OT : house hold bills

Gentlemen,

Wednesday this week my wife and I received our annual statement from the local water company.

My first look at the bill showed that as usual we were in credit, we pay £36.00 per month, and as I read on it stated that our next payment would be also be £36.00 but after that our monthly payments would be £45.00. On the basis that our water usage is all but the same and we are in credit I got my wife to ring them which she did, after pointing out the detail they have recalculated the monthly sum and guess what its only going to be £39.00. The reason for such a large increase was that they made a calculated assumption that we were going to use more water. I don't mind a rise but to give them money to make them money is taking the Mick. Anybody else spotted anything like this.

Martin P

Reply to
campingstoveman
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"campingstoveman" wrote

Very common with all utility companies when paying by direct debit. It's a case of them having an interest free loan at your expense.

There was a news item about this recently and I think it is a ongoing investigation by the Office of Fair Trading.

Reply to
John

Standard, they want your money up front ie interest free loan. They're sharks. I don't pay any by standing order or DD, just stick a cheque in the post (or pay via online banking) when the bill arrives quarterly.

Julian.

Reply to
Julian

Nothing wrong with standing order. Its you who controls it as they have to get you to amend it. That is why they won't give you the standing order discount even though they still get it electronically.

Been through the same with British Gas when their estimate was £57 per month but I actually used £44 - and they still insist they did not make a mistake and they are not stealing from customers. They owe me over £100 now.

Don't hold your breath for any "government" set-up to sort this practice out. You can not get at Trading Standards any more (Consumer Direct fob you off), The ombudsman has no effective sanction against the companies unless you are willing to accept loose change as "compensation", the regulators will not deal with individuals and Governments (all, not just this one) are so beholden to big business they will ensure we continue to get ripped off.

Rant OFF - sorry, sore point.

Reply to
Tony Brooks

Just pay them by cheque - to hell with all this electronic bollocks, what's the point getting some (alleged) microscopic discount if they have hold of £100 of yours.

Ditto the above really, I have no problem sticking a cheque in the post. I use the electricity then pay for it, if their estimate is over I send them the correct figures and wait for a revised invoice - mostly I get undercharged for the heavy quarters, catching up through the summer..

The question one has to ask is why are the utilities hell bent on DD's and SO's - the answer is that they get a huge windfall c/o you and everyone else that caves in to their whims.

Julian

Reply to
Julian

"Tony Brooks" wrote

My thoughts are 100% aligned with yours, particularly about gov/trading standards/regulators

I've only ever taken out one DD and that will be my last. It was about 1990 when DDs first started and thinking it was a good idea I took out a DD for a subscription. Needless to say I had problems and the bank was useless - I learnt that the so called DD Guarantee is more that the company is guaranteed to get what it requests rather than guaranteeing to refund money as a result of a dispute/overpayment. It was a real headache to sort out. The bank's attitude was "if the company has debited your account for x, then they must be right". So after that, no DDs ever again. Didn't stay with that bank very long either.

Reply to
John

I have never had to change banks and have never had problems with DD's or SO's, it just annoys me that on the odd occasion somebody tries to take me for a ride.

Reply to
campingstoveman

Correct the DD guarantee is only if the DD system screws up, the marketing is clever. The DD system very rarely screws up.

These days with online banking any sniff of a dispute with a company that has a DD set up and I login and cancel it. This invariably makes 'em sit up, take notice and sort the problem out.

I also manage the utilities and ensure that they don't ever have more than few tens of quid in credit, if that.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Hard to do if despite your best efforts they are sending red letters, threatening legal and other actions, despite the fact you are £100 in credit to them.

My experience with DDs and cockups with telephone payments tells me I would be very foolish to get involved with internet banking - especially in light of the newish draft banking code that allows the banks to avoid paying for fraud on your account if THEY decide your security software and procedures are not up to scratch.

Paying by cheque against a bill is only any good if you are home to deal with the bill. Several times I have been on holiday and come back to find the bill plus red, threatening letters.

Tony Brooks

Reply to
Tony Brooks

You must take long holidays!

Don't sweat over the threats, I always wait for the first reminder, it's all smoke without fire.

Regarding my water bill, I never pay until I receive a call from one of their call centre operatives. At this point I provide them with a lengthy speech indicating by deliberate choice to delay payment and inconvenience them, and my intention to keep doing so until they furnish me with an apology reference the extraordinary incompetence they displayed changing my meter 3 years ago!

You should try it, it's enjoyable ;-)

Julian

Reply to
Julian

Unfortunately, like it or not we all have a credit rating these days. This rating changes all the time & just being in conflict with a utility provider can change your credit rating for the worse. I keep an eye on mine & have been surprised in the past to see it rising & falling almost daily. The problem is, of course, that the credit reference agency will ALWAYS assume the credit provider is right until proven wrong. Even then you will need to get it expunged by going direct to the correct agency & chasing them up.

Years ago, my CR plummeted & I couldn't see why. It turned out that Book Club Associates had changed my membership number & then billed the old one! Of course, the new DD was not called on & the old one was cancelled! Took a bit of sorting out, but they were reasonably obsequious when they realised what had happened.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Reply to
kimsiddorn

Credit rating is of no interest to me whatsoever. I've never borrowed any money (except the mortgage which is now paid off) and I never want to. I see too many people sick with worry due to borrowings on credit cards etc. When I was a lad I booked an appointment with the deputy bank manager, dressed in a suit as was custom back then, to arrange for a small overdraught to purchase a newer second hand car - he refused and advised me to keep my old car on the road for longer.

The above was sound financial advise and taught me a lesson that I remember to this day. Nowadays (notwithstanding the recession) if you want a 5K loan they won't be happy unless they've lent you 15K irrespective of your ability to repay.

Credit rating, borrowing money, HP etc etc is for the hard of thinking and is something the wise learn to avoid - quality of life increases dramatically when financial burden is removed!

Julian.

Reply to
Julian

Always assuming:

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

"Julian" wrote

The thing I'm finding more and more that I am receiving utility bills where the "Please pay by" date predates the date when I actually receive the bill. A delay of 10+ days between the date on the bill to the time it's actually received in not uncommon.

And because I haven't payed by the "Please pay by date" I then get a reminder - which I always seem to receive about 2 days after the date on it!. On one occassion I actually received the reminder the same day as the bill.

Don't get me started on Water Companies. Mine is South East Water and incompetence is their middle name.

Reply to
John

BT phone bills need to be checked. I just got mine for quarter to

4/7/2009. The discount for the evening and weekend calls rolling one year contract was missing for the next quarter. BT said I had cancelled it on 15/6/2009, but couldn't find any record of my cancellation!

After a long free phone discussion, letting BT dig a hole for themselves with various explanations, I gave them the additional fact that my calling plan , on line viewing, still says "Unlimited evening & weekend calls at no cost" and that nocalls had been charged since the contract was "cancelled" when viewing recent calls on line.

They went quiet.

BT have billing problems (they also got the previous quarter's bill wrong, charging me the new increased line rental but giving me the old unincreased discount. A supplementary bill giving me the difference was issued and was deducted from the amount taken by DD, though they never informed me of the new amount they were to take by DD, against the requirements of the DD guarantee).

However this time BT said it was impossible to give me a new corrected bill, or give me a supplementary bill. BT said it would all be corrected by the next quarterly bill due on 4/10/2009.

Yes right! I will see what happens in 3 months time. I am not deperate for the eight quid, and should the bill due on 4/10/2009 be wrong, this will give me some entertainment as the nights draw in.

Reply to
brightside S9

I had a call from them a couple of months ago offering me free evening and weekend calls at no extra cost if I agreed to an 18 month contract. I agreed. Then had a bill with increased line rental for the extra service, long debate on free phone call and a credit was agreed.

I then had another call last week offering me something else free (damd if I can remember what that was now) if I agreed to a 12 month contract!!!!

Does this cancel the 18 month contract I agreed to on the last call I asked.

Dumb silence.

Eventually a supervisor came on and agreed it would. I can't wait to see the next bill.

Mike

Reply to
Muddymike

brightside S9 wrote: (snip)

Generally cold callers whether on the 'phone or doorstep get pretty short shrift from me but once in a while it can be fun to taunt them a bit. I once told the man From EDF that I didn't want to buy electricity from them as it would probably be worn out by the time they had brought it from France and all my lights would be dim. Another was British gas; I opined that trying to get electricity and gas through the same pipes was dangerous - "one spark and the whole street could go up"! I fondly hope that they might make a note not to bother this halfwit again but it doesn't seem to work :-(

NHH

Reply to
Nick H

I once confounded a salesman from Comet who had cold called me as I was on their customer list. We got into a discussion about cable speed and I asked him how they synchronized sound & vision when it came down a wire. "Of course, I can understand how they do it with an aerial as they send out the sound signal first, sound travelling at 700 odd mph & light at 186k mps. But I can't see how they do it in a cable. Can you find out for me please?

I heard no more from Comet, so I assume they took me off their list ;o))

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Reply to
kimsiddorn

Telephone sales persons are fair sport and are to be enjoyed. I once kept a salesman going for nearly twenty minutes talking about cavity wall insulation and he thought he had all but flogged me some. Even arranged a date for a survey. The line went dead when I asked if there was a discount for nine inch solid walls. Same with junk mail the postman delivers, thus getting around the postal preference scheme. I save it up waiting for a reply envelope, not fussed whether it needs a stamp or not, fill it and write "Hope you enjoyed my junk mail as much as I yours"

Regards, Dave Carter.

Reply to
D.J.Carter

I might have told some of you this, a friend of mine was being badgered by two different double glazing companies for quotes. After several calls he gave in and arranged visits for both companies, the same day, same time and then made sure he was out. Never got bothered again.

Reply to
campingstoveman

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