Utility warehouse - Massive final Bill

[alicev]

i've recently moved out of a flat i shared with a friend

we passed on our final meter readings and we have now received our final bill.

 

To my absolute shock the electricity bill read £628!

 

Immediately i rung up saying there must be some mistake the woman on the phone said it is correct as it was part of the monthly payment plan.

 

Never once when being signed up by someone who works for Utility Warehouse was i told about or explained what the payment plan was.

 

Apparently to keep your monthly bills low they will only charge you a little amount of your electric bill (£7 in my case)

but then when you decide to leave you get hit with this massive bill of all the electricity charges you actually owe.

 

When asked why i wasn't told about this and why we weren't just charged for it at the time each month i was unable to get a proper answer.

 

i was just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar or know what i should do next ?

[dx100uk]

how long were you in the flat for

they can only back bill you for 12mts if they have not previously advised you in writing of the monthly sums outstanding.

 

 

typical trick by them sadly.

 

 

dx

[alicev]

Really? We moved in at the start of October 2014 and moved out at the end of August 2015 so we were there for less than 12 months and have received nothing in writing about these additional fees

 

Any advise on what steps to take next ? She was very adamant on the phone that it has to be paid and went on about a payment plan but obviously we want to avoid paying it as we were clueless about it

[dx100uk]

so you had an online account only.?

 

 

no util company can just magic up that you suddenly owe £XX per month , going back xxmts without a contract.

nor sending you some notification that the amount is growing.

 

 

something does not sound right here

 

 

dx

 

 

 

 

dx

[alicev]

Yes we only had an online account. I would get an email each month with how much we needed to pay for that month and we would pay it. Never were we told about this payment plan racking up this massive bill

[dx100uk]

then they certainly cant back bill passed 12mts from the date of their new demand

 

 

and the email said nowt about other charges later?

 

 

dx

[alicev]

No it never said anything, and we were never told anything either. If we were told about this payment plan before signing up we would of looked elsewhere.

So this budget plan was obviously in place but because we were never informed about it do you think we have a leg to stand on to try and say we aren't paying it ?

[dx100uk]

Stay off the phone to them

 

Can you ask for a breakdown by letter?

 

Something is not sounding right here

I hope one of the more knowledgeable ones pops in

 

Dx