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In October 2007 I switched supplier, I transferred my account with a zero balance and had been paying about £35/£45 (i think) a month for usage from my old supplier. My new supplier set up an acct with a ddr for £25/£35 (i think)and over the course of the next year my bills went up and In Sept 08 I queried why I had such high bills and why my account was in such arrears and why i had 3 Meters! Had they misread things etc?
They ignored my phone calls and in/about Deember 08/January 09, having been fed up with getting nowhere I stopped payment on my electric ddr - I paid double on my gas to make sure I was covering it tho. Being an idiot - I didnt put anything in writing as until recently I had never sent letters as a habit. Nothing happened for a few months and when contacted I phoned and stated my complaint and said they had ignored me hence payment stopped. Despite assurance that they would investigate and that there complaints system would answer - nothing happened - I however, managed to track down the previous suppliers information and informed them of the meter number which they traced to 1996 as a check meter, they asked me to monitor the meter readings daily am and pm for 3 weeks and tell them by phone. I did this and nothing seemed to happen except they kept sending me altered bills! A large debt was accruing and I told them that this was causing me distress as I use medical equipment daily and was scared that they would suddenly cut me off - leaving me in dire straights. They assured me that they would not do this and their legal section gave me a 'specialist contact' - who said it was appalling that this had gone on for a year and said that she would transfer the excess from my gas account to the electric account and said she would arrange compensation when it was resolved in the 000's - this was because I had broken down in tears when the account reached £1000+ due - I was very worried about this debt and was getting grief from my husband who said I was being stupid by expecting any answer.
During their investigation I had to monitor the meter usage for 2-3 weeks daily and send them the figures - I did this at least 3 times and each time they 'lost' the readings!!! The contact in the legal section then went on maternity leave and I continued trying to resolve the matter but couldnt get anywhere - In August this year I had a meltdown at them = they had sent a letter from their collections dept and I told them about the situation. They told me nothing had occurred since the pre-legal had gone on maternity and that they had picked up the file. He got a manager to phone me back as I demanded an apology and someone to be accountable for this to be resolved. I spoke to the Manager and explained all of the actions that had occurred so far, i.e. numerous phone calls, engineer visits etc and said 1. they were wasting money 2. 2 years is too long for a complaint to be investigated - he agreed and immediately arranged for a new check meter to go on to monitor the usage, worked out what appliances i had and my consumption since switching to them . My consumption appeared to be consistent but I still wanted to know why my bills were so hgh upon switching. He said that I had been put on a E7tariff and that this was useless for me because I didnt use E7 consumption, despite my being nocturnal and using my med equipment at this time! He wanted to replace the meter, which he has arranged for a fortnights time and said he will put me on a non-E7 tariff. He sent a letter to this effect with an apology for taking so long to resolve my complaint and offered me £50 as a goodwill gesture. Im now left with £1500+ debt, after they took off the £600 credit I had built up by paying the elec ddr equivalent with my gas ddr, I am paying the debt off by ddr at 110.00 per mth as he says my usage equates to £70 per mth and that takes £40 off the arrears each month. Im really mad
1. If my payments had been set right I wouldnt have accrued a large debt - as the ddr obviously wouldnt have covered the amount they say im using
2. they still havent explained why my usage/payments differ so hugely from my previous supplier - my suspicion is that they had set me up on the wrong tariff from the start hence the difference particularly if he says that my consumption is static at around 20 units per day!
3. The £50 offer of goodwill is a joke - it doesnt even cover the cost of my phone calls over the period its taken. I have no explaination of why it took over 18 months to get resolved, had debt agents at my door, had to monitor all meters for 6 weeks etc etc... Mainly why I was ignored!!! I made 33 phone calls initially - they rarely phoned back when they said they would they made repeated promises that they failed to keep. I had 5 engineers out to look at the meter - all went away without doing anything! Crazy!
Whats my best course of action here - the pre-legal contact offered me compensation last yr and stated she thought this would be "at least a couple of hundred pounds" Now im offered £50 - they pay out £15 for admin errors or missing one appointment! is it just me or are they not bothered again now im paying? Im spitting feathers as I feel they have made a complete mug outta me and are taking the p!......Im really mad now as I feel insulted.
I know utilities have different rules but if someone could direct me in my next course of action I would be grateful!
They ignored my phone calls and in/about Deember 08/January 09, having been fed up with getting nowhere I stopped payment on my electric ddr - I paid double on my gas to make sure I was covering it tho. Being an idiot - I didnt put anything in writing as until recently I had never sent letters as a habit. Nothing happened for a few months and when contacted I phoned and stated my complaint and said they had ignored me hence payment stopped. Despite assurance that they would investigate and that there complaints system would answer - nothing happened - I however, managed to track down the previous suppliers information and informed them of the meter number which they traced to 1996 as a check meter, they asked me to monitor the meter readings daily am and pm for 3 weeks and tell them by phone. I did this and nothing seemed to happen except they kept sending me altered bills! A large debt was accruing and I told them that this was causing me distress as I use medical equipment daily and was scared that they would suddenly cut me off - leaving me in dire straights. They assured me that they would not do this and their legal section gave me a 'specialist contact' - who said it was appalling that this had gone on for a year and said that she would transfer the excess from my gas account to the electric account and said she would arrange compensation when it was resolved in the 000's - this was because I had broken down in tears when the account reached £1000+ due - I was very worried about this debt and was getting grief from my husband who said I was being stupid by expecting any answer.
During their investigation I had to monitor the meter usage for 2-3 weeks daily and send them the figures - I did this at least 3 times and each time they 'lost' the readings!!! The contact in the legal section then went on maternity leave and I continued trying to resolve the matter but couldnt get anywhere - In August this year I had a meltdown at them = they had sent a letter from their collections dept and I told them about the situation. They told me nothing had occurred since the pre-legal had gone on maternity and that they had picked up the file. He got a manager to phone me back as I demanded an apology and someone to be accountable for this to be resolved. I spoke to the Manager and explained all of the actions that had occurred so far, i.e. numerous phone calls, engineer visits etc and said 1. they were wasting money 2. 2 years is too long for a complaint to be investigated - he agreed and immediately arranged for a new check meter to go on to monitor the usage, worked out what appliances i had and my consumption since switching to them . My consumption appeared to be consistent but I still wanted to know why my bills were so hgh upon switching. He said that I had been put on a E7tariff and that this was useless for me because I didnt use E7 consumption, despite my being nocturnal and using my med equipment at this time! He wanted to replace the meter, which he has arranged for a fortnights time and said he will put me on a non-E7 tariff. He sent a letter to this effect with an apology for taking so long to resolve my complaint and offered me £50 as a goodwill gesture. Im now left with £1500+ debt, after they took off the £600 credit I had built up by paying the elec ddr equivalent with my gas ddr, I am paying the debt off by ddr at 110.00 per mth as he says my usage equates to £70 per mth and that takes £40 off the arrears each month. Im really mad
1. If my payments had been set right I wouldnt have accrued a large debt - as the ddr obviously wouldnt have covered the amount they say im using
2. they still havent explained why my usage/payments differ so hugely from my previous supplier - my suspicion is that they had set me up on the wrong tariff from the start hence the difference particularly if he says that my consumption is static at around 20 units per day!
3. The £50 offer of goodwill is a joke - it doesnt even cover the cost of my phone calls over the period its taken. I have no explaination of why it took over 18 months to get resolved, had debt agents at my door, had to monitor all meters for 6 weeks etc etc... Mainly why I was ignored!!! I made 33 phone calls initially - they rarely phoned back when they said they would they made repeated promises that they failed to keep. I had 5 engineers out to look at the meter - all went away without doing anything! Crazy!
Whats my best course of action here - the pre-legal contact offered me compensation last yr and stated she thought this would be "at least a couple of hundred pounds" Now im offered £50 - they pay out £15 for admin errors or missing one appointment! is it just me or are they not bothered again now im paying? Im spitting feathers as I feel they have made a complete mug outta me and are taking the p!......Im really mad now as I feel insulted.
I know utilities have different rules but if someone could direct me in my next course of action I would be grateful!
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