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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think there *is* such thing as a free ride and that I am on it?

31 replies

HenriettaVioletta · 13/10/2021 20:11

Free ride ticket #1: the council has completely wrongly suddenly decided that I'm entitled to council tax support. So they've applied it to my bill, which I always overpay so I don't have to pay December's, and now I'm not due to pay any more this year. They've also transferred a £100 "Covid support payment" to me. I rung them up twice, once for the discount and once for the 100 quid, and said I'm not due it. They say I am. So, free council services.

Free ride ticket #2: I signed up for a switch to avro back in August, not knowing that they would take ages to do it and then go bust, which is ofc exactly what's happened. However, according to octopus they haven't heard of me and according to my old supplier I've definitely left and gone to avro. So no one wants to send me a bill. There is no bill.

Free bin collection and free heating throughout the winter for me! What a time to be alive!

OP posts:
sittingonacornflake · 13/10/2021 20:13

You lucky git!

billy1966 · 13/10/2021 20:14

Praise the Lord..🥳

LadyCatStark · 13/10/2021 20:14

Sorry to put a downer on it but I’d be careful with the council tax one though as they’ll probably randomly change their minds and expect you to immediately pay it all back 🙈.

SallySkelington · 13/10/2021 20:16

Careful with the heating, we got stung for £2000 a few years back when Eon discovered their cockup that I was keeping quiet about!

Hardbackwriter · 13/10/2021 20:16

These are both definitely coming back to haunt you, so I'd be really careful to make sure you've got the cash to pay when the bills inevitably turn up.

NotYourCupOfTea · 13/10/2021 20:16

You can check who is down as your supplier not wanting to put a dampener on free energy but someone will send you at some point and with prices as they are you might not be want it to be a surprise

AnnaSW1 · 13/10/2021 20:17

Both of those will be clawed back. Definitely the council tax.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 13/10/2021 20:18

These are both definitely coming back to haunt you, so I'd be really careful to make sure you've got the cash to pay when the bills inevitably turn up.

^^
This, I’m afraid

TheYearOfSmallThings · 13/10/2021 20:18

Yes, be careful with the council. When they make mistakes they are completely unapologetic, and will demand you pay back anything they gave you in error.

Original poster
HenriettaVioletta · 13/10/2021 20:20

Aye, I know it won't last forever and I'm pretty sure someone will come at me for a load of money sooner or later so I'm putting what I would be paying into my savings account.

However if it goes on a while I'll be able to make a bit of money back by selling my story to the tabloids as a tale of broken Britain "computer says no".

OP posts:
Justcallmebebes · 13/10/2021 20:23

Sorry to piss on your parade but Councils are notorious for oversights which they then come to claw back and i wouldn't trust a utility company either. Just be careful you don't get billed months down the line

Justcallmebebes · 13/10/2021 20:24

Lol. Sad face pic 😢

CiaoForDiNiaoSaur · 13/10/2021 20:25

Ye good luck with that. Local council awarded me HB. I told told I wasn't entitled. They said I was. They insisted I was. Then realised I wasn't and made me pay it all back. Which would OK but circumstances had changed and I couldn't afford to pay it back. only a few months to go.

Original poster
HenriettaVioletta · 13/10/2021 20:25

Exactly. Big Bill + Sad Face "kids are crying". It'll be a winner. I might even make it to Take A Break!

OP posts:
Dutchesss · 13/10/2021 20:28

Well, you've tried to sort out both(I hope you have records of this). So at the very worst all they could do is allow you a very long payment plan if they ever wanted the money back. Enjoy it!

HeckyPeck · 13/10/2021 20:28

Once your 12 months past the date you used the electric/gas, they can't make you pay it if they haven't ever billed you for it so fingers crossed! Fingers crossed!

www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-energy-back-billing-rules

OrangeBananaFish · 13/10/2021 20:28

@HenriettaVioletta

Exactly. Big Bill + Sad Face "kids are crying". It'll be a winner. I might even make it to Take A Break!
Gotta make sure you have a big TV in the background of any pic Wink
HeckyPeck · 13/10/2021 20:29

*You're

EmmaGrundyForPM · 13/10/2021 20:29

This happened to us many years ago. We moved into a (rented) flat in a brand new conversion of an old building. There were 2 new flats, named A and B (so, next door to house 36, we were 36B and other flat was 36A). We contacted the Council as we hadn't had a bill, and they wrote back to say they had no record of the two flats existing. I contacted them 3 times trying to pay, then gave up. We rented the flat for 3 years and they never asked for the council tax.

Wanderlust20 · 13/10/2021 20:31

Sounds great! But yup, as others have said, please be careful with the heating bill - my energy supplier didn't bill me for 4 or 5 years despite me asking constantly. They finally sorted it out and presented me with a large bill (I didn't have to pay in the end as I had proof I had attempted many many times to pay!).

Original poster
HenriettaVioletta · 13/10/2021 20:31

Yes, I've got emails and also dates of phone calls with names, plus meter readings from the day avro went bust as this is the exact day my switch happened and they emailed me in the morning asking for readings before imploding that afternoon.

OP posts:
Goawaymorningsickeness · 13/10/2021 20:33

Both of these could come back and bite you on the bum.

Daphnise · 13/10/2021 20:35

Regardless of your current bliss, there is NO free lunch and you will pay in the end.

I also envisage you having to make hours of calls to moronic call centres when the proverbial hits the fan!

Ohsugarhoneyicetea · 13/10/2021 20:38

Keep chasing the heating bill. If you can prove you have tried then they are stuck with the back billing rule once you have passed a year.

leiaskye · 13/10/2021 20:47

I lived in a rented house for almost 18 months.
When we moved in, we were told who the suppliers were so I contacted them to put it into my name. They didn’t supply the property.

I tried in all sorts of ways to find out who my supplier was. Never did get to the bottom of it. Never paid an energy bill to anyone.

We left that house in 2010, so I do think anyone is ever going to come asking.
I wonder if anyone living there since ( or before ) has paid for their energy?