Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_04 (00:01):
Hello.
My name is Mark Smith.
And welcome to the Village HallsPodcast.
Sponsored by Allied World Cross.
The YouTube largest specialistprovider of Village Hall and
Tools and the home of VillageGuard.
Welcome to uh podcast.
(00:26):
And this one's a reallyinteresting story.
And it's worthwhile to have apodcast because it goes to show
that uh no matter how small yourvillage hall is, or some of the
small it is you should alwaysfight back against these
(00:47):
companies that are trying tocharge you.
For a few things in this case itwas uh electronic.
So hopefully you enjoy thepodcast.
So welcome to the podcast on thepodcast I've been looking
forward to for a while becauseuh I think I mentioned on a
phone call that I do a lot ofgovernance and legislation
podcasts.
(01:08):
But this is a nice feel-good uhalbeit frustrating story in the
beginning.
It's a nice feel-good story uhto to talk about.
So I think we can start if youcan tell us a little bit about
the Potterheim Village Hall andthe role it plays within your
community, that'd be great.
SPEAKER_00 (01:25):
Sure.
Well, Potterheim Village Hall umwas built quite some time ago on
land that was um purchased for avery small uh amount from um a
doctor uh of Bethel Hospital.
So it's got a lovely history.
Um, but it was the covenant saysthat it must be used for the
(01:46):
community.
And the village hall, um, whichwas extended in 76, stands to
serve our community and providesall kinds of different programs
from brownies and girl guides todog training to table tennis to
soup and chatter, which is uhyou know part of the winter
warming program, so very diversearray of programs, um, but it is
(02:12):
very much the community hub forPotterheim, and it brings in a
lot of people from othercommunities as well.
SPEAKER_04 (02:19):
So I suppose how did
this uh story all start?
What was it?
What was the catalyst thatstarted this uh the problem with
your electrical bills?
SPEAKER_00 (02:29):
Well, it all started
in February, well, July actually
of 2022, because in 2021 we uminstalled solar panels that you
would expect would significantlydecrease your electric bills,
right?
Yep, and we knew that ourelectric bills were on average
(02:51):
about 1800 pounds a year.
So um we had the solar panelsinstalled, and indeed our
electric bills went down, but inFebruary of 2022 we had an
electrical fire, and thatcompletely destroyed the the
meter and the box and all thestuff in that uh where the main
(03:14):
power comes into the villagehall.
It wasn't until July we got anew meter put in, and that's
when the fun and games started.
Um, our bills were erratic tosay the least.
Um, they definitely did notreflect what we thought they
should reflect.
Uh, we checked the solar panels.
(03:36):
Now, admittedly, we did go for afew months where for some reason
the backup batteries weren'tcharging, and that was a glitch,
but we fixed that.
But still the electrical billswere off the charts, and in
fact, in 2020, in 25 now, 2024,our annual bill, and bear in
(03:59):
mind our year goes from April1st to March 30th.
So the 2324 bill was over sevenand a half thousand pounds.
SPEAKER_04 (04:09):
So fairly
significant.
SPEAKER_00 (04:11):
Yeah, we'd had a
bill for£4,000, we'd had a
refund of£3,000, then we gotanother big bill, and we kept
getting all of thesechargebacks, and it was just a
mess.
And that's where it all started.
SPEAKER_04 (04:28):
So what's the I
suppose if you get hit with a
bill, what's the first step thatyou did to uh to think, oh this
this can't be right.
This surely can't be right,especially with solar panels.
SPEAKER_00 (04:39):
Yeah, so uh well the
first step we did was check the
solar panels, um, and as I say,we did find a little glitch
there, but that hadn't affectedus very much.
Then um Stan Chapman, who is thetreasurer, he got on the phone
to Eon, I don't know how manytimes, to challenge bills, and
(05:00):
he'd never get a straightanswer, and you always get
bounced around from this personto that person to this person.
Yeah, and then eventually, umI'm not a hundred percent sure
what the actual catalyst was, Ithink it was another big bill
that just made no sense.
Um, and so this would have beenabout oh, probably about last
(05:23):
August of last year.
Stan called me and he said, I'vegot this recent bill.
He said, It just makes no senseto me at all.
He said, Can you come and have alook and see if you can make
heads and tails of any of this?
He said, Because I've gonethrough, and according to my
reckoning, and based on history,we've overpaid by about four and
(05:46):
a half thousand pounds.
He said, Can you come and see ifyou can figure this lot out?
So I said, Well, I can't imaginethat I'm any smarter than you
stand, but I'll give it a crack.
So off I went, and I was lookingat this.
He'd printed it all out offtheir website, pages of it.
And you would get a bill, thenyou'd get a credit, but then
(06:10):
you'd get um um a refund, andwhat I realized was when they
issued a refund, they call it achargeback or something.
SPEAKER_02 (06:20):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (06:21):
It wasn't a refund,
they charged us again.
I was like, hang on a minute,there is something very wrong
with their accounting system,but there was so much of it we
couldn't make head nor tail ofit.
Well, then I found a point, Ithink back in February of last
year, where it actually zeroedout.
SPEAKER_02 (06:41):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
I said, right, let's
go from here and see if we can,
we've got a zero balance here.
So let's see if from this we canfigure it out.
And sure enough, um what youcould see was happening was
they'd charge us, we'd pay thebill, they'd give us an
(07:06):
arbitrary refund, which wasclassified as a refund, but it
wasn't a refund, it was anothercharge.
So like there is something verywrong with their accounting
system.
So, of course, we get on thephone, we get bounced around.
So eventually, I um this younglady said, Um, send us an email
(07:27):
and we'll set up a formalcomplaints meeting.
Yeah, so that's what we did, andevery time we made her Stan and
I were both on these calls.
So we talked to this young ladyand we went through everything,
and uh, we said, we've got itall printed out from your
website, and she said, Well, I'mnot seeing any of that.
(07:50):
So, well, it all came from yourwebsite.
Oh, oh, well, um, I'm not surewhat we can do about this, and
uh, we said, Well, we need toget it investigated, and she
said, Well, let me hold on, I'lllet me go and talk to somebody.
So she comes back and she says,We can't open an investigation
(08:14):
because you're not in debt.
We said, What?
What do you what what what isthat supposed to mean?
She said, Well, you're not indebt to us, you've paid your
bills, so we can't open aninvestigation.
And we said, Yeah, but you're indebt to us, according to our
records, according to ourcalculations, you owe us.
(08:35):
And she said, Oh no, no, thatthat won't prompt uh an
investigation.
She said, I'm gonna go and haveto talk to somebody else.
Um, we'll we'll set up anothercall.
So we did that.
A few days later, we have yetanother call.
Still got the same kind ofgoggly goop, um, but bless her,
you could tell she was way outof her depth.
(08:58):
I mean, I felt sorry for heractually.
Um, and she said, Well, well,what we can do is um we can give
you£150 credit on your account.
SPEAKER_04 (09:07):
Oh, very kind.
SPEAKER_00 (09:08):
And Stan and I
looked at each other and we're
like, Yeah, right.
No, not happening.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,no.
Not happening.
And she said, Well, I don't knowwhat else to say.
There's nothing else uh we cando because I'm not seeing it,
and because you're not in debt,we can't open an investigation.
(09:28):
She said, I think what we needto do is close this, and um,
we'll send you a letter of umnon-reconciliation or whatever
the official title for it is,and then you can write to the
ombudsman.
So we said, fine, okay, we'llwrite to the ombudsman.
And she said, I'll send you thatletter this afternoon.
(09:51):
And uh we said, will you send itby email, please, to both Stan
and to me?
Yeah, and she said, Yes, I'llhave that out to you this
afternoon.
Fine, no such letter arrived.
I think a week went by, no suchletter arrived.
So back onto the email I get,and I said, We're waiting for
(10:12):
this letter.
Um, or we need to have anotherconversation.
Well, we just went ahead andwrote the letter and sent it to
the ombudsman.
SPEAKER_03 (10:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:22):
And to our surprise,
we got a very nice letter back
from the ombudsman saying, Wecan't help you.
SPEAKER_02 (10:29):
Oh, that's right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:31):
Well, like, what is
the point of the ombudsman then?
They said, We can't help you.
You need to take this up withyour provider and reconcile it
with your provider.
We said, Well, we can't.
SPEAKER_04 (10:45):
That's the very
point of existence, isn't it?
Really?
unknown (10:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:48):
So and bear in mind,
you know, this is going over
weeks.
Um, so back on the the phone weget, and we said we need another
conversation.
And the thing is, every time Isend an email, you seem to get
somebody different responding toit.
You never got the same personbecause Amber only worked
Tuesdays and Thursdays, Tuesdaysthrough Thursdays, or Greg was
(11:10):
on holiday, or whatever.
Um, so we we eventually get onanother call with, I believe it
was Amber again.
And uh we said, look, I had aletter from the Ombudsman saying
we they can't help us.
Um we've got to get thisresolved.
(11:31):
And she said, Well, um, I'mafraid this is out of my league.
Um, I'm gonna have to go andtalk to somebody, we'll we'll be
in touch.
Yeah, that was that phone call.
So then, about a week before Iwas due to go on holiday to the
Isle of Wight, I get a letter,an email from somebody saying,
(11:54):
uh, please complete the attachedVAT form.
All right.
Um, so that we can continue withyour uh claim.
Well, VAT form?
What?
So I wrote back and I said, Thishas got nothing to do with VAT,
this has got to do withoverpayment based on all of
(12:18):
these ridiculous credits anddebits.
So um anyway, I get anotheremail back saying, we cannot
proceed if you don't fill outthis form.
So I opened up the form and Ilooked it and I thought, oh,
this is a piece of cake, and itwasn't a big deal, it took me
five minutes.
Yeah, had to get Stan to sign itbecause he's the official
(12:40):
treasurer, signed it, sent itin, sent it in on the Wednesday,
um, and what it basically waswas a VAT form to apply for a
lower VAT rate.
We were paying 20%, right?
Okay, because we'd been led tobelieve that we weren't eligible
for the 5%, so we'd been paying20%, and somewhere on that form
(13:06):
it said, How long have you beenpaying this rate?
But it could only go back fouryears.
So I put September the 24th,2020, and uh submitted this on
the Wednesday.
Thursday, I drove down to BexHill, my cousins, Friday.
We drove to the Isle of Wight,just settled down in our
(13:28):
cottage, an email comes through.
Uh, we received your uminformation.
Uh we are refunding£8,600 toyour account.
I mean, we're on a podcast, butI said to my cousin, I said,
holy moly! I said, What theheck?
I said, I've got to call Stan.
(13:49):
So I got on the phone to Stanand I said, Stan, are you
sitting down?
And he said, Yeah, why?
And I said, You know that VATform?
Yeah.
I said I read out the email tohim.
He said, What?
So to this day, we're not ahundred percent sure how they
calculated it all, but they putthe refund under the guise of a
(14:13):
VAT refund.
SPEAKER_04 (14:15):
Ah, right, right.
But that's that's I mean, it'sodd.
It's like they're kind of sothey're kind of using the VAT
thing as a little bit of anexcuse for for the refund or for
or for the information mistake,really.
SPEAKER_00 (14:27):
I think it was a
combination.
SPEAKER_04 (14:29):
Right, right.
Yeah, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00 (14:31):
I think it was a
combination.
SPEAKER_04 (14:33):
Blame somebody else.
SPEAKER_00 (14:36):
Yeah, and I uh yeah.
Um since then, they have put anew meter in.
We agreed to go with a smartmeter, um, because they said
we'll give you£150 credit ifyou'll go for a smart meter.
And we said, Can you guaranteethat with a smart meter we're
(14:56):
not gonna have all of theseproblems?
Because that was the other issueStan was having.
He would go in every month andread the meter and send the
readings in, and they keptsaying those readings aren't
valid.
Yeah, and he'd take photographsof them and say, This is the
reading.
What do you mean they're notvalid?
It's what your meter is tellingme, yeah, yeah.
(15:20):
So um yeah, just just ridiculousstuff, but anyway, um, we got
the smart meter put in, and theypromised us this would resolve
all issues, there'd be nofurther problems, and it had
probably been in a what was it,January, February of this year.
We got another big bill forabout I think it's about a
(15:42):
thousand pounds, right?
SPEAKER_02 (15:43):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (15:43):
Um, and Stan got on
the phone and challenged it, and
he said, Are we going down thisroad again?
Yeah, and they said no, it wasbecause of the the problems with
the old meter.
This has just balancedeverything out.
Um, and I must admit, when we wewent back and did the numbers,
(16:06):
it did it did balance out, andwe said, Fair enough, okay.
And since then, touch wood, ourbills have been on average£14
each time.
SPEAKER_04 (16:20):
£14, that's very
good.
That's very very, very good.
SPEAKER_00 (16:24):
So our solar panels
are definitely doing their job.
SPEAKER_04 (16:28):
Yeah, I think I
assume you've had a good summer
then if you if it's£14 for amonth.
SPEAKER_00 (16:33):
Yes, so um, but I
think the point of all of this
is um as Stan and I said,they've taken on the wrong two
people here.
SPEAKER_02 (16:45):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (16:45):
Um, I used to run a
major not-for-profit in the
United States with a budget ofsix million dollars, and Stan
was um chief magistrate.
SPEAKER_02 (16:59):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (17:00):
So the two of us
between us have a few brain
cells to put together.
Um, but to be honest, thiswasn't rocket science.
This really wasn't rocketscience.
All you needed was a calculatorand no even that, you just
needed to know how to add andsubtract, yeah.
And just go through and work itall out, which is what we did.
SPEAKER_04 (17:20):
It's amazing that
Eon didn't have that uh function
to add and subtract andcalculate numbers to work out
what you actually owed.
SPEAKER_00 (17:28):
Well, it would seem
that way.
Um it we just could not makehead nor tail of how their
accounting system wasfunctioning.
SPEAKER_03 (17:35):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:36):
Um, I just don't get
it.
So um, but the tragedy is Iparticipated on a call, um, I it
was uh it was a call that uhCommunity Action Network put
together to talk about energysaving opportunities for village
halls.
(17:56):
And this whole issue ofridiculous bills from energy
companies came up.
And there was probably about sixof us on the call, and I would
say at least three of them saidwhen they got to the end of
their contract, because ofissues they were having, they
were just gonna changecompanies.
Yeah, that doesn't fix theproblem, and those village halls
(18:18):
are out of money.
Yeah, it's you know, our pointis no, you're not gonna get away
with this.
We're gonna get an answer tothis and we're gonna get it
resolved.
SPEAKER_04 (18:28):
Yeah, that is it.
I think really important to notethere is that it doesn't matter
how big the company is, that ifyou feel that your energy bills
or any any bill is wrong, is tochallenge it.
And especially yours, your onein particular, your store in
particular, it was it was such ahuge number, it's not just like
£10 a month, it's a massive sum.
(18:49):
And the way they were doing theback and forth of you know, like
a like a chargeback type ofthing was a charge.
Like you you cannot let thesethings slip.
Because how long has it beengoing on for?
Is it been you know before 2020?
SPEAKER_00 (19:02):
Don't know.
As I say, we were oh I thinkbefore the fire, it was we'd get
a bill, we'd pay it, and you'dsee zero bill, pay it, zero.
SPEAKER_03 (19:13):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (19:14):
But that wasn't
happening, that was the problem,
it wasn't happening.
SPEAKER_04 (19:18):
But so um I think
it's that's far too logical.
SPEAKER_00 (19:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Far too logical.
But as I say, I think the thething is you you've got to um
take them on, you know, in a ina professional way, but you've
got to get, I mean, Stan tookthe time to print everything out
off their website, so theycouldn't say we'd made the
(19:43):
numbers up because we printed itoff their website.
SPEAKER_04 (19:47):
Exactly, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (19:48):
Yeah, and then we
just sat and went through, and
it took a long time, it did takequite a bit of time to go
through and just work outexactly what we thought they
owed us, which, as I say, wasabout£4,250, which when we
looked at what we believed ouraverage billing should be, and
(20:12):
taking into account the fact wewent through a period of time
where electric bills werethrough the roof, yeah, um,
electricity went sky high,didn't it, for a period?
We took all that intoconsideration, and we said we
still feel that they owe us inthe region of four four thousand
pounds.
SPEAKER_04 (20:31):
Yeah, yeah.
And what I think what wasinteresting as well about our
initial call was when you saidthat the VAT, you know, going
from 20% to 5%.
And I I know all of ourlisteners were like, How did you
do that?
And why were you on the wrongVAT rate in the first place?
SPEAKER_00 (20:46):
Well, that's a good
question.
We had been told that we weren'teligible.
Um, do you know I was nevergiven that answer originally,
but when I looked into it, um,it was on that call, it was on
that same call.
Um, we were told that we weren'teligible.
(21:07):
Um for some reason.
Anyway, when I went onto thegovernment website, because this
whole issue came up again whenum, and this is why I'm I really
very pleased with AlliedWestminster.
Um they prompted us that a niceplug, yeah, but they they
(21:27):
reminded us that our buildinghad not been valued for three
years for in the event of ithaving um to be destroyed and
rebuilt.
Yeah, you know, if we hadanother fire or who knows, um,
and that uh they wanted to makesure that we were paying the
(21:47):
correct premium.
Well, when I filled out thepaperwork for that, it said, Are
you VAT exempt?
And I thought, oh, well, no, Idon't believe we are because
whenever we purchase anything,like if we purchase um new
(22:08):
equipment for the play area,yeah, we have to pay full that
on it.
So um I went online to thegovernment website, and it said
village halls are typically atthe 5% rate unless you have one
of the following criteria, oneof which was a playing field.
(22:28):
Well, we're called the villagePotterheim Village Hall and
Playing Field.
I thought, well, how does thatwork?
Why what what difference doesthat make?
So got onto the phone with um tothe VAT office, and although
they were reluctant to give me ayes-no answer, they directed me
(22:49):
to section 407, blah blah blah,and the government documents,
and they said that will explainit all to you, and you should
find that you are VAT exempt.
So I read through it as much asI could, and I thought there's
no clear yes or no here, but I'mgonna say, yeah, we're VAT
exempt.
SPEAKER_04 (23:10):
So excellent.
So I suppose that that is asilver lining, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:14):
It's a silver lining
to all of this, yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (23:17):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:18):
So now we are if the
that has reduced our insurance
premium quite significantly,because the rebuild would be VAT
exempt.
Um and um we're now paying only5% on our electric, which has
made a big difference.
So, yes, there is a very goodsilver lining to this whole
(23:40):
thing because it's made me veryconscious, or us, should I say,
very conscious of the whole VATsituation.
And you you've got to look intoit and you've got to you know
make sure that you're gettingwhat you can.
SPEAKER_04 (23:54):
Definitely.
SPEAKER_00 (23:55):
Because we're all
small organizations, we all do
fundraising, so yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (24:04):
But on the plus
side, if everyone listens to
this, it's like, right, webetter question you shouldn't
always question stuff unlessit's unless it's very obviously
true.
You should always question uhbills, because I I think I don't
on a rational phone call.
I I believe in digital, I itshouldn't be wrong, but it it
goes to show that it it can bevery, very wrong.
(24:25):
If you you know one wrong bit ofcode and it can be very, very
wrong.
And other people, especiallyvillage halls that do so much
with so little, it m it matters.
It matters.
Even if it was only£100 a yearextra, it that money matters.
SPEAKER_00 (24:39):
It does.
You're absolutely right, becausea lot of people put in a lot of
effort to raise funds to keepour hall looking nice and
running well.
SPEAKER_03 (24:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (24:51):
And you know, the
more we're doing, the more we're
able to do.
And the the terrific thing aboutgetting that refund is we were
able to do some capital projectsthat we'd had to put off.
Um, one of which was fixing theroof on the annex.
SPEAKER_02 (25:08):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (25:08):
We call it the
annex.
We've got the main hall, andthen there's a another room
running off it, and we call itthe annex, and the roof needed
fixing because we had a coupleof leaks.
SPEAKER_02 (25:17):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (25:18):
And we had this
wonderful shed that um very
solid framework structure, butthe roof was shot, and it was at
the point where one of thesedays I thought if I walk in,
that roof's gonna fall in on mebecause it was that bad.
SPEAKER_02 (25:34):
Oh, right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (25:35):
Um, but because we
got that refund, we were able
this spring to get the shedfixed and to get the roof fixed,
and that in itself has justleveraged so much because now
we've got more storage space, wecan we've got room for a marquee
(25:57):
that we bought that now we canuse for events, people have
donated marquees or gazebosbecause now we've got somewhere
to put them.
Um it's just made a hugedifference, just being able to
do some of the things we needneeded to get back.
SPEAKER_04 (26:13):
Absolutely, yeah.
Well, I've got one one finalquestion.
Did you ever go because I woulddo this, did you ever go back to
the ombudsman and say, look,this like this is what you
should have done in the firstplace, but you didn't.
And this is like we were we weretelling the truth.
This was wrong.
Why did you not fix or help usfix this?
SPEAKER_00 (26:33):
I must admit I
didn't, but I think the reason
is because Eon didn't submitthat official letter of
inability to come to aresolution.
SPEAKER_04 (26:46):
Right, like a steel
meat type of um declaration.
SPEAKER_00 (26:49):
Yeah, basically the
company has to acknowledge that
that you and they cannot come toa resolution to fix the problem.
But that again shouldn't be thecase.
You should not have to wait forthe company to agree that the
matter can't be resolved.
Because if they don't issue thatletter, you can't get the
(27:12):
ombudsman to help you.
SPEAKER_04 (27:13):
Yeah, extremely I
definitely would if if we took a
lesson from what you've done,that that you know it could help
other people as well.
Because that that's that kind ofdeclaration of steel meat, it
only happens if the companymeant, yeah, we can't deal with
this, but they were refusingbecause they were saying what
you were in debt, or we wouldinduct you rather than you do,
(27:35):
which is ridiculous.
Of course, imagine the company'slike if we owe you money, it
doesn't work like that.
It's only if you want money wecan deal with it.
Ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00 (27:44):
What oh yeah, Sam
and I looked at each other at
that one and said, What?
Did we just lower?
SPEAKER_04 (27:54):
Well also well thank
you very very much for joining
me on the call, Sheridan.
It's been i I'm I'm so glad youcame on because I think it's uh
a vital story that everyoneneeds to hear.
Uh it doesn't report well forEon, but I think for other
village halls in the country, ifeven when you're just in your
house, if you think you're beingbilled wrong, please, please
fight fight it.
(28:15):
It will take time as it did withyourselves.
But it's uh if as long as you doit professionally, and don't
don't try not to get angry, youcan you can deal with these
issues amicably.
SPEAKER_00 (28:24):
Yeah, do it
professionally, with respect,
and have the data.
Oh, yeah, that's that's that'sthe key thing, and that's that's
what we had.
We had the data in front of us,it was not guesswork, it was not
um assumption.
We had black and white data, andI think you said it the very
(28:44):
important part.
Be professional, you don't needto get angry, because that
doesn't get you anywhere.
SPEAKER_04 (28:49):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, excellent.
Well, thank you very much againfor joining me, Sheridan.
It'd be a real pleasure.
SPEAKER_00 (28:53):
It's been a
privilege to talk to you.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_04 (28:57):
Thank you very much.
Many thanks to our headlinesponsor and specialist Village
Hall Insurance provider, AlliedWestminster, the home of
VillageGuard, for making thispodcast possible.
And to online booking systemprovider Hallmaster, who also
sponsor our podcast.
And can be found athallmaster.co.com.
You'll be listening to theVillage Hall Podcast.
(29:28):
We'll be backing up with anotherepisode.
For more information, pleasevisit the village halls
podcast.com or you'll also findthe colour.