United utilities served court papers***Claim Discontinued***

[alibobsy]

before Christmas we had some financial issues

 

the monthly payment for UU couldn't be paid

-I actually cancelled it to avoid charges.

 

After Christmas I got a single reminder letter for the bill

-about £180 pound left.

 

at the start of Jan I logged onto the online service and set up the direct debit,

this would clear the full balance via 3 higher direct debits

before the end of March ready for the next bill to start as normal.

 

This was accepted online and I also received a email confirmation a few days later.

 

last week I got court papers from UU for the bill.

 

Now I know I will have to pay the £180 and I have no issue with that,

would prefer to pay as previously arranged,

but can try to scrap it together over the next few weeks to get rid of it.

 

However I am annoyed that one department accepted an arrangement then later another department issues the court documents.

 

I also don't believe I had a LBA just a single reminder.

Plus they have stuck an extra £50 "solicitors fee" on the claim form,

but I thought you couldn't claim for costs in the small claims court?

 

For information we are not on a meter-there are 6 of us so would cost us more.

Thanks

 

Ali x

[unclebulgaria67]

You could acknowledge and defend on the basis that UU have already accepted your payment instructions before they issued the court claim. The defence information would then be passed to UU by the courts and they should see that you have set up payments with them. Therefore they would not continue with the court claim. End of story hopefully.

 

Just make sure that you make the payments that you set up with UU.

[rebel11]

Hi ali

 

Bearing in mind that they've issued a court claim, you could write a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark it as such. Explain what's happened, how they have let you down and what you want them to do.

 

Send it to:-

 

United Utilities

Mr Steve Mogford

Chief Executive

[email protected]

[AndyOrch]

Thread moved to General Legal Issues

[alibobsy]

Thanks for the swift replies, I did send a message to customer services, but had no reply.

 

Will make a complaint and see how it goes, but watch my dates on the court action and defend anyway.

 

Ali x

[unclebulgaria67]

Thanks for the swift replies, I did send a message to customer services, but had no reply.

 

Will make a complaint and see how it goes, but watch my dates on the court action and defend anyway.

 

Ali x

 

Make sure you acknowledge the claim by the date required and add your defence when required. Otherwise you will end up with a default CCJ.

[alibobsy]

Had a letter today from UU confirming cancellation of the case yay!

 

Ali x

[AndyOrch]

Well done alibobsy......does it state Notice of Discontinuance?

 

Thread title amended to reflect the outcome.

 

Regards

 

Andy