intrum justitia

[bartymuv]

in april of this year, we received a electricity bill from our supplier british gas (dual fuel). it stated it was a final bill (not demand).

i rang them to ask why it was a 'final bill', and was told that our account was being closed as a new occupier would be taking over the residence!

 

i explained that as the owner, "this was news to me", followed by silence.

 

the person then came back to me with an apology, saying there had been an error on their part, and not to worry as it would be rectified and to carry on paying as normal. end of story? no way!

 

about 5 days ago my wife opened a letter, from a company called 'intrum justitia', threatening all the usual actions that MAY happen if i dont pay this debt.

 

i havent contacted them, but have been in contact with BG, who once again have apologised, and have promised to call off the DCA.

 

my question is, can i expect any compensation for the distress that has been caused, especially to my wife?

has BG commited an offence under the data protection act?

 

any thoughts from anyone would be appreciated.

[kasdizz]

Clearly the error is down to the supplier, and some sort of redress should be made. I'm not sure about the case for a breach of the Data Protection Act.

 

With utilities, you have to use their own complaint escalation policy before complaining to the watchdog (Energywatch). Putting it in writing is normally your best bet, as this will be dealt with by a specialist team. Their error is not so much the closure of the account as the passing of it to Intrum. Make your case with copies of the letter, and explain how it affected you. Ask for an apology for sending it to Intrum and state a reasonable amount that you believe you should recieve as redress.

[bartymuv]

thanks kasdizz,

 

i'm not looking for a fortune from them.

 

the amount in question was only £57.18. i'll be quite happy if they offer to waive that amount as a GWG!

 

they are contacting me again on monday evening to confirm that they have called off the DCA, and to verify that they (the DCA) haven't registered a default against me.

 

i'll post again as and when they've been in touch.

[kasdizz]

Ahhh, that's good action on their part. I don't think they have entered a default judgement as the costs would have been added, but no harm in them checking.

[bartymuv]

well, got a phone call at 8.50 this evening.

 

from the manager as promised. unfortunately, we were cut off before any conversation could take place, (loss of signal on my mobile)!

 

so, i tried phoning back on my landline, (using 'say no to 0870').

after listening to music and apologies for 45 minutes, i gave up!

 

so i sent an email to the manager stating the following------------

 

i'm sorry we were cut off on monday evening (poor signal)

 

i have just spent 45 minutes in a queue on your 0870 number on my landline, trying to contact you! i'm very impressed! not.

 

please could you respond by email, letting me know that the 'debt collection agency' have been advised of the 'error' caused by british gas, and that i will not be receiving any more correspondance from them.

 

also, that none of my details were passed on to any of the three major credit reference agencys.

 

finally, details of any compensation that you may feel appropriate, taking into consideration the stress and anxiety you (british gas) have caused my family.

 

yours sincerely,

 

 

again, i'll let you know as and when i get a reply, and the contents within.

 

cheers.

[bartymuv]

no response yet.

[bartymuv]

received an email today from british gas.

 

in it, they apologised for the problem i had trying to contact them, and went on to confirm that they had spoken to their 'central recoveries office' who in turn would contact intrum justitia, and tell them to cancel the 'contract'.

this could take up to ten working days! i have also been advised that the referral of the account to intrum justitia will have no effect on your credit rating, as no details would have been passed to any credit ref. agencies.

 

in order to cover the costs of your telephone calls and the inconveniance this has caused, i have placed a credit of £20 on your account.

 

kind regards, etc.

 

i opened this email at around 10am this morning. it was sent on tuesday 17th. my first complaint was made on the 13th. so they have been aware for four maybe five days.

 

at 3pm this afternoon, my home phone rang and i answered it.

it was 'intrum justitia'!

the guy who spoke was very polite (fortunately). i explained the position and how his company should have heard from british gas to cancel the contract. he asked if i could produce evidence to that effect, so i forwarded all correspondance between myself and british gas to them.

 

to say i was angry is an understatement! i immediately emailed the manager (british gas) whom had sent me the email.

 

i thanked her for confirming that 'intrum justitia' would be notified and went on to say that my one fear (having read on this forum) was that this debt collection agency would not take no for an answer, and would still persue the balance!

 

i then related the phone call that i had received at 3pm from 'intrum justitia'. i explained that i had furbished them with the emails that had passed between us and had added in my email that, i hoped that with this information, i would not expect to hear from 'intrum justitia' either written or by phone again.

 

presumably now i can expect to hear from them for at least a week , as you say it will take 'ten working days to remove this account!

surely an email or a phone call would be enough to call them off!

 

im just glad that it was myself who took the call and not my wife. i dread to think how she would have reacted!

 

under these circumstances, i can not accept your offer of £20.

i would have accepted an offer of £57.18 as a reasonable gesture (the original amount being claimed) but im not sure even this amount is now acceptable.

 

i await your response.

 

yours sincerely etc.

 

to be continued...........

[kasdizz]

Why is it that £20 always seems to be the standard 'gesture of goodwill ' payment?

[Rayne]

cos they're tight like most of em

[bartymuv]

thought i'd update on events.

 

haven't heard from the dca again (fortunately) but the saga with BG still continues.

 

having closed our account originaly,(in error) they set up a new account, and told us to carry on paying as usual, which we did, using a payment card that they sent us.

 

would you believe, that card fed the old account that they had closed!

 

consequently, we began receiving demands for amounts that we knew had been paid (all receipts kept) and so more phone calls, ending with apologies and the promise that the funds in the old account would be transferred into the new account.

 

we've had 2 more letters in the last 4 weeks, both telling us that we must pay the outstanding amount within 7 days or else!

 

theres nearly £300 in the old account, which BG dont appear to be able to transfer!

 

i can access my account on line and it shows 2 gas accounts and 2 electricity accounts.

 

i just cannot believe that the old accounts cannot be deleted!

 

oh, and we never did get the £20 that they offered (unless they put it in the old account! lol)

[2Grumpy]

BG are useless

 

Make sure that you print off the accounts showing the credits. If (or when) BG close your account for non-payment they are likely to suspend access to your online account access.

 

Keep your receipts. If they want to see them, send copies. If they demand to see originals, they know where you live, they can visit.

 

I would make a list of all of the problems in a brief bullet-point letter, starting with the original account closure, their offer of compensation not paid, and the current situation and send to the billing dept, complaints, MD - anyone you can find.

 

I would contact energywatch at this stage - you have tried to get this fixed, it sounds as though you have been through the complaints procedure but they are still getting it wrong

.

You might try a demand for more compensation as well as the original that hasn't been paid yet.

 

Grumpy

[2Grumpy]

Another point

 

If they do put a DCA on you again, at the point where they asked you to prove it, I would reply "are you calling me a liar?", of course they so no, they need the proof to stop. However, you can tell them to contact BG and not to phone again, that you charge £50 per phone call answered to DCAs chasing non-existent bills without checking after the first call and that their calling again acknowledges agreement to these terms.

Might stop them and it's more fun than being on the defensive and puts the onus on them to check

 

Grumpy

[bartymuv]

i dont believe this!

 

ive just had another letter, this time from Wescot!

 

its for exactly the same account and the same amount.

 

what absolute imbociles!

 

ok, rant over. any suggestions as to my next move?

 

i should add that its taken them up till last week to supply me with a payment card for the new electricity account that had to be arranged after they decided that i was vacating my home. thats nearly 8 months!

weve been paying the bills as and when we received them, so we know both accounts are up to date.

 

bartymuv.