SSE and Large bill

[mnrbig]

Hi

 

I wonder if anyone can give me some pointers as to this situation. I have been paying my electricity via SO. SSE screwed up my address so I have not received a bill from them. I have now realised that my SO amount was to little and have a electricity bill of £350. I still have not received a bill, but don't know were I stand. Can they demand I pay all of it at once?

[Guest wino]

Hi there mnrbig

When was the last time you received a bill?

[mnrbig]

More than a year.

[kaijays]

Hi I am currently experiencing a similar problem wth swalec who belong to scottish and southern energy, I have both gas and elec with then and pay by direct debit, when i moved into this property 3 years ago I owed nothing on either bill, I had token meters taken out so i could carry on with the direct debit my gas was set at 37 and elec at 37, my accounts are reviewed every six months, I recently had a letter stating that due to the fuel price increases in august 2008 my direct debit for gas would rise from 38 to 66 quid per month from april 09, I disputed this as I was not oweing much and this levels out in the summer, then I had a letter stating I was £1,140.15p in CREDIT with my elec so I rang them and asked them for a refund they they said I owed them £575.00 for electric and I was indeed in arrears???? I have never had a letter stating I am in arrears my account is supposed to be reviewed every six months (aug to feb) by them I asked for previous bills only to be sent an online bill dating back to the day I moved in and it is showing that my direct debit was never enough, I cancelled both gas and elec direct debits immediately, I rang swalec and complained nd now they want me to agree a direct debit for £72 quid for elec or a token meter set at £15 per week for arrears and usuage will be extra I do not have this kind of money, I looked at one of the bills and saw that in "our commitment to you" statement it says if we have let you down speak to an adviser, if the adviser is unable to deal with it then ask for a manager, this is what I did the adviser could not help and I asked for a manager yesterday, the adviser had me on hold for 10 mins and then said no managers are available, I asked that they ring me back still no call??? I again rang today and still no manager??? but I was informed it was my fault??????? ha ha,what happened to the customer is always right, so I rang consumer direct who advised me to put it in writing, however the guy there did say as a rule of thumb if the debt was accumalated over a number of years they have to let you take the same amount of time to pay it off, i.e as mine had been accumalating to over 500 quid for over a 3 yr period they need to let me pay it off over the same time period, however swalec has admitted to me that the issue only came to light when i rang and asked for my refund, and it was a system error, what was actually showing on my bill and letters that I received was what I had previously paid not what i owed, thus meaning I was never informed of any arrears, I am not satisfied that I am solely liable for all of this debt and I intend to make this clear using their own statements on letting custmers down, I also have an adress fo them in Perth to write a letter of complaint I was advised to sk for a gesture of good will which will probably be pennies, Swalec also stated they would send me the Tariff pack for the government initiative for fuel for people on benefits, this has not arrived either, so I am now going to follow their complaints procdure to the letter. Hope this helps you in some way.

[kaijays]

update to last post;

 

nobody from swalec contacted and certainly not a manager, as they stated they would, I rang again and again told no managers available (do they exist i started thinking), so i left it a few days and have rang them demaning a manager as the avisor cant help with complaint, I got hold of a young man called russell who did everything he could even though he could not get hold of a manager himself and rang me back a few hours later explaining what he had done, he has cancelled the prepaid meter instalation and has forms being posted to me first class, so that I can go on the government tariff (if you spend more than 10% of your income on fuel), and he has put my account on hold until it is resolved, he is getting me on a lower tariff which is in place for 2 yrs, I will be able to keep my direct debit payments quite low, he has committed to ringing me back next week, he has so far done exactly what he says on the tin and is an example of how customer services should be, I am still a little mad as I wante a gesture of good will but so far none forthcoming I expected them as it was there mistake to offer a small gsture at least, as I am stll having to repay £575 quid, well we will c how it goes.

[mnrbig]

kaijays

 

This was my thread which you have hijacked. Please start your own thread for this so that this thread doesn't get confusing.

[kaijays]

yes your right when i looked at it i realised sorry! I thought you wanted advice and I thought that was the purpose of me explaining my situation so you could take bits from it for dealing with your own as you asked for help, however you are correct and no hijack was intended, and I will certainly invade it anymore just that you have had no other advice?

 

kaijays

[UhOhImInTrouble]

Next time you call Swalec, ask to speak to Tony Keeling. He's Director of Customer Services. That'll rattle someone