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[cordelia]

I know this sounds a little ridiculous, but we are tied in with our gas supplier, with our neighbours.

Unless we all agree, we can't change suppliers. My husband agreed in principal to move ( for the second time) in about 7 years, but after realising, we had a huge outstanding balance to pay off again, we had to to this at the first time, we decided not to

It's our current circumstances, maternity leave, 2 newish cars to pay for etc.

After the last change we agreed to, the prices rocketed up, and there is no guarantee this won't happen again.

We just got a letter from the current supplier saying their prices are going up, joy.

Anyway today a new neighbour of a few months who we had never even met before, came and threatened us with being sued, for their difference in costs if we didnt change suppliers, or telling us we have to go to the expense of disconnecting ourselves if that is even possible.

 

We moved several years ago due to threatening neighbours, who didn't like us, we are professional, hard workers, with small children, who didn't socialise really, but worked hard, and looked after our children. Our pets were killed and they started being intimidating, as we didnt join in with their drunken parties and antics.

So it feels like it's all starting again, with another harridan threatening us at our door.

 

So do I go to the police tomorrow, contact both gas suppliers, and say we are being forced under duress to move suppliers.

 

I really can't take the stress right now as I,m due to give birth soon, and ave ben really I'll this whole nine months, and nearly died with a different complaint last year.

 

Please can anyone advise?

[Looney]

Firstly, so sorry to hear you have been threatened

 

As you are tied in with neighbours there must be some type of formal agreement regarding how you proceed if one/some/all of you want to swap providers? If there is, are you within the terms of the agreement by changing your minds at this point? If so then your neighbour can make a fuss but can't force you to do anything.

 

If your neighbour starts harassing you / threatening you and you are worried for your health and safety then I would contact the police.

 

Sending you hugs xxx

[cordelia]

I'm pretty sure the agreement states that all neighbours have to agree the changeover, husband now says just do it, but it will cause us harm financially, as we will be doing this under duress.

I've been crying all night, husband has been snapping at everyone..

 

Thanks so much for the reply..ridiculous how alone these things make you feel..and powerless.

It's a horrible situation, I don't know these new people nor do I want to, but the others we have known for years.

 

I just can't bear to think about them bullying us like this

[ohcarolina]

I work for EDF in the Gas Operations Team. How can you all be tied into one supplier? Is there only one meter on site or one central gas meter and then sub meters in each property?

[cordelia]

Its LPG. Central tanks serve all, all have individual meters.

[Geoid]

If there is an agreement saying all neighbours have to agree, then they cant sue you if you dont agree.

If your neighbours starts threatening/harassing you, call the police.

[Egluntyne]

Why not go to the CAB? They will be able to point you in the right direction.

[Redwing]

Its a horrible situation and they shouldn't have threatened you

 

Having said that, put yourself in their position would you pay higher bills because your neighbours are struggling financially?

[Looney]

Its a horrible situation and they shouldn't have threatened you

 

Having said that, put yourself in their position would you pay higher bills because your neighbours are struggling financially?

 

I agree that I would be probably be pretty miffed if I thought it was all agreed and then someone pulled out meaning my bills would be higher! As you say though, they shouldn't have threatened cordelia. Not the best approach to try and reach a resolution!

 

Total change of direction (sorry! ) When are you due to give birth cordelia? It seems a while since we had an omlet baby, be warned there are always people (me included!) demanding pictures so we can coo at cute new arrivals!

[Daphne]

I think his behaviour is outrageous. If nothing else, you are heavily pregnant and should not be stressed. You are fully entitled to make up your own minds, and as I'm sure you are aware virtually ALL the utilities suppliers are putting their prices up.

 

Personally, I would not let myself be bullied which is what this is. This is a matter of choice, and you have your rights to exercise your choice; you are no obligation to switch, I think you need to fully take that on board, your neighbour cannot 'force you under duress' (unless of course there is something binding in writing, or something we don't know about) and you are the ones with the power to make the choice.

 

Your neighbour has not behaved well, and I would not let the fact that he has been aggressive (which is how it reads to me, rather than assertive) sway your decision. If you do not want to change, then if he is not happy with the current arrangement he will have to investigate ways in which to change it. If it came down to you having to pay to be disconnected (?) then you and your OH need to find out the cost implications and that may change your viewpoint. In fact, I would call your current supplier and talk through the situation (try to keep calm, its about the facts of switching not the bullying) and find out all the implications now, so you can make a balanced judgement.

 

If the financial difference is the most important thing to you and your OH then I would stick to whatever deal is best for you. We are all struggling in these difficult times. If, however, there is not much financial difference and your OH wants a quiet life, then maybe the pragmatic option is to switch, I'm sure it will be the line of least resistance and that is important given your health history.

 

Not an easy one, but take heart, you do have choices. Call the supplier and find out exactly where you stand.

[Leicester_H]

Hi,

Not sure if these can help

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/index.php

 

they helped me cancel my gym membership due to a high court case - their advice was great.

(I wanted to suspend membership due to elbow operation but they wouldn't let me - despite being assured verbally at the time of joining, it was possible with a doctors note (which I gave them) - so in the end I cancelled the whole agreement)

 

H

[Alis girls]

What a nasty piece of work he sounds - i hope you have told the police. Anyone who threatens a heavily pregnant woman should be strung up. Hope you are ok.

[yvonne]

Whilst i totally condemn the threats made against you which i would report to the police, I do think you could have avoided this situation especially having had a problem before with neighbours. Given that you are now in the situation you are in you should either see if there is any way of removing yourselves from this shared supply and if not make sure you overpay in future so that another negative balance does not build up. Bad relations with neighbours are so awful its worth trying hard to get things on an even keel even if you do feel hard done by.

[Forestchook]

Am I correct in thinking that all neighbours pay the same unit price for the fuel they use? Or am I mis-understanding the central LPG tank situation?

My thoughts are as follows:

Firstly given that you are heavy pregnant their aggressive behavior is even more reprehensible. Since you have problem neighbours before you are even more likely to feel physical threatend by such behavoir. Let them know this, via the police if necessary.

Are they just threatening you or have they confronted everyone else in the current agreement too. If its just you, then why is it you in particular? Has someone else told them you are the ones blocking a change? Surely its not just you who are responsible for the supplier.

Surely they agreed to the current supplier by taking the house knowing the agreement was in place. As such they cannot sue you because they did agree!

If I am understanding the LPG situation correctly then changing the supplier would benefit everyone financially in the long term. However I am guessing there are admin fee/penalties involved for breaking/changing the current agreement, hence the financial harm to yourselves? Since they are the ones pushing for the change they should foot the bill. Since you clearly have all other things to worry about i.e. an imminent newborn, they can do all the leg work too.

If I have not understood the situation correctly, and a different supplier would cost you more in the long term too, then they need to find a new supplier who benefits everyone not just themselves. Otherwise return the threat of a lawsuit for the difference in costs if they force a change.

Finally, suggest for the benefit of future neighbourhood relationships they try discussing matters like this with people first instead of leaping in with threats to sue.

 

Congratulations for the future new arrival and hope this matter gets resolved.

 

N

[cordelia]

Apologies for errors in spelling, punctuation and capitalisation, unable to edit properly on the iPad, as I can't scroll through my text.

Thank you for your kind comments, we did have to call the police, who came to talk to us. And the went to see the neighbours.

Very sensible pleasant policeman, obviously used to dealing with such silly situations, although it should never have come to this. We are both professionals, ( husband and I) , who usually in the way of work are called to try and remedy any problems staff are having. So you do feel rather ridiculous, having to ask people for help with threatening bullies, (especially as you have known them for several years, with no problems)

Police have advised neighbour not to approach our home, as it is trespassing, and advised them of their behaviour. Apparently they disputed what had occurred.

Police advised us that we should contact a solicitor, regarding a letter that was sent to all of our neighbours as the policeman felt it was slanderous, as it wasn't actually true. Also said the man had a duty of care because of the role he undertook, and shouldn't have disclosed any details to other neighbours. Also said he personally wouldn't have given this neighbour any details, or given the man any cooperation, as we had NO actual offer in writing from the

LPG company, only his word for it, and when asked by email for a contact, and his wife was asked, this wasn't given.

 

My car has been scratched since.(Didn't report it, as no proof of who did it, but I have photographed it) We have CCTV up and recording our driveway..

Baby due immenently To be honest, and thank you for the consideration, I have had ill health and at the moment, I'm forgetting about the energy thing.

 

We previously moved providers at neighbours instigation, from the provider they are advocating now, to the one they want us to leave now. After a few months grace, the prices Rose astronomically, which would doubtless happen this time, but without anything in writing from the company, who in their right mind would change providers at a neighbours say so, who will not give a company contact, and where the company has not provided any formal offer?

 

The last kind poster asked if the newest buyer in the street must have agreed to the current supplier when they moved in, and yes that's correct, their choice, nothing to do with us.

All have to agree a move with the LPG supplier or we can't change, and we have a large outstanding payment to the current company to pay (direct debit wasn't sufficient) which would have to be paid to move suppliers, and under the current circumstances, we have rather too many other outgoings.

[cordelia]

Agree with the poster who said, we shouldn't have got behind with too small a DD payment, laughably this is the only utility bill the husband pays for, mine are moved up and own in line with how much we owe, and I have had rebates from BT when it has been set to high several times. I'll take more notice of his in the future...I suppose we have a weird way of dividing the bills, but it " usually " works ok.

 

Oh and my husband did take the forms over against our better judgement, (so we would have had to pay the outstanding balance) after we had been threatened the first time, by that woman we'd never met (new neighbour ) that was before the second man came, prompting us to call the police.

[Looney]

I really hope that things calm down for you now. You won't be the first person to end up owing money due to DDs being too low, the difference is that usually we can make decisions for ourselves how best to rectify things and don't have to consider other households as well. You certainly don't deserve to be bullied and harrassed.

 

Wishing you all the very best for the arrival of new baby! Exciting times!