Utility warehouse

[emarieb]

PLEASE HELP!!

 

I've just had yet another conversation with utility warehouse!!! I'll post my previous thread below so you know what I'm going on about!

 

 

I have had an ongoing issue with Utility warehouse for months ever since I moved in my property.

 

It is my mums house and I rent it from her, Utility warehouse were her provider when I moved in.

 

She gave them a final meter reading and agreed a repayment plan to pay off some money she owed.

 

We Moved in and the problems started!

 

Firstly they would not let us change the name of the account due to the out standing amount,

all the bills have been addressed to her

never the occupier

even though she had given them her new address.

 

I tried to change my name over numerous times,

they wanted copy of the tenancy agreement which i have sent by email a million times but they have never recieved apparently.

 

Then comes the price of the bills

- for 5 months they wanted £800!!

I disputed this and they told me is was on an estimate.

that they would look at the meter readings and send a revised bill.

 

This never appeared,

 

then a letter landed on my doorstep saying they were obtaining a warrant to enter and fit pre payment meters.

 

I rang again gave new meter readings (even though the account isnt in my name they are happy to tell me all the details every time!)

Told me I was owed £410 in credit

 

I said this was right and to send me a bill with the revised price and I will pay,

was told as soon as I paid all action would be stopped

- EVEN THOUGH ITS THEIR MISTAKE!.

 

New bill arrives with the SAME 800 on there!!

 

Next a new letter comes asking me for pictures of the meters?

and to email them in!

 

Before I have even had a chance to do this

I came home to a letter saying they have a court order to come into my property on Monday and fit meters with force!!!!!

 

When I called them AGAIN I was laughed at and told I should have paid my bill.

Erm I would if it was right!!!!

 

I have no idea what to do now,

I do not want them coming in and fitting a meter to take money when I dont even know what would be taken?

Can I stop them coming in anyway??

 

This letter is the first one to ever come here that says to Miss ***** or occupier

surely if i show them the bills are not for me but the previous they cant come in?

 

PLEASE HELP!

 

 

 

They have now told me the account has wait for it £600!!!! in legal fees and debt collection surely this is not correct?!?!?!?! is this even legal?!? How do I challenge this?? they are telling me to send an email to the complaints department I just dont know what to do! I want to pay my bill just the correct amount its not that much to ask!

[unclebulgaria67]

Phone the complaints number.0844 815 7777 and ask to speak to a manager. As it costs 5p a minute, ask them to call you back.

 

They are open until 4.30pm today.

 

Do that again but be insistent on speaking to a manager.

 

If you have an unpaid bill at the address, they can fit prepayment meters and can force entry if necessary to fit them. If the arrears are not yours, then they can't add an amount to the rate, to make you pay for the previous owners debts. As long as you can evidence you are a new tenant and therefore are not just family continuing to reside at the property.

 

See if the manager will put this on hold, while your complaint is looked at.

[emarieb]

I have already done that this morning, I recorded the call also so I had proof.

 

It was the complaints department, He was very rude until I said I would like to know how I can take it to court. where he became all apologetic and said to send a complaint in to so and so. They are still coming to my house to fit the meters on monday- I'm not even fussed about it if I'm honest I just refuse to pay all these legal fees!!

 

Has anyone ever tried to claim these back? - I haven't paid them but they are trying to make me!

[unclebulgaria67]

You might as well let them fit the meters, as they have a court order to allow them into your property. You can still fight this and claim everything back if you win.

 

You can go to a county court on Monday for an injuction to stop them. But this will cost you and may be too late.

[Wooks001]

If they fit a pre-payment meter they may well pre-load it to claim the debt back, explain that the debt is not yours and they should not do this. Apart from the inconvenience side I don't think gas etc costs any more now by pre-payment meter.

[Bazooka Boo]

Don't assume they will have a court order to enter your property and fit a meter, you need to see it, and view it in its entirety, and you need to see the signature of the Judge that has given them the order. If it is a photocopy sig, then they will not have authority to enter your premises.

 

Get onto trading standards and the energy ombudsman.

[emarieb]

They have insisted they have a signed warrant to come into the property, but I am most concerned about the £600 they have put on in legal fees and debt collection - £240 of it being for this visit! is there anyway around this at all? Me and my partner are considering paying the full amount and telling them where to shove it but we don't want to risk not getting anything back if we cant fight them.

 

I'm really upset as I managed to pay of £3000 last year and get myself out of debt and now its back again!!

[Bazooka Boo]

What they say and what they do are worlds apart, they may say they have a signed warrant but I strongly doubt it.

 

Again, get onto trading standards and the energy ombudsman.

Pay them nothing, you will not get it back.

[kmalbin]

Hi, I'm sorry to post on your thread, I'm on my phone and can't work out where to go :-/

 

I've also been having problems with utility warehouse. I recently signed up with them as a distributor after a collegue recommended them. Paid my £100 to go on the training etc. Training was great, all it's so easy you just read this booklet out and you get all these benefits and commission in return. I was so hyped and ready to go, I went straight to my mums and signed her up, after quoting on the online system it showed she'd be alot better off for gas, elec, phone and broadband. I then went home and signed myself up too, same again for me.

 

So it was all going through lovely for my mum. I received a call saying as we were a sky customer we'd have to pay £30 for a new line installation, even though the current 1 is BT, I said I was not happy about this so they said they could change my number and I wouldn't have to pay the new line fee but o wouldn't have broadband for around 10 days, to cover this they would send me a dongle to use free of charge.

 

It turned out to be nearly double the 10 days with no broadband, and I never received the dongle. I called about it and they apologised and told me there was no point sending the dongle now but they would credit £12 to my account for the trouble.

 

Meanwhile, my mum received a letter stating that it would actually be more to transfer the gas and electric but she thought she'd save on her broadband and phone so it would be ok, I then received the same letter and thought the same however this was worrying as the online quote said it would be cheaper.

 

My broadband went live and we've had nothing but problems, it cuts out all the time, and if you have a problem after 5 you can't do anything about it as they are closed. My mum experienced the same crap service with her broadband but we also kept receiving faxes on our new number cox it was an ex fax number. When I called about it they said I could pay 1.25 a month for choose to refuse and I could block the number or I could pay £15 and change my number. I was not impressed and complained and they finally agreed to change my number for free.

 

Anyway, me and my mum agreed utility warehouse are rubbish and as we were not tied into a contract we would change again.

 

We chose talk talk.

 

Today I have received a letter from UW stating I have to pay an administration fee of £48.95 PLUS VAT to end the service.

 

I googles this, and on the which website, it says back in 2010 that they were dropping this fee, so how can they charge me this?

 

I've read other posts and they state a £10 cancellation fee was payable, and it also says this on their website, so how and why are they charging me £48.95 plus vat?

 

Is there anything I can do?

 

I also want to get my £100 back that I paid for the training is there any way I can do this?

 

I am not selling this crap to anyone and I don't understand how they are top in which?

 

Please help!

[sameagle]

And you're changing to Talk Talk?

 

Oh Gawd!

 

I dumped them last year from one of my lines, because I was fed up with struggling to understand their agents with the difficult accents, on overloaded crappy lines, from the Indian Continent.

 

They wanted £70 to end the contract, which had been in place for five years - until I shouted at them.

 

It seemed that it was all a big "mistake"

 

Then when I dumped the other line - guess what?

 

They made the same "mistake" again, or they tried to!

 

Shop around, the people I'm with now have accents - but they are easier to understand - Glasgow, Bristol, or South Wales - easy!

 

Sam

[Bazooka Boo]

I echo the same caution with Talk Talk, seems like your going to be jumping out of the fire into the frying pan here! Be very cautious in using this talk talk outfit, they don't have a very good rep, mind you saying that, neither do most of these communications "experts!"

 

Ignore UW, I wouldn't think there would be much hope of getting the £100 fee back, just learn from that judgement, you weren't to know.

 

As for their 'admin fee' don't fall for it, they can waive that for the atrocious customer service they continually provide.

 

Make a complaint to your local trading standards.

[Surfer01]

I echo the same caution with Talk Talk, seems like your going to be jumping out of the fire into the frying pan here! Be very cautious in using this talk talk outfit, they don't have a very good rep, mind you saying that, neither do most of these communications "experts!"

 

Ignore UW, I wouldn't think there would be much hope of getting the £100 fee back, just learn from that judgement, you weren't to know.

 

As for their 'admin fee' don't fall for it, they can waive that for the atrocious customer service they continually provide.

 

Make a complaint to your local trading standards.

 

Spot on. Pity I never picked up the original post as could have advised OP that due to change of tenancy lawfully UW cannot bind them to a contract to which they never agreed. Secondly they can claim compensation off UW due to harassment. The sooner companies like UW are shut down the better!

[Inmysparetime]

This company are a bunch of idiots!

 

Relative of mine recently passed away (another relative is now living in the property). Having provided a meter reading I requested a final bill to the Estate and for a new account to be opened for the relative now living there - ignored. 8 months later, after several requests, bill to Estate arrived = £900 for 1 month's worth of phone/broadband, gas and electricity. £400 bill to the new occupier! I have all the bills in front of me and it seems they doubled up their charge for two months. To make matters worse the person dealing with the account is an ignorant so and so.... steer clear of this idiotic company

[Breedon25]

This company are a bunch of idiots!

 

Relative of mine recently passed away (another relative is now living in the property). Having provided a meter reading I requested a final bill to the Estate and for a new account to be opened for the relative now living there - ignored. 8 months later, after several requests, bill to Estate arrived = £900 for 1 month's worth of phone/broadband, gas and electricity. £400 bill to the new occupier! I have all the bills in front of me and it seems they doubled up their charge for two months. To make matters worse the person dealing with the account is an ignorant so and so.... steer clear of this idiotic company

 

Dear inmysparetime,

Could I help you if this is not sorted out. Do you know who the distributor was that signed your deceased relatives services? They should be your first port of call to help you out with this as they could possibly try and get someone to assist you and ease your distress. I am personally disappointed you have experienced this billing. Should you require my help at all, please get in touch.

[Bazooka Boo]

Breedon in what capacity are you purporting to help?

If you are employed by this outfit, then you need to contact the site team.

[AuraTodd]

And you're changing to Talk Talk?

 

Oh Gawd!

 

I dumped them last year from one of my lines, because I was fed up with struggling to understand their agents with the difficult accents, on overloaded crappy lines, from the Indian Continent.

 

They wanted £70 to end the contract, which had been in place for five years - until I shouted at them.

 

It seemed that it was all a big "mistake"

 

Then when I dumped the other line - guess what?

 

They made the same "mistake" again, or they tried to!

 

Shop around, the people I'm with now have accents - but they are easier to understand - Glasgow, Bristol, or South Wales - easy!

 

Sam

 

I couldn't understand talk Talk either, who are you with now if you don't mind me asking please?