Advice Required - Relentless Debt Collector

I've just called SSE and quoted the complaint reference from 2014, and they have confirmed it's been reopened at my request. The advisor made another attempt to get me to start the process of providing all the information to prove I don't owe the money, and I refused. I told him that I have no confidence that providing the information yet again would be the end of it, and I told him I would only provide information at the request of the ombudsman.

So, email sent to Ombudsman with SSE head of customer services copied:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to escalate a complaint to SSE that has been ongoing since 2014. The complaint reference is <original# from 2014>.
Could you please advise how I should proceed in order to open a case with the Ombudsman?

Thanks
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Have you gone through the whole formal complaints process with SSE? You can complain to the regulator directly.

If there is a trade body for the debt collector you could complain to them too.

I personally would see a solicitor and see if they will write you a 'cease and desist' type of letter to the debt collector and SSE.
 
OK, so I'll try to summarise today's events. :p

I phoned SSE and requested that they reopen the original complaint. Guy puts me on hold for 20 minutes and comes back saying if I would simply provide meter readings then they'd send the bill. I responded that there's no way I'm going back down a road trodden numerous times over five years. All I want is to confirm the original complaint is live so that I can refer to Ombudsman.

He confirms complaint is re-opened, and takes my email address. Ten minutes after hanging up, this email arrives:

Would it be possible I could give you a quick call back?
Thank You
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My response:

I have requested a case be opened with the Ombudsman by email this morning. I would now prefer to deal solely with them as I feel it is the only way this harassment from debt collectors will come to an end.

Thanks
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He responds...

Just to let you know I have reopened the complaint on your account and passed to my manager to look in to, just to make you aware you can find our complaint handling statement at the following address.
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I decide to give him the historical correspondence to save the whole merry-go-round starting from scratch:

Please feel free to pass the attached correspondence to your manager. As I have stated to you this morning, I have previously been through the complaints procedure with SSE and a previous debt collection agency (BCW). I have already provided all the information required in order to have the SSE account balance adjusted to £0.00. The zero balance is confirmed in the attached correspondence.

SSE, having instructed further debt collection activity and made further requests for information from me, are engaging in a campaign of harassment.
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2 hours later, the manager contacts me:

I am writing to you in relation to the complaint which has been reopened on your behalf, regarding an outstanding balance for the property of ****"**.


Further to your telephone conversation today, your complaint was escalated to me in line with our complaint handling procedure. Firstly I would like to apologise for any concern, confusion and inconvenience which may have arisen.

As a company that prides itself on providing each and every one of our customers with the highest level of customer service, it is with both personal regret and disappointment to have learned of your dissatisfaction and discontent at this time. Please rest assured that I am committed to ensure that this matter is resolved both promptly and amicably at the earliest opportunity.

After investigating your account to find the correct information ,I have requested for a manual bill to be produced for the period which you were liable for the property. The manual bill will be for the period of 1st February to 2nd April 2013. Once the manual bill has been created, I have authorised for an adjustment to be made onto this account and to then claim back the balance. This would then stop any further action from 1st Locate and you would no longer receive any communications regarding the balance.

The manual bill is currently being processed and I will email you the document as soon as it has been created.
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She's been on the phone twice, and asking if I still want to pursue the complaint to the Ombudsman. I told her I'll see how this pans out first. Worryingly, she quoted the wrong debt collection company which hopefully doesn't mean there's more than one current chasing me.

I've got 10 days to put my case to the Ombudsman, so will see how this goes.
 
@String - whether you go the Ombudsman anyway depends how much you want to stick it to SSE, and they definitely have ****** up your case royally. I would expect them to be in trouble if everything you say is right.
 
NewGamer11 said:
. I would expect them to be in trouble if everything you say is right.
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What's putting me off, is the sheer time it's going to take to put a timeline together and get all the debt letters and emails collated. I suppose this thread will be a big help in terms of time line, but I've probably lost most of the debt letters.
 
String said:
What's putting me off, is the sheer time it's going to take to put a timeline together and get all the debt letters and emails collated. I suppose this thread will be a big help in terms of time line, but I've probably lost most of the debt letters.
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You probably won’t need every one though. Even the latest letter showing that they sent the debt collectors again after previously saying it was resolved should be enough.
 
I wish you good luck, however don't expect the ombudsman to be much more efficient than SSE. And woe betide you if you don't stick the ombudsman's timelines.. as they have SLAs to meet.

I'm currently battling SSE over their inability to provide any bills for 18 months (despite various recorded calls to them asking for the same), and then producing 11 different bills in the space of 3 weeks. All with varying figures on them. They still unable to produce a single accurate bill with an explanation of how they produce the figure so I still do not know what we actually owe!
 
String said:
What's putting me off, is the sheer time it's going to take to put a timeline together and get all the debt letters and emails collated. I suppose this thread will be a big help in terms of time line, but I've probably lost most of the debt letters.
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Are you going to trust SSE to get it right this time when they keep getting it wrong over and over? In your position I would have lost all faith that they could resolve this issue, and would continue with the ombudsman. There may be compensation for you and punishment for SSE at the end of it, and hopefully better treatment for customers down the line. It would surprise no one that despite their assurances, you revive this thread in six months when another debt collector's letter drops through your door.

Big companies like this only care about money, so the only thing that bothers them is when they have to pay fines and compensation.
 
Just get the Ombudsman complaint done... you've already got the correspondence, it only needs a rough overview of the timeline and back and forth... should take you less than an hour... if you're slow.
 
String said:
What's putting me off, is the sheer time it's going to take to put a timeline together and get all the debt letters and emails collated. I suppose this thread will be a big help in terms of time line, but I've probably lost most of the debt letters.
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Easy solution is to just email them a link to this thread ;)
 
May be about to start the same saga as you!

I moved into a new build July last year, and took over the supply that was with British Gas (I didn't sign up with them it was just the one on the property). I didn't setup a DD or anything, and a month or so later I moved to EON who I pay with DD.

The closing statements from BG arrived towards the end of last year, several months after I had actually stopped using BG, so they were in no rush to send me the usage statements.

At the time when the letters arrived they were demanding payment within 4 days, for a bill that was 4 months late, so whilst I knew I'd have to pay BG for the usage, I was not in a rush to pay them the money back and it sort of slipped back on the list of priorities, given I have a lot of other things going out in Jan (car tax, insurance, service, MOT, phone line rental for the year etc).

However my attempts to pay them the final bills is now being met with a "we've passed your debt onto a DCA and you also owe even more money on late payment fees" statement, haven't even had contact from the DCA yet so they will probably want to add even more cash on top.

I don't think BG tried to ring me at any point to warn me I actually had to pay them if I wanted to avoid this, and they are saying they sent me a letter dated the 5th of January about this but I don't remember receiving anything from them, only the original ones dated late December.

I only owe them around 40 GBP for actual usage on elec + gas combined, so they are trumping it up with another 25 GBP for late fees, and whatever the DCA feel like putting on if they ever reach me.

I have raised a complaint with BG, I should get a call back within 48 hours. Is it worth going straight to the ombudsman and getting them to intervene, or should I let things run their course? I will do everything in my power to avoid paying the fees they are tacking on top, though I do understand I need to pay them for what I have used. They are taking a very heavy handed approach to this, and seem unwilling to reverse gears without making it difficult.
 
@HungryHippos
You can't go directly to the Ombudsman. They'll tell you to complain directly to BG, wait for their Final Response and if you don't agree with it you can then complain to the Ombudsman.
 
I may be barking up the wrong tree here. However, given the amount of time since the start of this issue and its apparent resolution numerous times, might both SSE and the debt collection agency be in violation of the Data Protection Act?
 
Follow through.
This will be worth your while.
Just do it, even if now they claim to have resolved matters, years after they claimed to resolve matters, yet activate debt agencies every six months.
Follow through with the ombudsman, make it clear just how many this has taken over the course of years. Years, and the stress involved each and every single time.

Make sure you make a big thing of this to the ombudsman.
It will be worth your while.
Do it.
 
I'd be taking it to the ombudsman and going for compensation too, I've had to deal with this once with sky for a little under a year and the stress it caused me was unbelievable. I can't imagine what you've put yourself through mentally.

After nearly 4 years they owe you something for their mistake. It was only when I went my final email to sky saying the next move is me taking you to court for harassment was sent did they realise it was their mistake all along and stop coming after me.

Seriously, **** them, you've been reasonable long enough.
 
dowie said:
I'd not bother responding to them in future, perhaps speak to a solicitor if it is causing you distress.

some other options - report them to the police for harassment, report to the police again every time they contact you from then o

send an invoice to SSE for the time you've wasted replying to each e-mail... come up with an invoice and some nominal charge for your time for each e-mail... when they don't pay take them to the "small claims court"... that will at least get someone's attention within that organisation... they've also then potentially got to waste time dealing with the case or perhaps not show up and you get a CCJ against them and collect a few hundred £s...
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Numerous people suggested just ignoring them over 3 years ago when this thread was started, the OP doesn't seem interested in that advice and continues to waste time dealing with them instead of just adding their email address to his spam filter.
 
Energize said:
Numerous people suggested just ignoring them over 3 years ago when this thread was started, the OP doesn't seem interested in that advice and continues to waste time dealing with them instead of just adding their email address to his spam filter.
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Yes, because adding an email address to the spam filter will stop the phone from ringing and letters from dropping through the door. :rolleyes:
 
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