than variable it's the easiest most secure way for my business.