Scammers

Marie2020

Garden Addicted
Joined
May 21, 2020
Messages
3,169
Reaction score
6,551
Points
245
Energy bills again

This is the second time in a year my prepaid meter has potentially lost my money. It is currently blank so I could have lost the amount already on it. Plus I'm told I cannot add the £100 I already have on my key

I'm being forced onto a smart meter to continue receiving my energy as I have been refused for them to check this their end.

The information I'm reading and have been told by neighbours is just so depressing, people on a good day will be over charged about 3p on a worse day £3.

My friend was told he owed thousands, I don't know if that has been put to rights. It is not a legal requirement but nevertheless it's being pushed on us.

If these meters were to be an honest service I'd jump at it but from what I can see people are being scammed, because when they're problems the companys are not dealing with it. It's a living nightmare.
 
Last edited:

Marie2020

Garden Addicted
Joined
May 21, 2020
Messages
3,169
Reaction score
6,551
Points
245
you need to find a local advocate or solicitor (i think that's the term they use over there) to get this straightened out...
After worrying myself sick I accidentally pressed a wrong button in the citizens advice call I made and found help.

Legally they cannot force these smart meters until next June 2025. I hope people push against them because as of last year, 2023 there was over three million people lost money and had faulty meters.

My one friend was pushed into having one and he's not able to see the amounts he is putting in the thing, so he never knows how much he has used.
Another friend couldn't use his gas cooker as the meter stopped it functioning for weeks on end.
 

Marie2020

Garden Addicted
Joined
May 21, 2020
Messages
3,169
Reaction score
6,551
Points
245
When I called this morning, I was refused to be able to speak to a manager and told I had to pay for an engineer to fix the meter that I have been paying them daily for. Or just put up with their smart meter.

Luckily I am a little dumb at times and mistakenly called a number I didn't even know about. :D

To be fair to myself I was extremely tired. There are so many hurtles to jump lately. If I didn't know better I could believe I'm being ganged up on. What with my data going and another loss with my energy payments for the second time in one year. The first time was my gas, from a previous company
 

flowerbug

Garden Master
Joined
Oct 15, 2017
Messages
16,831
Reaction score
26,192
Points
427
Location
mid-Michigan, USoA
you need to keep at it, be patient, keep asking to speak to someone who can help, supervisor, omnibudperson, etc. there are laws about this sort of thing and people can't just steal from you without it being a problem for them. if you have records please don't lose them or give them to anyone, make copies and give those to someone who needs them to help you. etc.

what many places have is customer service but often the people who do the first round of that are handling mundane stuff and not dealing with harder cases. you need to get past that group and talk to someone higher up who can either get the problem resolved or who can push it to someone else who can.
 

Marie2020

Garden Addicted
Joined
May 21, 2020
Messages
3,169
Reaction score
6,551
Points
245
you need to keep at it, be patient, keep asking to speak to someone who can help, supervisor, omnibudperson, etc. there are laws about this sort of thing and people can't just steal from you without it being a problem for them. if you have records please don't lose them or give them to anyone, make copies and give those to someone who needs them to help you. etc.

what many places have is customer service but often the people who do the first round of that are handling mundane stuff and not dealing with harder cases. you need to get past that group and talk to someone higher up who can either get the problem resolved or who can push it to someone else who can.
The problems I am encountering is the management avoid any interaction with the customer. I see the point of a manager if they do not deal with their company's errors.
 

heirloomgal

Garden Addicted
Joined
Jan 17, 2021
Messages
4,168
Reaction score
13,382
Points
255
Location
Northern Ontario, Canada
After worrying myself sick I accidentally pressed a wrong button in the citizens advice call I made and found help.

Legally they cannot force these smart meters until next June 2025. I hope people push against them because as of last year, 2023 there was over three million people lost money and had faulty meters.

My one friend was pushed into having one and he's not able to see the amounts he is putting in the thing, so he never knows how much he has used.
Another friend couldn't use his gas cooker as the meter stopped it functioning for weeks on end.
You have my sympathy @Marie2020 :hugs. *Smart* meters really suck. 2 years ago we started receiving letters of warning that we must submit to these things. We resisted, and they letter & phone bombed us. We resisted some more and they said you need to pay us every month if you keep resisting. So we did. We paid hundreds over the course of 1 1/2 years. Then we made a mistake. They began legal action against us and sent a registered letter. Our smart friends never went and picked it up, we did by accident not knowing what it was. Once you sign to receive it your doomed, they now had legal right to cut our electricity off. So we teetered on the brink of no electricity. But I have kids, and this is a cold country. So they won. But my hope is collective resistance will wear them down. Oh, the commonwealth!
 

Marie2020

Garden Addicted
Joined
May 21, 2020
Messages
3,169
Reaction score
6,551
Points
245
I fear I have had a breach of my personal data hacked.

On my last visit to my doctors a few seriously important parts of my medical data had gone missing. I am worried it might have been stolen and feel very insecure, yet again 😕

I've desperately tried too get more information on what else could have disappeared, but I'm getting no where at all since early last month. Really worried
Quoting my self again :D
I've left an update on this situation
 

Marie2020

Garden Addicted
Joined
May 21, 2020
Messages
3,169
Reaction score
6,551
Points
245
The city of Houston, Texas has had a terrible problem with the water bills. Suddenly bills are jacked up hundreds or thousands of dollars. They just elected a new mayor and he is actively working on fixing it.
Thank goodness someone is trying to help.

Are you all on meters there?
 

Latest posts

Top