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SHOCKER: Terry Casey with his £12,000 water bill reminder
Wat-er surprise - a bill for £12,000
Cheryl Latham8/10/2008
ENERGY bills have rocketed in recent months. But Stockport pensioner Terry Casey was still shocked when he came back from his holiday to find a whopping £12,000 water bill sitting on his doorstep.
Great granddad Terry, 65, knew there had to be some mistake when the bank-breaking bill arrived at his Davenport home.
The shock letter, sent out in May, claimed that the retired British Aerospace aircraft fitter owed a massive £11,969.20 to United Utilities for that year.
He immediately got on the phone to United Utilities, but after more than half a dozen calls, nothing was resolved.
And he has now received a final demand to pay up - and this time they’re asking for £12,095.47.
"It’s ridiculous," said Mr Casey, who has been away for much of this year. "I checked my meter five months ago, just after all this started, and I checked it again last week - in all that time it has only risen by 20 points.
"I knew when I saw the bill there had been some error, but I’ve been battling with United Utilities to try and get it sorted out and now I’ve received this final demand.
"I could be blacklisted or unable to get credit because it looks like I’ve got this huge bill on my records, but I’ve never missed a payment for anything in my life.
"Water is not like gas or electricity, you can’t change your supplier. I’m stuck with United Utilities and I haven’t got a choice."
Mr Casey cancelled his direct debit after he received the bill until the matter was resolved, but he is still waiting to hear back from the waterboard.
A United Utilities spokesperson told the Stockport Express: "This was a simple clerical error but we apologise sincerely to Mr Casey for the length of time it has taken for us to resolve this.
"Mr Casey’s meter readings have been correctly adjusted and his bills dating back to May have been cancelled. We will be contacting Mr Casey by letter this week to confirm his correct bill amount and we will also be arranging a goodwill gesture for the inconvenience caused."
Most recent 2 of 4 user comments
Because my Bank account was emptied I had to cancel my standing order (and yes, they were informed) and I then received a summons, which arrived dated 2 days from when I received it !!!
I spent over an hour on the phone before I actually spoke to someone ....they could resolve the problem .... you ask to speak to someone more senior "Ohhhh there is no one available" ........., I asked for the name of the CEO, the person at the call centre did not know who that was !!!!! DOHHHHHH!
What an outfit !!!!!!
14/10/2008 at 01:16
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