I received an EDF electricity bill in April and paid through my local post office, the payee being Post Office. A couple of weeks later I heard from EDF that the bill had not been paid. I contacted my bank, which provided proof that the money had been withdrawn. The problem could only lie with the Post Office. A manager at the Oxford branch told me that my payment was not properly processed as the bill was not scanned.
Despite this, the Post Office has made me jump through hoops, providing information to them and instructing me to send documents to EDF, incurring expense and time for which I have asked for modest compensation of £15. I have received neither this nor the bill payment of £125.
Surely because the PO is the payee and a mistake was made by them, they should refund me and sort the matter out with EDF themselves? RJ, Oxford
Indeed they should. And are they contrite? Not a bit of it. They put the blame squarely on you, claiming you were unwilling to provide the information they requested to be investigated. In fact, you say, you photocopied the needful documents at the very branch where your payment went missing and was told to send them direct to EDF yourself due to “data protection”.
Despite insisting that it could not assist you because you would not cooperate, the PO has decided that it will grant you that £15 as a “gesture of goodwill”. The payment to EDF has now been settled – as it happens, shortly after the Observer got in touch.
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