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■ MIREILLE TODDINGTON
mireille@costablancapeople.com AKING ON THE BIG BOYS can seem daunting and many of us simply let over payments or unexpected bills go unques-tioned, particularly if they are not for a huge amount of money. However, one expat couple decided to take on Iberdrola over a payment of 1,952 euros that was taken from their account and which they knew they did not owe. The case recently went to court and the couple won, having the money returned to them by the electricity giant. Louise and Tom Cole have lived in Spain for many years and two years ago moved to a new home in La Florida. During the negotiations to buy the property it was repossessed by the bank.
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Local couple win Iberdrola court case If we owed the money, fair enough but we absolutely did not and although we aren’t talking tens of thousands, nearly 2,000 euros is a lot of money for someone to take illegally... The bank continued with the sale telling the couple the price it wanted and the sale went through. After living in the house for a few months the couple began to get fines from Iberdrola. Absolutely certain they did not owe a penny either on the previous home nor the new one they believed that it may have been for a former tenant of the house, as before the sale it had been rented to various people over the years. The Coles went to the Iberdrola office and tried to find out more but no-one could shed any light on the charges. They went to the bank that had sold them the house and pointed out that under Spanish
law provision should be made for any outstanding debts to be met by the seller – but the bank washed its hands of the issue and told the Coles that it was nothing to do with them and to talk to Iberdrola. The electricity company decided to take the money from the Coles bank account last year, despite the fact that since taking ownership they had paid every bill on the property. Obviously their visits to the Iberdrola office had not resulted in any kind of information being logged on their account, despite taking in the sale documents to prove when they bought the property. Furious Louise decided that she was
not going to let Iberdrola take money that they had no right to and decided to seek legal advice. Louise said: “If we owed the money, fair enough but we absolutely did not and although we aren’t talking tens of thousands, nearly 2,000 euros is a lot of money for someone to take illegally…it’s practically stealing and I was not going to let them get away with it.
Tues 3rd - Mon 9th May 2016
if no-one complains about is a substantial amount of additional revenue. The Coles hired Torrevieja lawyer Pedro Jose Munuera Suances, who had already had court success against the like of Telefonica and Iberdrola. As part of his investigations Pedro found out that the outstanding debt dated back two years, way before the Coles took possession of the house and agreed to take the case to small claims court for them. The whole process took just six months and the Coles have now been reimbursed the full amount by Iberdrola. Louise said: “I hope people read this and check their bills and bank payments whether its gas, electricity or telephone supply and if there are any unexplained charges query them. Most times its small amounts that don’t seem worth the hassle, but the small claims court was a simple process, it goes to show that you can take on the big boys and win.”
Financial checks Louise makes another good point when she says that there are probably thousands of people across Spain who are being over-charged or paying other peoples charges through utility companies, which,
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