My mum has a prepayment meter for her gas. She was being charged quite a lot over a period of time & one evening a gas man called & said she was due a rebate. He said he'd put it onto her account & sure enough he did, she was given £280 on her prepayment card. This was about 18 months ago & my mum recieved a letter from bailiffs 2 weeks ago saying they were going to seize her goods because she now owes this money to Powergen. She has called them & they've been totally useless, just saying that they have no record of why she got the refund & she has to pay for it as she used the gas. They even complained that she didn't top up her meter over the period of time that she had the rebate but why would she when she was £280 in credit! She has now been told she has a week to pay it by bailiffs which seems totally unfair as she didn't even know she owed it. She's trying to speak with Citizen's Advice today, does anyone know what rights she has? This is a mistake on their part totally. Thanks.
2007-03-20 22:48:26 · 5 answers · asked by bella 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Personal Finance
Actually, I think this is a scam. Does she still get a regular bill that is identifiably from PowerGen? Has she been switched to another provider without her knowledge? And where have the reminders from PowerGen been all this time.
The alternative, of course, is that someone at PowerGen made a mistake and they should be flexible in putting it right. If she is on a prepayment meter, would it be fair to assume she is not well-off financially? I should have thought that would be perfect territory for your MP or, failing that, the papers.
As for her rights, if she has used the gas she must pay for it. How long it takes to pay it off is something PowerGen might want to think about very carefully. 280 quid is not very much to pay to avoid bad publicity.
2007-03-20 23:28:40 · answer #1 · answered by skip 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi, my mum was £200 in credit with Powergen and had to pay a further £350 for the winter quarter and that's on the "age concern" so that's £550 for a damn quarter?? we phoned and they just said "that's the charges, like it or lump it"
They have the right to make any charges that they see as reasonable in their eyes to your mum and issue any further ammended bills asking for further payments as they see fit. If the bill was estimated then read the dials and send in the reading. Gotta be careful with the bailiffs now cos they can basically kick a door in and take what they want. (new laws were passed recently yeah? giving them powers to do such even with credit card bills?) U gotta take action to stop them now and make some payments to them through the CAB and sort the rest later.
They really are total tw**s
2007-03-20 23:24:41 · answer #2 · answered by just-dave 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can't advise on the legal situation - the CAB will be good at that - but re. bailiffs:
They have no right of entry into your house unless you let them in or they find their way in through an open door or window. If you have let them in once, they can force their way in later. Many of them will use tricks to try to gain access, from 'may I use the phone?' through to trying to force their way past. Resist them.
They may threaten to come with the police, as if the police will help them gain entry; in fact, if they do bring the police the police's only role is to prevent violence and *not* repeat *not* assist the bailiffs in gaining entry.
There is no point in trying to reason with the bailiffs or show them any documentation in your favour - it's not their job to pay attention to these things and they won't. Mum should communicate with Powergen, not the bailiffs.
Also, bailiffs are not supposed to do anything that could damage your reputation - so no vans with 'Debt Collection' written in large unfriendly letters on the side. Plus, any written communication they leave has to be in a sealed envelope. There are some very good advice sites on the net saying what they can and cannot do, and it's worth searching for one.
I'm very sorry that she finds herself in this position and she must be very frightened, but please assure her that they cannot come swanning in and take her goods just like that. They have to get a court order first, in any case. But the most important thing at the moment is: Do Not Let Them In, and keep the doors and windows closed.
Good luck.
2007-03-20 23:19:34 · answer #3 · answered by mrsgavanrossem 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The legal position is that if the rebate Powergen gave your mum was a mistake, they have the right to get their money back. However they must let you pay it off slowly if you wish. Surely you can see this is fair.
2007-03-21 11:46:06 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i'm sorry i can't help but powergen are a nightmare
i live in a small terraced house and got a gas bill for over £3000,
the only thing i use gas for at home is the central heating, it turns out they hadn't updated their systems and we had had 2 new gas meters since and the readings were not tallying and they thought we were using all that gas
it took months to sort out and lots of angry phone calls, good luck with your problem, i hope you get to the bottom of it
2007-03-20 22:59:14 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋