Hi All, Just to make you aware: Having had multiple problems getting a clear response from UW, I was eventually told by a rep that I shouldn't be paying the legal charges, this conflicted with the debt department, and having spoken to the debt manager I cut a deal. I will pay all of the debt I owe, if they clear off the £600 legal costs that they charged me for unlawful entry to my property. Happy to report they accepted and having waivered their offer to remove the meters and gp back to credit, at a cost of £100 each (plus £100 removal fee), I am now happily using the services of the wonderful EDF Energy. EDF gave me the opportunity to switch to their credit meter for 28days and then switced me to credit meters for free after this period. Fantastic service and I'm save in the knowledge that they won't break into my house looking for money owed by somebody else. RESULT. Thanks for all of your help and support, and to those who will no doubt be saddened to hear of my triumph after their continued negative postings.... Bah Humbug! Thanks BLMQST

Still waiting for a manager call back... All I want to do is pay my bill. A shame that they don't deem this as a high priority.

Hi Zazen, no I didn't pay for consumption as they wouldn't give me the option. The rep I spoke to earlier in the week told me that people ask for her extension number all the time, so I asume she is full time staff.

any help on how to handle this incoming call would be great. I was definitely told I would get the charges back by one of their employees and they will now try to go back on that...

Guess what? UW have stiffed me again! Called their debt department to pay off the bill (excl legal fee/installation) and was told it was totally out of the question and I had to pay the full amount. I've referred them to the call I made earlier in the week and that the helpful rep told me I would be allowed to pay off only what I owe. She said they will listen to the call and ask for a manager to call me back. she also said that the warrant of entry is charged against an address and not a customer with an outstanding debt ie whoever is at address. again I asked her why they desperately sent a person to my address in febuary when I had only been there less than one month and why I received no such letter. No response other than they were trying to ascertain only who lived there and not "where is our customer". This sounds totally implausible that they would commence this kind of action against an "address" within a month of someone moving. Obviously the previous tenant did not inform them they were moving and that has now sped up the process against me and I know they would not normally start legal action against someone who had so recently moved in. I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and visit my magistrate court (unless they come up with an adequate solution). I'm not concerned about the legal fees and I understand I will receive compensation in the eyes of the law. to add to the issue, they have sent a new bill addressed to the old tenant to my place!! are they going to break in again when they realise she won't pay??!!!

just spoken with UW. The (incredibly helpful) rep, has told me that it was wrong for UW to expect me to pay the legal cost and has told me to call the debt team tomorrow and pay £555 as the rest of the £800 is legal costs. she has put a note on my account that will confirm the company's viewpoint. I will then be able to have the meters removed, a deposit of £105 is required, but I am happy to cover this based upon the fact that I have not payed by bill until this point. I cannot speak for my landlord who may wish to seek compensation, but I will be happy that this is resolved to my satisfaction if this is all true and actioned as it has been said. I will confirm here tomorrow if they were telling the truth.

oh and UW said that once the bill is up to date, the meters can be removed (or by another supplier)

Hi zazen, Money is not an issue. as you will have read in my previous post, I was willing to pay my bill in full once it arrived. Money is not the issue here, it's UW breaking into somebody's house based upon an assumption of occupation without getting their facts together.

re: Speedfreek I have used fact to counteract an obviously one sided and biased poster, who isn't offering advice, but is tryin to disuade myself the OP from taking legal action against his company. You however, are making wild assumptions based upon your ignorance and for some reason insist on attempting to make people feel stupid for posting an honest plea on a subject they do not understand. Why not go outside and practice your favourite past-time... kicking people when they're down? Many thanks, all the best.

By the way, managed to find this on a similar thread about UW, a post by none other than our very own SHINING LIGHT defending the company from yet another allegation of corruption. I do believe the Lady doth protest too much... Or at least has read a little too much into the company manifesto... talk about one sided advice, of course you don't want me to begin legal action, you LOVE the UW "fleecing the public and are a [problem]" Hmm, lets see: A growing customers base. PLC of the year last year Top rated by various 3rd parties many times. OR READ IT HERE: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/utilities-gas-electricity-water/267163-held-ransom-utilities-warehouse.html

Thanks team for ALL of your comments (and hysterical hyperbole © ZAZEN.WARRIOR) , even those by UW affiliates; it helps to understand the ignorance/weakness of a company before you begin legal action! I will be speaking to UW today to ask them for a contact name to begin litigation. They have managed to send me a recalculated bill for gas, WHICH INCLUDES THE LEGAL COSTS ETC, along with gas top up card, but have yet to send me a bill for electicity or a top up key.. beginning to worry that the electricity will run out with no means of top up. Just to confirm as I believe I left some abiguity in my previous post, I did not receive any mail, court warrant, etc addressed to Current occupier or previous tenant, if I had, of course I would open it (afterall, I was expecting a bill), hand delivered or not. Some really helpful legal tips have been left by a number of you, if anyone has anything to add, would be much appreciated

Just spoke again, with UW. They said they have recounted the debt, and that I will only be responsible for the debt owed since I moved in, and that the former tenant is due to pay her debt. However, he also said that I will incur legal charges and installment fees for the break in and installation. I asked him if it was fair that I was paying this and he said that it was. apparently they sent someone to talk to the past occupier in feb (when I was there) in order to set the wheels in motion for legal action, so I asked him if it was reasonable to hold me accountable for legal action they held against someone else, after a month of me living there. he didn't know the answer and told me to call the UW call centre (I thought this was the UW call entre?). I am sure this is illegal and I will refuse to pay the costs involved. If they can bill the past occupier NOW for her debt, they can also bill her for the legal work they started on her and finished on me. Can anyone help me with this? Am I within my rights? Thanks

OK, so I've taken on board all of your comments. I have spoken with UW and sent in my tennacy agreement and meter readings. Although I am to blame for the utility bill that I have clocked up since moving in, I do not feel that I am obliged to accept UW'S uninvited installment of prepayment meters and subsequent legal fees for installment etc. If they had sent a letter to the present occupier or contacted the LL or LA, or even knocked on my door, all of this could have been averted and I would have happily paid, instead now of it being a personal issue in that they broke into my house, changed locks and installed meters, all without notifying me. I understand what speedfreek is saying: But I do believe that this is a forum for informed people helping other people to overcome situations that they feel are out of their hands, NOT a place for personal discrimination based upon lack of knowledge or understanding. Speedfreek, you are as good as someone who goes onto forums for people who need help with alcholism and telling them they are the cause of their own problems and to just stop drinking. Perhaps work on your advice.

Toally agree. Truth be told, in my ignorance I didn't realise you could call any supplier and they would inform me who we are using. My letting agent said wait for a bill so I could sort it out, but it never appeared and then THIS. I'm happy to pay off any outstanding debt I owe, I just wish I was made aware of the situation before they broke in and will now charge me for the pleasure. I believe this process to be unlawful and I think if THEY had done a little more research, they would've been able to adequately penalise the previous tenant, and also help me to change the account into my name. I have now been punished and defamed beyond my actual situation because of UW's inability to try and locate and contact the previous tenant. It's difficult to ascertain whether somebody is honest via a forum for the disgruntled, but in all truth, nobody put a letter through my door about this and nor was my letting agent contacted. It's just lazy professionalism, "we can't be bothered to research, so just bill the old address".. surely the previous tenant is now using a new service provider? Surely if British gas know I'm using UW, then UW will know who she is using and where? baffled.

Great, thank you Rebel, very helpful. I have already called UW though and the first rep screamed at me after I asked her if she had ever heard of royal mail redirection, as this is what I believEd the previous tenaNt had used, she shouted that she had never heard of it and threw the phone down (someone should've told her it was MY house UTILITY WAREHOUSE broke into, not hers). The second rep was more helpful and could clearly see that I was honestly trying to resolve the matter. She told me that a company rep came to my doorstep (I wasnt in) way back in february to give the previous tenant a hand delivered letter. I do not recall any letter, and I had clearly ONLY been in the property a month... hardly capable of rounding up a debt large enough to deserve such attention. I also asked the rep if it was an adequate legal timeframe to request entry to my property considering I have been here 6 months. She said it was. I provided her with the meter reading from when I moved in and she has asked me to fax in my tenancy agreement to correalate the dates I moved in. Should I continue on this route or should I commence litigation?

A disasterously un-helpful response there Zazen. Initially changing the locks is irrelevant. If you read my post you will see that UTILITY WAREHOUSE obviously hired a locksmith to break in, not my landlord. Although I understand your insight into your 'list of new letting routine', It is totally irrelavant in my situation. Many thanks. HP Mum: I will speak to my landlord now as I know I have been unlawfully treated, thank you for your kind help.

Hi All, Thank you for your responses. I have received no warrant, no representative knocking on my door or any mention of any awareness of this case by my landlord or letting agent. The first I knew of this was coming home to find the prepayment meters installed and a "notice of prepayment installation". the notice says on it that they obtained a right of entry warrant, but I have not seen the warrant. When I moved into the flat I was told by the letting agent to wait until a bill arrives for the present occupier in order to set up my gas/electricity, as they had not been able to contact the previous tenant to ask who the provider is. I'd admit that I could have done further investigation, but I certainly feel that this action is incredibly drastic considering I have received NO OTHER notification addressed to the present occupier or even a letter in the previous tenants name (I imagine they have all mail routed to their new address via Royal Mail) stating the course of action utility warehouse will take, or even that the bill urgently needed paying! Nobody even had the decency to knock on my door or hand deliver a letter. As you can imagine, this is a terribly embarressing situation to go to my landlord about and I want to weigh up all of the options to find out if it can be resolved, before I do so as I believe I have done no wrong. I believe Utility Warehouse have acted unlawfully in gaining entry to my home without notifying me of the situation. Amazingly I would've been happy to pay the bill, I just didn't know who my supplier was!

Dear all, I am incredibly angry as I have just returned home from work to find my house in disarray due to Utility Warehouse breaking in and installing a prepayment box for both my electricity and gas and a bill for £1,691. No instructions were left for the electricity meter, nor were payment keys/cards for either.... helpfully they left keys for the door lock they broke into and changed. I moved to this 2 bed flat in the middle of January 2010 as the previous tennant left due to redundancy. We received bills addressed to her that we forwarded to the letting agent for the first week and I believe she was in financial difficulty. We havent received any letters through the door addressed to her since so I imagine she redirected all mail to her new location. We assumed that we would receive an annual bill (which wouldnt be a problem to afford) from whoever our supplier was for gas and electricity as it was all connected when we moved in (I took a meter reading also), but we received no notification of non payment or anything addressed to 'the present occupier'. I am now faced with having to use a top up meter for both utilities, when I was more than happy to pay my bill in full. Does anybody have any advice on what my rights are and if I can get this reversed? I have tried calling the Utility Warehouse but the number rings and rings and no one answers. Helpfully UW left a telephone number on the letter but no opening times for call centres etc.. An unbelievable disgrace of a way to treat a person once they have broken into your own home. My partner is in shock and is scared to be home alone after she got in from work and saw the cupboards open and things on the floor. If anyone can help, or has any advice it will be very much appreciated as I will be seeking legal action if I cannot resolve this out of the courts. Thank you