@unitedutilities United Utilities have messed up my credit report.

[vix1980]

Last year around May June I switched bank accounts from Barclays to Santander.

I changed all the direct debits over myself (yes i sat on the phone for over an hour

but was so paranoid about something going wrong

if i left it up to the banks to do so for peace of mind I did it myself).

 

Turns out I shouldn't have bothered!

The only 1 that I had a problem with was United Utilities.

 

 

I received a letter early September, followed by a phone call the same day saying I was in debt of around £120.

My direct debit had apparently been cancelled by the bank.

No chance I said, why would the bank cancel a direct debit.

I was assured it was the banks fault, set it up again over the phone for my new account and thought no more of it.

 

Just before Christmas I got another phone call saying my direct debit had been cancelled

and the last payment I had made was in May 2014.

 

 

I told them again that I had already had a phone call and set it up over the phone,

Then told I was wrong and nothing had been set up at all.

 

I checked my bank statements (I've learnt my lesson the hard way to keep checking more regularly)

and its true they haven't even set up the dd.

Let alone have the bank cancel it.

Again I spoke to someone on the 8th Jan and again gave my details to set it up, its due out 1st Feb so time will tell whether its been done.

 

More recently I tried to get a new credit card and was declined,

not sure why as I have never missed a payment on purpose in a long time

so just got my credit file today. United Utilities have added a 6 next to missed payments.

 

they have messed up my credit file because they cannot set up a direct debit themselves and would rather blame the bank.

I have contacted the bank who have told me they would not be able to cancel a direct debit without my say so.

 

 

therefore I'm left thinking it is United Utilities who are in the wrong.

 

 

Sorry this is turning out long

 

 

How do i go about getting them to remove this on my file.

This is the only negative I have on my file

and I've worked so hard the past 10 years to get my credit to good standing

and out of debt, and now this happens for something thats not even my fault!

 

 

Any advice appreciated, thanks for reading.

[dx100uk]

straight to the top I think

 

 

the CEO with a formal complaint.

 

 

dx

[BankFodder]

If you start having any further contact on the telephone, then please read our customer services guide first.

 

As DX has suggested above, write a letter to their CEO and outline what has happened and tell them that you want it put right. However, don't start getting involved in any protracted correspondence and don't hang around waiting for a response if it doesn't come after about 7 to 10 days.

 

Unfortunately most of the current problems with these big companies – especially utility companies and mobile phone companies – Vodafone is expressly bad – don't get solved until you start getting heavy with them.

 

If you don't get a satisfactory resolution after 10 days, come back here and we will tell you what the next Epson.

 

Apart from being in breach of contract by not managing your account correctly, United Utilities have also breached the data protection act by not managing your personal data quickly and by blighting your credit file.

 

If you end up having to take a small claim in the County Court for this then I would say that you could be looking at about £150 compensation.

[vix1980]

Thankyou both so much for replying. Right I will get a letter drafted today and sent out to the current CEO and financial CEO pp's in also, and let you know if i here from them in a couple of weeks.

[vix1980]

Hi

 

Just thought id post again, as expected not had a reply at all, Any idea what Ii should do next?

 

Vix

[vix1980]

Sorry It is still me! Had my email account hacked so unable to get into my other account!!

[kjun]

Presumably you get an itemised phone bill?

 

 

If so why not send a copy highlighting the call you made in May/June to amend your DD details and that may be enough to convince them that it is their error.

 

 

Ultimately at the end of the day they want payment for the service provided so I doesn't make sense to not update your payment details...

[kjun]

Do you get an itemised phone bill?

 

 

If so send a copy of this highlighting the call you made to them in May/June and that may be enough to accept that an error has been made as to take any court action I would suggest you need this in order to prove contact and therefore your cause of action as claimant as clearly you need to evidence your claim otherwise it's one word against another (presuming there is no record of your contact with AW, have you asked them that?)

 

 

There should also have been written correspondence however well before any mark on your credit file advising of the outstanding balance so worth asking for a copy which presumably you did not get?

 

 

It's very odd as it makes no sense for them not to update your payment method as ultimately they want payment for the service provided.

[vix1980]

Hi, and thank you for replying, We get an E version of the phone bill, I shall have to check it out though if it will go that far back to let me print out.

 

I told each and every person who had called me that I had been over this process before and gave them the approx times. They never told me if they could see a log of the calls though.

 

No, I didnt recieve any correspondence to let me know either the Direct Debit had been cancelled -and If this was the case then surely my bank would have known it had been cancelled, as it stands I assume it just wasnt set up correctly.

 

So what should I do next? Call them and ask for copies of all correspondence, and times and dates of all phone calls made over the past 8 months.

[vix1980]

Ok Ive sent a customer complaint email quoting the above, Also have had confirmation from Sky that my itemised Phone bill can be claimed through online services so will have to figure that out to have the evidence of contact.

 

So what should my next move be? Do I give them more time to answer now Im gaining the evidence or as someone mentioned above do I just to go the Small Claims court. I honestly dont care about compensation if Im honest I just want this removed from my credit file so would that also be the outcome from the small claims court, or would I have to do an alternative procedure to get that removed? Thanks

[Eversir]

So what should I do next? Call them and ask for copies of all correspondence, and times and dates of all phone calls made over the past 8 months.

 

To get that you'd have to perform a "Subject Access Request" (SAR). There is usually a cost to this (maximum £10.00). Check the terms of your contract or UU's website. It takes 40 days, so get started now if you are going to do it.

 

See more about SAR's here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?387306-Full-Subject-Access-Request

 

Be aware they may not have the recordings any more. Or, as in my experience with Npower, just not provide you with anything (hopefully a rare event).

 

Evidence of your contact is important. If you made written notes during the calls themselves and can show the calls occurred via your phone bill, then that is useful. Actual call recordings are obviously better, but we all learn the hard way.

 

So what should my next move be? Do I give them more time to answer now Im gaining the evidence or as someone mentioned above do I just to go the small claims court.

Wait a reasonable amount of time as per BankFodder's post above (around 10 days). Post back here if no luck or if something changes in the meantime. Get whatever evidence you can in the meantime, including downloaded copies of your credit report and screenshots where appropriate.

 

I honestly dont care about compensation if Im honest I just want this removed from my credit file so would that also be the outcome from the small claims court, or would I have to do an alternative procedure to get that removed?

If they have breached the Data Protection Act 1998 you would be entitled to compensation, as per section 13 of the act. Section 14 of act also allows a court to make an order to rectify, block, erase or otherwise destroy data that is inaccurate.

 

Hang fire for now however

[vix1980]

Thanks for all that info, something for me to be going on with rather than feeling a bit lost/Useless!

 

I have so far managed to obtain my mobile phone records going as far back as October and have several calls from them to me and lengths. I always make notes anyway whilst on the phone to companies 9Watched my mum for many years so always take after her now!). When I called them this morning I was told by an advisor that my compaint had been logged and that my account is on hold due to it. I asked to him to read through every phone call and check the notes with which I had made.

 

There was 1 error in that on the 16th Dec, they called my mobile whilst I was driving, I asked them to call me back and the lady agreed a time to call me back the same day once I was sure to be at home. The next phone call I had off them was 14th Jan. There records show that she did speak to me and that I had promised to call them back with the hour??? Certainly wouldnt have said that as I was diriving up the M6 when she called!!

 

There was also another error where they have logged a call from the debt management dept. It shows that the lady who had called had no set up the direct debit as she had not taken payment. In truth she had not asked me for payment and the first time I was actually asked to make a payment was the phone call on the 14th January. I remember as I asked the girl was this the reason why my direct debit had not gone through and she said it was most likely why yes.

 

So annoying having to deal with all this due to someones error!! But thanks again anyway Ill keep you updated with what happens next.

[Eversir]

When I called them this morning I was told by an advisor that my compaint had been logged and that my account is on hold due to it. I asked to him to read through every phone call and check the notes with which I had made.

 

Did you record this phone call? That could be really useful evidence if they later decide not to play ball. If not, consider calling back and get them to relay the information a second time so that you can record it (you don't have to tell them you are recording the call and probably shouldn't).

[vix1980]

For those that can be bothered, this is my other thread -

 

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?440550-United-Utilities-have-messed-up-my-credit-report.&p=4691260#post4691260.

 

To cut a long story short,

united utilities kept on trying and failing to set up my new direct debit with my new bank for around 6 months, they blamed me,

I blamed them, its gone back and forth and now this week they have finally admitted it was down to their processing error.

 

This left me with a 6 marked on my credit file which i wanted removing as it was not my fault.

So right now im not able to get credit due to this (this si the reason I found out about it in the 1st place,

had a perfect credit file, applied for a card transfer and was turned down so I looked into it).

 

I have been offered by United Utilities,

2 months worth of payments totaling £81. which would take me out of the current arrears I'm in with them,

and they would remove the 6 on my credit file to an I.

 

I have since learnt that the I stands for Instalment plan created.

Obviously I want the 6 off as it looks bad but is the I a better improvement?

 

Wouldn't this also look like I was still in debt though and paying through a plan?

 

 

Not sure which is better to have on my Credit File.

 

 

We are hoping to move next year which is why im looking at it now and preparing it in advance. thanks for any help.

[dx100uk]

nope you need it removed!!

 

 

and TBH compo too!!

[vix1980]

Brilliant, thanks for answering.

 

Im going to reply by email, so do you think I should mention after consulting a legal adviser I shall be challenging to have the data taken off my credit file completely and that £81 compensation is not enough for a breach of date management.

 

Or should I keep quiet and go through other channels such as small claims? Just not sure of my next step, thanks

[dx100uk]

legal advisor?

 

 

the markers were wrongly placed

they admit as much.

 

 

the markers have done you damage

there should be compensated above and beyond what they claim you owed.

 

 

see the durkin case

 

 

dx

[dx100uk]

old and new threads merged for clarity

 

 

dx

[vix1980]

Thanks for that makes interesting reading! meant to say Consumer advisor don know where legal came from!

 

I'll set out an email tomorrow pointing out the similarities to that case, and that I shall be pushing for further removal rather than a change of score, thankyou for your help

[vix1980]

Ok so had no reply, ow do I push for full removal, through continuing to exchange emails with united utilities or do i now go further? CAB, Small claims/ THANKS IN ADVANCE.