I moved into this flat last October. and promtly switched gas and electric supplier . Then out of the blue I started getting letters asking me for £1418,63 , A debt that I think I'm right in saying is stupid . I think it was run up by the previous tennant who has sinse moved out of the area and has left no forwarding address . I kept getting these letters asking for the money and my houseing support worker would ring them up and they would say it's all sorted and I would forget about it until another bill would plop through my door 2-3 weeks later every time .
Today I have had a letter demanding payment within 7 days or they will "pass my account to an external Debt Collection Agency" Quoteing , They put those words in bold . This has royally freaked me out and I was lucky that my friends was online earlier when I opened the mail to talk to me and stop me harming . I'm still really triggered by this it's not the only stressful thing happening in my life right now . This is NOT my debt but no matter how many times that point is made to them , over the phone and by letter they keep coming back with more and more aggresive letters .
I don't know what to do I really don't .
Has anyone any idea what I can do ? I feel nauseous just typeing about it .I have Chronic Depression and Anxiety and it caused the anxiety in particular to go severly out of control . I can't ring them myself because of the anxiety , I'm a bit scared , Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post this in , I just thought vets would have more experiance in disputes with power companys maybe .
I'm still not comfortable in my skin and the anasthetic's slowly wearing thin - Otep
Everyones lost but me! - Indiana Jones
It's okay , they know me here .
Kahlia1981 is my adopted little sister :)
''Courage doesn't always roar , sometimes courage is that little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow"
I think your housing support worker should ring up again & demands this is sorted & doesn't go away til it is. This is just not on. They can't send them around or take you to court because it's not you that owns that money!!!
My sister had the same, if not similar, problem to you and my Mum phoned on several occasions acting as my sister (as they'd fob her off) and in the end they did eventually stop it & my Mum wrote a complaint letter again, for my sister. Maybe your support worker could do that aswell???
I would threaten to sue them. It is causing you emotional/mental harm and undue stress, it is a false claim to get money from you which is just poor business practice,etc etc. I don't know exactly how the legal system in Wales is but I would see if an attorney would help you sue them for damages. Trying to play nice has so far just made them lie to you and keep billing you after your support worker is promised that it is fixed and not your bill. A mistake billing once is really a mistake, twice might be a accident but this has happened way too many times and it's wrong. Maybe if you make them look at it from the 'if we bill him again we lose more money than we're billing' point of view they will actually fix it.
I was lei'd in vets! ***** Proud Plumeria Sister!
"He said look inside your heart/ And you'll see stars/ Falling stars/ Look, deep into my eyes/ Don't look down/ Or you'll fall, he said/ Here, the sky goes on forever"
My flatmate had a similar thing, although only for £70 or so. We got all those letters. She spent a LOT of time ranting at them on the phone. I told her to contact the Ombudsman, drafting out notes for her to write. She refused to. I think in the end, a year later, they dropped it.
Have you sent them copies of your tenancy agreement for when you moved in etc? Got your landlord to write to them? Contacted your landlord?
My flatmate had a similar thing, although only for £70 or so. We got all those letters. She spent a LOT of time ranting at them on the phone. I told her to contact the Ombudsman, drafting out notes for her to write. She refused to. I think in the end, a year later, they dropped it.
Have you sent them copies of your tenancy agreement for when you moved in etc? Got your landlord to write to them? Contacted your landlord?
Details of my tenancy have gone to them yes , also my houseing support worker works on behalf of my landlords and he has been in touch with them several times by phone and 2 or 3 times by letter .
Thanks to everyone who replied and I'm still open to any suggestions , I'm going to ring my housing support worker when I get up tomorrow .....
I'm still not comfortable in my skin and the anasthetic's slowly wearing thin - Otep
Everyones lost but me! - Indiana Jones
It's okay , they know me here .
Kahlia1981 is my adopted little sister :)
''Courage doesn't always roar , sometimes courage is that little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow"
On the back of the bill will be a phone number for complaints, but an outside agency not the company. I had a letter like that and rang that number. It was sorted immediately and I was given compensation for the stress that it caused me and a written apology.
QUOTE]Can they get the landlord to pass the bill to the previous tenant and/or give the power company their name and new address?[/quote]
The Previous Tennant has moved and no one knows where he is ......
Quote:
On the back of the bill will be a phone number for complaints, but an outside agency not the company. I had a letter like that and rang that number. It was sorted immediately and I was given compensation for the stress that it caused me and a written apology.
OOhh I dind't think to look at the back of the letter , I'll check that out , thankyou .
I'm still not comfortable in my skin and the anasthetic's slowly wearing thin - Otep
Everyones lost but me! - Indiana Jones
It's okay , they know me here .
Kahlia1981 is my adopted little sister :)
''Courage doesn't always roar , sometimes courage is that little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow"
