Hi Everyone, I’ll try and be brief.
We bought a property 28 Nov “03 and had the power connected. Went there on days off to do handyman repairs and maintenance. Had a final reading done 19th January ’04.
Phond AGL a few weeks later as hadn’t received an account. The guy said ” As it’s only minimal you won’t hear from us.” (What a blunder we didn’t write his name and the date down.)
3 months later we receive a seemingly large account. The bit that got our attention ” As there was no access we did an estimated reading”.
Interesting, the box is on the front corner of the house within every adults reach, no gate to go through, no-one living in the house, no dogs etc.
So we called AGL, and explained. The gentleman said, “The estimate is based on usage over the last 12 months” – interesting – there were people in the house full time then. “Oh well” he said, “we can knock $30 off for you”.
Next day found the name and date of the original person we spoke to when we had the power connected, so thought we’d try and reach her. Another lady listened and we were told, ” the no access can mean that the metre reader’s monitor wasn’t downloading to AGL and therefore they used an estimate”. I asked how we can prevent this happening again, as we are currently renovating IP2 and was told “the only way you can prevent this is by reading the metre yourself when you buy the property and when you get the final reading done”. Oops it’s too late already!
Would they believe us I wonder? Where is the service we pay for?
What should we do next do you think?
We are still reluctant to pay the full amount as we are wondering if there is any way we could be paying for the previous owners usage as they left without paying.
Any advise/ideas?
Thanks, DianeDFT dont play games with these hero’s, hit em were it hurts.[rambo2]
We are all made from Stars
Everdine, I am not surprised!
We had similar problems when we bought our IP last year.
We were offered a $33 off as well.
We still paid too much, but in the end I thought it wasn’t worth stressing over it and and accepted it.[rolleyesanim]Lesson learnt, I’ll know now for next time.
Everdine,
Go straight to the ombudsman. I’ve had troubles with AGL myself, they are HOPELESS and thats being nice.
They should provide you with a “fair and accurate” reading of meter usage. It just takes a letter and a few phone calls and they should get off their butts.
Just make sure you are not stressing in the meantime by biting the bullet in theory only, then when you get them with the ombudsman you will be happy.
Good Luck
fellow AGL despiser
Liz
Mortgage Lender
We had the same problem – but sort of in reverse. They ‘estimated’, and then later on read the meter (supposedly) and added about $100 to the bill. They were going to re read the meter when questioned, and ring me back, but they never did![baaa] Ended up paying it, as I didn’t want a hit on my CRA – was certainly never offered a discount!
Everdine, can you get a reading of the meter now? If it’s been tenanted, you should (maybe) be able to backdate the usage based on history, and try to work it out from there.
You never know – the current reading may still be less than their ‘estimated’ one of months ago!!
Cheers
Mel
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