scottish power alleged debt

[col123]

Hi im posting this as my daughter is needing help,she recently moved house and pays for gas and electric via a card meter,PRE PAYMENT,however scottish power sent her a bill for £160,when she enquired how as she pre paid via a meter,she gets no help just that the debt stands,anyway we reported it to consumer watchdog and are waiting to hear from them.

In the meantime she received a letter threatening court action from commercial credit services,they have added a 15% late payment fee charge to compensate the client,they say she has chosen to ignore previous reminders which is rubbish,they say they will issue a claim on 27th of this month.

Any help please my daughter is only 18 and doesnt want to start her adult life with a bad credit rating,kind regards col x

[stormo]

Hello col123,i`m no expert but looks like you need to contact the consumer watchdog again and also does your daughter get bills sent to her with the consumption on it ie the meter readings,that would prove what she has used,i dont have a prepayment meter myself so like you state if you dont keep it topped up then it doesnt work

So as you also say cant use without paying for it first,so dont see how your Daughter can be billed any extra is she being back charged by any chance? due to prices in energy going up

The only thing is the previous teneant should have had a final meter reading and then your daughter started paying from when she moved in and also the change over of the person being billed.

hope this helps regards S

[col123]

Hi S

Thanks for your reply, I have just finished writing a letter to the DCA basically telling them to back off until the dispute is settled,scottish power know there is a dispute and i think this is the second DCA to handle it,it just bugs me that they think they can pile on extra charges on a debt that we know doesnt exist,ITS A PRE PAYMENT meter,so any thing that WAS used was pre paid for,but try telling them that,im just furious, shes only a kid and the letter they sent terrified her it looked like a legal document but it was just a threat,anyway moan over lol,ive also put in my letter to them that their methods are not up to OFT regulations,so ill keep you posted of any reply i get,Thanks very much again,kind regards col x

[stormo]

Hello col123, thats right my friend you tell em,its great that your daughter has a supporting father some kids dont have unfortunately,i think i would do the same in your position as i`ve a daughter too

Regards S

[col123]

Hi just a quick update,she received a letter today from DCA same address but different company name,They havent responded to the letter we sent,just another standard letter to say its been passed to them and she has 7 days to make payment in full or they are off to court,should i send a copy of the letter i sent to them again ?

Also in the meantime we have had a letter from energy watch saying that obviously she doesnt owe the debt due to being on a pre payment meter,they have asked for receipts which she doesnt have anymore,should i send a copy of this letter to DCA as well ?

Any help appreciated,kind regards col x

[col123]

Just a quick update,we got no joy from energy watch just basically the same letter from them 3 times,passed to another 2 DCAs in the end i got fed up and made an appointment at our local CAB just over a week later we got a phone call from them to say they had managed to trace past payments to british gas (funny how they couldnt trace them before) anyway Citizens advice said it was quick as we had done most of the work ourselves,its just a case of not giving in and working your way throgh the complaints proceedure,so we ***won***

[ashmk]

You wouldnt believe how much of a common problem this is. I know many people who have been billed when on prepay meter.
One person just kept phoning and in the end they dropped it.

[mayday mayday]

Hi Col,

Glad your daughter got a result. We are in the same position ourselves, after having a card meter for the electric for about 3-4 years they turned up to change to a key type one the other month (also pre pay). Next thing we know there is a shortfall and we owe them approx £600.00 which they have auto adjusted our rate through the new electric key meter!.
To top it all they didnt take a reading before changing the meter (which was all pre pay anyway!!!) so im just about to start on the same journey you had, any tips greatly appreciated.

[palomino]

To be fair to British Gas they have had horrendous problems with their billing systems (as reported in many newspapers over the last year or so). They are suing the suppliers for several hundred million pounds.

Which of course is their problem, not yours.

[pinkfairy]

I had the same kind of problem with Scottish Power. I was on a pre paid meter, moved away from the flat andtold them. Next thing I know a letter came through from a DCA claiming I owed £30-odd. WTF??

[nik9285]

I had exactly the same problem - I use the pre-pay meters aswell. I received a bill for approx £370, so when I called then I asked why there is a bill to which they advised that the tariff had never been updated - so I asked a simple question of who is responsible for that action to which they replied 'Scottish Power'. So I asked another simple questions of - how can they bill somebody for their error - there was no quick reply. Then I phoned as a 'new customer' to ask if I changed over to a pre-pay meter can I be billed for anything which they said I wouldn't as it is pay as you go and that would defeat the object of the meters..........so I then asked them to look into my account....oh I see there is an outstanding amount was the reply.....so I politely reminded the advisor of what I had just been told - I then received a call back to say 'after investigating the matter we have now erased the outstanding balance' - go me!!! If your daughter wanted a bill then she would not have a pre-pay meter......all they need to do is think about it!! Good luck and fingers crossed

Nik
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