Business - multiple accounts and billing issues

A case study in which a business consumer expressed concerns about duplicate billing.

Issue

The consumer was in receipt of confusing bills and they were unable to reconcile the charges as a result. The consumer was unhappy with the response from the supplier.  On receipt of a very large bill, they contacted the supplier and were told that some of the charges were incorrect and they would be credited and removed from the next bill.

The next bill remained the same and there was no credit as promised.  The consumer cancelled the direct debit to prevent any further incorrect amount being deducted from their bank account.

The consumer doesn’t know why the accounts are not correct and why they are being charged more than agreed. Because of the differing accounts it means that services were suspended resulting in a loss of business costing thousands of pounds.

Provider response

The provider says that due to an order to upgrade the account failed, it meant that the old account was being billed as well as the new account.  This meant some double billing for which the provider apologises.  The provider confirmed that corrective action has been taken to correct the account and credit the bills. The provider also suggest moving the account again to ensure just one bill is available for all services.

Our decision

It was clear that the provider had made a mistake when migrating the account. We found that the provider could have taken action much sooner and corrected the account to provide the relevant credits.

We found there was an issue with the consumer accessing their online account which contributed to the disconnection for non payment. However we found the bills were confusing.  We welcomed the offer to change the account so that only one bill is issued going forwards.  Our decision that a moderate goodwill award should be made along with a written apology for the shortfalls in customer service and the confusing bills.