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    • when mediation call they will ask the same 3 questions that are in their email you had to accept it going forward. simply state 'i do not have enough information from the claimant to make an informed decision upon mediation so i refuse. end of problem.  
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    • Which Court have you received the claim from ? Civil National Business CEntre Name of the Claimant ? Lowell Portfolio i Ltd How many defendant's  joint or self ? Self   Date of issue –  15 Feb 2024 Particulars of Claim What is the claim for – the reason they have issued the claim?  The claim is for the sum of £922 due by the Defendant under and agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for a Capital One account with an account reference of [number with 16 digits] The Defendant failed to maintain contractual payments required by the agreement and a Default Notice was served under s.87(1) of the Consumer Credit ACt 1974 which has not been complied with. The debt was legally assigned to the claimant on 16-06-23, notice of which has been given to the defendant. The claim includes statutory interest under S.69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at a rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of the issue of these proceedings in the sum of £49.15 The Claimant claims the sum of £972 What is the total value of the claim? £1112 Have you received prior notice of a claim being issued pursuant to paragraph 3 of the PAPDC (Pre Action Protocol) ? I dont know the details of the PAPDC to know if it was pursuant to paragraph 3, but I did receive a Letter of Claim with a questionaire/form to fill. Have you changed your address since the time at which the debt referred to in the claim was allegedly incurred? No Is the claim for - a Bank Account (Overdraft) or credit card or loan or catalogue or mobile phone account? Credit Card When did you enter into the original agreement before or after April 2007 ? no Do you recall how you entered into the agreement...On line /In branch/By post ? Online Is the debt showing on your credit reference files (Experian/Equifax /Etc...) ? Yes Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. Assigned/purchaser Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? I was aware, I'm not certain I received a 'Notice of Assignment' from Capital One but may have been informed the account had been sold without such a title on the letter? Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Yes Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Sums in Arrears”  or " Notice of Arrears "– at least once a year ? Not since the debt purchase, and not from Capital One. Why did you cease payments? I can't remember - it was the tail end of the pandemic and I may not have had enough income to keep up payments - I am self-employed and work in the event industry - at that time. I also had a bank account that didn't allow direct debits and may have just forgotten payments and became annoyed at fines for late payments. What was the date of your last payment? Appears to be 20/4/2022 Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? No Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? No Here is my Defence: Defence - 1. The Defendant contends that the particulars of claim are vague and generic in nature. The Defendant accordingly sets out its case below and relies on CPR r 16.5 (3) in relation to any particular allegation to which a specific response has not been made. 2. Paragraph 1 is noted. I have in the past had an agreement with Capital One but do not recognise this specific account number or recollect any outstanding debt and have therefore requested clarification by way of a CPR 31.14 and section 78 request.. 3. Paragraph 2 is denied. I am unaware of having been served with a Default Notice pursuant to the Consumer Credit Act 1974. 4. Paragraph 3 is denied. I am unaware of any legal assignment or Notice of Assignment pursuant to the Law and Property Act 1925 Section 136(1) 5. The Defendant has sent a request by way of a section 78 pursuant to the Consumer Credit Act 1974, for a copy of the agreement, the Claimant has yet to comply and remains in default of said request. 6. A further request has been made via CPR 31.14 to the Claimants solicitor, requesting disclosure of documents on which the Claimant is basing their claim. The Claimant has not complied and to date nothing has been received. 7. It is therefore not accepted with regards to the Defendant owing any monies to the Claimant and the Claimant is put to strict proof to: a) show how the Defendant has entered into an agreement and; b) show how the Claimant has reached the amount claimed for and; c) show the nature of the breach and evidence by way of a Default Notice pursuant to sec 88 CCA1974 d) show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under statute or equity to issue a claim 8. As per Civil Procedure 16.5 it is expected that the claimants prove the allegation that the money is owed 9. On the alternative, as the Claimant is an assignee of a debt, it is denied that the Claimant has the right to lay a claim due to contraventions of section 136 of the Law of Property Act and section 82A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 10. By reasons of the facts and matters set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief. .................. Please note that I had to write a defence quite quickly as I hit the deadline. At the time of writing the defence, I hadn't been able to find correspondence from Capital One, but had since found default letter etc. I submitted CCA request and CPR 31.14. However, I didn't get any proof of postage or use registered post for the CPR (an oversight) but did with the CCA request. I received a pack which included a letter from Overdales, going over the defence I'd filed, as well as letters of Lowells and reprints of letters from Capital One. But I have no idea if this pack is in response to the CCA request or the CPR ! I would have expected two separate responses ... although I do know they are both the same company. Looking over the pack today, and looking through old emails .. I find some discrepancies in the Capital One default letters (notice of default and Claim of default). They are both dated *before* an email I have stating that a default can be avoided. The one single page of agreement sent (so not the full agreement) has a 16 digit number at the top in small print, next to 'Capital One' which corresponds to a number called 'PURN' printed at the top of each of the 10 pages of ins and outs of the account (they're not official statements, but a list of monthly goings) yet no mention anywhere on either of the account number. I cant really scan them at the moment - I can later tomorrow, but that will be after the mediation call I'm sure. I guess I may be on my own for this mediation ... I am not certain the CCA request has been satisfied .. or if the CPR has been . And then I appear to have evidence that the Default notices provided are fabricated ? Yet, I do have (elsewhere ... not at home) Default letters from Capital One I can check ..
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Please HELPPP - Overcharged electricity bill - Good Energy


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Hi Everybody!

I'm new here and I have been spending the last few hours reading several forum. I hope you can help me with the following issue as I have to make a decision by tomorrow!!!

Basically I lived in a studio flat from April 05 to November 07 when I had to move somewhere else cause the landlord needed to repossess the flat.

During those 2 and a half years I never paid an electricity bill as Good Energy (the supplier) kept sending me credit bills stating that those were for information only and I didn't need to pay anything as my account was in credit.

I have to say that because of my job I spent most of my time travelling abroad therefore the actual time i spent in that flat was probably less than a year. Also because I am so busy I have never had the time to reply to Good Energy's requests of reading that I started receiving I would say after 6-8 months I had moved in that flat. So basically for 2 and a half years I never provided the readings. While running around I kept postponing the fact that I had to do it.

Anyway when I moved out and I finally sent the last readings I got back a bill of almost £1800. You can imagine the shock! I appreciate I never paid a bill however it wasn't my fault if they were sending credit bills all the time plus I actually spent less than a year into the flat and that amount sounded ridiculous to me. Please bear in mind that it was a studio flat, no washing machine + i used to switch off everything when going away.

I challenged Good Energy and their answer was that they had tried to get in touch with me several times and I never replied.

I explained the situation and the fact I thought the amount was too high and they said that they had tried to get in touch with me since March 04.

I thought...hold on!I moved in in April 05 how come that they are now mentioning March 04. Obviously something was wrong....

I contacted the landlord and I asked him a few information. To my surprise I found out that the landlord had contacted the supplier twice in April 05 to provide the final readings of the previous tenant + my details and the same readings to open the new account. Guess what? The readings provided by the landlord were not the ones used by Good Energy on the credit bills sent to me over the entire period.

They agreed to the fact I had been wrongly charged for the consumption of the previous tenant so the bill dropped to £1300 ca.

Again I disputed this amount as I thought it was still to high for one single person living in a studio flat for a short period of time...

They kept saying the usual.That they had tried to contact me however I had never replied. However this time around I had the proof that they got the readings twice and they ignored the the information both times.

i asked the landlord to put it in writing stating both the dates and the readings and on top of that I also had another proper look at the new revised bill and I spot out a mistake in their calculation.

I e-mailed again underlining the mistake (I spent hours calculating everything again!!), they apologised, they agreed to the mistake and they raised a new bill of £1233,00.

In the meantime I have to say that I informed EnergyWatch and I told them I was ready to pay and close the whole issue cause I was fed up! However I wanted to pay a fair amount (£750,00) but Good Energy didn't agree to it. EnergyWatch got so fed up that they gave up and left us talking to each other directly.

On top of that I also have to say that Good Energy calculated the bill in a very funny way. Obviously it was all for their own benefit rather than mine.

To cut the story shot as they revised their fee rate 5 times between April 05 and Nov 07 they calculated the total meter readings for the entire time and they estimated the readings each time that they updated the fee rates. In this way I have been charged the highest rate for the longest period of time and the lowest for the shortest one. When I disputed it again they said that it was my fault and that I should have replied to their requests in order to avoid the estimate of the reading in those 5 periods of time.

My points were that they kept making mistakes all the way through, they got the readings twice and they ignored the information both times hence I can easily say that I don't trust them and they way they dealt with this situation. Even if I had provided them with the readings they would have most likely ignored the information for the third time!

The end result is that I could pay the full amount by tomorrow gaining a 10% discount, otherwise I have to agree to a different way of payment of the entire 1233£.

What shall I do? I threatened them saying I would talk to a solicitor. And I have actually got in touch with one who asked me for £180,00 just to right a letter to Good Energy. Do you think is it worth to go down that way or I should pay everything by tomorrow? Please bear in mind I could get a written confirmation from my employer stating that I'm often abroad for work and I could also list all places I have been to over those 30 months.

In addition to this...do you think that the 1 year law could help me, too?

And if you want to laugh...Good Energy have also been chasing me cause they would like to sign wiith them again for the new flat I have moved in to...I believe I must be a very good customer to them!

Please advise.....

Thanks

Loryyyyyy

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I would write them a letter explaining exactly what appliances and heating ect was there also reiterate the fact that this is a studio apartment as you have already stated to them.

Did they get the moving in / moving out readings ???

I would fight this is does seem to high to me to I am sure some clever bod on here could work it out better.

I had a bill like this from British gas they messed up the moving in figure and the moving out figure they wanted £500 for 6 months back in 2002 but it was a tiny cottage and we were hardly there it was more a base as we were relocating, the final bill after lots of to and froing was £98 which I paid, a YEAR later I had a dca letter for the £98 I called and after speaking to a rude guy they eventually agreed it had been settled.:mad:

Good luck...

I hope you manage to sort this.

NS:)

:(:confused:Confused, sad,bewildered,befuddled,bemused,disorientated,lonley until I came here, moving forward to :smile::lol: ,trying not to let them drag me down.:cool:
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Hello,

 

Wow sounds like a mess.

 

As you have calculated the bills I would suggest you pay based on those and not what the company have said.

 

I would write a letter - again, to the company stating the amount you are paying with the calculations you provided, once again stating it is a studio flat etc and that as far as you are concerned the debt is clear.

 

I also suggest you go back to EnergyWatch through your local C.A.B. with all the letters and paperwork and ask them if they can help you, this might free up some of your own time.

 

Looking though the web, it seems Energywatch are the last port of call for utilities and if they are unable to help you could end up fighting this on your own, so C.AB. would be better.

 

If need be take them to court - you don't need a bad marker for debt on your credit file.

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Actually, no, if you get a deadlocked letter and Energywatch refuse to help you, you can then take it to OFGEM.

All help is merely my opinion only - please seek legal advice if you need to as I am only qualified in SEN law.

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Actually, no, if you get a deadlocked letter and Energywatch refuse to help you, you can then take it to OFGEM.

 

 

Thank you for the info Tiglet. I suggest then OFGEM is the next port of call. Good luck.

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Thanks guys for your posts!

However...yesterday i went to see a solicitor and he will deal with the matter from now on.

Unfortunately I couldn't go through OFGEM cause Good energy are not included in their list....I wonder why!?

Anyway just to give you another details on the whole issue....yesterday i realised that for 2 and a half years I have been sent credit bills where

the readings were always decreasing rather than increasing. So for instance if the first estimated readings were DAY 20000, Night 35000 in June 05, the second time they raised a bill they estimated the reading at DAY 19500, Night 34500 in Sept 05 and DAY 19000 Night 34000 in Dec 05. In this way they sent credit bills for the entire period and eventually they charged me for everything in one go....

What do you think that was it done on purpose or not ;-)

This is the first example in the world that someone uses electricity and the actual meter keeps going down rather than up....that's a great meter, isn't?

Believe me....I'm ready to go to Court!I'm not gonna give up as I'm sure they messed up everything all the way through!

keep you informed!

Loryyyyyy

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Good luck keep us posted on how you get on.

NSx :)

:(:confused:Confused, sad,bewildered,befuddled,bemused,disorientated,lonley until I came here, moving forward to :smile::lol: ,trying not to let them drag me down.:cool:
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Loryyyy, do you know what the readings were on the dates you moved in and out of the property? I'm sorry to say that if you don't you're probably going to end up having to pay this bill. The 1 year rule doesn't apply as your have been sent bills - it doesn't matter that they were incorrectly estimated. When you move into a property it is your responsiblity to inform the utility providers that you've moved in and what the opening reads are, not the landlord's. Trying to prove your usage after you've moved out is futile - the only way to prove your usage would be to have 2 actual readings some time apart which can be used to calculate your average daily usage, and from that the initial and final reads can be more accurately calculated - whilst I appreciate your point about the amount of time you spent there, it is actually irrelevant to this particular situation because you've already moved out.

 

If they're confident that their bill is accurate and based on actual reads (or manual estimates based on 2 actual reads at some point during the tenancy) and they're offering you a discount, my advice would be to pay up.

 

Please remember that by law energy suppliers only have to read your meter once every 2 years, and it's deemed reasonable to expect you to read your own meter from time to time to check the accuracy of bills you're sent - if you're sent a bill showing a credit balance time and time again, knowing you've paid nothing, common sense surely should indicate that something is wrong and you should read your meter!!!!

 

While I fully accept that suppliers should take responsibility for providing accurate bills wherever possible, consumers also have a responsibility to do what they reasonably can to check their bills are accurate.

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Hi Mree,

Yes I have both the initial and the final readings. the point is that Good Energy got the initial readings twice by the landlord. the first time when the previous tenant moved out and after 10 days when I moved in. However Good Energy have raised all invoices since the first one basing the amount on estimated readings. Why did they do it if they were provided with the right initial readings TWICE???On top of that they were so clever to estimate the readings in the wrong way every time they sent a bill. In particular they kept lowering the readings rather that adding up meters....in this way they always came up with credit bills. i have the feeling they did it on purpose to get at this point.

Yes I thought there was a problem when I kept receiving the credit bills after a year however believe me I didn't have the time to deal with it and I kept postponing until I moved out. Just to give you an idea of what my life is, I spent more time at the airports of all Europe rather than at home in the last 4 years. I would say that almost the 50% of the time I rented that flat I was actually out of there!

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I think you may be a bit confused by the energy supply ombudsman and OFGEM - OFGEM regulates all suppliers, ESO only signed up members.

 

I would go back to Energywatch and ask them what they are going to do about it - you may have to be persistent.

All help is merely my opinion only - please seek legal advice if you need to as I am only qualified in SEN law.

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Hi Mree,

Yes I have both the initial and the final readings. the point is that Good Energy got the initial readings twice by the landlord. the first time when the previous tenant moved out and after 10 days when I moved in. However Good Energy have raised all invoices since the first one basing the amount on estimated readings. Why did they do it if they were provided with the right initial readings TWICE???On top of that they were so clever to estimate the readings in the wrong way every time they sent a bill. In particular they kept lowering the readings rather that adding up meters....in this way they always came up with credit bills. i have the feeling they did it on purpose to get at this point.

Yes I thought there was a problem when I kept receiving the credit bills after a year however believe me I didn't have the time to deal with it and I kept postponing until I moved out. Just to give you an idea of what my life is, I spent more time at the airports of all Europe rather than at home in the last 4 years. I would say that almost the 50% of the time I rented that flat I was actually out of there!

 

I would suggest writing to them, stating the dates you moved in and out of the property and the initial and final readings, then telling them to send you a bill based on these readings ONLY. I don't think they have done this on purpose, as sending you credit bills means they don't get any money, and now have this situation on their hands, which means they're probably going to end up having to give you a discount on what you do owe - when it's finally worked out!

 

I understand what you're saying about travelling and being away a lot, and I do sympathise, but this fact will be entirely irrelevant to the energy company. Not having time to call and query obviously incorrect bills isn't going to be seen as any kind of defense I'm afraid.

 

If after you've sent the letter I suggested they continue trying to get you to pay an estimated bill, I would give them one more go, enclosing a copy of the first letter and copy in Energywatch and OFGEM. If you still get no joy, speak to Energywatch (or OFGEM, if Energywatch aren't being very helpful) and ask them to deal with it.

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