Hi all back in February last year I had my pre payment meters, both gas and electricity, changed so as I could pay by direct debit as I was struggling with illness and was in and out of hospital so was unable to top up on a regular basis. I gave my account details to setup the direct debits and the meters were changed and I was given the monthly amounts of £18 for electricity and £35 for gas. Roll on to July this year and I received a gas bill for £600 as they had not been taking the direct debit for the gas bud did so for the electric. I truly did not notice that the DD was not being taken as life with hospital was hectic, in fact I did not pay any attention to any DD's as I assumed everything was being paid as I did not received any notifications. I have a complaint in with SSE and I am awaiting their results and findings but was wondering if they can make me pay this large amount as it seems to be that their billing system failed. Regards to all

Hello...Had gas/electric supplied by Flow Energy until 6th May 2017 before switching to another company. Final bill issued by Flow Energy 13th June 2017 - advised they would take final d/d 14 days later. Have now received a letter on 2/5/18 from Allied Credit International Ltd from Glasgow stating that the amount is due. (Also, letter dated 23/4/18 but not received until 2/5/18). Have checked bank thoroughly and Flow Energy never took the final direct debit as they said they would at end of June 2017. Also never received any communication at any point from Flow Energy since that email in June 2017 when they advised they would take the final d/d at end of June 2017 i.e. no chase /reminder etc etc. Now concerned I have a DCA after me, and that credit score may be marked also They are just under the 12month rule on backbilling that I have read about on Ofcom website but unsure if Flow energy even agreed to that voluntary charter. Who do I speak to - Allied? But assuming they have just 'bought' the debt. Or do I contact Flow Energy and complain? I had no issue about payng it at the time but thought it had been paid and am annoyed to now have this thrown at me randomly nearly a year later - and especially having a DCA involved!! Any leg to stand on?!

Long story short... My son has set up and abandoned xbox accounts more times than I've had hot dinners. Trouble is he has set up monthly game passes on at least two of those. He has removed details of most accounts from his xbox, so I cant trace which account has the monthly subscriptions on. I have been debited for one subscription on my own debit card, which was for a trial my son started in December. I opened a teenage bank account in February this year with his own debit card. He used this for another subscription. My son cannot remember which accounts he has used. I've been on phone to bank but they advise contacting xbox. I try xbox live chat, they give me a phone number to ring. I ring that, spend half hour on phone on hold and am then cut off. I cannot find a direct email address to raise an issue with them. Seems I am stuck unless there is someone with the expert knowhow to resolve this. It seems it is easy to cancel stuff when you know account details. However, son is High Functioning Autism and suffers from extreme anxiety when asked about this. He is unable to take responsibility for this so I could really do with some help to sort this out. Many thanks.

I am looking for some advice dealing with the DCA chasing after an alleged debt they say I had with Npower. I paid every month by direct debit and as far as I was concerned all paid off and sent the final meter reading on the day I moved out. I called them few months later and was told what the final bills was £36 and paid off. Now a DCA sending letters, but the company name is Npower Northern which I have never known. My bills had the name Npower and not Npower Northern. Have they changed names? How can there be an outstanding amount when paid by monthly direct debit ? I have read so many posts regarding their incorrect bills. I am going to call them today and send a SAR request and start the process from there. It is so unnecessary that we have to do this as when we pay every month and trust them to send correct bills.

Hi everyone I'm hoping for some advice to resolve an ongoing issue with Vodafone. My next planned action is to write to Ofcom but I would appreciate any guidance as to the best approach. In short, I'm a former Vodafone customer, I recently discovered that they have trashed my credit rating without communicating with me. My attempts to resolve this have so far proved futile, despite contacting the Ombudsman. The background (and I'll try to keep this as brief as I can) is as follows. I had been a satisfied Vodafone personal customer under the same mobile number for approximately 20 years up until 2014. In June 2014 I made one VERY SIMPLE REQUEST - to be billed a business customer rather than a personal customer - to help with my company accounting. I was assured this would be an instant and seamless process. Immediately after this date countless things descended into chaos for months after, including: My number getting "lost" between different Vodafone platforms more than once (resulting in no service on multiple days) Call bars being placed on my account despite staff assurances that all account settings would be left the same (resulting in no service while abroad on work) Services being removed from my account without authorisation or communication (resulting in beneficial call packages being removed from my account even though the packages were available) Services being added to my account and charged to me without me requesting them or approving them Account details being mishandled multiple times, resulting in a range of inconveniences, from not having permission rights to speak to customer services about my own account(!), to receiving correspondence in a variety of erroneous name / company name / address formats… I even got the distinct impression I didn't actually exist either partially or completely in the Vodafone systems when I called to correct on multiple occasions Billing - perhaps most seriously, there were months when I received no bills and the online billing section showed no statements, yet money was being drawn from my account by Direct Debit each month Aside from the massive inconvenience of wasting hours of my life and work time over many months on the above and being given the run around and being let down by countless members of Vodafone staff (I have logged dates and names of many calls), the final straw came when I discovered I was being charged for unauthorised services when I was finally emailed three of the missing bills I'd been chasing for months. I'd given Vodafone numerous ultimatums to resolve outstanding issues and was given broken promises of resolutions each time. in January 2016 I ported my number out to another network and left Vodafone. Vodafone wrote to me in March giving me a Notice Of Default letter (I had stopped the Direct Debit they had been helping themselves to without billing me), claiming an outstanding balance of nearly £300 including charges for "cancellation prior to contract date". I replied with a detailed letter on all the above issues advising I was forced to leave due to the catalogue of disasters and erroneous billing, and that the unacceptable level of service and repeated failures to resolve amounted to breach of contract and that no cancellation charges were due. I requested a copy of all missing bills to I could calculate the erroneous charges taken from my account. My letter was acknowledged by Vodafone and a Case Reference given. That was the last I heard from Vodafone. I (rather naively) assumed they'd taken a look at the lengthy and detailed crime sheet against them and walked away from any attempt to claim early cancellation charges. And to be honest I was more than happy to get on with my life rather having wasted countless hours chasing them over recent months. The credit rating issue first came to my attention when applying to open new bank accounts for my business in August 2017. Needless to say I was furious to find out Vodafone had done this without any communication or justification. I was advised by the Ombudsman to send a final complaint email through the Vodafone website in an attempt to resolve which I duly did. Once again, no reply from Vodafone. My take on this is that Vodafone are acting in a completely unaccountable manner and have been vindictive in their placement of a bad credit mark against myself. Surely it's a basic legal requirement of a telecoms company to give statements to customers when taking Direct Debit amounts and to actually reply to customer complaints? I would love to throw the largest proverbial book in the direction of Vodafone for their conduct in the hope they clean up their act for other customers, and of course to clear my credit report ASAP. Any advice on the above would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Hi there. I'm wondering if you could help. I've got a bit of an usual BT billing issue and I'm looking for some advice. I'm coming to the end of my minimum term with BT and I've placed in my cancellation. However, it turns out that due to some billing glitch, I haven't paid a single payment to BT for the whole year contract. I'm one of those who just let direct debits come out the bank without really paying close attention ( I really should.... I know!) They are now requesting the full year payment upfront which I obviously cannot afford. I've logged into the BT website to check the bills incase there has been any late payment fees etc to find that absolutely every bill - clearly addressed with my details and the package that I subscribe to (phone and broadband) have all had a total balance due of £0. Where do I stand with this?

Have had letter from them to state in future they are switching to 6 monthly billing instead of quarterly. No doubt there will be a large range of those who won't be able to pay - unless you go with their preferred method of payment, Direct Debit.

Good morning everyone, This is my first post to a forum like this and I am looking for some advice. I have signed up to a 12-month Virgin Media contract in November 2016, due to expire in November 2017. Since I signed the paperwork in the shop, I have had a number of issues and conflicting accounts according to the service agents I speak to. 1) I signed a contract in a local high street store outlet. The sales agent was the store manager. I asked explicit questions about billing and the charges, several times, to make I understood. I got confirmation of the maximum amount I could expect to be billed in any given month was the price quoted and circled on my agreement statement. I only wanted Broadband, but for some promotion at the time, it made it cheaper to take Phone and TV too: 12-month promotional discount for the package of all three services, making my overall charges cheaper than Broadband alone. Satisfied I was given clear information and adding all services I needed, ex-directory, etc (to avoid nuisance calls), at the time I took the contract, I was happy. I also asked them about their Refer a Friend scheme before I signed the contract. I was advised, I need to wait for my first bill, after a Month, and then call Customer Services, provide my details, and my friend's details, and we both get an effective discount. - Minor issue, but discrepancy number 1. I made an initial upfront payment instore for something, and left the store. When I was contacted given all the details of my contract and installation dates, etc, most of my services could be set up the next week, but one of them would take up to a Month (the broadband I think). Given the Broadband was the whole reason I needed the service, this wasn't ideal. I called up a few times and this date got moved forwards. Following the installation, the service took some time to get activated. The installation engineer even called up himself a few times to see why: changed the router, left to install another job and then returned. The service eventually worked. When I got my first bill email, it was a LOT more than the package price I was expecting to pay. I was advised in-store, the first bill is twice the monthly charge, so that was expected. In my case, my first bill was nearly 4 times the charge and then some. When I called the Customer Service number to query this, it was looked into. The excess charges were because payment had not been taken initially instore apparently, and the rest was incorrect package price details: discount had not been applied. I assured them I had paid instore, to the Manager and had a receipt to that effect. I emailed a picture of the receipt of the payment taken instore along with the agreement I signed: package details and price. The store payment was then credited to my account and the excess charges added as a 'credit'. No chance of a refund. Bearing in mind they have charged me for 3 months in Advance. I was told the excess would be credited to my account and I would not be billed until the credit had expired. Since this was my first bill, I also decided to ask about the 'Refer a Friend' to credit myself and my friend with £50. I was told that the referral should have been made at the time the agreement was taken out instore. This is in direct contradiction to what I was told by the Local Branch Manager at the time I was taking out the contract. On another occasion, I went to the store again and was told again, for referrals, you must still wait for the first bill before calling Customer Services. This has always been the case. Since the credit has expired on my account, I am now being billed again. At no time has the billing amount been as agreed or expected. My bill is expected to be around £30/month. My most recent payment was nearly £60. My next bill is nearly £80. I do not understand why I am being billed so much, with such variation. As such, I have recently written to the Executive Office and by post, to inform them I have cancelled the Direct Debit. I want to make manual payments in future, so that I know how much I am being charged. My question: Can pay the remaining difference for my next bill or do I need to pay the bill in full: I was charged £58 for a £30 bill last month. Can I pay £2 for this month, and then £30 manually every month after, or do I need to pay the £80 stated on my my Bill statement for this month? I don't understand why it is £80... Further information: my Virgin Media Direct Debit was listed as a Variable Amount. I have a phone contract. The payment type and amount for my phone are listed as 'Fixed amount, £xx.xx". Why is Virgin Media a Variable Payment amount? Should it not have been set up as a Fixed charge? I need advice because I do not want this to affect my Credit file.

Plusnet, a BT owned company, has today been fined £880,000 by Ofcom for continuing to bill more than a thousand ex-customers. http://tinyurl.com/lgdmhyl

Signed up to a new 12 month deal with BT in Jan 2017 only to find out 2 weeks later the had generated a Quarterly bill from Dec 2016- March 2017 which then cancels my monthly payment with them.... i have rang them a they say the only way to get me back onto a monthly payment is to pay the £144 quarterly charge now upfront and then they will credit my account accordingly... I feel like i am being held over a barrel on this one..... Are they right or can i challenge it.... They have admitted it's there fault i was placed on a quarterly scheme as i had been on a monthly payment for last 12 months Any advice much appreciated

Guys. I am with THREE (not for much longer) on PAYG. I hardly use the phone at all for anything other than receiving calls and the occasional text or call out. The package is the 1,2,3 so is very cheap and a £10 credit usually lasts me months. I topped up on 24 Jan and that would normally be it until maybe May or June. But yesterday I received a text from THREE asking if I want to top up. The balance was £0.59 Now I know I have not used it and I always have mobile data switched off, so wanted to know where Three has used my money. I logged into my3, but as I am PAYG there is no billing available, today I called them and asked for a breakdown of how they used my credit. They point blank refused to tell me as 'that is not available to PAYG customers' Surely this cannot be legal. They can effectively just fritter away my credit with no accountability. Can anyone help with this? I know it is pennies, but it is a lot to me. I asked them for a PAC code 17 times before they finally stopped asking me why I wanted it and caved in when I demanded it as I am entitled to have it!

Centrica-owned British Gas has to pay 9.5 million pounds ($11.9 million) in compensation to customers who faced billing problems after the household energy supplier upgraded its system in 2014, UK energy market regulator Ofgem said on Tuesday. Ofgem said British Gas, Britain's biggest energy supplier, had shown failings in its registrations, complaints handling and billing processes for business customers and over 6,000 new customers had experienced delays registering with the supplier. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/british-gas-pay-9-5-million-pound-customer-110752334--finance.html

Hi, I'm hoping someone can offer some help! (and sorry it is so long - I don't want to dripfeed) In January, I moved into a new build property. I contacted my previous suppliers (SSE) and asked them to move my account over to my new property - a simple process, I hoped. I was wrong! In March they came back to me to say that they couldn't take over my account, as British Gas had me classified as a business address. I then spoke to British Gas Business - advised them that the house is indeed residential, that I wanted it corrected to show this and a bill so I can pay my balance with them before moving back to SSE. They also updated my address, which they had completely wrong. They advised it would take 6-8 weeks in order to change the profile of my address, and for a specialist team to recalculate my bill. Also, that they would freeze my account, and to ignore anything that came through the post from British Gas Business, as the residential team would be taking over. During this time, the letters starting rolling in - a bill of £1500 for 4 months electricity, and letters advising that debt collectors would be coming to the property; that they were disconnecting me in 7 days, that they were adding £100's of charges on my account in late payment fees. During this period, I called BGB, who advised that it was still in process, and that there was a backlog. When I got the letter advising of disconnection, my partner got quite worried, so I called BGB. This time their adviser said that they tried to call me twice on my mobile to advise that I needed to sign a contract before I could be moved over to a domestic profile. As I hadn't answered their calls, they had cancelled my switch. (No letters, emails or voicemails left to advise of this) - the reason I didn't answer is because I work! During this call, I was told I now needed to pay £1750, or they would be continuing with their threats of disconnection and bailiffs etc - despite the fact they were still billing me for business tariffs. When I mentioned that residential prices would leave my bill to be less than half of this, I was told that "You can make an estimate of your bill and pay us that" - surely it's their job to bill me correctly, but never mind! Finally, after asking for escalation to a manager to lodge a complaint, I was told that they would again freeze my account, and pass this to a complaints team to handle - this is when I requested that everything was to be conducted through email only. Over the last couple of days, I have had an email from their complaints team regarding this. They have now moved my profile over to domestic; however will not recalculate my bill unless I sign up to a contract for Electricity with them. Also, they admitted to me that they were informed in February that the property was domestic, but just continued to bill me as a business. What else can I do to get this resolved, other than signing a contract with them? I feel it is grossly unfair to be expected to pay double the amount for my electricity supply, because their systems incorrectly had me assigned as a business. Equally, I don't want to be tied into a contract with a company who have treated me so appallingly.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/vodafone-billing-meltdown--what-8160549 Isn't this something we have been telling them for at least the last 18 months !

Apparently there is a voluntary code of practice in place which now limits back billing to 3 years for micro-businesses. http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication.html?task=file.download&id=5196 A micro-business is a business with less than nine employees. Apparently many of the suppliers have adopted back billing practices for micro-business customers which are better than the three-year maximum. If anyone has any comments or examples to show, please post them here.

Complaints against telecoms giant Vodafone have surged by more than 50% after issues with a new billing system. Regulator Ofcom says there were 32 complaints about Vodafone made per 100,000 customers in the last three months of 2015 - an increase from the 20 in the previous three months. Vodafone was the only provider to receive more complaints than the industry average of 10 per 100,000 customers. The figures were recorded as Vodafone moved pay-monthly customers to a new billing system and, as well as billing, customers flagged up issues with pricing, charges, complaint handling and service. Vodafone apologised to affected customers, as it admitted suffering "some problems" with the "highly complex" switchover. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/vodafone-complaints-billing-system-203511307.html

Hi, I'm hoping for some advice. My wife has a cell phone contract with Vodafone and in March she visited our local vodafone store and added 2 additional lines into her account. These were data only sim cards for use in portable devices that Vodafone offer on a 1 month minimum term contract (ie cancelled with 1 month notice.) These were used for a short term requirement, and in May she contacted Vodafone to give notice to cancel and remove these two sims cards via the online webchat. The customer service representative accepted the request and confirmed that the cancellation had been accepted and the cards would cease in 30 days. We have a copy of the transcript here. A couple of months later, my wife looked at her bill and saw that she was still being charge for the 2 data sims card. She called vodafone this time, and spoke to the customer care team. They acknowledged that the cancellation had been received and had not been cancelled in due to a systems error. They apologies, confirmed that the cancelation was now actioned, and promised to refund the months that were charged in error. In September, I turned on a device with one of these sim cards installled and found that it connected to mobile broadband service. I notified my wife, who checked her bill - and saw she was still being charged for the sims cards. They are still active and no refund received. This time she visited the store to express frustration. The store staff told here they cannot help and she must phone customer services. She phoned customers services. Was told that the cancellation has not happened in error and that it has now been actioned. Refund is forthcoming. In October the sim cards are still active. My wife is in tears with frustration, but I tell her to call again. this time she is told that because the card was used in September (when I switched on the device) she will not get a refund for September, but otherwise, it's an error, really, truly the cancellation has been processed and she will get a refund minus September. Last week, no refund, cards still being billed, we went back into the store and spent two hours making a nuisance to the poor staff there to try to resolve it. They say they can't do anything but make a note on the system for a supervisor to look. I'm looking for advise what to do next? Vodafone owe several hundred pounds in payments they've taken. While acknowledging that they should not be, they seem unable to stop billing for the service. We've both spend hours and hours trying to resolve it over 7 month period. My wife doesn't want to cancel the direct debit, because she still needs her phone, which remains active on the account under her contract. Can anyone suggest next steps? Thanks!

Surprise surprise http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35129788 But will it make any difference? No sign of it so far. I wonder what Kenneth Radley Davies Smadley Bradley Madley Mavies - their alleged in-house legal assistant and Npower's tame solicitors Wilkins Chapman will make of this. I wonder how many of Npower's victims have they frightened and bullied over the year simply in order to keep Npower's shameful dishonesty and incompetence from being revealed to the public. Of course, £26million is a drop in the ocean and no doubt their execs are all enjoying their bonuses and Christmas parties. Spare a thought for Npower victims? Not likely

Hi Guys I desperately need your help. I'm in a massive battle with Npower over inflated bills and they are being useless as ever. The problems started 2 years ago when they decided to change our meters. I was told this was a legal requirement (very rudely I might add) by npower. Once the new meters were installed, we started seeing problems straight away. I've been with npower for nearly 5 years and have always paid a direct debit to make sure that we didnt have a huge bill every 6 months to pay. However, once the new meters were installed, we didnt get a bill for a year down to issues with their new billing system. I was then sent a bill which made no sense saying that I owed them £400. So, I set up my direct debit to increase payments to £100. I then get a bill in Feb 2015 saying that they were increasing my direct debits to £125 per month even though I had called them with the correct meter readings. They asked me to do a load test which I did, however, they were saying the numbers were correct. I suuplied them with these load test readings in March - I got a call from them in July saying they had only just processed them. I then complained to Npower which turns out, is pointless and then I received 4 bills over a space of one week with various different amounts. All of which were completely inflated and were back dated to 2012. (when we had old meters). I then recieve a 'final' bill in August (at this point, we have changed provider as npower were becoming impossible to deal with) of £643 - again, a completely inflated number and totally different to the last bill I had recieved. In between all this, I have submitted a complaint to Ofgem who have turned out to be just as useless to which they then spotted that Npower had submitted the incorrect meter readings and that i was to expect an even higher bill. I then recieved a bill for £747 (now inflated from their 'final' bill) saying I had to have this paid by the 2nd October (i recieved the bill on the 1st Oct). Again, this bill is dated from sept 2012 - May 2015. Why am I being back billed? This isnt allowed right? In a nutshell, I've been paying a direct debt of £75 a month for over a year. The are now demanding a further £737 on top of that. I have a tiny 2 bed flat and we are only using them for electricity. My consumption has not changed AT ALL and my bills have just gone through the roof with no explantion and numbers I just cant make sense of. I dont believe that in one year my bill can be £1,637 when it used to be approx £750 a year. I really dont know what to do - I dont want to waste money on legal fees but I do believe that npower have completely messed up my bills and therefor over charging me. I'm completely stressed out and suffering major anxiety over this. I've been told to send a DSAR form - what form of payment am I able to send? Can anyone advise me? Thanks Ange

I proved that BG had overbilled for six years and I believe the documentation establishes proof that they accpeted this. When finally pushed in a corner, they refunded one year of overbilling ayaing that they were not required to go back more than one year. Can this be correct? Eam

Dear CAG, I'm posting to ask your advice about potential to take legal action against npower. A customer of many years, my billing was recently disrupted by their apparent billing meltdown, during which time i received a letter advising an amount was to be written off to comply with backbilling regulations. I was subsequently made aware that they'd re-commenced billing by an automated message asking me why i hadn't paid my bill. I called to advise it was because i hadn't received a bill and today, twelve months later, it still isn't resolved. When i received my bill it included an amount listed as 'balance on account', but there were no meter readings for this amount, i queried this with npower and this led to them putting my account on hold to allow 'back office' to look at it, it appears they didn't; my account came off hold and the unresolved matter was escalated - repeat numerous times and npower increase the threat levels, eventually they involved PDCS, and threatened to tarnish my credit history and obtain a warrant to enter my home. It was ridiculous, disproportionate and a result of their failing and not mine. During this time i had the attention of a manager who promised to resolve the matter but failed to do so, during one conversation she called up a bill on their system which included figures which differed from my bill. Presumably as a result of her involvement, i received an odd list of dates and figures, there was no explanation and no indication of who'd sent it. I exhausted npower's formal complaints procedure (the first part of which they used as a sales lead!) without them attempting to answer this simple central question of how they justified the charge. I took the matter to the Ombudsman, as a result of their involvement npower found a further 3 bills from the same date as the one received which add up to the sum in question. The process was slow but eventually one evening, out of the blue i received a call from the investigating officer advising on their findings. Their process doesn't allow for things to be put in writing but rely on an agreement over the phone, keen to put an end to it i agreed to the recommendations of the Ombudsman namely that npower send a letter of apology, the missing bills and credit my account with token 'goodwill' payment. A couple of days later i was incensed to receive a hand delivered letter again threatening to enter my home, this was in breach of an agreement that npower would not conduct any recovery procedure on the account, consequently i contacted the Ombudsman to ask whether i may be allowed grace time to reconsider my decision. I have subsequently challenged both npower and the Ombudsman. I have repeatedly offered to settle the account (less the amount in dispute) and have asked npower to raise such a bill, which they have not. I was surprised to find npower plunging to new lows by crediting the account with the 'goodwill' gesture, whilst debiting it for the services of their debt collection agency! My challenge to both npower and the Ombudsman is that in spite of my repeated requests for a proper bill i did not receive one until the intervention of the Ombudsman, neither did anyone inform me that four bills had been generated on one day. As a result of the Ombudsman's involvement i received these bills in April '15 which covered the amount in question which was for a period ending Febraury '14. It is my contention that this constitutes backbilling. The Ombudsman are now dragging their heels, whilst npower are refusing to consider the idea that they may be backbilling, when one mentions it they refer to their earlier 'meltdown' period and refer to it as if they have done me a favour by being incompetent! They issue Act Now notices and only offer to hold the account for 7 days at a time. It's taken up far too much of my time, i don't beleive i've done anything wrong and i've had enough of it.

British Gas have not submitted me a bill for 17 months due to them saying my account moved elsewhere which it didnt and now its back with them. Under the back billing code of practise I believe they cannot charge me for anything over 12 months. Ok - my account was closed Feb 2014 but they still collected my direct debit payments until Dec 2014 when they decided to send me a final bill closing my account at Feb 14 and I was in credit so they refunded me my credit balance. So from March - July 14 they cannot charge me for the gas? July 14 - to date I agree is chargeable. Can anyone help me or tell me how they work out the back billing as the chap I am dealing at B Gas is only offering a credit of £ 2.50 for back billing when I have calculated the units to be over £200. I feel he is calculating this incorrectly to their advantage. Can anyone help - I have the Citizens Advice on the case and am now considering the Ombudsman Thanks

Today I called Cymru Water because we have a £300 credit on our bill (we pay £50 a month direct debit) and wanted to adjust our direct debit since we had such a large credit. The rep immediately said our meter must be slowing down since we have 7 people in our house and were apparently using too little water for that many people. (possibly correct) So they are going to replace the water meter. Oops, darn, but oh well. Our problem is this: They say that once the new meter is installed, they will check the readings every few weeks and then use these numbers to 'correct' our past bill (up to 7 years). We are arguing over this because we do not feel they should be able to guess what our usage was for the past year or two and make us pay for their meter possibly slowing down. They have no way of going back in time and knowing exactly how much water was used. It was their mistake and while we have no problem ensuring that we pay what we use from now on, we are angry that the company can just say 'we think you used this much water while your meter was slowing down so give us the money.' And since we have a £300 credit, they will take it from that. The rep said they would generally not make a customer go negative on their bill. I asked for a refund of our credit then and they do not appear to plan on giving it to us. Can Cymru Water back bill us on guesstimate of water usage and not an accurate reading of the meter?

Im about to leave BT line rental and broadband service. Im not going to another provider - just having the line disconnected at the end of contract. My actual yearly contract ends on Feb 28th, having given them the necessary 30-days notice. I have just received my latest bill it, and it states I need to pay line rental/broadband in advance for the months of March/April/May 2015. I have spoken with BT's billing dept, and they said I need to pay the full amount of Advanced fees on the bill - and they will then refund me on my final bill, which is due 10 days after termination. This seems utterly topsy-turvy. Why should I pay for line/broadband for March/April/May when I will not even have that service? Any advice would be appreciated, as I dont want to give BT more monies than they are actually legally entitled to. Regards, Leo

4th December 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5HlJ1z5lDtYHqVRTRqxx4XL/npower-billing-chaos