SHOCKED housing association tenants received unexpected bills saying their rents were going up by more than £100 a month due to a billing error.
The issue was caused by Warrington Housing Association’s online payment service issuing an automated letter in error.
One concerned tenant who contacted Warrington-Worldwide said: “A bill was unexpectedly posted through my door telling me my direct debit will be raised by £112 a month from next month which was a bit concerning!
“I understand everyone on direct debits had similar issues and it has caused quite a lot of concern.”
Lorri Holding, Head of Customer Services at Warrington Housing Association, said: “Following an issue with the online payment service we use, an automated letter was sent in error to some of our tenants.
“As soon as we were made aware of this the matter was rectified. Currently, no tenant has been overcharged but we are contacting all those identified to offer reassurance and explain the system error.
“If any of our tenants have any concerns that can contact the customer services team.”
The error was caused by the company that runs the online payment system sending out a letter in error, so as a precaution WHA sent letters to every customer on a direct debit as this was the section of customers that could have potentially been affected.
Follow-up calls will continue until WHA is happy customers are not worried about this.
