Cant pay gas bill.

galwaygirl2

Myself and partner moved into a house 16months ago. Landlord took esb and gas meter readings. Got correspondence from esb but heard nothing at all from calor gas. We did nothing for a while as we just had a baby and had enough bills coming in but after a few months asked landlord about it. He said to email calor gas. We did this twice and got no response. Two weeks ago we got a letter saying our gas would be disconnected in three days if we did not pay outstanding bills. But we never got any bills to pay. Transpires landlord was getting the bills and never passed them on. We now have to pay just under 2 grand to calor. We are both unemployed at the moment and have asked calor if we can arrange a payment plan and they have come back to us saying we can pay e450 p/m for the next four months but tbh we cant even afford that right now. Am very angry at the landlord for putting us in this situation but he blames us and wont discuss the matter. Feel so stressed & depressed can anyone offer any advice please.

helen1

Get a copy of the bill and start paying what ever you can afford each week through the post office as long as you are paying something I dont think they would cut you off they will see you are trying to make an effort.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Yep, agree with helen1.
Make sure to put everything in writing too. Explain that you will pay the bill but due to your circumstances you can only afford x amount/month. Stress that you are 100% willing to pay the bill.

Hope you get this sorted.

galwaygirl2

Thank you both for your responses. We havent received any bill in the post just copies of them by email because the account is in our landlords building companys name calor gas wont send us a bill and to put the account in our own name all arrears have to be paid along with a 250e deposit and signed tenant agreement. They have asked us to send four post dated cheques along with tenant agreement to put account in our name. Calor have said that they never sent the letter threatening to cut our supply it was sent by our landlord. There is another couple in our estate in the same situation but they are both working and said they can afford to pay it.

ejmaztec

galwaygirl2 wrote: »

Thank you both for your responses. We havent received any bill in the post just copies of them by email because the account is in our landlords building companys name calor gas wont send us a bill and to put the account in our own name all arrears have to be paid along with a 250e deposit and signed tenant agreement. They have asked us to send four post dated cheques along with tenant agreement to put account in our name. Calor have said that they never sent the letter threatening to cut our supply it was sent by our landlord. There is another couple in our estate in the same situation but they are both working and said they can afford to pay it.

You should visit your local Community Welfare Officer, you might get some financial assistance from him/her.

jor el

galwaygirl2 wrote: »

Am very angry at the landlord for putting us in this situation but he blames us and wont discuss the matter. Feel so stressed & depressed can anyone offer any advice please.

You were using the gas, but not paying or getting a bill, for 16 months. What did you think was going to happen when the bill did arrive? Two or three emails to Calor wasn't much of an effort to do something about it in that amount of time. Did you try ringing them at all?

Yes the landlord should have passed on the bills, but they are not his bills to pay. It was your responsibility to make sure the account was set up correctly, and the bills going to you. When you didn't get any bill after a few months, it was time to contact Calor and not give up until you had a response.

Right now, it is very possible that they will cut you off, however, you need to contact their credit control department and try to work out a more reasonable payment plan than they've offered so far. If you don't, then it will get harder, they will go the legal route, and they will disconnect you.

galwaygirl2

I tried ringing them a number of times but as the account is in the landlords companys name they would not discuss it with me. Also anytime I did ask the landlord about it he would say wel sort something out.
I never said they were his bills to pay I said if he was getting them to his home all along he should have passed them on to us and we would have paid they as they came and not be left in the situation we are now. A lot of our friends have told us to just leave the house as the bills are not in our name but we wouldnt do that we are good people and just want to get it sorted. Calor have not threatened to cut the gas supply the landlord has. Also the bills sent by email show no arrears it looks like they were being paid. I was never in arrears with any bill before but id imagine that the balance should carry over every month if it wasnt paid.

galwaygirl2

Thank you ejmaztec,BearNecessaties and Helen1 for being so nice and for your good advice.

pleasant Co.

Can you come to a compromise with your landlord? get him to pass on any future bills in a prompt manner - which you will then pay on time. As for the arrears, arrange to pay what you can on a schedule, ie 50 a month until the debt is cleared.

careca11

Galway girl

as the period of confusion was 16months , you should Tell Calor Gas that you would need 16months of a payment arrnagment 2000/16 = €125, they should be flexible enough to agree to that , and if you could pay the first €125 upfront to show them that you are willing to make a real effort to co-operate,

if your on the pipeline supply then once you get all sorted you should consider switching supplier , flogas are current the cheapest gas company in the market

good luck

stargazer 68

Yeah you need to get into a proper payment plan with calor but in the meantime I would certainly be looking for somewhere else to live because that guy sounds like a right tool!!

phil1nj

jor el wrote: »

You were using the gas, but not paying or getting a bill, for 16 months. What did you think was going to happen when the bill did arrive? Two or three emails to Calor wasn't much of an effort to do something about it in that amount of time. Did you try ringing them at all?

Yes the landlord should have passed on the bills, but they are not his bills to pay. It was your responsibility to make sure the account was set up correctly, and the bills going to you. When you didn't get any bill after a few months, it was time to contact Calor and not give up until you had a response.

Right now, it is very possible that they will cut you off, however, you need to contact their credit control department and try to work out a more reasonable payment plan than they've offered so far. If you don't, then it will get harder, they will go the legal route, and they will disconnect you.

Yep, piss poor customer service is something that every consumer should have to deal with from utility/service providers. If a big company like Calor can't get it's **** together why the hell should a customer have to run around and jump through hoops for a problem like this?

There is fault on both sides of this problem but your repsonse wasn't particularly helpful. You also assumed a lot in your reply (the account being in the landlords name being a major one - most companies will not discuss any details about an account unless the account holder makes the initial enquiry).

My advice to you is please do not give make anymore replies like you did above unless you are in full possession of the facts, if you don't have them, then ask first.

Regards

AlwaysAmber

I may be wrong, but if the account is in the Landlord's name he's responsible for the bill.

If he didn't hand the bills over to you or ask you for money or them, let him sort out a payment plan and deal with them. If your gas gets disconnected he should be responsible for making alternative arrangements for your cooking & heating.

I may be wrong of course, maybe you should contact Threshold (http://threshold.ie/) to see what they say.

tallaghtoutlaws

phil1nj wrote: »

Yep, piss poor customer service is something that every consumer should have to deal with from utility/service providers. If a big company like Calor can't get it's **** together why the hell should a customer have to run around and jump through hoops for a problem like this?

There is fault on both sides of this problem but your repsonse wasn't particularly helpful. You also assumed a lot in your reply (the account being in the landlords name being a major one - most companies will not discuss any details about an account unless the account holder makes the initial enquiry).

My advice to you is please do not give make anymore replies like you did above unless you are in full possession of the facts, if you don't have them, then ask first.

Regards

The problem here is though with your response is that this has nothing to do with how bad Calor's customer service is. They sent bills to the landlord according to the OP so as far as Calor was concerned the Customer knew about the outstanding charges and failed to pay up and now Calor are threatening to cut them off which is something any company would do. How were Calor to know the OP was the one using the gas and not the person who is on the actual bill i.e the Landlord.

Payment plan is the way to go OP. Once you show commitment to pay they will have to work something out with you. Something inside me says the Landlord has as much blame in this also for not passing the bills on. Don't now legally though if he has any responsibility to pay the bill considering its in his name.

Cabaal

careca11 wrote: »

Galway girl

as the period of confusion was 16months , you should Tell Calor Gas that you would need 16months of a payment arrnagment 2000/16 = €125, they should be flexible enough to agree to that

In fairness why should they?
Calor haven't actually done anything wrong here.

They couldbn't speak to the OP under data protection, the landlord never changed details over and never gave the OP her bills.

As such as far as Calor are concerned its not their problem, they would be under no obligation what so ever to create a payment plan like you've suggested.

phil1nj wrote: »

Yep, piss poor customer service is something that every consumer should have to deal with from utility/service providers. If a big company like Calor can't get it's **** together why the hell should a customer have to run around and jump through hoops for a problem like this?

ah yes blame the big bad company....however its clear you didn't read the OP's post, Calor haven't done anything wrong here

ejmaztec

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

The problem here is though with your response is that this has nothing to do with how bad Calor's customer service is. They sent bills to the landlord according to the OP so as far as Calor was concerned the Customer knew about the outstanding charges and failed to pay up and now Calor are threatening to cut them off which is something any company would do. How were Calor to know the OP was the one using the gas and not the person who is on the actual bill i.e the Landlord.

Payment plan is the way to go OP. Once you show commitment to pay they will have to work something out with you. Something inside me says the Landlord has as much blame in this also for not passing the bills on. Don't now legally though if he has any responsibility to pay the bill considering its in his name.

I think that he'd be the one chased by Calor if the bill doesn't get paid. He must be a bit of an amateur not getting the bills put in the tenant's name. Had he not been such an amateur, the bills would have gone straight to the OP.

phil1nj

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

The problem here is though with your response is that this has nothing to do with how bad Calor's customer service is. They sent bills to the landlord according to the OP so as far as Calor was concerned the Customer knew about the outstanding charges and failed to pay up and now Calor are threatening to cut them off which is something any company would do. How were Calor to know the OP was the one using the gas and not the person who is on the actual bill i.e the Landlord.

Payment plan is the way to go OP. Once you show commitment to pay they will have to work something out with you. Something inside me says the Landlord has as much blame in this also for not passing the bills on. Don't now legally though if he has any responsibility to pay the bill considering its in his name.

The OP said that several emails were sent to Calor customer service about this matter and nothing heard from them. That was reason enough for me to say that there was an issue with customer service. At the very least Calor should have replied telling the OP that the landlord was the one who was responsibe for the bill (and also paying it). The landlord also told the OP to contact Calor (why didn't he do it himslef and change the account in to their names??). As I said, there is fault on all sides but IMHO Calor's customer service definitely did not help matters and was piss poor.

tallaghtoutlaws

phil1nj wrote: »

The OP said that several emails were sent to Calor customer service about this matter and nothing heard from them. That was reason enough for me to say that there was an issue with customer service. At the very least Calor should have replied telling the OP that the landlord was the one who was responsibe for the bill (and also paying it). The landlord also told the OP to contact Calor (why didn't he do it himslef and change the account in to their names??). As I said, there is fault on all sides but IMHO Calor's customer service definitely did not help matters and was piss poor.

The Op wasn't the name on the bill so even if Calor received them they didn't have to reply as the OP wasn't the official contact on the account. Not only that emails can get lost in a sea of other emails especially ones that contain wrong account details or no details of having an account.

Had the OP called them and Calor were rude and refused to explain they could only talk to the person on the account I would agree with you but for calling a company piss poor over two email is ridiculous. Many an email I sent to companies both professionally and privately that went unread, unanswered or ignored. It happens a lot. I truly hate the way we have come to depend on emails so much in business and why people are under the impression they are the best format of contact.

If the Landlord held the bills he/she knew there was money owed and Calor did their part by sending the bills. As far as Calor were concerned the person whos name was on the bill knew they owed the cash, it is that simple for them. Again how were they to know the bill was going to a landlord who wasn't passing it on to the people using the gas.

Its looking like the OPs issue is with the landlord as the bills are in his/her name.

Cabaal

phil1nj wrote: »

The OP said that several emails were sent to Calor customer service about this matter and nothing heard from them.

Legally Calor couldn't discuss the landlords account with the OP as it wasn't in their name,

At the very least Calor should have replied telling the OP that the landlord was the one who was responsibe for the bill (and also paying it).

Again legally they could not tell the OP such information, they could only advise that there name is not on the account. They can not actually tell the OP who's name is on the account.

The landlord also told the OP to contact Calor (why didn't he do it himslef and change the account in to their names??). As I said, there is fault on all sides but IMHO Calor's customer service definitely did not help matters and was piss poor.

Most of the fault again is with the landlord, its clear the landlord doesn't understand data protection he also hasn't a clue about changing details over to a tenents name or the basics of how to photocopy a bill and give it to a tenent.

Sir Oxman

Wait now - so the bills have been paid by the landlord and now he is demanding you pay 450pm x4 to him or he'll cut the gas?
It's a bit confusing OP.
LL wrong for keeping bills in his name and not passing them on for so long and you're in the wrong for not demanding to see bills and get them in your name for so long.

However, if you could clarify if the bills have been paid and who you owe the arrears to it would help.
If it's the LL ,well he'll just have to accept what you can afford (and don't overstretch your finances either as you'll be paying bimonthly gas bills from now on on top of it)

If he cuts the gas, leave.

careca11

Cabaal wrote: »

In fairness why should they?
Calor haven't actually done anything wrong here.

They couldbn't speak to the OP under data protection, the landlord never changed details over and never gave the OP her bills.

As such as far as Calor are concerned its not their problem, they would be under no obligation what so ever to create a payment plan like you've suggested.



ah yes blame the big bad company....however its clear you didn't read the OP's post, Calor haven't done anything wrong here

Calor haven't anything wrong , thats correct, but they could still help the customer out (they are going to get their money anyway),
I work in a utlilities company , and thats what I would do , disconnecting the supply does not do anyone any good

galwaygirl2

Thank you all for your comments as im new here i cant thank you individually.
Its complicated and im all over the place so prob not doing a great job of explaining things. I dont know if the bills have been paid by landlord or not. The landlord told us to ring a certain person in calor who then sent me copies of the bill by email. The bills showed no arrears or didnt say anything about payment received for last bill like other companies do. If I dont pay the account in full then calor wont put bill in my name and that means while im on a payment plan the bills will still keep coming to the landlord who will prob not pass them on again and will be in same situation again. I dont blame calor at all i know im to blame in part as is the landlord.

phil1nj

Cabaal wrote: »

ah yes blame the big bad company....however its clear you didn't read the OP's post, Calor haven't done anything wrong here

They didn't reply to the OPs email(s). No excuse in this day and age for that kind of nonsense despite what some posters on here might say to the contrary. I've had dealings before with companies who didn't reply to any correspondence in a timely manner (even an acknowledgment to see a query had been received). These companies are usually the ones I've had the biggest problems with. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Anyway, the landlord deserves to get a bollicking for his lack of action as well.

tallaghtoutlaws

phil1nj wrote: »

They didn't reply to the OPs email(s). No excuse in this day and age for that kind of nonsense despite what some posters on here might say to the contrary. I've had dealings before with companies who didn't reply to any correspondence in a timely manner (even an acknowledgment to see a query had been received). These companies are usually the ones I've had the biggest problems with. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Anyway, the landlord deserves to get a bollicking for his lack of action as well.

Funny thing is about your coincidence, search for all the Big suppliers in this country on Boards and I will guarantee you there wont be one without a CS issue. These companies receive hundreds of emails daily if not thousands and most never have enough staff to go through the emails. Not to mention the many emails that never make it into the inbox or hit the spam folder. If you truly believe emails are the best system and flawless I can see why you would have issues with companies.

One thing I have learned about emails as someone who worked in CS for years. If you want it answered quickly send an email and if no response within 24 hours call them or just pick up the phone in the first place.

Emails have become an awful excuse for people to complain about companies these days. People truly believe they are a fail safe method of getting something done or an answer.

matchthis

Not much help, but cal or would also have some liability for letting it go so long. If I'm one bill in arrears it's brought to my attention by a call/ letter. Could be the landlord got this, but neglected to act. Get the landlord to authorise you to make enquiries on the account

BroomBurner

OP, first off, find out if there are bills outstanding to Calor Gas. Do this by talking to your landlord. Do not accept any fobbing off.

From reading your posts, it sounds like the landlord paid the bills and is now looking to collect them from you and is threatening to cut off the gas supply.

If you intend on staying in that house, ask Calor to change the name on the account to yours to avoid any future confusion.

I can't really comment on the repayment issue, as if the landlord was paying the bills, but failed to have some sort of agreement in place for the tenant to repay direct to him, it's a bit ropey.

MunsterCycling

Bill is in the landlords name, his problem not yours

blacktalons

if the bill is addressed to your landlord at his address ,then you are not obliged to pay it. his name,his bill,he pays it. end of story. sounds like this guy is trying to evade tax by getting all the bills in his name and not registering the house.;)

Max Power1

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Bill is in the landlords name, his problem not yours

I'd just up and leave now tbh.

Its not worth you paying off a bill that's not in your name.

the_syco

galwaygirl2 wrote: »

the account is in our landlords building companys name

I'm thinking that an audit of some sort was done, and it was only now that the landlords company copped on that they weren't collecting money from the tenant.

Also, the warning letters may have been ignored, as the company may have ignored warning letters that they thought they could ignore. This sort of practise would make me think that the building company may be in financial trouble (like many other building companies atm).

phil1nj wrote: »

No excuse in this day and age for that kind of nonsense despite what some posters on here might say to the contrary.

DATA PROTECTION. Google it. If Calor Gas told the OP who owned the account, the landlord could sue them.

=-=

Which is more: your deposit or the gas bill? If your landlord doesn't want to compromise, look into your options.

galwaygirl2

since posting i have found out that who we call our landlord is not actually our landlord he is the builder of the houses in the estate and our house is actually sold to someone we have never met or had any correspondence with. We pay our rent to an auctioneer. V messy. The gas bill is in the name of the building company. Calor have told us if we cant pay their proposed payment plan then to go back to builder. I have emailed builder with a more realistic plan and he advised he will talk to calor about it. I feel like im going around in circles. If they dont go with our plan i think we will have no option than to move out on the qt even though its not what i wanted to do. Can builder come after us for the money if we do run though? Deposit was 300 and bill is nearly 2k!!

jor el

You have an interesting situation on your hands. Since the bill is not in your name, then technically it's not your responsibility to pay it. However, the builder would be within his rights to take you to court over it if you do not pay. Whether he's actually win that case or not, I couldn't say, but he could well try.

You are in a position to dictate the terms to the builder though, since he is the one facing the bill, and not you. If you were to hint to him that you could simply not pay at all and leave him with it, he might be more receptive to you. The trouble with that is that he may not be too happy with this approach, and look to make things very difficult for you.

If you pay your rent to an auctioneer, then perhaps you should contact them to see if they will get involved. Did you have a proper lease arrangement when you moved in? Is there anything in writing about what your responsibilities are in the house?

ejmaztec

jor el wrote: »

You have an interesting situation on your hands. Since the bill is not in your name, then technically it's not your responsibility to pay it. However, the builder would be within his rights to take you to court over it if you do not pay. Whether he's actually win that case or not, I couldn't say, but he could well try.

You are in a position to dictate the terms to the builder though, since he is the one facing the bill, and not you. If you were to hint to him that you could simply not pay at all and leave him with it, he might be more receptive to you. The trouble with that is that he may not be too happy with this approach, and look to make things very difficult for you.

If you pay your rent to an auctioneer, then perhaps you should contact them to see if they will get involved. Did you have a proper lease arrangement when you moved in? Is there anything in writing about what your responsibilities are in the house?

They're probably only interested in their commission, but at least the property would be registered with the PTRB, although I don't know whether a dispute resolution by them includes Calor bills.

https://www.prtb.ie/

BostonB

The bill is is in the landlords name he has to pay it. Legally the LL can't turn cut off your power, or heating, even if you haven't paid it. You could take legal action action if he did that. You could ask the PRTB about that. The LL has dug his own hole here through his mismanagement. On the flip side you can't ignore bills like the tenant has. Relying on emails is just silly. Email, but follow it up with phone calls and letters. Email is not reliable.

The LL would be a fool not to accept a payment plan the tenant can afford.

IMO.

ejmaztec

galwaygirl2 wrote: »

since posting i have found out that who we call our landlord is not actually our landlord he is the builder of the houses in the estate and our house is actually sold to someone we have never met or had any correspondence with. We pay our rent to an auctioneer. V messy. The gas bill is in the name of the building company. Calor have told us if we cant pay their proposed payment plan then to go back to builder. I have emailed builder with a more realistic plan and he advised he will talk to calor about it. I feel like im going around in circles. If they dont go with our plan i think we will have no option than to move out on the qt even though its not what i wanted to do. Can builder come after us for the money if we do run though? Deposit was 300 and bill is nearly 2k!!

BostonB wrote: »

The bill is is in the landlords name he has to pay it. Legally the LL can't turn cut off your power, or heating, even if you haven't paid it. You could take legal action action if he did that. You could ask the PRTB about that. The LL has dug his own hole here through his mismanagement. On the flip side you can't ignore bills like the tenant has. Relying on emails is just silly. Email, but follow it up with phone calls and letters. Email is not reliable.

The LL would be a fool not to accept a payment plan the tenant can afford.

IMO.

It appears that the builder isn't the landlord, although I'm wondering whether he was the landlord at some stage before selling the house?

The builder must be the idiot in this case.

BostonB

Ok, but it doesn't really matter. No one can turn off the gas, and the tenants name is not on the bill.

What a mess.

galwaygirl2

Ya its a total mess! Went to cwo today but he cant help us and we went to the builder with a payment plan we can afford but still waiting on that to be approved by calor. Theres prob another bill due by now! Wish they could hurry it on.