This topic was closed on 03/08/19. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 03/08/19. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

Thank you all for your replies - I've decided that mediation isn't for me as I need my electrician to attend as a witness. I'm also going to call MCOL regarding the other defendant. I've checked back on all of the paperwork and they have been served details of the claim so I'll see what they say. Many thanks again all!

Hi there, I am in the process of going through MCOL for over £3500.00 due to poor service, supply, project management and deadly electrics when I had my kitchen installed by a large DIY chain. I am actually out of pocket to the tune of £3500.00 putting their mistakes right and my kitchen still isn't finished and it should have been completely finished by 6th October last year. I've managed to do all of the paperwork and POC and I have named 2 defendants; one is the large chain and the second is their parent company. I named the parent company because when I was liaising with the DIY chain and following their complaints process I was getting nowhere so I tried to use the parent company to apply pressure to no avail! the DIY chain have filed a defence, admitting some of their mistakes but not all even though I have proof, photos, electricians as witnesses, emails of complaint etc. Unfortunately, I have not heard a thing from the parent company with regards to filing a defence, acknowledgement of service or anything. Do I just leave them alone until it gets to court or do I have to let the court know I haven't heard anything back from them? I have received a copy of the defence from the DIY chain's solicitors and it's just full of legal speech to try and frighten me I assume. Also, they have offered me mediation with them however I really don't want to do that. For at least 2 months, I attempted to discuss this with them and they just ignored me I feel that because I followed their complaints process to the letter, they don't deserve to go through mediation. Does this go against me at all because I don't want mediation? Any help you can give me is really appreciated.

I have all the bills and I know what they want to charge me but I don't believe that that was the reading from my old meter but they will not provide me with proof. The reason I don't believe that I used that much gas over that period of time is because my bills for the same period in previous years was more than 50% less than what they have charged me. I also don't believe that a well insulated two bedroom house where everyone is out all day would use nearly £600.00 worth of gas in six summer months. I only have a gas hob and a combi boiler that would use gas is the summer as the central heating is not on. According to this link there are quite a few people who have had this problem. I am just trying to find out the reason behind such a steep increase in gas over six months during the summer period. I am not saying that this is the reason but I would like to find out. There has to be an explanation and I am not willing to just hand over this extra money because someone says I should but cannot give me a reasonable explanation as to why. Even with the steep increases last year and this year I still haven't used £600 worth of gas in six summer months. Hope this explains. http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_meters_pic.shtml

Thanks for the reply - I know I had a meter change when I went with First Utility because they required me to be on a smart meter. Unfortunately the new smart meter didn't work properly so they installed another one which totals 3. I changed to First Utility in March 2009 and they provided me with estimated gas bills totalling £276.37 until 26th November 2009. They now would like to charge me a further £313.37 for that period. This is completely wrong because it was over the summer months and therefore don't use my gas central heating in this period; everything else apart from my hob and combi boiler is electric and I live in a modern two bedroom house. I have contacted First Utility for an explanation and they never seem to give me one and although the Ombudsman have become involved in this, they haven't got to the bottom of it either and seem to think if First Utility apologise to me I will forget everything they have done and just pay up! First Utility won't budge in that I owe them this amount but nobody can provide me with a good enough explanation. The only explanation that I can come up with myself is that the old meter they removed may have been an imperial one and the amount they are charging me for in that period I was with them prior to the smart meter is more because First Utility didn't realise that I was on an Imperial meter. The main problem is, I don't know how to find out about previous meters it was nearly two years ago! Any help/thoughts would be welcome. Best wishes, Sarah

Hi there! This is just a general question but is there any way that I can get details of when my gas meter has been changed in my house over the last 10 years as well as what type of meters were installed at the time, whether they were imperial meters or metric ones? I have had an ongoing dispute with a previous gas supplier who changed my meter and I think that they changed it from imperial to metric but I am not sure. Where can I get this information, especially if I have been swapping utility providers over the past few years. Is there a central place I can go to get this information? Any information would be appreciated. Sarah

Thank you very much for your response - I have been on holiday and when I came back I have received correspondence from the Ombudsman to say that they are willing to act as mediator between First Utility and me. Fingers crossed that this will do the trick as I do feel very aggrieved that they sent me a final bill for £0.00 and then backtracked and said I owed them so much money! I do want to take this all the way though and feel at present that I will go to court if I don't get any joy with the Ombudsman. Watch this space......

Hi there! That has been my point exactly to First Utility when I have been in email correspondence with them over the last week. I also have had a look at the back billing stuff on the Energy Retail Association website and feel that they are really pushing their luck with asking me for this. I have never wilfully avoided making payment as a direct debit mandate was in place for the whole time I was with them and they could have gained access at any point to read my meter as they knew it was faulty. It really makes me angry that nearlt two years after the event they are requesting this money! I will forward everything on to the Energy Ombudsman anyway and see what they think. Thank you very much for your comments - really appreciate it. Sarah

Just as another thought - I have come across the back billing code of practice. Would this apply to me? I have paid on time always with direct debit so they cannot say that I was refusing to pay and this bill only appeared 18 months after the amount was due? It was not my fault that the meter was faulty as I did email them to find out why I was receiving estimated bills. Anyway, look forward to receiving any of your thoughts on this one. Sarah5318

Hi all! I have a problem with First Utility and it all started in March 2009 when I decided to transfer to them and paid £99.00 to install smart meters for my gas and electric. Everything was running fine (or so I thought) and I was paying for my gas and electric as I used it. It then transpired that in November 2009 they informed me that they would need to change my electricity meter as it wasn't working which they duly did and the smart metering continued. I assumed that any electricity I had used from March 2009 to November 2009 was paid because when the new meter was installed I continued to pay for my electricity as I used it. In July 2010 I received an email stating that they were putting their prices up and when I searched around I got a better alternative from another supplier so I decided to change to them as they were happy to use my smart meters as ordinary meters. Anyway, First Utility allowed the electricity transfer to go through to my new supplier and the changeover date was August 2010 but they refused the gas as there was a problem with that meter as well. As the gas wasn't being transferred because of an error they made eventually, via the Ombusdman, it was transferred successfully and I received a little compensation because I was missing out on dual fuel discounts from either supplier. I then arrived home last week to a bill of over £800.00 from a debt collection agency who had apparently been telephoning me because I had an outstanding bill with First Utility. I had no knowledge of this and immediately referred it to the Ombudsman because I thought it was for gas. After receiving an email from First Utility it turns out that it is for electricity for the period March 2009 to November 2009 when the meter was not working correctly. I had already paid just over £350.00 to them in that period for electric by direct debit and when I looked back this was estimated. Now I am not a genius but I live in a two bedroom house with a lounge, kitchen and bathroom, not even a dining room and I have gas central heating and a combination boiler so on top of what I have paid for six months which is just over £350.00 they would like another £800.00 for electricity for that period also. To confirm as well when I changed suppliers I couldn't see the bills on my First Utility account so was unable to check this. My first knowledge of this was last week. No letter were sent to me and no-one from the company attempted to telephone me either. My questions are: Am I at fault because their meters were not working correctly? Is £1150.00 (£350.00 paid and the extra £800.00 they are chasing me for) for electricity average for a two bedroom house with gas central heating and boiler average for six months? I don't see to think so but I would like another opinion. Should they not have notified me that there was an outstanding bill of nearly £800.00 for the previous period (Mar 2009 to Nov 2009) as I had a direct debit mandate in place where they could have had access to the money. According to subsequent bills from Dec 2009 to Aug 2010 when the meter was changed, there was no indication whatsoever that there was an outstanding amount as it said on my final electricity bill in August 2010 that the meter reading they had taken was an actual one and the outstanding balance was £0.00. Also, shouldn't they have mentioned that this was outsanding when I took them to the Ombudsman to sort out my gas. I am also angry with the debt collection agency because they telephoned me on the same day I received the letter rudely accusing me of not answering their telephone calls or letters. Now I have call minder on my line so if they had tried to ring me it would have appeared on my handset, which it didn't! I would love to know what you all think and any advice would be appreciated. I have as I say referred it to the Ombudsman straight away but would like to know my rights before I discuss with them how I should proceed. I also have no qualms about meeting organisations like this in court if I have to; should it go that far! Apologies for the long post but I am extremely worried about this and their handling of the bills and the extremely rude DCA that they have employed to get the money from me!

Thank you so much for this advice - I will write to them tonight with the points you have made. Many thanks again! Sarah

I wonder if someone can help me? I paid for smart meters to be installed in early 2009 - I paid £99.00 for this as I wanted to be able to check my bills. My gas smart meter has never worked and i have always had estimated bills! In July 2010 the standing charges were increased to 50p per day for gas and also electricity by First Utility and so I checked some comparison sites. As soon as I received this information I decided to change to another utility company. My new utility company were able to transfer my electricity in August but apparently First Utility objected to me transferring my gas supply. I contacted First Utility and there was no reason for this objection to be raised and they promised me that my gas could be transferred. This objection happened again and it means I am paying for my electricity through one company and my gas through another therefore not getting the benefits of a dual fuel discount whilst also paying the huge standing charge for my gas to First Utility. I contacted First Utility yet again last week and they advised that they would remove the objection - yet again my new utility company have applied and it has been objected to and I received this letter today. What do I need to do now? I am being charged a large standing charge, not benefitting from dual fuel discount so am paying over the odds for my gas and electricity until this is sorted? Any help/advice would be much appreciated! Regards, Sarah

I am requesting some help with a TomTom One that I bought on 17th October last year. I still have the receipt for this and also the packaging. It worked fine when I bought it but since February after doing the updates the screen completely freezes when you turn it on and I cannot access any of the maps and I am unable to use the unit which is a bit frustrating. This has happened twice now and both times I have returned this to Halfords who have reset it and it works fine. When I questioned them about this today they stated that it would need to be repaired by TomTom which means that it will be sent away for approximately 10 days and if TomTom cannot fix it they will probably send me a reconditioned unit which obviousy I don't want as I paid full price for this and I want a machine which is working. What do I do now as it is getting close to the six months from when I bought it and I actually want either a new sat nav system or I want my money back as I don't feel that it is doing what it should. Can I insist on this? Is it Halfords that I have the complaint with? Anyone help?

Apologies for not keeping you up to date with this! After all of the advice that I received on this case I decided to go with it and eventually after nearly two years of fighting they refunded my card with the amount that they owed and also a goodwill payment! They did not however write to let me know of this, they just refunded everything to my card. Thank you to everyone who helped me!