This might be an unusual type of post for this subforum but it's about saving some money. As per title, I recently received a few strange e-mails from an electricity company with an account number and saying that I have an account with this company. Totally bemused and thinking it was almost fraudulent, I called them up and queried this. I happily gave my recent addresses and long story short they e-mailed me this evening saying that it appears that between January and June 2019, they were our electricity provider and had taken over from another company had gone into admin in January 2019. They got my e-mail through my tenancy agreement as apparently that had right to do so given we owed money. It's so long ago, I can't recall a thing. I can't recall if we paid it or not, or if the landlady told us she'd pay or whatever else. Their e-mail said that this was no with the debt collection team and they apologised for the length of delay in reaching out.
Aside from being quite annoyed about being pursued some 18 months odd later, and not being able to really defend myself, I'm wondering whether I have any rights to question them before paying out any money? I mean, how can I prove they sent mails to our address, as claimed? How do we know if it was addressed to 'the tenants', or whether it was addressed to specific names of previous tenants? Why have they taken 18 months to get to this stage? The bill is only about £100 and so it's not the end of the world, but I just wonder how best I can question this?
Furthermore, I have asked if they have contacted the others or not. It seems from my communications that it is just me, but I could be wrong. I'm not in touch with my previous 2 flatmates, but I have their home addresses where their parents live. Should providing of these addresses be enough for me to ensure that any payout is split between the three of us (as I know my previous 2 flatmates and they will do anything to avoid paying even if it is fair to pay out and a 3 way is a fair approach)?
October 19, 2020 at 06:20PM
