This Irish family is STILL without utilities 13 days later and with an 8 year old kid at home. Unbelievable, unfair, and illegal according to EU law - reposting this status update from the FB group Class Action Against ARMS LTD. Here is their story: We are a family of 5 who used to come on summer holidays over from Ireland in the early 90s and late 00s. The whole family used to look forward to our annual summer holiday here so much that in 2007 my father decided to invest his hard earned savings into a second property here in Malta. Soon after 4 members our family made a life changing decision and decided to relocate to Malta full time in hope of a nicer, more relaxed Mediterranean lifestyle. This relaxed lifestyle did not last for long however when we started receiving our water and electricity bills from ARMS. The bills were so astronomically high, that we were sure there was a mistake with the water and electricity readings. However anytime that we contacted ARMS to try discuss the high bills we were told that the bills were this high because we were not classed as Maltese residents. Now at this time, a foreigner would not even be considered to receive a Maltese residency permit until after residing here for 5 whole years. So until then, we were basically told that it was hard luck and that we would have to pay the higher commercial rates for the foreseeable future. The fact that we were from Ireland which is also part of the European Union, we were well aware that that this would be considered as discrimination, unfair and unjust so why was it not here? .We found it so unbelievable that there was a 2 tier system in place and the fact that they were so easily getting away with this. We were after all working full time jobs and paying the same tax as any other Maltese resident, yet being penalized at the same time for not being a Maltese resident........it was all a bit confusing as you can imagine! There was so much red tape in place to deter us from actually getting on the fair rates that we eventually succumbed to the fact that we would pay these bills and try save as much on as electricity as possible. We replaced all of our bulbs to energy savers; we ensured that the immersion heater was switched on for only one hour a day and lots of other things like this to try reduce our usage. Looking back over these first few years, we did sometimes question ourselves on whether we tried hard enough to communicate with ARMS, to make them see that the rates they were charging us were so unfair and ridiculously high. However this year when it all began to get too much to afford and when our family really began to struggle financially to pay these extortionate bills, we once again got back in contact with them to try negotiate. This more recent experience with them has indeed proven to us that the fault lies solely on their footstep! Maybe they really do think that foreigners should spend their general day to day existence making several irate phone calls to their company where they can then taunt and laugh at us? It certainly has sometimes felt like it! Things did start to look a little brighter for us this year when we discovered an action group called ‘Up in Arms’ had been setup on Facebook by a Scottish woman and fellow Celt, Patricia Graham. I cannot say enough about how extraordinary this woman really is and how she has gone out of her way to help my family and many others take action against this unfair organisation. She really stepped in for us this year when on St Patricks Day my family (including an 8 year old minor) returned home to find that ARMS had decided to cut our electricity supply .A day for our family which is supposed to be a huge celebration of our Irish history and culture was quickly transformed into another grim day where we would have to forget the celebrations and prepare for another battle ......a battle where it feels like you are hitting your head off a brick wall. Patricia managed to negotiate with them and they eventually turned our electricity back on. They had also recently changed their paperwork and were now allowing anyone with a Maltese ID card to apply for the cheaper domestic rates. Obviously once we were aware of this we immediately sent in our application to them and after them rejecting our application on two occasions (due to their own incompetency) we have only recently been switched to the cheaper tariff. We have since paid our bills on the cheaper rate which have been a lot more manageable and affordable. However, this “gesture”from the company has not come without a hefty price tag! They now state that we are approximately €3500 in arrears from the last 7 years or so. Since these arrears are currently in dispute for the last 6 month we have carried on paying our current bills. However yet again the lack of communication and total incompetency of the company has led them to cut off the electricity and water supply on Friday 5th September. When we spoke to them on the phone on Friday (while we were at work not at home), they demanded 30% of the bill be paid before we are switched back on. As I write this letter on Thursday 11th September, we are still living without the basic services the normal human being would expect to have in a developed country. Yet again this has been done while there is a minor living in the property. They have also managed to ruin over a €100 worth of frozen and refrigerated food which was purchased just the day before they cut us off. This treatment of cutting us off on St Patricks Day and then again over a Maltese Bank holiday weekend when nobody in their company is contactable feels like bullying tactics and a personal attack on our family. We have began to file for legal proceedings with the hope that ARMS in fact compensates us for being forced to pay €8,466.87 when we should have only paid €5,692.63. They can also add more compensation for the distress and damage caused. Our calculations and readings from our bills have been calculated by a fully qualified accountant who is working on behalf of the ‘Up In ARMS’ action group. They have not acknowledged any contact that we made with them yesterday. We hope that our story is heard and that the Maltese nations stand behind us in our continuous battle with them, and help prove that sometimes the little guy can win! P.S Here is a link to another brief article about this situation: maltatoday.mt/news/national/43333/arms_class_action_group_exasperated_over_billing_companys_handling_of_bills
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 12:02:37 +0000