Hello, I have seen previous thread about debt collection letters sent to people for previous tenants bills, but don’t understand why is this still happening. I’m in the same position and I’m finding it extremely upsetting - I have just received the letter for the someone else’s debt addressed to ‘the occupier’ threatening with debt collection agency within next 7 days unless the debt is cleared. I have set up my OVO account when I moved end of November 2023 and I’m paying by direct debit. OVO clearly knows who the occupier is and when I moved in,  why am I getting threats for a different account number relating to a debt that is clearly not mine? These are very recent letters, so there can’t be any confusion as to who the occupier is. 

You could try calling ovo collections, explain the situation and ask them to stop sending the letters.

The number is 0800 069 9831. They’re open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.

Hey @DK1,

Sorry for the issues you’re having, 

If there is a previous tenant who hasn’t paid the amount owed to OVO, we have to go through a collections process. Part of this process is showing we have sent letters.

Eventually, it’ll go to a debt collection agency who will find the tenant details through a process of ‘trace and search’. Once the tenant details have been found the letters ‘to the occupier’ will stop. 

You can ignore these if you have an account set up with OVO, or send them to the letting agency or ‘return to sender’.

I hope this helps. 

Thank you will do. 

Hi, 

I think the previous tenant may owe money as am continuing to receive letters from OVO for the person who I guess lived at the property before me. I would have thought they would have given their new address to OVO but seems not. If there's an unpaid bill, who is responsible? If a debt collection agency is involved, will they visit the property? I am worried that I will have issues with this

Hi @Shvorn , hopefully you have a record (photo?) of your meter readings from when you took over. As long as you can show this and get the start point agreed then you shouldn’t have a problem. 
They should have a way to trace the previous occupants if they need to. 

If the letters are to a named person rather than just ‘The Occupier’ then you should simply write “ RTS - no longer at this address” on the envelope and stick it in any postbox.

The Post Office will return it to the sender (RTS) who should note that the named person is no longer there and stop sending them letters.

If they don't stop after that then write to the return address yourself and tell them you are considering action against them for harassment.

I moved into a property in December and am with So energy. Today I got home and received two letters, one from OVO energy stating that I owe them money and it has been passed onto a debt collection agency - I googled the number on the letter and it was listed as an energy scam number (0333 034 1626).

The second letter was from LCS debt collection agency referencing the same amount as on the OVO letter and the same account number.

I called the number on the OVO payment support page and when I entered the account number, it said that the account doesn’t exist. 

Should I be worried here? LCS seems legit but everything is pointing to this as being a scam!

Hi,

This sounds like one for @Nukecad . He’s the master of these.

I’ve just managed to get through to OVO via the number on the website and the debt is apparently genuine (even though the reference number wasn’t recognised on the automated line), which is even more confusing as to why the number on the letter I got is a scam number!

Hi @Mzero

I have experience of/with LCS (and a few others of the same ilk).

My personal experince of similar was with collectors instructed by a a different company, not OVO, but it's the same thing.

So from experience:

This sounds like a debt that is owed by a previous owner/tenant of the property.

OVO have instructed a collection agency, in this case LCS, to chase it.

So the first thing to get straight in your mind is that it is the debt collection agency that you now need to stop chasing you.

OVO are chasing a debt owed by “someone”, but it's the collection agency who are chasing “you” by mistake so it's the collection agency that you need to stop doing that.

As a first step OVO and the agency will send a letter to “The Occupier” at the address, sometimes the agency will have checked for a name associated with the property and yours may have come up so they will address the letter to your name.

Email or write back to the debt collector (LCS  in this case) saying that the debt is owed by a previous occupier and not owed by yourself. (If you can get something from OVO to say it is not your name on that account number then that is proof - Keep it you may need it again because the same may happen again if another collector gets instructed later).

Then, in the same message,  tell the debt collector that if they continue to “harass” (use that word. it's the magic word with debt collectors*) you for this debt which is clearly not yours then you will report them to the FCA for that harassment.

*A complaint of “Harassnent” if upheld by the FCA can close down a Debt Collection Agency and they really try to avoid any such complaint being made.

You will get a message back saying that they have put any collection action on hold for 30 days while they check, often they won't check and they will try again after 30 days, you don't take their bait and simply repeat exactly what you have already said.

Don't get sidetracked by anything new that they say, they sometimes try to confuse you with irrelevant details, don't elaborate, just repeat exactly what you said before that it is not your debt.

That usually puts an end to it, but if necessary then you do make a complaint to the FCA for harassment. TBH it doesn’t usually get to that though.

Other things to not do:

Don't discuss anything on the phone, politely insist that everyting further is in writing, (email or text is in writing), If they do phone you politely say that again and hang up.

Don't ever sign up to their ‘Customer portal/account’ you are not and never have been their customer.

PS. The online phone number checkers are not very good, they will often say that a genuine number is a scam, and that's often (usually) because of debt collection mistakes such as you are currently experiencing.

Hi @Mzero,

This is a perfect response from @Nukecad. I had a similar experience recently and can say that they have perfectly summed this up! 

Keep us updated on your progress and fingers crossed you get to a resolution quickly 

Hi @Mzero 

Once you get everything sorted I recommend you check your statutory credit report with Experian to make sure nothing has been logged against your name. The statutory report is free and you aren't signed up to any long term commitments.

https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/statutory-report.html

OVO use Experian.

Did you sign up with So Energy the last supplier at the address before you moved in was So Energy?

Hi @Mzero 

Sorry to hear about the issues you’ve been having with this.

Our volunteers have left some really helpful advice on this already, especially Nukecad’s very detailed reply. I hope that was helpful to you.

We’ve seen others with similar experiences, so it may be worth checking out how they got on with LCS too:

I hope this has all been helpful to you, keep us updated with how you get on.

Hello all,

I moved into my current property on the 15th Nov 23 but signed the lease on 6th Nov 23, during this period (6th-15th) the property was empty of any furniture and I didn't reside there.

I keep getting a bill for the period 11th Oct 23 - 6th Nov 23, with an accompanying letter stating that they're sorry that I'm leaving and they've attached my 'FINAL' bill. This problem has been ongoing for probably 3 months and I've spent literally hours on the phone (the last being 13th June just gone) questioning "how can it be my bill as I didn't move in until 6th Nov 23.

I find it very frustrating that after speaking to probably 7 or 8 different customer advisors and 1 team leader yet the bill still keeps coming through my letterbox, the latest on 11th June.

I'm concerned that if they're incapable of understanding and sorting this problem out they will serve me a default notice.

Has anybody else encountered this and if so how was it resolved? I'm starting to go ‍ with it.

Thank you in advance for any help with this.

Hey @CF64BLUE,

You’d be liable for the bill from the point at which your tenancy starts & not when you ‘move in’. So it sounds like you are liable from the 6th of November, even if you switched to another supplier you’d be responsible for the period between the start of the tenancy until the point at which the supply moved to a different supplier. 

With the previous bill from October, that might be the responsibility of the landlord or letting agency. You can either return to sender or pass on to either the landlord or letting agency. 

The following topics may be helpful:

I hope this helps.

Thank you Emmanuel,  that's what I thought, trying to get OVO customer assistants to grasp this is quite a challenge though and this bill keeps popping through my letterbox and in my emails.

Quite happy to pay my own bill from 6th Nov but not from Oct till 6th Nov. 

Thank you again.

Hey @CF64BLUE,

I can appreciate it must be frustrating getting letters for a previous tenant. We need to send these letters as part of the collections process, however they will stop when we pass the details over to a debt collection agency to find the liable party through ‘trace & search’. 

This topic may have some more helpful information:

The only thing that worries me is if bad credit is put on my credit report.

The gentleman that occupied this flat before myself passed away so could prove a challenge to get this bill to the correct person.

Hey @CF64BLUE,

That’s sad to hear of his passing, do you have a tenancy agreement or anything proving when you took liability of the property? 

Yes OVO have received all the evidence it requested twice as on the first occasion it mysteriously went missing. The manager of the complex where I now live took a meter reading and supplied me with the tenancy agreement I signed as evidence going forward.

It's been a frustrating experience dealing with OVO as this bill keeps coming back to me, I'm 71 and retired so can really do without all the hassle, the facts are all there and I won't be impressed if I get bad things happening on my credit score

I’m sorry to hear this, I’ll get forum_support to reach out & take a look into this for you. Please keep an eye on your private messages. 

Trying to find a way to stop this useless company sending threatening letters to my elderly mother for a previous tenants bill!!!

My mother bought a property that was rented out previously, the tenants were evicted and owe ovo money. We have supplied this useless company with the solicitors letter to confirm date of purchase as we were told to do but this has not stopped the letters!

I have spoken to customers services but they they can't stop the letters ! Never heard such a ridiculous procedure ever! 

The letters are now threatening bailiff action, so my next step is to take legal action against this company for breach of the 1998 malicious communication act!

So to save me the agro of doing this and taking them to court anyone had this issue and managed to get it sorted?

The solicitors letter is registered on ovos system the customer service can see it and agree it's not her bill !

Any help appreciated! 

FRom what you say then these letters are comming from Debt Collection agencies.
(Not from OVO).

There is a particular way that you need to use to successfully deal with, and stop, such letters from Debt Collectors.

You appear to be making a common mistake of assuming that if you sort things out with OVO then that will stop the Debt Collectors letters, unfortunately it doesn’t work like that because the Debt Collector is a seperate company.
(And a company’s Customer Service cannot ‘call off’ the debt collectors).

See my advice here about what to do to stop the letters from Debt Collectors, if you follow it then it works:
 

PS Their threats of bailiff action are just empty threats.
You have to get a Court Order for recovery of the alleged debt before you can even apply to appoint court bailiffs (which then takes a second court order to actually appoint them) - and if this matter got anywhere near a court then on the circumstances as give no judge is going to rule in the Debt Collectors favour.
The Debt Collectors know that and wouldn’t waste their own time/money going to court, but writting on a letter that they “may” do it costs them nothing.

Thanks for the reply 

No the letters are coming from ovo them self! 

So I just need to find away to stop these letters as it is giving my elderly mother stress ! It appears that this is a usual mo for this useless company! 

Never had to deal with a company with this ineptitude and it appears I'm not alone! 

Bought and sold multiple houses just normally send off the contract  purchase  agreement of the property and that is the end of it!

But it appears with these clowns they can't even manage the system they work with complete joke of a company.

Never mind first stop ombidsman I guess!