This is where I will follow through with the regulator again Rob

42man should I be acting on the letter before action or striking straight with the full and final settlement? I am ready and willing to submit either. The value will however not be to the sum of 1k with all events and the duration taken into account; I shall be honest and say my full and final offer will be nowhere near that figure, would it seriously be yours based on this ongoing saga? Maybe back in 2009 when they first targeted me I may have been desperate to shake them, but with all circumstances considered I also have to take into account their ongoing charge of 1k per year. This is where the problem lays, I can agree to negotiate the balance but without official instruction from a legal entity what is to stop them then putting me back in this position? On a side note, I sent the email this morning instructing withdrawal of implied access to my property and although I have not received a reply, this is the first evening without Mr Door Banger, banging on the door. Today is also the first day in a long time that I've updated the forum. Who knows. If anything I shall be enforcing a far better deal on the account and then ensuring a correctly charged rate for the duration of my involvement with Anglian Water, at this point, I can not trust that to be entrusted with Anglian, I would feel far more secure with this entire case being presented before a judge. After all, this has all started with a fault somewhere, to simply pay them off would not rectify that and ensure correct bills in the future?

Can a letter before action be sent as an email? or does it have to be a typed and printed letter? I started off this case with letters in 09 but has time has passed I've found now in 2011 I'm sending more emails

No. Which may sound bad. I have though, sent 6 offers, all documented with proof, all have been ignored. If any bill had been correct, I would have paid. But as it started with the first bill at over 2k I refused and then this situation started. For every offer I've made, I've had the funds available to send and still do, but I refuse to send any money unless the company confirms in writing that they accept the offer, in which case I would then forward the payment. As things stand, I refuse to simply send money when no acknowledgement of the offer has been confirmed. Would harassment be my basis for the court case in these circumstances?

On a side note. Is it possible for me to commence Court proceedings against them?, with the aim of putting an end to this situation. The only Court process that I have even the slightest of knowledge about is the small claims court, which of course I doubt is relevant in this case. My goal would be to have this current bill written off, a suitable bill issued and for further billing to be a correct representation of usage. Is this possible?

Thank you to everybody who has contributed since I started this thread. Alas, no result to date. Instead I do now have a £5k bill. This averages at an approximate charge rate of 1k per year for my 2 bedroom property. They have resorted to sending the resident in house doorstep debt collection rep/agent to bang on the front door and post through the letter box the wonderful postcards stating that within 24 hours an application will be made to court and I'll lose my worldly possessions ect ect. He came at half 7 last night banging on the door and waking the kids up. I know it's him because it's the same 'man' who put the first threatening card through the door. But this doesn't bother me too much, it's the cheek of it when my efforts to resolve the matter are taken into consideration. I haven't spoken to him as. A) I now actually want a court case and. B) I have demanded every communication to be in writing from the start and I want it to stay that way. Interestingly, a neighbour on my street who is supplied by the same supply pipe as my property announced that she too had a billing problem, only by approx £600, but after following my advice it was written off and reissued to the figure of approximately £70. I however was continued to be ignored and received my usual bill increasing the total by yet another 1k. The world works in mysterious ways. I'm sure my desire for the involvement of judge at this point is understandable, but I have a brief case full of letters from Anglian telling me that if I don't pay the balance then they will commence an application to Court. The procedure from these points is where I usually continue by replying in writing disputing the bill all over again ect ect round in cirlces, Anglian then ignore me and then send another bill when it's due. So the Court threat is never followed through, I never get a result and Anglian just continue to baffle me. I've made several offers all of which have never received a reply. I'm happy in the knowledge that I now have a few years worth of letters with proof of posting ect, containing my willingness to pay, offers of payment, you name it and I've got it. I have also put aside the money that I have offered them but they have never accepted or even acknowledged, so I'm all ready to go. The reason I haven't just sent it to their account details is because, as I'm sure anyone at this point would understand, is that in my opinion this Company is a complete joke, they are incompetent, unprofessional and above all, bullies. So I demand to have a copy in writing that states they accept the amount, that way there can be no argument about what the money sent has been used for ect. Do they really want this to go before a judge? All I want is a correct bill, or if that boat has long since sailed then I'd happily settle for a bill based on the average for the size and occupancy of my property. They know this, yet continue this extremely odd and unproductive game. I've never truly considered the likes of watchdog ect, but maybe this just might be a good one for them. Who knows. Anyway, my advice to anyone who reads this thread is to never give up, if it wasn't for this forum I may well have given in to them out of fear and put myself in extreme financial trouble, even then, it seems I'd still be paying 1k per year so I'd have been in big trouble. I have today sent communication removing the implied access for any representative or agent working for or acting on behalf of Anglian Water with the intention of collecting money from me on my doorstep, I clearly stated that access is still granted for the purpose checking meters/pipes ect so there can be no confusion there, but I'm not having this banging on my door rubbish trying to intimidate me into paying this bill. I will call police too if he comes back and refuses to remove himself on request.

Hi, I may have worded the title wrong, I'm not sure, but what I mean to ask is if a debt to the DVLA for not declaring a car as SORN is considered a civil debt resulting in bailiffs and/or attatchment of earnings ect or if it is considered a criminal debt resulting in prison like council tax debt? The DVLA has just handed such a case to a debt collection company who are now asking for payment in full in 72 hours. Do I have the right to ask to pay in installments or will they legaly refuse and continue to demand payment in full until they put the case through to the court? at which point, would the judge then allow me to pay in installments or as it's a DVLA debt would the bailiffs be sent straight to me? I want to ring the collection company today but would be very grateful if somebody could help me with my questions so I know where I stand and the best way to help the situation for when I speak to them. Many thanks

Hi, no they haven't resolved it. They've taken to dropping cards through my door telling me they will take me to court. Had a few of those now. Letters are not responded too, phone contact results in the same 'please complete our survey so we can see how your water is used' at a loss now, just sending what I believe is a fair monthly usage whilst they continue to multiply the amount owed by a staggering rate. The original bill I stated on this thread is peanuts compared to what they are now asking for 1 year on. They are set on not reducing the bill. To be honest I think only a judge can resolve it now. At one point they were telling me an 'indoor' meter would be installed but that never happened and they are no longer interested in doing that.

A piece of bread not much progress in a year then, I've still not finished my 'end of the world' shelter, doesn't look like I'll need it anyway lol

We've always been so careful with this number since getting it, the only online application we've done was for sky itself but the number didn't exist at that point. Frustrating, thankfully as it's only family with the number then changing it wont cause many problems. Should I tell Sky the reason why I want to change it and give them Churchwoods' name and number?

Hi, We get Churchwood finance calling twice a day every day with an automated message about debt consolidation. We've only had our phone line 4 weeks, provided by Sky, and apart from family, Sky are the only people who have our number, so I guess they very kindly sold it to this odd Churchwood company. Anyway, that's neither here nor there, what I would like to know is how can I get them to stop calling? we are ex directory for all the good it seems to have done. The automated message says to press 5 to speak to an adviser, but after speaking to a friend they told me to be careful doing that as it will verify my number as ok to call? doesn't make much sense to me as if I need to verify it to be ok, then why are they ringing before I have done so? So, should I press 5 and ask the advisor to remove my number from their system (honestly hold little faith in that working) or should I contact Sky to ask for that number to be blocked from getting through to me? (not sure if that service exists?) or is there some other way to get them to stop calling?

yes, it was the large amount of threads relating to items being faulty and the problems that follow that put me off the most. Also some threads about having to pay for weeks before the item is even delivered as most things have to be ordered, I wouldn't really want to pay anything untill I've actualy seen it. If they had a reputation for quality relaible goods then I might think differently, but they clearly don't have that reputation.

Sorry to have taken up your time if you've read this thead but I've just spent some time reading previous threads and found the answers to my questions. I will not be using this company based on what I've read, thank you to everyone that has made the effort to post in this section, everything that has been said has helped me to avoid them

Hello, I was thinking of using Brighthouse for a new sofa and possibly TV, I know and understand this forum is to be used for problem solving but just wondered on the off chance if maybe someone could advise if dealing with them would be a mistake or not? I understand they're terrible to deal with if I don't keep up with payments and after viewing their website I'd opt for the monthly direct debit payments. But what they don't seem to state is delivery costs, I will ultimatley ring them to find out but was hoping maybe to have some info before speaking to a salesperson. Do they have a reputation for increasing direct debits without warning? I guess also that the 4 reference contacts will be used to harass if I miss a payment? Do they contact my chosen references on the application process or only if I miss a payment? It all seems to good to be true, and I've researched the problems that happen when payments are missed but will everything be ok if I keep on the straight and narrow? Any advice grately appreciated.

Bit of an old post I'm dragging up, but just to give an update if it helps anyone else in the same situation. It turned out it was crossed wires on their part as I put my agreement of a pre pay meter in a letter and so before it was acted on we were getting the threat letters. Anyway, meter went in. £10 credit provided for us on it to get us started. £3 per week charge towards our debt and in total we're putting £10 a week on and still having around £3 left from it so the meter is always well in credit. No more threat letters, far more energy efficent now, no appliance or light (except fridge/freezer) ever left on when it's not being used and so the meter suits us down to the ground, I know in some cases pre pay meters can be expensive and in some cases a stigma may still be attatched, but I'd say get one as certainly for us it's a great choice