My advise would be to call their complaints department. Complaint about the persons attitude and explain your circumstances clearly. I myself work for credit management for PGen (its the same as collections) and have to make decisions on peoples payments based on their payment history. I would have seen that you have been making regular payments and only missing one payment is hardly cause to limit your payment options. Be strong, and good luck!

Thanks very much, i'm chuffed!

Get the supllier to contact transco (if gas) either through there xoserve website or to telephone them if they dont have access or get the supplier to check ecoes or call the local distribution company if they dont have access to check who the supplier is for the electrc. Both these websites contain all the information for nearly EVERY meter and the meter point it is attached too for every property and who exactly the supplier is for that meter point / meter number. Gas can a bit more trickier for newer properties as they are sometimes not managed by transco but an independant company (an IGT site)- but transco will still know who the company will be and how to contact them.

Unfortunatly this is not true. When a customer calls up to register that they are the new occupier of the property they are automatically sent the T+Cs of supply. Nothing is required to be signed to be sent back to the supplier. The sheer fact the new customer has started to use the supply is confirmation that they agree to the T+Cs. If you dont agree to the T+Cs DONT USE THE SUPPLY as the supplier will be see that you dont want elec and gas with them and will take the supply away until u arrange a new supplier to reconnect it. I can see that this can be seen as a "bully" that the customer MUST using them as a supplier - but all the suppliers do this. I know that PGen are now disconnecting properties that are empty to prompt new customers to arrange re-con with new suppliers. This is the same for all suppliers as i have worked for NPow and PGen now and both do the same.

Hey there I work for Powergen. In regards to data protection and the supply of elec/gas - this is a bit of a shaddy area with alot of customers. The fact is - when you move into a property it WILL be supplied by an elec or gas supplier weather it be bgas, pgen, npower etc... and by USING the elec / gas u have entered into a contract with them to supply your gas / elec regardless weather you pay them or not and regardless if you have a paper contract u have signed or not. It is then up to u to find your elec / gas supplier of choice and switch to them. - bare in mind u will only beable to do this if your account with the current supplier is up to date otherwise they will object to you leaving them as a supplier - they can do it, it is part of ur T+Cs. In regards to passing your details onto other 3rd parties - they can only do this if they asked you if they could do this - something they should have done when you phoned them to tell them you are moving into the property. BUT in regards to debt collection - agin as part of your T+Cs they CAN pass your details to 3rd party collection agencies. Hope this helps James

Case WON! NATWEST have decided to refund all my charges on my accounts. RESULT

OK... I decided to let Natwest have their 40 days to respond, which they have, They have offered me 76pounds!!!! Out of a near 1000!!!!! The LBA letter is now being sent with my schedual of charges... I'll keep you posted at what the outcome of that will be.. James!

I already know about the O/D interest that relates to the charges, i am very confident that the amount is correct. Thanks for all your help with this, i will post again when i have sent the LBA letter!

OK, i've used the letter that you advised to, and i have altered it to say that i have included the schedule of charges, and taken out the part where it said i have previously sent it... So the LBA letter now reads: Dear Mr Stuart Higley, Account number: xxxxxxx, Sort Code: xx-xx-xx Thank you for your letter dated 29th May 2007. I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond to my letter of the 22nd May 2007 to a satisfactory end. I now understand that the regime of 'fees' which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law and contrary to consumer regulations. I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law. I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise. I calculate that you have taken £xXX.60 plus £xx.98 which you have charged me in overdraft interest for the sum which you have taken. Total £XXX.58. I am enclosing a copy of the schedule of the charges which I am claiming. I require repayment in full of this money. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a county court claim against you for the full amount plus interest plus my costs and without further notice. You are also reminded of my request that you forward a copy of the Terms and Conditions that were in force at the time my account was opened, and any subsequent amendments to those Terms and Conditions. These are requested under CPR Pre-Action Protocol 4.6©, and your continued failure to provide them will be brought to the attention of the court, should it be necessary to commence a county court action. Yours faithfully, Hows it looking now??? I must admit, it was a great feeling writting that letter... Now i gotta spend a couple of hours filling in the spreadsheet....

OK, now i'm confused, what is this schedule of charges? I have send them my first letter outlining the charges and overdraft interest they have taken from me - is this all i need to include? J

Ok, Here is the draft of my LBA. Please let me know if it is ok before i send it... Dear Sir or Madam, RE: Account number: xxxxxx, Sort Code: xx-xx-xx This letter is with reference to my earlier claim for £76.00 made on 22nd May 2007. I am not happy with your response to my earlier request for charges which I believe were unlawfully applied to my account. The £76.00 charges are unlawful, as they do not reflect the true cost to you NatWest. As a result, I intend to claim the full amount plus interest and court fees through the county court. I look forward to a full response to this letter within fourteen working days. Otherwise I will commence court proceedings. I am happy for you to contact me on 07xxxxxxx to discuss this matter. Yours faithfully, Sorry to ask for advise, but i need this little extra help as i've never done anything like this before.. James

Yeah thats helps alot, thanks very much. I already have a LBA drafted up for both accounts!

Ok, that sounds like a good idea. In the LBA letter, do i also now need to include the costs involved in claiming for the charges using MCOL? If so, how much does this service cost? Thanks James

May i also take the oppertunity to appologise for the way the letter i sent to NatWest is formatted on my first post... - This has now been fixed

Hello All, i've just Joined today as i find this group fantastic... I thought i would start my thread with the details of my claim against NatWest.. I am making 2 claims for 2 seperate accounts, both in my name. 1) Current Plus Account, Caliming £900.00 in Total 2) Step Account, Claiming £76.00 in Total I would also like to point out at this stage that my partner works for NatWest and is helping me with this claim, and is also making claims against Natwest for charges he has had onhis account before he started working for them. (to also cover my partners securty i will not be giving thier name or the "true" amounts i am claiming incase Natwest figure who they are and they get the sack) I started about 4 weeks ago, my partner advised me to call the Customer Relations department to simply ask for 6 years worth of statements for both accounts with the view to claim the charges... I did this and sure enough they aggreed to send me the statements with no charge. They arrived 2 weeks ago. I then worked out how much the charges totaled, and the interest charged to my account as a result.. This is how i got the total figures. I then sent the following letter to the Bank manager of the branches the accounts are held at, and also a copy to the CUstomer Relations Department. Dear Sir or Madam, RE: Account number: xxxxxxxxx, Sort Code: xx-xx-xx[/font] I would like to request a refund of all the default charges that have been applied to my account over the last six years. I do not believe these charges reflect the true cost to you Natwest. I believe that your charges are disproportionately high, and therefore they are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Regulations 1999. The charges total £76.00. I would like to request repayment of this total sum £76.00. I look forward to hearing from you within 14 days. If this is not the case, I reserve the right to commence legal proceedings without further warning. Yours sincerely, And i sent the same letter for the current plus account. I have today, 4/06/07, received the following letter: Dear Mr xxxx Thank you for you recent Letter regarding the fees applied to your account. We are currently considering your claim. Given the work involved in assessing your claim we anticipate that we will be in a position to respond within 6-7 weeks, but will endeavour to do so sonner f we are able to. Yours sincerely Stuart Higley. I got two of these letters, one for the Step account and one for the current plus account. Is this an acceptable amount of time? I am going to have to sit about and twiddle my thumbs for 7 weeks? Your thoughts would be appreciated... James