Trying to pay water bill!!!!! threat of debt collectors

pseudopensioner

My ex is a really great bloke, old school type always pays his bills and doesn't like (trust) credit.

He tried in January to organise paying his water bill - Thames Water - for this year 2008-2009, went to the bank HSBC who said they couldn't organise a direct debit!

So, in January he broke his leg and came to stay with me, 45 miles away, and while here he was worried about paying his water bill, I rang them on his behalf on Jan 11th, he gave them permission for me to speak with them on his behalf ( he's not too good on phones), and I gave them his bank details for direct debit payments.

Last week he received a letter stating they would be referring the account to a debt collector and this would affect his credit rating!!!, yes, I know they send these things, but he is 70 years old and doesn't want to owe a penny to anyone, and finds this very distressing.

I rang them this morning and "Oh no, we can't discuss the account with you, you are not named on the account" !!!!! Data Protection and all that **** ensued

My ex lives on the 1st floor, he has limited mobility following the fracture, he doesn't have a landline phone, nor a car and is 45-50 miles away from family.

I can not believe how intransigent Thames Water are , ....(supervisor)-"We cannot call him, he must phone us", yeh, mobile phone charges for listening to a recording of some prat saying " We value your call, plase wait, you are 3.50050th in the queue" ,OK slight exaggeration

I have insisted they must make a house call for him to complete ANOTHER direct debit form.

Aaaaarrrggghhhh

I will keep you informed

moonrakerz

Complain to:

http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/

emweaver

Do thames water have a trust fund he could apply to? If so they may well pay off his debt. Or maybe suggest a payment plan with them?He can pay it off at Paypoint outlets

H2O

pseudopensioner wrote: »

My ex is a really great bloke, old school type always pays his bills and doesn't like (trust) credit.

He tried in January to organise paying his water bill - Thames Water - for this year 2008-2009, went to the bank HSBC who said they couldn't organise a direct debit!

So, in January he broke his leg and came to stay with me, 45 miles away, and while here he was worried about paying his water bill, I rang them on his behalf on Jan 11th, he gave them permission for me to speak with them on his behalf ( he's not too good on phones), and I gave them his bank details for direct debit payments.

Last week he received a letter stating they would be referring the account to a debt collector and this would affect his credit rating!!!, yes, I know they send these things, but he is 70 years old and doesn't want to owe a penny to anyone, and finds this very distressing.

I rang them this morning and "Oh no, we can't discuss the account with you, you are not named on the account" !!!!! Data Protection and all that **** ensued

My ex lives on the 1st floor, he has limited mobility following the fracture, he doesn't have a landline phone, nor a car and is 45-50 miles away from family.

I can not believe how intransigent Thames Water are , ....(supervisor)-"We cannot call him, he must phone us", yeh, mobile phone charges for listening to a recording of some prat saying " We value your call, plase wait, you are 3.50050th in the queue" ,OK slight exaggeration

I have insisted they must make a house call for him to complete ANOTHER direct debit form.

Aaaaarrrggghhhh

I will keep you informed

Hi,

That's awful.

Hope this helps though.

In the past I've had numerous occassions were the data protection jargon has been thrown at me over a phone call.

I got around this though, by ringing back saying I was Mrs xxxx and sorry but I'm suffering from a cold, obviously I knew all her details etc

In each case they are flumaxed and don't quite know how to handle this one, as they cannot accuse you of being of the opposite sex over the phone, therefore they can't prove your not who you say you are, plus you know all the details.

Don't worry about the call being recorded, if the call is recorded and they decide to go down the line of refusing to deal with you, then you say you'll legally take it further.....doubt very much they'll have voice recognition systems in place.

I'm pretty certain that this will work.

Best of luck