Hello I had even worse treatement from Utility Warehouse they had been given my name by the previous occupant of the flat without my knowledge, because they encourage their customers to EARN MONEY by nominating other potential customer.. . and these people get discount on their own bills. But of course without permission of the nominee this is illegal and against even the old Data Protection Law before it was updated. (incidently yht Data Protection amendments were not that necessary I've lived in Europe and they are followed carefully. ..it was only Rip Off Britain that didn't follow them or enforce then . .even now you have so much ignorance here, cos there is no enforcement. As I had come from living in Europe for a while I had no idea that any Tom Dick and Crook could set up as a Gas or Electricity reseller and unfortunately didn't find out that the previous one here was Utility Warehouse until a month after I moved in. I received a letter in my own name from them stating that "they believed the property was lying empty and that they would be cutting off the gas and electricity UNLESS...threat threat threat...demand for money" I called them immediately a Saturday morning and told them I had no intention of carrying on an account called a MEMBERSHIP with them and that I did not want to be their customer. They told me wrongly that I had no choice in the matter.. .they wanted me to set up a direct debit based on the payment plan of the previous occupier which looked ridiculous. I don't even use direct debit having had a previous run in with Talk Talk over broadband that never worked some years ago and them dipping into my bank account for money I didn't owe. Utility Warehouse from the very outset were not interested in what electricity or gas I used... which was very low as a single household of a tiny flat and the boiler was found to be broken when i moved in and so had no central heating or hot water for first two months in winter. After about six weeks a third party came to read the meters officially and I took meter readings the day I moved in, we checked them and I noticed I was on a high tariff. I questioned U. W. over this and they said there was only one tariff with them if I did not have 4 services with them... they would only give a lower rate if I had phone and broadband with them too. ..I'd already set up mine with another company. Less than two months into the flat and a letter arrived on Christmas Eve ( I was really ill when I moved into my flat and this made things far worse for me) The letter threatened to FORCE ENTRY to my flat to CUT OFF MY SUPPLY and INSTALL PREPAID CARD METER and they stated that this would be charged as £600. I had not even been living in the flat a full quarter, just a few weeks. And had already told them that I did not want them as a supplier, but had to wait for phone and broadband to find another supplier ... in fact they had no jurisdiction over me so I should not have needed to migrate physically which takes a while. The contract should have died when the previous customer moved. The fear of someone forcing my door and putting me in the position of paying even more money on a prepayment rate was devastating on my health. The letter stated that if I did not contact them within 10 days that this would be carried out... they ALWAYS timed letters to arrive on a Saturday and always when they were closed... they were actually closed for days. The first day they were open I spent seven hours on the phone with them at MY EXPENSE, trying to get to the bottom of it. I offered to pay the usage I had used up to that date but they weren't interested, like other people on this forum thread I had bee sent and continued to be sent multiple bills weekly sometimes two or three times in one week all for different amounts of money, none of them bore any relevance to the official meter reading nor my meter readings. They were more interested in trying to technically find a way for a customer to default and then earning money by meter change and forced entry. I insisted on paying money that very day but they didn't want to accept it because they said the actual quarterly end was two days away and that I could pay then. I said and if I wait two days will you stop the forced entry going ahead and they replied NO!! I had to keep demanding to pay over the phone. About three days later beginning of January I got four new bills. My average costs for a utility bill would be about £30 a month including stading charge, but I would get bills anything from -£6 to £228 for one service for a month. I emailed them extensively about the threatening letter and never got an apology I also kept repeating my right to pay quarterly in full, but although they agreed to set this up monthly bills carried on arriving ... on a twice weekly basis. In the end I managed to migrate my gas , but they clung on with my electricity trying to suggest I was in arrears so that I was prevented from moving. I kept saying 1. I paid quarterly so I didn't owe the monthly bills they kept sending and saying they were unpaid. 2. I finally got an apology of sorts about destroying my security over the Christmas period with the threat of breaking in. But by Easter the did the exact same thing again and sent another letter out (again short of the actual quarter) saying I'd failed to make monthly payments and I was not going to get a forced entry with Sheriff and as with last letter Police watching ( great when you are trying to move into a new area and establish a rapport with new neighbours). I had been told that this behaviour /tactic would not happen again but the letter again appeared on a Saturday with a holiday period when their office was closed so I could do nothing to stop the break in.... And again was on the phone to them as soon as they were open. They had offered to reimburse the money I spent on the phone at New Year but never actually paid me this money, although they used to mention that it would be CREDITED to my next bill. By the time I had migrated my electricity I had been with them 6 months and had received 64 bills, all total nonsense. I went to Citizens Advice who spoke to them on the phone when I received my final bill which should have been for £80 . but Utility Warehouse wanted to charge me £228. It was so easy to work out what I owed except for the tax or standing charge, I had my initial readings and a clear price for usage (overpriced anyway) and deducting what I had already paid them. They started trying to charge me for gas again!! Then after the CAB speaking to them I took over as they were just lying to CAB, I said you will be paid based on my usage and nothing more... so they said they would half the bill!! They also had invented a few surcharges claiming late payments but I resent an email they'd sent me in January which evidenced that they had accepted that I could pay quarterly so could not be surcharged for not paying monthly as if i was in debt during an quarter that hadn't ended. It took three more months to get a final letter i wrote to their CEO but never heard anything I threatened legal action over the harassment twice from a company I never even signed up for and had no right to ever have my name, or details... obtained illegally. All I got was a sheepish acknowledgement that I had paid my account in full and it was closed. It was 11 months of hell...even though i was only a customer for 6. The last year in June 13 months after leaving them officially they tried to get me to pay a NEW BILL for £65 saying I had not paid my final bill in full, that they had found that I hadn't paid the standing charge... even though these were all worked out over the phone with CAB and including VAT and paid in full and acknowledged that I paid in full by email. I had threats immediately from their Debt Collection arm ... posing as a different company saying it would be referred to Sheriffs and incurr bad credit rating. I sent multiple emails , but all the harassment worry and fear that had made me ill came flooding back and the anger. No matter how often I emailed to say I owed NOTHING they ignored emails and continued sending out multiple demands for money all coming from Debt Office. In the end I luckily found my old email from them stating that I had paid full and final payment to them 2017 I sent that But I did report them to the Ombudsman and guess what ...never heard anything from Ombudsman. This company behave like extortionist pay day loan sharks and should be closed down. I cannot stress enough how they have a set script to deflect customers from paying bills ... delaying them to allow for a technical or perceived default in order to earn money by forced entry and meter change this is what they are about nothing else they are the lowest form of life and how the law allows this to be possible is one of the reasons I drove away from Rip Off Britain in the first place and lived in Europe, because it is the stress that is shortening people's longevity and making daily life so unpleasant you consider suicide. Just to have basic shelter warmth and communication. My view is they will target pensioners and people with demntia who may be unaware that these people are in the wrong and that nobody owes them money. they initially insisted that i set up a direct debit for thousands per annum my bills never reach that and I had never consoidered myself to be vulnerable. But they is no logic that works with them because they don't care about ACTUAL USAGE at all they have a script to get money out of anybody any underhand illegal way possible they are well over the illegal threashold and are CRIMINALS and I will challenge them in court to justify that claim any day of the week. it is a TOTAL TACTIC by Utility WAREHOUSE..they are crooks! But yes they are driving people to consider or commit suicide. Wish they were being scrutinised I did report them to Action Fraud but not heard anything either. the police need to be involved and scrutiny at high level because everybody has had the exact same tatctics and demands for vast amounts of money when actaul usual is so moderate. I think they hope people will just give in and pay anything to get rid of them but they then tried to demand a new bill to me 13 months later... hoping they could beat the 12 month jurisdiction on old payments, but it is FRAUD. every time everything they do Extortion and Fraud.