We always pay our bills but were threatened with bailiffs over missing £2k
WE ARE at our wits’ end trying to sort out our energy arrangements.
We had dual fuel with Scottish Power for the year to August 2015. We then moved to Npower for a year and, since then, have been with E.ON.
I have kept meter readings and payment details.
In May last year, I received a debt collection letter demanding £2,197, which then escalated to £2,378. I have received further demands for £885 and £995. These all stem from Scottish Power.
I am 82 and my wife is 72. YOUR case is both complex and troubling. You have never owed a penny to an energy supplier, yet you received a series of letters from Grosvenor Services Group at the behest of Scottish Power.
These were, at times, extremely threatening in tone. I quote: ‘Unless you contact us immediately, a collections officer will visit your property within the next few days to collect payment.’
This was accompanied by a message, boxed and in bold, highlighting a Warrant of Entry under the Rights of Entry Act 1954. I can only imagine the fear this would instil in two pensioners who have always paid bills on time.
Some of these letters were addressed to Mr Owner Occupier and — I want to emphasise this — were sent after you’d disputed the debt. These letters were sent in May, June and November 2018, followed by a ludicrous bill in January 2019.
So what was going on? It seems to stem from you living in a newbuild complex that was built in two phases, where the first builder went bust. Somewhere along the line, MPANs (meter point administration numbers) — which are unique supply reference numbers — were assigned wrongly.
Your gas supply was correct, but your electricity supply was wrong — you had the meter number of a house two streets away.
When you switched supplier, first to Npower and later to E.ON, your electricity number remained with Scottish Power.
So, although you believed you had switched, a bill with Scottish Power was accumulating.
Scottish Power says your case is complex, but no degree of complexity excuses what happened. Once you made contact, and it suspected something was wrong, it should have ceased billing you.
Scottish Power finally sent an agent to your home. It suggested that Npower and E.ON should refund you. Then you would be billed by Scottish Power. Under back-billing regulations, it could only go back one year, so you’d receive three-and-a-half years’ free electricity.
However, you decided that all you wanted was to see the back of Scottish Power. So, instead, you have stayed with E.ON, and Scottish Power will arrange for your meter number to be moved.
Scottish Power admits that it should have got the bottom of the problem. It has now paid you £500 compensation. MY 86-YEAR- OLD brother’s phone was cut off, even though he pays BT by direct debit. I paid the £171 owing, but then checked why his bills were so high.
It seems he has been paying for broadband since 2014, yet he has never used a computer and has no broadband or router.
I cancelled the broadband, but BT would not give a full refund and offered only one month’s line rental. G. M., Cowdenbeath, Fife. YOUR brother was paying £19.99 per month for line rental, plus £19.20 for broadband and weekend calls. He was then hit with a £10 charge for a direct debit that supposedly was not honoured and £18 for reconnection.
BT confirms that broadband was added in December 2014.
However, I’m told that, as the account is now closed, and given the time that has passed, it is unable to determine how or why broadband was added. So we can only speculate whether it was human or computer error.
But I am pleased to say that BT has now refunded charges from December 2, 2014, to March 25, 2019 — a total of just over £900.
It has contacted your brother to apologise and he is happy with this resolution. I TRIED to withdraw £600 from a supermarket cash machine, but it only gave me £320. I reinserted my card and my balance showed that I had withdrawn £600.
The supermarket customer service desk assured me that such problems were always rectified within 48 hours.
Two days later, I phoned my bank, Post Office. It said it would initiate an investigation.
I have phoned several times, but have no more information, other than that the investigation is being escalated. P. S., Cornwall. I HAD a not- too- dissimilar situation when I tried to withdraw £200 from my supermarket cash machine. I got distracted when Mrs H suggested I fetch a trolley and walked off without my money!
When the third-party bank did not automatically return the cash, my bank, First Direct, paid £200 into my account while it raised a dispute.
Two weeks later, I got a letter saying it was all resolved — apparently, the notes get sucked back in again when twits like me forget to take them.
But Post Office accounts are run by Bank of Ireland. You made contact on March 26. It asked for further details, which, it says, were received on April 8. Bank of Ireland initiated the formal query with the ATM supplier on April 10. The supplier has 15 days in which to investigate and respond.
It then received confirmation that the ATM did not balance, so your refund has now been paid.
A spokesman says: ‘We understand that this has taken some time to resolve and we are sorry for any concern this has caused our customer.
‘However, when a third-party ATM is involved, the timelines are not set by us.’
First Direct comes near the top of the charts in the Which? survey of the best and worst banks for 2019, with a customer service score of five out of five.
Bank of Ireland, meanwhile, took last place, with two out of five for customer service.