Thames Water confusion

So, we've received a final notice at our address for the previous tenant for £352.91. (We got his permission to open it as we know him). I called Thames to inform them that the person hadn't lived at our address for 2 years and can they check the status of our account. (Weirdly they asked if I had a forwarding address for him I told them it was on the letter they themselves had sent!).


They said they had no live account in our name, only the chap above (who paid his final bill on the day he moved out). Now, we opened the account on the day we moved in 2 years ago over the phone and were told that DD payments would begin to come out of our account from July 1st (being a little bit more than normal to cover the last few days of May). Happy with that, we thought no more about it.


Now it turns out that Thames have never taken a payment from our account despite the DD being "live" on our list of DDs to go out on the online banking site. Enquiring with the bank, they still have it as "live" but it appears Thames have ever asked for the money to be released!


The lady on the phone said that we would have to set up a new account and DD but that they could only recover any missing payments from April 2018. This doesn't sound correct to me and I fear they will try and recover the whole 2+ years worth. Which is true?


A further twist in this is that in July last year they sent us a cheque for £150 to cover burst pipes on the road and loss of service (after pressure from our MP mind!). The cheque has our name on it but no account number! Presumably they must have had a record of our account and not just sent out the cheque to whoever happened to ask for one?!


Given the hoops we had to jump through to get that compo, I'm not expecting this to run smoothly in our favour!


Any help/advice gratefully received!

Comments

  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036
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    Forumite
    Shed78 wrote: »

    The lady on the phone said that we would have to set up a new account and DD but that they could only recover any missing payments from April 2018. This doesn't sound correct to me and I fear they will try and recover the whole 2+ years worth. Which is true?





    Unlike gas/electricity accounts who can only claim back for the last 12 months (under certain conditions), water companies can claim repayment for the last 6 years.


    I suspect there is confusion in that the bank can only re-instate Direct Debits for the preceeding 12 months; however they most certainly can claim back 'the whole 2 years worth'.


    It never ceases to amaze me how many people don't notice a direct debit has not been paid by their bank for years;)
  • Benight
    Benight Posts: 418
    First Post
    Forumite
    Shed78 wrote: »
    So, we've received a final notice at our address for the previous tenant for £352.91. (We got his permission to open it as we know him). I called Thames to inform them that the person hadn't lived at our address for 2 years and can they check the status of our account. (Weirdly they asked if I had a forwarding address for him I told them it was on the letter they themselves had sent!).


    They said they had no live account in our name, only the chap above (who paid his final bill on the day he moved out). Now, we opened the account on the day we moved in 2 years ago over the phone and were told that DD payments would begin to come out of our account from July 1st (being a little bit more than normal to cover the last few days of May). Happy with that, we thought no more about it.


    Now it turns out that Thames have never taken a payment from our account despite the DD being "live" on our list of DDs to go out on the online banking site. Enquiring with the bank, they still have it as "live" but it appears Thames have ever asked for the money to be released!


    The lady on the phone said that we would have to set up a new account and DD but that they could only recover any missing payments from April 2018. This doesn't sound correct to me and I fear they will try and recover the whole 2+ years worth. Which is true?


    A further twist in this is that in July last year they sent us a cheque for £150 to cover burst pipes on the road and loss of service (after pressure from our MP mind!). The cheque has our name on it but no account number! Presumably they must have had a record of our account and not just sent out the cheque to whoever happened to ask for one?!


    Given the hoops we had to jump through to get that compo, I'm not expecting this to run smoothly in our favour!


    Any help/advice gratefully received!

    Contact your bank.

    A Direct Debit mandate should normally fall dormant after 13 months inactivity.
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