@southernelec Are visit charges enforceable?

[deadthings]

Hi,

 

I had some outstanding arrears on my gas bill with Southern, which was around £80 for the previous quarter and then a second quarter bill of around the same amount just came in. I got some reminders to pay, but they were the usual ones mentioning disconnection, which I have had in the past and of course have paid my bill up to date just after

 

This last time I got a visit without warning where a letter was put in my door, and nobody knocked. I was here all day, and have a dog which would have barked if anyone had actually knocked. Clearly no one did.

 

I have now been charged a sum of £49.87 onto my gas bill for having a piece of paper stuffed through my letterbox.

 

I am wondering is this charge, fair, legal and enforceable?

 

I am now pretty much all electric anyway at this point. I have always paid my electric straight away and had done on this occasion, so they knew I was paying.

 

I use duel fuel with them, through Ebico/ Equigas which was a non profit organization for fuel supply. they are supposed to be supportive of people on low incomes.

 

I've been with these suppliers in this manner for over seven years, and have always paid a little late, but always paid, no major arrears.

 

When this second gas bill came in I was about to pay it when this person supposedly turned up, but clearly didn't bother.

 

So do I have any options over this? Any way to challenge it?

 

£49.87 seems pretty outrageous, and I noticed an older thread on here where the same utility company only charged around £25, so it seems to have shot up and I'm wondering does it have to be fair and is there any legal basis to this?

 

I'm up for a fight over it. As I say I may pay late but I always pay and debts with them never are big.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

D.

 

PS I should say, I paid the full arrears on seeing the 'visit' letter, and have just paid my new gas bill excluding this charge. Gas bills will likely be virtually nil for me from now on.

[ericsbrother]

No, it is a common try on but you will have to go to the trouble of disputing it. They will often try and justify it as admin charges but get on to them sharpish as they have added it to your bill, which if I am not mistaken is not allowed, it is a separate debt they sya you now owe. Might have to go to OFGEM if they dont move the amount to another invoice.

[MATTYFEZ]

I've had the same charges from SSE which I am contesting.

 

 

 

Got hit with that visitation charge, I then paid £100 off of a £180 bill,

 

then they came back a few days later and charged me another £49.87

 

I have a complaint open with the ombudsman of which these charges are part, amongst other on-going issues.

 

I've gone out on a limb because I'm waiting on the ombudsman to arbitrate my complaints,

so I've simply told them they are not to contact me at all apart from by email,

that I dispute all my accounts and im not paying anything at all

(as my account is in complete disarray with historical alleged amounts owed, visitation charges and current usage estimates all rolled up into one big bill)

until the ombudsman has investigated as they keep sending me texts and calling me at work.

 

Hopefully the ombudsman will help me out, we will see..

[renegadeimp]

The charges are not enforceable. They are penalty charges. Laugh at them and say better luck conning your next victim

[MATTYFEZ]

That makes me feel a whole lot better, I'm sure I've paid this charge before also, when I first raised a complaint with SSE, Ill have to add this info to my case with the ombudsman.I wonder if Ill be able to get this refunded?

[deadthings]

Thanks for the replies, and sorry for not thanking sooner. Summer hols for kids!

 

I will complain asap.

 

Thank you again.

[deadthings]

OK an update so far.

 

I wrote a complaint regarding this. My points are that I dispute anyone actually called, as I have a dog and he barks when someone does knock, and as he didn't and I was there all day it is clear someone only shoved a piece of paper through my door and didn't actually knock.

I further argued that the fee they are trying to charge me is not legal, and they have right to demand it of me.

 

Their response from a rather snotty woman was to say they did call, and their 'representative' not only knocked, but that he also read my meter and 'called on my neighbours regarding my debt'!

My response to this has been to advise them that I intend to complain to the Information Commissioner's office regarding a Data Protection breach.

 

The woman who has Emailed me has stated that she has since spoken to her manager and that they will not remove the charge and that I must pay it.

 

My final point of complaint was that it has been added to my gas bill, and as such should not be, that instead it should be billed as a separate charge.

Their response to this was to say it is clearly labelled separately.

My response to this has been that this 'Visit Fee' has been added as part of the total for my gas usage at the bottom, and thus is clearly a part of my gas bill.

 

They keep Emailing reiterating the same garbage, and I have now asked them to confirm this is the final stage of my complaint and that we are in deadlock.

 

Once I get that I will complain to the regulator.

 

Is Ofgem the regulator then, AKA the Ombudsman?

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

D.

[nottslad]

The Ombudsman are separate of Ofgem. Ofgem don't usually deal with singular complaints, hence the recourse being with the Ombudsman

 

I would be surprised if they let this go to the Ombudsman, because even if the Ombudsman don't uphold your complaint and side with the supplier, the cost to the supplier is about £400!

[deadthings]

I was thinking that, with it being so much for it being sent there. Of course I won't pay it anyway, but my primary aim is to see it is not included as part of my bill as the overall total, otherwise they can claim I owe so much and try to force a meter install. That's going to be what I send to the Ombudsman mostly. Of course I dispute they ever actually called because no one actually knocked, just put a letter through, nothing else.

 

Do you know which Ombudsman it is for energy?

 

Also their having stated that their representative called on my neighbours asking questions about me, well I've threatened a Data Protection complaint over this, and will indeed make that complaint, but since I stated that they haven't replied at all!

 

I'll give it a few days and mail them again and see if any response, then it'll have to be another snail mail. Before this threat they replied to my Emails within a few hours each time.

 

Thanksl.

 

D.

[nottslad]

It's the Energy Supply Ombudsman. Normally a deadlock letter would have to be sanctioned by a senior manager, so again very very surprising if they would let it get that far.

 

They could possibly hide behind the fact that it's the charge of the visit for the hand delivered letter, but that would really be punitive.

 

It's standard industry practice for these charges to be added to your bill as a separate line on the invoice; I don't think there's much mileage in that one I'm afraid - sorry if that's not what you were hoping for but in my experience and all that....

 

With regards to them putting in a prepayment meter for the balance - i the visit was say £50-60, they would not be able to be able to take Warrant action for such a low value, so you maybe shouldn't worry too much about that, besides which if you turned up at the Magistrates' court when they were trying to apply for the warrant I am sure it would be turfed out.

 

With regards to the DPA issue - this is quite concerning if they have contacted the neighbours to discuss your debt, and if they haven't it's a very unfortunate choice of words from the woman you've been dealing with. My experience of this kind of thing is that the rep may ask neighbours whether they know who lives next door, if there are any disabilities the electricity company should be aware of, that kind of thing. I've not seen this be challenged but my initial thoughts are that it is a potential breach due to them effectively disclosing who your account is with?

[deadthings]

Thanks for the reply.

 

You make some good, points, but my problem is now I only owe the £49.87 on my gas account, and yet this morning I have received a disconnection threat letter from them, which I appreciate is computerized, but it demonstrates how they are adding the visit fee to the 'overall total' of the gas bill and then using it in order to justify disconnection threats.

 

My point to them is that they have sent me a letter, and they repeatedly state someone came and knocked when I know they didn't. It's a common problem round here with Council contractors, having an appointment, not turning up and then claiming they did call when everyone round here has experienced it and says they didn't.

 

The last woman I had contact from spoke poor English and appeared very flustered and annoyed when responding. I think she was trying it on and when I brought up Data Protection she became much more formal and stated she had spoken to her manager.

 

I've had no response now in several days, and I explicitly requested a deadlock letter. Instead they've sent me a disconnection letter.

 

Thanks for detailing the Ombudsman. I'll probably write another snail mail letter this weekend demanding a proper full response to my complaint. I get the feeling they're going to try ignore me now and then claim it has lapsed. So I'll preempt them.

 

Thanks for the support.

 

D.

[nottslad]

have you tried emailing the CEO? Even though they don't actually read it, the complaint should be dealt with much more efficiently - you can find their details on sites like CEO email?

[deadthings]

I was going to actually write another snail mail letter and request a response, but the CEO Email sounds like a better bet. This woman who emailed me from SSE is very ignorant and I'm sure they are trying to avoid following their own complaints procedure, so I will try this instead.

 

Thanks!

 

D.

[deadthings]

** WON **

 

 

Got a reeeeealllly long Email from a manager, giving me a load of bull how the charge is not for the actual visit but for the entire process of demanding payment, including letters etc. I intend to reply that their note which I received states on it 'You have been charged £49.87 for this visit'. Also went on for ages how it was a one off and a good will gesture etc.

 

Anyway he states after talking to a most 'senior' manager they have agreed to remove the charge and it will be done within a day or two.

 

I still intend to challenge them on contacting my neighbours about it as a Data Protection breach.

 

Thank you for the support and guidance. Much appreciated!

 

D.