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I seem to have picked up a fight with one of the largest multinational corporations? Yikes.
A couple of weeks ago I started receiving envelopes from Shell Energy. I thought that, since I don't have an account with them, it must be junk mail so didn't even open them. One day I did open one and found that they were charging me £7700 and pounds and pence for unpaid gas supply. I wrote them a not very polite email demanding clarification. There was no response. Then I wrote about this on Twitter and, miracle, there was a response.
Ok, the story, as it transpired: twelve years ago when I bought (half of) this flat, there was this company, First Utility, provider of gas, electricity and astronomic estimated bills. I complained a lot, lost a lot of my hair and some of my sanity in the process and in the end they said they would open a second customer account and delete the original one. It also had turned out that the gas meter number they had didn't correspond to the meter inside my flat. Ok, so I moved on and moved to the Co-Op and later to Octopus for electr. and gas. No complaints about those two.
It would seem that FU never closed the first account. They were eventually bought by Shell so rebranded as Shell Energy. And one day they seem to have found that account, according to which I have never paid gas, it would seem. Of course I have been paying (by direct debit, at that) to Octopus and hopefully can easily prove that. But you never know and it becomes a big source of stress -another one, in the middle of these already difficult and troubling times. Of course I don't believe I owe them a penny and, on the contrary, in a fair world I should get compensation from them for the levels of stress induced but, alas, it my not be a fair world. They have booked something called a BURS test for my gas meter. It should prove my point but, one more time, who knows what they might come up with. The last instalment of a saga of astronomic incompetence and rapacity by FU that I thought long dead.
Life was too quiet In these happy untroubled times, clearly, and the universe had decided I needed a little more excitement. I beg to differ.
A couple of weeks ago I started receiving envelopes from Shell Energy. I thought that, since I don't have an account with them, it must be junk mail so didn't even open them. One day I did open one and found that they were charging me £7700 and pounds and pence for unpaid gas supply. I wrote them a not very polite email demanding clarification. There was no response. Then I wrote about this on Twitter and, miracle, there was a response.
Ok, the story, as it transpired: twelve years ago when I bought (half of) this flat, there was this company, First Utility, provider of gas, electricity and astronomic estimated bills. I complained a lot, lost a lot of my hair and some of my sanity in the process and in the end they said they would open a second customer account and delete the original one. It also had turned out that the gas meter number they had didn't correspond to the meter inside my flat. Ok, so I moved on and moved to the Co-Op and later to Octopus for electr. and gas. No complaints about those two.
It would seem that FU never closed the first account. They were eventually bought by Shell so rebranded as Shell Energy. And one day they seem to have found that account, according to which I have never paid gas, it would seem. Of course I have been paying (by direct debit, at that) to Octopus and hopefully can easily prove that. But you never know and it becomes a big source of stress -another one, in the middle of these already difficult and troubling times. Of course I don't believe I owe them a penny and, on the contrary, in a fair world I should get compensation from them for the levels of stress induced but, alas, it my not be a fair world. They have booked something called a BURS test for my gas meter. It should prove my point but, one more time, who knows what they might come up with. The last instalment of a saga of astronomic incompetence and rapacity by FU that I thought long dead.
Life was too quiet In these happy untroubled times, clearly, and the universe had decided I needed a little more excitement. I beg to differ.
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