DCA Southern Water Moorcrorft

[billybobynumeroduo]

Hi all

 

I owe £167.08 to Southern Water Services. This is for the full year.

 

It has been passed on to DCA and I am not sure what to do.

 

Option: ring southern Water pay off the ammount and not even bother contacting the DCA

and leave them hanging for their so called 'admin' fee of 45£.

 

Not had this situation before and any help appreciated

 

Attached is the letter received today 25th dated 22nd

 

thanks

 

BB

[fkofilee]

If you owe this money then pay it direct to Southern Water.

You are under no obligation to pay Shaftcroft...

 

They are just a DCA and do not own the Debt....

[mikeymack2002]

A £45.00 fee you should be able to reclaim this as it is an unfair charge

 

Dont pay Moorcrap

[billybobynumeroduo]

more-shaft haha I like it.... not!

 

Yes they are no better Southern water.

 

I have already paid the bill and SW (back in September). SW did not update their systems, therefore it was passed to DCA. They still were trying to get me to pay the £45 admin fee direct to them at SW, even after explaining what had happened.

 

I said this has caused me distress and I want compo for their incompetence. I have been running around going through all my files trying to find out what is going on....also could this affect my credit rating?

 

So the DCA Moor***** has been called off and a complaint has been put in with SW, the complaint turn around is 4 weeks. I may as well forget it now. Is it worth putting in a written complaint also as they could not even give me a reference for the call/ verbal complaint!

 

Thanks

BB

[dx100uk]

goto ofwat

 

 

dx

[billybobynumeroduo]

goto ofwat

 

 

dx

 

Thanks for this, what copy them in on the complaint?

[dx100uk]

everything

 

 

dx

[The GodMother]

try emailing the CEO. that what l done when the E&S water credited the wrong account as they did no properly close down the old ccount and transferthe details. Ok they admitted fault an gave us £30 after doing the job properly

[billybobynumeroduo]

try emailing the CEO. that what l done when the E&S water credited the wrong account as they did no properly close down the old ccount and transferthe details. Ok they admitted fault an gave us £30 after doing the job properly

 

Hi GM,

 

many thanks for this, exactly what I was thinking.

 

I have the CEO email address: [email protected]

 

I will be emailing tomorrow and recorded delivery.

 

K regards

 

BB

[The GodMother]

Don't worry about a recorded delivery letter the email should be fine. Expect it to be passed to a person lower than him but atleast u will get a answer.

[billybobynumeroduo]

absolutely, yes thanx for your advice

 

rgds

 

bb

[billybobynumeroduo]

Sorry to revive this thread.

 

I never did get round to emailing the CEO's office, however looking back I realise now this was a mistake.

 

Today I received a 'yellow' letter in the post. Exciting.

 

Well it was another letter from MoronCroft dated 02/11/2014. Still asking for the £167.08!

 

I mean are these people still not updating their systems!

 

I will write today any ideas about a higher compo as have had two letters now!

[The GodMother]

Dont appologie the problem is not over.

Anyway you can ask for time at £18 a hours, the Litigant in person rate under the county courts act, but you might not get.

 

I say that as every company has its own set rate for compensation.

 

When Anglian water failed to credit our account with £100 and spent a year arguing with me despite having plenty of evidence they were only able to credit me the £100 and £20 for compensation. it cost me more in letters and time than they gave me back but was not able to claim more.

Then when Essex and suffolk failed the compensated with £30 but even tho it cost me more l was not able to get more.

[BankFodder]

Rather than write to to them, why don't you simply send them a letter before action giving them 14 days and then start small claim. It may seem extreme – but actually it is the way to get them to listen and to get a reasonable compensation. I would suggest suing them for a moderate amount like £200. You would be suing them for breach of contract and also breach of the data protection act.

 

They will ignore your LBA but as soon as they get the court papers they will leap into action and eventually they will settle to avoid the hassle of dealing with the claim. It is only this kind of action which will make them listen, treat you as a valued customer and maybe look at the way their systems work. If this happens to be the fault of Moorcroft – then he will put them into conflict with Moorcroft which can only be a good thing

[kjun]

There is not a contract when it comes to water rates as these are payable by statute so wondering how the OP would show a breach of contract and how this can be evidenced in any subsequent action??

[The GodMother]

Kjun the companys always state contract so there must be one. Its a bit onesided

[kjun]

Nope there is no contract when it comes to water rates,

these are payable by statute pursuant to the Water Industry Act 1991 (s) 142, 143, 144,

hence my point regarding breach of contract.

 

Having re-read the thread the OP has stated he paid the full years bill in September

which would indicate they are on an unmeasured supply (no water meter) perhaps this could be confirmed?

 

If this is the case it would explain why a DCA was involved as in the case of unmeasured bills

these are issued between Feb and March with options of payment as follows,

half in April and the other half in October, full payment for the year in April or by monthly instalments starting again in April.

 

If the OP did not make payment till September then this is why the DCA was involved

as payment of the bill was then 5 months overdue so just trying to see a cause of action

as to the OP's potential legal action as the water company, and for that matter any other company or sole trader,

has every right to take steps to obtain payment of an overdue amount including using a DCA.

[GingerRav]

I had trouble with Wescot when British Gas messed my account up. They issued me with 'AN IMPORTANT NOTICE OF DEBT COLLECTION', so I issued them with an 'IMPORTANT NOTICE TO PI55 OFF'. It has every bit as much legal authority and it actually worked.

[dx100uk]

water bills are NOT a priority util bill like gas/electric.

they can be treated the same as a credit card/loan.

 

hence why they use DCA's etc and the courts for CCJ's

 

the fact that they make demands of payment over varying time slots are from their T&C's

and can be challenged

 

theres is no legal remit that you must pay in xx way, by xx date. xx amount

as long as its done by the end of 'that' year.

ideally its best to do in monthly mind

 

 

dx

[kjun]

Totally agree that monthly is the way to go, metered or unmetered however there are no T&c's rather a Charges Scheme raised by water companies pursuant to section 143 of the Water Industry Act and also approved by OFWAT therefore to challenge these requires a challange to the legislation itself.

 

You are correct that water companies will use the courts for non payment and CCJ's are issued simply because the legislation supports the charges scheme which outlines how payments can should be made.

 

Other options are the DCA as in this case and most water companies now report to CRA's so defaults are a distinct possibilty too.

[The GodMother]

But no contract then no reporting abilities

[kjun]

There are a number of water companies reporting to credit reference agencies and have been for a while now in the same way as energy providers do and presumably there is no contracts with them either which enables people to switch when they wish to.

[billybobynumeroduo]

Rather than write to to them, why don't you simply send them a letter before action giving them 14 days and then start small claim. It may seem extreme – but actually it is the way to get them to listen and to get a reasonable compensation. I would suggest suing them for a moderate amount like £200. You would be suing them for breach of contract and also breach of the data protection act.

 

They will ignore your LBA but as soon as they get the court papers they will leap into action and eventually they will settle to avoid the hassle of dealing with the claim. It is only this kind of action which will make them listen, treat you as a valued customer and maybe look at the way their systems work. If this happens to be the fault of Moorcroft – then he will put them into conflict with Moorcroft which can only be a good thing

 

Hi Bankfodder,

 

just seen your post thanks for this. This is really great advice. About the Letter before action.

 

So by S.W (or any creditor for that fact) passing personal details on to a DCA is a breach of the DPA?

 

Regards

 

BB

[kjun]

I think you have hit the nail on the head with your question as if this is a breach of the DPA then why is the court service not overwhelmed with claimants suing every single utility company, bank, high street store, HMCTS, DWP (the list could be endless) as these all use DCA's?

 

The market would be massive like PPI and to date I have not seen any adverts on TV for "we'll help you claim your DPA breach compensation....."

 

Personally cannot see how you have a claim for breach of DPA but millions of others would love to know to so perhaps someone can specify what the cause of action is and what legislation your claim will rely on.