Does the back billing code apply in this situation? (First Utility)

[BankFodder]

Yes, because you are a private individual and they are a company the claim would be in your local County Court.

 

Your letter is all right there it's a little bit verbose. Also it's a bit contradictory because at one point use a semi the information as soon as possible and later on you given 14 days. I would get rid of the ambiguity and simply say the you on the information within 14 days.

 

You don't have to explain yourself at all and I would ditch all the part about going to the ombudsman.

 

Really all you need to do is to remind them that you serve them with a subject access request on such and such date. You see that they have cash the money and yet despite this they are now beyond the deadline which expired on such and such a date.

 

If you do not receive full disclosure within 14 days then you will start an action in the small claims court and without any further notice.

 

I don't think you need to do any more.

 

Once you have started the action, I'm quite sure that the disclosure will be made fairly quickly. You can then go through all the information you receive and when you work out what further breaches they have made in respect of the contract then you can amend your particulars of claim to include all that lot as well.

 

I notice that you talk about £50 being a reasonable amount and not wanting to rip them off.

 

Don't worry about that. You shouldn't be concerned with ripping them off. £50 is meant to be a modest sum so that the judge will not think that you are gold digging and it also puts First Utility in a bind because it clearly isn't worth defending and they would rather pay the money.

 

However, you can take the right to the edge and it could well be there in order to avoid going to court and getting a judgement against them that they will even start offering more than you claimed.

 

This is always fun

 

You need to play an aggressive game – and we will help you

[Good Sister]

Thank you for that BankFodder. As I've said before, this is the first time I've taken things this far with a complaint so it's nice to have someone checking through things.

 

I've changed the bit about "I would appreciate a response as soon as possible" to "this is now overdue and I therefore request that this information is received in full within 14 days from the date of this letter" and I've taken out the bit about the Energy Ombudsman to simply say "you will receive no further notices or reprieves."

 

I don't normally do 'aggressive' well, but I think I'm getting there!

[Good Sister]

I am now in receipt of my SAR, dated 11th May. Whilst I have received a nice bundle of information, three things are amiss:

 

The covering letter states that the information relates to someone I have never heard of and not my account. Wonderful start! (though apart from the information in my next bullet point, the information provided does relate to me)

 

I asked for details of any meter readings requested by them or supplied by myself or E-On - they have submitted meter readings for two smart meters (I don't have smart meters) between February 2014 and March 2014, when my account had closed with them and the meter readings bear no match to either what I claimed or what they initially claimed. So not my meters.

 

They have also omitted the email that was sent to me back in December 2013 where they admitted their numerous failings, including failing to provide a start date and setting up two accounts. They have included everything else, including the generic "welcome to First Utility" emails and the ones where they sent emails but I did not reply to, so not like they only included information where I got in touch with them.

 

I am at my wit's end with this company! I sent the letter before action yesterday, which they received today (so we crossed over in the post). I did state that I needed the response in full, and seeing as I haven't, I would still be prepared to take it further to court if it came to it. But I guess I need to give them the opportunity to put it right first?

[Good Sister]

It's now been 14 days since I sent my last correspondence to them - no reply. Not that that came as a shock.

 

So basically the SAR was sent out late, it's incomplete and I have someone else's meter readings. The SAR did flag up that they had declared two readings as invalid shortly before they sent the bill, unfortunately their internal notes did not say which ones (though I can give it a pretty good guess). Don't suppose I will see them now, but at least I know now from the SAR why the bill was sent out so late and that I couldn't have known about that bill before I got the message saying it was overdue.

 

Still, I am a woman of my word and seeing as I said I will seek legal action through the county court, then that is what I will do. I think it really is the only way these people will sit up. I understand I can either start the process online or getting an N1 form?

 

In the meantime, the Information Commissioner's Office did get back in touch with a complaint form. I've decided to keep them in the loop, but when it comes to going through a legal process, I'd rather take my own action.

 

So I guess I am asking... where to start? Would prefer not to contact First Utility again, they've had their chances.

 

Many thanks.

[Good Sister]

I filed a small claim with Money Claim.

Received an order of acknowledgement from First Utility today.

 

It requests a response within 28 days rather than 14 (I believe this is normal for an order of acknowledgement?)

I don't have a problem with them taking their sweet time (I mean, what's another four weeks compared to where I was the start of the year?),

and I hope they are using that time to send over the missing items as well as prepare their response.

 

I don't like the fact they've ticked the box to say they intend to defend the whole claim.

I mean, I can prove they responded late to the SAR (they set themselves up for that one by the fact the covering letter for the disclosure is dated 42 days

after they say they received my SAR request) and can prove it's incomplete and I have a paper trial requesting everything, so not worried in that sense.

I only asked for £50, and it's not even about the money as far as I am concerned, it can go to charity if I got money for all this mess.

 

Is it normal for these types of firms to say they will defend whilst preparing a proper response, or should I prepare myself for going the distance?

[ericsbrother]

They always fight until the last knockings as they think that they would set a precedent if they didnt and then everyone who has been wronged would claim from them and the CEO's bonus might be affected as the shareholders revolt.

You would think that getting things right is the cheapest option in all cases but no doubt they divide it all up between different "cost centres" so it makes sense to argue the toss.

[Good Sister]

They always fight until the last knockings as they think that they would set a precedent if they didnt and then everyone who has been wronged would claim from them and the CEO's bonus might be affected as the shareholders revolt.

You would think that getting things right is the cheapest option in all cases but no doubt they divide it all up between different "cost centres" so it makes sense to argue the toss.

 

OK, good to know, thank you.

[Good Sister]

Hello, updating the thread to say that I have reached a happy outcome with First Utility.

 

Within days of receiving the form to say they would be defending the claim, I received an offer from First Utility.

 

 

The offer was for the full amount but they were sticking to their story about how they believed I had received everything and that all the information related to myself.

They initially ignored the part about the SAR being late.

 

I stuck to my guns. Although the offer was nice, I was not going to let them off that lightly. I said I would only accept the offer if I received the missing information as well.

 

About a week later, the person I had been dealing with got back in touch, confirmed that the meter readings I had been sent were not mine

and also acknowledged that the SAR was sent late and was indeed a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.

I was promptly sent my meter readings as well as the email I found to be missing.

 

The offer for the full amount was made again, which I accepted this time.

First Utility sent the money for this about a week later.

As part of the agreement, I made arrangements to withdraw the claim.

 

I have made a donation to the CAG, not just as a 'thank you' for the help you've given me but for all you do in general.

I wouldn't know half the stuff I do if I didn't come onto here.

I'm going to donate the rest to charity, as this was not about the money.

I'm involved in an organisation that supports our local Air Ambulance, so it's currently my plan to send it to them.

 

Once again, thanks for all your help.

 

Good Sister.

[Eversir]

Well done Good Sister - glad you got a result you are happy with.

 

Like you say, you have learned some valuable skills now also.

 

Interesting to see that First Utility is a little bit more professional when it comes to litigation than a certain "other" energy supplier.