Four weeks ago, we secured a new home in an area where Virgin Media don't offer any services. This is a shame because we have enjoyed their service for the past 11 years. We let them know straight away that we would no longer require their services and they told us that they would send us three bags with cable plugs so that we could cap the cables and return the two set top boxes and router that we have. This took two weeks and when the bags turned up there was one bag big enough for the router and one cap. We let them know instantly and they said that this was a common problem and they would send the correct bags. Today they still hadn't turned up and we're moving on Friday (today is Tuesday). Their attitude is that we will just have to order the bags again so we can cap the cables and return the boxes. We have explained that we won't be here, but have been told that if we don't do this properly they will charge us £350 for the equipment. My question is that if we have given them four weeks notice, and they haven't provided the facilities to terminate our contract properly, can they charge us? I have to say that even when we used social media to contact them, they seemed to ignore the fact that we have to leave the property on a certain date and just kept giving us a link to order the bags an caps.

We signed a rental agreement for a new property in Cowpe on the 1st December 2017, having recently had a baby and a wedding on the 29th December we decided to speak with our then current landlord, a friend of the family, to see if we could take our time moving our possessions. All this was fine. My fiance rang Utility Warehouse, our current provider and asked them to transfer our account to the new property. We started to move our belongings into the new property. Most of the larger furniture was in, with the help of friends on the morning of the 13th December we packed an overnight bag and bedding and all the necessary baby equipment. When we got to our new house we were disgusted to find that somebody had been into the house. On the table next to the door was a piece of paper and a plastic key. The paper was an ‘access notice’’ from SSE, a utility company. They had broken into the premises and fitted prepayment meters for the gas and electricity. There was no other information except the details of debt owed on the same notice. We tried to call SSE but the mobile signal was non-existent and we had no internet or telephone line. We messaged our new landlord to see if he had prior knowledge of SSE coming to the house. Our new landlord had no idea that SSE was even the supplier to the premises. There was no mail in the house after the purchase as it was a repossession and the letter box had been screwed shut. We were both really upset about the fact we had no details on how to use prepayment meters, somebody had broken into the premises without any contact from them beforehand, the mess they had left in the dining room, the fact that to anybody, a family was just moving into the property with a huge sign outside the front door saying LET agreed, cards on surfaces saying welcome to your new home and boxes of belongings in every room. We finished unloading the van we had borrowed and drove to a shop to ask them how we put money on the meter. This they did for the electricity but to do the gas meter we needed a card. We called SSE from the van outside as the shop assistant had suggested. The call took 53 minutes and the SSE employee gave us a number that the shop could then use to top up. We went back into the shop and gave the lady the number. She said that the number is not accurate as it had too many digits. We thanked her and tried in two other shops on the way back to the new property, they all said the same thing, the number has too many digits. It was a bitterly cold night and because of the amount of money that had already been used on the emergency £5 electric they had left us with, within a day it had used £2 with only the fridge and an extractor fan on, we decided that we would not risk staying the night, packed up the things that we would need for the child and drove back to our old home, in a blizzard, only to sleep on the floor. The next day we rang SSE from our old home as we still had telephone and internet. They asked me who I was and apparently this was when I became a customer of SSE. The call took 1 hour 7 min. The SSE employee went to a scripted call and told us about the tariff and the contract that we had signed onto, the employee was very apologetic, her manager had told her to do so. ur understanding was we had been forced into a contract with SSE. We arranged a call back. The call back took 31 minutes and we got cut off on a transfer. We called them and the call was 49 minutes, this last call was to arrange removal of the prepayment meters. In this time we had arranged that it would take SSE until the 15th January 2018 to remove the pre payment meters. We asked to be transferred to a complaint handler as we had a complaint. A manager picked up the phone, we asked for a complaint handler. The next day we had a missed call from the complaint handler because we were on the phone asking Utility Warehouse if these problems would affect the change over. It was a short message, left no details and he said he would call the next day. This is the last we heard from SSE for the year. My fiance was finding that the stress was now affecting her and we then had to rely on the frozen milk that she had been determined to donate to the East Lancashire hospitals. We tried to concentrate on the house move, wedding and baby and not SSE. On the 28th of December 2017 our gas transferred to Utility Warehouse and on the 2nd January 2018 our electric transferred to Utility Warehouse. They were very supportive and helpful. Following the wedding in Eire and the 12th night celebration in Edgeworth, I went back to work, my now wife was still on maternity. We were still moving bits and pieces and making sure the house we were leaving was empty, clean and tidy. I had printed the forms for the Financial Ombudsman as I had an inclining that SSE were not a very good company. On the 15th January 2018 an engineer knocked on the door, my wife was busy with the baby and when she got to the door the engineer had left a card. She rang SSE to rearrange a time, the call was 20 minutes. Unbelievably they said an an engineer can call back that afternoon, not a month later, it was not an SSE engineer but an employee from the National Grid. They told my that the SSE electric engineer would arrive the same morning. My wife felt positive. The gas engineer arrived in the afternoon, he was unable to change the meter as he had the incorrect information, he was there to replace a credit meter. My wife rang SSE again and was told that we were no longer customers of SSE and the electricity meter exchange had been cancelled and they would not be rearranging the gas exchange either, it was down to Utility Warehouse to sort things out. The call took over an hour. SSE said they would send a cheque for the £20 debt repayments that we had been making each week to the outstanding debt that did not belong to us, but they were now unable to stop our repayments because we were no longer customers of SSE. My wife asked about our complaint only to be told it had been cancelled on the 29th December, when she queried why she was told that we had arranged the meter replacement for this date. The day we were being married in Ireland. We finally got an email contact for a complaint handler and a reference number but my wife cannot speak to this company as she is not the customer. I am not and will never be a customer of SSE. We have felt violated by SSE and they do not seem to understand how despicable they are as a company. My wife tells me that the people on the end of the phone are not to blame for this situation but I see everyday how we have suffered because of this awful company. Only this morning I could not have a shower because we had no credit on the meter. SSE continue to send mail to this address for the customer who the debt belongs to, we have been receiving at least 3 letters each week, we keep returning to sender. If possible can somebody advise us as to how we can get SSE to acknowledge their shortcomings on customer service and stop their corporate abuse.

If you are looking for an energy supplier, you would be a fool to choose Npower. If you are with Npower, you would be a fool to stay with them.

29th September: Vodafone sends a text message saying there is unusual activity on one of my accounts. Gives number to call. Call Vodafone number quoted. They say our usual £400 bill is topping £2000 this month! Fell off chair! Ask for explanation so put through to billing team. Lady says actually it is now £5000+ and there is a week to go - but she cannot say why this staggering bill is winging its way to me. Nor which SIM card it relates to. I have to wait a week - this is £1000 a week so I don't want to wait but there is nothing they can do!!!!! Checked all phone numbers and excess adds up to about £150 which is usual. Not £5000, but Vodafone cannot tell me where the problem is. I have to wait over a week!!!! I have taken SIM cards out of all handsets, iPhone and dongle so they cannot get used. Advice from Vodafone - wait a week or more for the bill to land on my desk! They stuffed me for over £1000 once before like this. They were definitely in the wrong but they threatened legal proceedings so I had to pay. I am not going to take this one lying down - I will see them in Court!!!

hi Really looking for some advice. I have an ongoing issue with british gas, this has been going on for over four months now and i dont know where to go from here. * I changed my account with them and needed to re-set the Direct Debit. Existing Direct Debit stopped.... * They then continued to try and take the money from the old account direct debit, despite new details and a new Direct Debit being set up. * Numerous phone calls resulted in two further new Direct Debits being set up and STILL they continued to try to take the money from the original Direct Debit instruction.... * All this time, I am losing track of what is owed to them, despite many attempts to pay my bills via direct debit. * We are losing our discounts because they 'Can't' take the money and i am spending countless hours on the phone, time when i am supposed to be at work trying to address this issue. * I even took a full day off work and had to cancel a family day out in order to wait in for a call from them and they never called * I have emailed them the details of the Direct Debit instruction many times and they've never replied * Now we have been contacted by a debt collector 'Buchanan, Clark & Wells' who are chasing the money we have been trying to pay them... . After speaking with B,C & W they informed us that they contacted British gas who told them that they weren't supposed to contact us as they were aware of our complaints, but that the staff member responsible for addressing this is away on 'annual leave' with no return date..... We are at the end of our tether and do not know what to do from this point on..... Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Lindsay

I share this story for educational purpose, to let you look behind the curtain. I’ve been trading different markets since 2000, but it was my first complaint ever. I have irrefutable evidences to prove the prejudice, but there was no way to address that problem. The procedure was only a barbaric joke. Nevertheless, my sense of humour is much better. I reported them for fraud to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and to the Action Fraud, based on Fraud Act 2006 chapter 35. It is proven fact that the ombudsman made an irrational decision and it was not a mistake. I am aware that it is a criminal offence. Post 15. It is recognized fact that the adjudicator and the ombudsman rejected my complaint using different arguments, but both arguments supported my claim. Using those arguments my complaint should’ve been upheld. The real nature of the FOS was unveiled due to their incompetence. Posts 3 and 4. However, the truly scandalous parts were presented by the team manager, the senior manager and the so called Independent Assessor. They covered the mess up shamefully. Posts 5-13. At the end, I will show you how the Financial Ombudsman Service manipulates its statistics. My £5,000 dismissed complaint is published on their website as upheld. Reference: DRN0281948. Post 14. Yes, I am going to write about the centralized, systemic corruption of the Financial Ombudsman Service UK, where there is no way to address the unbelievable bias and incompetence. Would you believe me if I said the adjudicator has admitted in writing that he didn’t understand anything when he made his two rejecting decisions? Yet there was no way to question his biased verdict. Post 3. Would you believe me if I said the ombudsman falsified data to dismiss my claim? Well, he had to, because his nonsense theory doesn’t exist. I mean literally, it doesn’t exist. Yet there was no way to address that fraud. Post 4. Would you believe me if I said, after the adjudicator rejected my complaint with an argument which supported my claim and wasn’t related to the case, replying to my service complaint the team manager clearly stated that the admittedly wrong decision should be left intact, and the adjudicator shouldn’t have discussed that issue with me? What fair play? Post 6. Would you believe me if I said the adjudicator supposedly deleted one of my emails with information he requested (probably contradicted the preconception) 20+ times, and the team manager, the senior manager, the Independent Assessor refused to recognize the issue? I was unable to address that problem. Post 8. Would you believe me if I said that I had to file a Freedom of Information Act request to see the evidence which was used to reject my complaint, which should’ve been disclosed in the ombudsman’s decision at the first place? Hint: I couldn’t obtain any evidence supporting the ombudsman’s decision. You are going to see why. Post 9. I know. You cannot believe it. Then just keep reading. You will see how serious the problem is that no one has control over an ombudsman. You will see that there are no real checks and balances in the system. They cover up the issues anyway, so I am sure it is done on purpose. How could you expect the financial firms playing fair when even the legal system is that rigged? They didn’t feel any shame when they got caught cheating. They didn’t show any regret. They don’t learn from mistakes. They are absolutely immoral. The goal could be genuine at the beginning, but now the Financial Ombudsman Service is only a subsidiary of the financial industry to protect itself against the public anger and the real accountability.

Hello, I am not sure if this is the correct board to post in, please feel free to move this thread if this is the case. Hello CAG, I am a new member here! Please bare with me as I try to explain my issue: I have been a Microsoft customer for almost 12 years and now they seem to be stone walling me with an issue in relation to Halo 2 for PC. I first contacted them on 7th April and I have reported my issue to them almost on a daily basis since then and I have not got a very good service. I have been repeatedly fobbed off, lied to, and only ended up extremely frustrated at the end of each contact. Only saying I have to wait a number of days despite being given dates that have been and gone including 13th, 14th and 15th April for a solution. And yet, here I am, still waiting for an answer. The problem is simple. I have Halo 2, it requires an activation key to be used. I have entered that activation key and it activates successfully when you activate it online over the internet. When I try and play the game, I get the following screen: The game I have is completely original, bought from a store around 7 years ago and I have had no trouble with it till now. I have contacted Microsoft repeatedly about this (I have chat logs to prove it) and on each occasion, I have had false promises of this and that. I have the original game and here is the picture as proof: I don't know what else Microsoft need to provide me a solution to this problem. I omitted the key from this post in order to prevent it being misused by other people, but I forwarded the original and unedited image to Microsoft's customer support in it's entirety including the key. And 8 days after bringing it to thier attention, I am still being fobbed off and lied to with false promises that have never materialised. I have now been told to wait till the 18th and that would equal 11 days after first bringing the problem to thier attention. Even though I was promised a reply and a solution on the 13th, 14th, and today yet I am still waiting and now being told to wait till the 18th. This is AFTER I was promised a solution on the other said 3 days, and nothing came. Is Microsoft support this bad? I have had enough of the diabolical treatment I have received the the lies I have been told for 8 days as of today. Is Microsoft THAT incompetent and ignorant? I am at the end of my tether and extremely frustrated, what can I do about this to force the issue and get a solution as promised repeatedly on 3 different days that I was promised a solution? Thanks in advance.

The Financial Conduct Authority have already managed to show great incompetence and lack of awareness of legal requirements by breaching the Data Protection Act and sharing personal information with a third party without consent. If they have any integrity they should hold themselves to the same standards they hold others and pay a mutli-million pound fine. This isn't just some woolly vague principle they have breached that can be interpreted retrospectively. It's a clear law that most people are aware of. Shame on you FCA.

I am wanting to know if anyone has any way to speak to BT and actually get listened to. We used to have several lines with BT Business, two mobiles and two fixed lines. We cancelled these at the end of the contract as we had closed the business and both gone back into employment. BT completely ignored us when we cancelled these lines, the fixed lines were based at our home, and we switched the lines to Sky after drawing a blank with BT. However, BT continued to bill us, even threatening to cut off our one residential line well after we were established paying line rental to Sky. I have called them numerous times, written to their 'Service' centre in Durham, without the courtesy of a reply and even copied in OFGEM (who don't consider individual complaints). This has been going on most of this year. The same thing happened with the Fixed lines and the BT Business mobiles, (although I do owe some, not much, money on these I can't get an accurate payment because they did not or will not finish the contract when we asked) Last week I received a letter from a debt collector and tonight I came into an answerphone message from another one (who was pleasant enough but still thought I would be stupid enough to pay an incorrect bill). I am out of ideas as to what to do, work long hours and honestly don't want to waste all my spare time trying to sort them out. I know I need to resolve this and that they just can't be bothered. Any ideas let me know. Thanks

Hi I have a serious problem. My incapacity benefit was stopped on the 4th of April, the first I knew was last week when it wasn't paid into my bank account (noticed on Friday 19th). Spoke to DWP today and they informed that it's because I didn't attend an ATOS assessment in Feb. The problem is... ATOS have never informed me of any appointments and this is the 2nd time it's happened in about 6 months. I even told the DWP that I wanted to make an official complaint about the failure to inform me. I live alone, no one else has access to my mail. If I'd received a letter I'd know about it and I put all appts on my calendar so I don't forget about them. These are duplicated onto my gmail calendar and I get a notification n my phone to remind me aswell. But the first I know of these appts is when I get the 'did not attend form' from DWP afterwards. The DWP didn't even send me a letter telling me it had been suspended. I am in full on anxiety/panic mode, over drawn at the bank and don't even have money to purchase food I desperately need help and advice on what to do.

I emailed quick quid several weeks ago regarding my outstanding PDL and they have agreed to a repayment that is suitable for me- I gave them my bank details and debit card details at least twice (I have an account for this purpose)they keep stating that they will continue collection procedures as I have not agreed to a payment plan or given my repayment details!!!!! I have corresponded via email over 10 times, made a formal complaint and reported them to the OFT as they fail to acknowledge my acceptance of the plan. I am sick and tired of emailing them- they don't read my emails. I am getting bombarded by texts, letters and emails despite me asking them several times to correspond by email- I am viewing this as harrassment. I have evidence of all emails sent and received- it amounts to 9 pages in word document. I have now received a letter this morning with a default notice!!!!!! I am livid- I have tried to pay them this so called agreed repayment plan for over 1 month now and am at my wits end. What can I do as I feel I have exhausted all possibilities!!! Any help greatly appreciated.

So after about 8 hours on the phone to various people and 3 visits to Vodafone shops I have now been told my number cannot be transferred. My old contract with 3 finished and I decided to move to Vodafone PAYG. I transferred my PAC code on 27/02/13 and expected a smooth transfer. How wrong could I be. I was initially informed it would be done within 2 working days. By 04/03/13 it still had'nt been transferred hence me calling Vodafone after 1 hour trying to get through I gave up and decided to go into store where I was told ot would be done within a few days by 08/03/2013 it still wasn't so i decided to visit the Trafford Centre store where I was met with a belligerent man who didn't seem to know what was going on and gave me a new sim and said it would be done my 11/12th of March. Obviously this wasn't done so I went back into store and was promtly told my PAC code had been transferred to an old Vodafone system and their was nothing they could do. I requested their complaints procedure and called them up. After speaking to a lady called Ann on 14/03/13 I was advised I would be required to wait until the PAC code had expired which was the 18/03/2013 and get a new one from my old provider. Lo and behold I called my old provider who are unable to issue a new PAC code as this number has already been lost by Vodafone during the porting process. So after another 2 hours wasted this morning on the phone to Vodafone and 3 . I have now been advised due to Vodafone's complete f**k up I can't have my number ported in and a measly £40 free credit doesn't cut the mustard. I have now been left wondering what is going on and with little hope of this being sorted. Would you suggest accepting the £40 free credit or taking this further via OFCOM/FOS ? They certainly haven't heard the end of this.

I Signed up with Virgin Media Sales and gave bank details for my standing orderin early in October and they confirmed the installation date as 16th October 12th October 2 workmen arrived and luckily I saw them as I drove into our road. They had painted an arrow on the road opposite my drive. They said they would need to dig up the road to get access to Virgin's conduit . I showed them the place on my drive where the access point was and they took a photograph of it. I have a frontage made up of coloured blocks and one ofthese about the size of a brick can easily be lifted to show the Virgin plastictube. They didn't do anything further, however, and went away. On the 16th October I waited for the Installers to come. At lunch time on that day I received a letter fromVirgin saying that the installation would be postponed as Virgin had to getpermission from the council to dig up the road to unblock the plastic conduit. I made several telephone calls to explain that there was no need to dig up theroad as the access point was clear but to no avail. I rang construction several times to tell them they didn't need to dig up the road. Couldn't get any sense from them and was told it would be 2 to 4weeks before they could install. On 5th November 2 Men came to dig up road I showed them the access point on thedrive and they said that was fine and they didn't need to dig up the road. They fed a long wire through the plastic tube to the connection sink hole at the bottom of the road. They then told me that they couldn't connect up because the sink hole was full of water and silt. They said they would lsend another team to clear it. they had no idea when. 8November Spoke to John in Philippines no help here but he agreed to raise acomplaint Ref 320509953 but said it could take 2 weeks to deal with. Spoketo Virgin re installation to a girl called Rosy who didn't help then a lady called Alison from complaints who was no help. She said she had to put me backto construction On Friday 10th November posted my complaint on Virgins face book page. I said Virgin Media wrote to me on the day our installation was due and said they needed to dig up the road saying the installation was postponed. I heard nothing and then 4 weeks later after many phone calls they said they didn't need to dig up the road after all but the access point down the road was full of silt and had to be pumped out. During my wait a few weeks ago someone from Virgin said that they would reduce my subscription by £10 permonth for a year because I had been treated so badly. The day before a chap called James from India said his supervisor would call me at 1030. No one called. Gracie from Virgin somewhere else said she would look into it and would call me back. She didn't. Today my sky viewing ends which means no Sky sports until Virgin sort things out or, as I am now considering, I go back to Sky and Plusnet and kick Virgin into touch. The guys who found that the access pointdown the road was full of silt said they have customers who sometimes wait months so I was lucky. I don't feel lucky. Got a reply from the social team They said Dear Bryan, Got it! We’re on the case and will be in touch soon. Thanks, Virgin Media Theydidn't get in touch. 14thNovember spoke to Canta in construction who said they had a new date for installation of Monday 26th November. Told her the problems regarding the sink hole being full of water. She said she would e-mail the local construction people giving them the details to fix the problem. 15thNovember spoke to Roxanne in construction who said she would talk to the local people again. 16thNovember a neighbour told me Virgin had been twice to our road. 17th November Roxanne rang me to say our installation would need to be postponed as the sink hole was full of water. You couldn't make it up. I complained to her and she said she would look into it and get back to me in 1week. I complained that a week was too long but she said she was away for a week. She then said she would get someone to ring me on Monday 19th November. 17thNovember spoke to Canta who said the installation was on schedule. Then said she would contact the Area Manager and get back to me. 17thNovember didn't get back. My neighbour recommended me to Virgin for which he hopes to get £50. I think he will be disappointed. I also think that quite a simple problem has been made much worse by your company's inefficiency and incompetence. I have been told by Roxanne that someone will telephone me on Monday. If they do not I will go backt o Sky for telephone, TV and broadband and cancel Virgin I will also forward acopy of this letter to everyone I know. BryanCheetham

Hello all, just wondering about something. Last week I had an accident which caused my arm to have a deep cut. I was taken to my local hospital who at first told me it just needed stitches. Shortly after they said I had cut tendons and needed to travel to this hospital in another town to have it operated on. They gave me a 9am time slot, didnt bother asking how I was due to get there. My only method of transport is train. I found out after that the hospital is 2 hours on train and an hours walk from train station... First train of the day is 6am. No chance of getting there. I phoned and said I couldnt make it. Was delayed til the next day. I got trains that day, many were delayed so I couldnt make it on time, phoned and they arranged it for last Friday. I got there, they finally saw me, just by doing some simple hand exercises they said it isnt my tendons that are cut, but my nerve in my arm. They said I will need an op to be done under local anaesthetic to repair it. So booked me in for yesterday (weds) to have it done. They made me sign consent form and it was agreed I would have it done. When they phoned to confirm a time I told them I could not make it for 9am due to trains and they said to come in for 10:30 or after that as I will be waiting all day for it to be done anyway. Yesterday I got on train, hoping to get there by 11:30. I had a call off my mum at 10:30 saying they called the house phone saying I should of been there at 10:15 and was late. My friend phoned them saying I was told to go there after 10:30 and I was not late. They said its all fine and they would see me shortly We got there for 11:45 and the rude woman on reception said I should of been there at 9am according to her sheet. Completely wrong. I was finally seen and told it cant be done under local anaesthetic but has to be done under general. Again they refused to do it that day claiming they had a lack of beds. We were told they would call us to come down Friday (tomorrow). When they phoned they said I would have to be down at 8am, impossible for me, since even 9am was impossible with the earliest train of the day. They then said about Monday but warned that it will be left too long by then and the chance of success will be greatly reduced. They finished by asking me if a neighbour could take me... No neighbour would take me that far of course. They wrongly diagnosed things... At my local hospital to start with and there after (once saying it needed an op under local anaesthetic the next saying it needed to be done under general anaesthetic). They also mixed up appointment times and pretty much wasted my time going there twice, costing me and a friend £35 each for a return on train each time we went. They knew we relied on trains and still messed me around for this long, which has now ended in having to go at 8am tomorrow which is impossible, or going Monday but having a decreased chance of them repairing it as its been too long. In legal terms im thinking of actual damages due to negligence? So far they have had 2 chances where I was told prior to going that they would operate, but they didnt, and now its the first I have heard about the chances of fixing my arm are reduced as its been left this long. Any advice?

Hi.. Following with interest, as I am having my own issues with HAstings D. HAve you managed to get it sorted yet?

Hi Hoping I am in the right forum here. My motorbike was stolen and then due to fingerprints and blood being found on the parts left behind when they dropped it, 3 youths were taken to court. Unfortunately on the day, the prosecutor told me that police had not correctly marked up the fingerprint evidence and no statement had been put in with the blood evidence, the judge would not allow a delay and threw the case out of court - which leaves me well out of pocket even with insurance! Is there anything at all I can do to try and claim some money back - I know even if it hadn't been thrown out of court I would have probably got the '50p a week is all I can afford' brush off, but its so annoying that these 3 scumbags walk away due to police incompetence!

Hi everyone, Long time reader, first time poster. Just wanted to come on here and tell everyone about the ridiculous treatment that I have received from EDF over the past couple of weeks. I phone to change my direct debit amount and collection date in mid July. I was told that I had to cancel the current DD and set up a new one to change the amount - seemed a little odd but went along with it. After I had cancelled, I was told that I had to wait a week before I could set up a new one (great, another 30 minutes listening to 'Take On Me' while waiting to get through!) A day after cancelling my DD, I received a letter from them stating that I had a 'severely overdue' amount of £35 on my account. My account balance at the time was actually £250.77 (debit) so not sure where that number came from! I phoned again to query this and was told not to worry about it because I could set up a new DD which would cover it. I took the opportunity while I actually had someone on the phone to reinstate DD at a slightly increased value and an amended collection date. When the collection date arrived, I checked my account and noticed that EDF had taken my new DD amount AND the full outstanding balance on my account! Back to the phone I went to ask what had happened; the lady that I spoke to apologised for their error and told me that I had to instigate an indemnity claim under the DD Guarantee through my bank to claim the money back. I did this (very quick and easy, thanks Smile) and then phoned EDF back to tell them that it had been actioned and to check that everything was okay - I was assured that it was. 2 days later (Thursday last week), I received a letter stating that my DD had been cancelled by my bank. After spending over an hour waiting (over 2 days) to speak to someone about this, I gave up for the weekend, only for the biggest shocker to land on my doormat on Saturday morning... .. EDF sent me a 'legal action notification' letter saying that they had tried several times (several times? Try never) to contact me about the outstanding balance on my account and now had no option but to commence legal proceeding against me! These legal proceedings would apparently comprise a doorstep visit on Saturday 11th August to collect the outstanding payment in full or to fit a pre-payment meter. Now I've sent them a particularly snarky email and am now dealing with them entirely by email for record purposes but, while they have apologised for the 'shock' caused by their letter, they still feel they are in the right and will still be coming to my house on 11th August unless I pay the outstanding amount of £156.77. I think that their conduct has been entirely disgusting throughout this sequence of events - what if I had been some little old lady and received that stupid threatening letter? They are beyond contempt, and as soon as this matter is resolved, I will be getting the hell out of EDF and on to a new supplier. I have raised a formal complaint to EDF about their conduct and would appreciate any advice on other avenues that I could go down to bring their antics to the attention of others. Apologies for the long post, but it's a long story and I wanted to get all the details in one post! Cheers, MB78