ASK TONY: The new smart meter that never was and a £1,512 bill from First Utility

Updated: 04:41 EST, 27 November 2013

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On October 9, First Utility was due to install a smart meter. Nobody turned up.

When I phoned them the next day they claimed it had been connected and was up and running. They said I had been out, but I was not - and both gas and electric meters are inside my property.

Now I find my electric bill is supposedly £1,512.70, even though I was away for 11 weeks this summer. I was expecting a credit of perhaps £300.

For the past three weeks I have spent over five hours speaking to seven members of staff. They all insist a smart meter has been installed. M.G., by email.

You don’t have to tell me how bad First Utility’s customer service is. I’ve experienced it at first hand.

I ceased to be their customer on the same day, October 9, yet they still took a £150 direct debit three weeks later and now owe me £367.

On November 19, I was told a cheque would be put in the post. But this was only after sitting on the telephone on hold on several occasions while having my mind rotted by a recorded loop of Coldplay and waiting for an email that never arrived.

Enough of my grumpy rant. You, too, have experienced the infuriating lack of service that seems endemic at this company.

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Instead of investigating properly, seven different people all assumed they were right and you were wrong. In fact, the engineer had gone to the wrong property. Not his fault, I hasten to add, because he was given the wrong details.

Naturally, your bill is also far too high - as you guessed.

First Utility has now used the meter readings which you provided - putting your account in credit - and offered you £75 compensation.

But you tell me they must now come back to your house and replace the smart meter because it is faulty and not sending through data.

A First Utility employee has also written to you saying: ‘I realise this does not make up for the time and effort that you spent trying to get these matters resolved, but I do hope it goes some way in addition to our most extensive apology.’

We’re all constantly being told to switch to smaller utility companies, but before switching to First Utility you might want to check review websites such as Trustpilot, where the firm scores 1.1 out of 10 and provokes comments such as ‘absolutely appalling, useless, clueless and invisible’.

Why am I still paying for protection on a credit card I've cancelled?

I took a Card Care policy in 2005 when I had a Sainsbury’s credit card.

Although I cancelled the credit card, the Card Care policy is still taking money by direct debit, stating that it is covering all my cards. Can I claim back my premiums? R.M., Colchester.

You had a protection policy designed to cover you in the case of fraud or if your cards were lost or stolen.

These policies are different from payment protection insurance, which is supposed to cover your payments if you lose your job or become ill.

What they have in common is that both were widely sold to people who probably did not need them, and gave a healthy profit margin to the banks.

Sainsbury’s Bank has reviewed your case and reimbursed all your premiums, plus 8 per cent simple interest, minus tax. In total, you will receive £259.70.

Other customers who have been sold this insurance and believe they did not need it should contact the bank which sold it to them.

Straight to the point

I applied for a Halifax credit card which let me transfer debt and pay no interest on it for 25 months. But when the application was approved, I only got 15 months at 0 per cent. Why? B.G., Runcorn.

Rules say banks must offer at least 51 per cent of successful applicants the advertised rate. But this doesn’t apply to balance transfer deals because, though the number of months at 0 per cent will vary, the interest rate at nil is still given to those eligible.

I have a pension pot of £1,500. I understood I can take it as a cash lump sum? M.J., Chorley, Lancs.

Taking your pension as a lump sum is only possible if you are over 60 and the total value of all private and company pensions (but not state pension) is less than £18,000 — or you have a pot less than £2,000.

This figure is not the annual income from pensions but the capital value of the fund. However, insurers are not obliged to allow it.

I’m selling £4,200 worth of BT shares in December to help make up the deposit for our first home.

They were worth about £1,500 when I first bought them. Will there be any capital gains tax to pay?
A.S., Swindon

Each year, everybody can cash in gains of £10,900 without paying tax. You’ve made a profit of £2,700, so provided you haven’t made any other gains this tax year, then you’ll have nothing to pay.

Write to Tony Hazell at Ask Tony, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email asktony@dailymail.co.uk - please include your daytime phone number, postal address and a separate note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Tony Hazell. We regret we cannot reply to individual letters. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.