Scottish Water Business Stream
Dear Scottish Water Business Stream Limited,
DOCUMENTS RELATING TO ALLEGED DOUBLE CHARGING
BY SCOTTISH WATER BUSINESS STREAM
FOR MIXED USE PREMISES: DOMESTIC & COMMERCIAL
WHERE THERE IS ONLY ONE METER FOR BOTH PREMISES.
You have repeatedly threatened our business and compromised the jobs of 5 people with very oppressive debt recovery harassment calls.
Worse, we DO NOT OWE YOU THE MONEY YOU KEEP BILLING US FOR.
Why?
Because in Scotland the council tax bill that is paid for the hotel manager's flat at our hotel premises INCLUDES payment to your organisation from North Ayrshire Council from us to the council and then they block pay to you for the water used at the DOMESTIC flat.
The hotel we own is currently closed because of Covid19. The hotel water supply stop-cock is turned off. We have independent witnesses to this.
Yet the "Scottish Water Meter" at the foot of our drive is still going round, increasing our HOTEL'S COMMERCIAL bill to you, but only when the manager in his DOMESTIC flat runs a bath or flushes the toilet etc.
You then threaten us with nasty debt recovery techniques for alleged water used by the hotel when, due to Covid19, the hotel is CLOSED AND THE HOTEL STOP-COCK IS TURNED OFF.
Scottish Water Business Stream have been told of this unlawful practice the last THREE times you regularly telephone our main director on his private mobile to EXTORT MONEY FROM HIM for a COMMERCIAL bill that the hotel manager has ALREADY PAID YOU FOR the water used DOMESTICALLY (via your commercial hotel meter) and evidenced by the council tax receipts which detail how much the Council pay you for the Water that the hotel manager uses in his flat at the residential part of the hotel. Our director is seriously ill and you even telephone him at hospital when he is attending MRI scans and life saving treatment. The needless distress you cause may end up with your facing a Fatal Accident Inquiry and Corporate Manslaughter charges. It can be upsetting when Scottish Water Business Stream threaten a very ill patient with harsh debt recovery methods for an INVOICE WHICH YOU AS AUTHOR KNOW IS BORDERLINE FRAUDULENT AND UTTERLY WRONG BECAUSE OF SCOTTISH WATER BUSINESS STREAMS CHRONIC OVERCHARGING PROBLEM.
The FACT your telephone harassment representatives admit this is a regular problem proves Scottish Water Business Stream KNOW YOU DOUBLE CHARGE FOR WATER.
We are are VERY close to reporting your directors to Police Scotland. At best you are committing the offence of THEFT BY CLANDESTINE POSSESSSION. You take our money and MIGHT refund it. You ONLY refund these massive nationwide mixed commercial/residential water overcharges when you are REPEATEDLY challenged.
At worst, because your directors KNOW about this DOUBLE CHARGING, your company and the directors concerned may be liable to criminal proceedings FOR FRAUD, OR TRADING STANDARDS VIOLATIONS.
My question...
1). Please provide ALL documents in your organisation, appropriately redacted, between 1/1/2019 and 31/12/2019 where a customer of a mixed residential/commercial use property has made a complaint about being overcharged in any scenario?
2). Please advise how many of your customers have received a refund or an amended bill for you overcharging them during this time period?
3). How many "mixed use" properties do you have on your database?
4). In simple terms please provide the NUMBER of cases where a Scottish Water Business Stream customer has found you out. Where they have asked tat you STOP overcharging?
5). Has your organisation every proactively written to the full database of mixed domestic/residential customers you hold, warning each customer that you may have overcharged them?
6). Please provide the names and legal service addresses of all of your directors? This should be public domain information. The purpose is to send each a RECORDED DELIVERY letter alerting them to the fact your organisation is on the edge of being the next PPI LOAN INSURANCE SCANDAL. The one that has cost the banking industry millions of pounds in refunds and compensation.
7). Please provide the name and address of your auditors so they may be asked to investigate this prior to our having to take up the time of the Auditor General fro Scotland in order to get your defective organisation to STOP THIS OVERCHARGING RACKET.
Scottish Water Business Stream cannot and must not be allowed to continue this scandal of DOUBLE CHARGING customers who own mixed use premises. In simple terms, our manager has already paid you for the water he has used in his domestic flat at the hotel. For your outfit to then try and charge us again for the same Water that he paid for because it has gone though our commercial meter is a scam and brings your organisation into disrepute..
You WILL be stopped.
8). Please confirm that immediately upon official receipt of this Freedom of Information request and which you are legally obliged to acknowledge, Scottish Water Business Stream will PROACTIVELY WRITE TO ALL MIXED USE CUSTOMERS ON ITS DATABASE OFFERING THEM AN INDEPENDENT AUDIT TO ESTABLISH THE AMOUNT OF OVERCHARGE THEY HAVE SUFFERED AT YOUR HANDS AND ALSO CONFIRMING YOU WILL STOP THIS UNLAWFUL PRACTICE.
Thankyou.
Andy Graham,
Accounts Manager,
The Hotel,
North Ayrshire.
Dear Mr Graham
Thank you for your request of 12 June 2020, requesting information under Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).
We are sorry to hear of the issues that you have experienced. We would like to raise a complaint to record your concerns and work towards a suitable resolution. We have several solutions that can resolve the issue of the mixed supply at your property and we’d like an opportunity to rectify this for you.
To raise a complaint, we would require either the full postal address of the property or the account number. At your earliest convenience, please can you send these details to [email address]
A response to your FOISA request regarding mixed use properties will be provided to you on or before 13 July 2020. If your request for information is not resolved to your satisfaction at that stage, you can appeal further to the Scottish Information Commissioner, the independent body which oversees the implementation of FOISA www.itspublicknowledge.info/appeal
Regards
Trevor Nelson
Regulation and Compliance Manager
Dear Mr Graham
Thank you for your request of 12 June 2020, requesting information under
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). Your enquiry relates
to mixed use properties.
As I mentioned in my acknowledgment, we are sorry to hear of the issues
that you have experienced. I would urge you to contact us on [1][email
address] with details of the hotel referred to in your request, so that
we can investigate this further. While, on occasion, mixed use properties
can cause some issues, there are several solutions that can resolve them
and we’d like an opportunity to rectify this for you.
Regarding your FOISA request, The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002 gives everyone the right to ask Scottish public authorities for the
information they hold but in certain circumstances an authority may not be
able to provide this information or may be exempt from doing so. I have
answered your eight requests below, but where I am unable to provide the
information I have provided a reason.
1) I am not able to provide information relating to this question. You
asked for “all documents in your organisation, appropriately redacted,
between 1/1/2019 and 31/12/2019 where a customer of a mixed
residential/commercial use property has made a complaint about being
overcharged in any scenario”. There are a number of reasons why it is not
possible to provide the information, which I have listed below:
• Business Stream’s systems do not differentiate customers that are in a
mixed use property from those that are in a single use property.
Therefore, we are not always aware that a customer is in a mixed use
property when they make a complaint about an unrelated matter that
results in a credit or refund being raised.
• Our Customer Resolution team do not categorise complaints in a way
that will allow us to readily identify the customer as occupying a
mixed used premise, or to identify where the complaint is related to
mixed use.
• There are a number of reasons why a water retailer would issue a
credit or refund to a customer. These include, but are not limited to,
update to a customer’s rateable value, a change in meter asset data, a
change in the services a customer receives, a grant of a leakage
allowance and use of water for firefighting purposes. In addition,
some of our customers are billed in advance of receiving the service.
Should they move out of the premises before consuming the service they
are entitled to a partial credit and refund. One of the main reasons
for credit adjustments, which is common in the utilities sector, is
that not all bills are based on actual meter reads, some are based on
estimates. If a lower actual read comes in via the customer or meter
reader, a credit is provided to correct the estimate. So as you can
see, an overcharge is not necessarily as a result of a mistake and of
course most overcharges are addressed either immediately or corrected
at the next bill date.
• As you have asked for all documents, even if redacted we would need to
write to each of the complainants to seek their view on whether the
documentation should be released. This is because much of the
information is confidential and/or commercially sensitive and even
with redaction we are likely to need to undertake a public interest
test.
2) As mention above there are many different reasons why a customer may be
entitled to a credit and/or refund, all of which are common within the
utility sector. In 2019, Business Stream issued 952,326 bills. This
excludes our customers in the Yorkshire region who only transitioned in
October 2019 and which are managed by a separate company. We issued
102,608 credit invoices. In the same period, we issued refunds to 5,376
customers.
3) It is not possible to provide this information as we do not have any
way of ascertaining whether or not a property is mixed use.
4) It has not been possible to provide information as I don’t understand
the question being asked. If you still require a response, please re-frame
the question and resubmit it.
5) As detailed above, we are unable to identify mixed use properties.
While we make every effort to charge our customers accurately and fairly,
under the terms and conditions of supply, customers are responsible for
contacting us should they encounter any issue with the services
and/invoices we supply. If a customer contacts us to advise that they
suspect their property serves a number of different entities or
households, then there are a number of solutions we can put in place. Our
first step would be to ask Scottish Water to carry out a site visit to
verify the network configuration on site.
6) As an incorporated entity, information about Scottish Water Business
Stream Limited can be found on the Companies House website. The following
link will take you to our registered information.
[2]https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/compa...
7) Our auditors are KPMG LLP Saltire Court 20 Castle Terrace Edinburgh EH1
2EG
8) As detailed above, we are unable to identify mixed use properties.
While we make every effort to charge our customers accurately and fairly,
under the terms and conditions of supply, customers are responsible for
contacting us should they encounter any issue with the services
and/invoices we supply. If a customer contacts us to advise that they
suspect their property serves a number of different entities or
households, then there are a number of solutions we can put in place. Our
first step would be to ask Scottish Water to carry out a site visit to
verify the network configuration on site.
I trust that this information will be satisfactory to answer your
enquiries. For information provided under FOISA you can appeal if you are
dissatisfied with the outcome. You must appeal within the period of 40
working days commencing on 8 July 2020. On receiving your request for a
review of this response, we will conduct an internal review which will be
undertaken by an independent team whose members were not involved in
responding to the initial request. Business Stream is required to complete
internal reviews within 20 working days. Please address any such appeal to
Rosalind Carey in writing or by email. If you are emailing can you please
use the email [3][Business Stream request email]
If your request for information is not resolved to your satisfaction at
that stage, you can appeal further to the Scottish Information
Commissioner, the independent body which oversees the implementation of
FOISA [4]www.itspublicknowledge.info/appeal
Regards
Trevor Nelson
Regulation and Compliance Manager
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