Tired of dealing with companies to get documents I need

Hi all,

I guess a little background. My husband moved to the U.S. on a K-1 visa in May 2015 (he is a U.K. citizen by birth). We were married, lived there for 2.5 years. We then moved to the U.K.. So far we have done  K-1, I-485 in the U.S., and the spousal visa in the U.K. I have been here since December 2017. Not too many complaints - I have adjusted fine thus far!

What am I about to rant about is exactly that - just a rant, I need to vent. I have now spent two weeks digging through dozens of documents for my first FLR(M) and I am at my wit's end. COVID-19 anxieties, job anxieties, my mother in the States still working daily with people, having an impending visa renewal, and I think I've just had enough.

Twice today I have tried to deal with Virgin Media and EDF Energy to try to sort out getting changes made so we don't have correspondence issues for my ILR in 2022. I want to have it done with - I am missing one month of documentation for this first FLR(M) and I think it's driven me absolutely batty. I am so stressed we will be denied over something so inconsequential (I realise it has a purpose, it is just frustrating to me). We need January 2019 for my husband, I only have a joint bill in late February 2019!

So, onto the core of the rant.

Virgin Media - Sat on chat for three hours the other day to be told they can add my husband's name to my bill. Got transferred twice. Finally gave up. Tried again today to be told in absolutely no way, shape, or form can we add him to the account or the bill. I told them yes, I understand, I am the account holder, I am not asking for him to be responsible, just put his name on the bill. Nope - can't do it. So there's one down. I explained why I needed it, no dice. Alright then, onwards...

EDF - We changed our tariff last fall when it was time for renewal, to find out now (too late) that it's an ONLINE ONLY tariff, and that means we NEVER get posted bills. Absolutely not acceptable, as it's in my husband's name and he already has so little paperwork I can use. I reached out to EDF to ask a very basic question that any customer could have asked them (does x tariff allow for paper statements), to be told I can't even ask a basic question to them about their services because I am not the account holder.  Seriously? So if I want to become a customer I guess I have to withhold any and all questions until I am the listed customer too. Yes, I get it, lesson learnt, it should have sparked something when we never got a bill after renewing.

Lloyd's - One complaint I've had with our bank is their incessant need to opt us into paperless statements with misleading popups when we log in that we have to agree to in order to continue. We basically have to go in each month now and verify they haven't changed it on us. If we had been doing that earlier, we'd have had a January 2019 statement posted to us. Instead it's spotty through the 2 years.

It's amazing to me that a water bill arrives only once a year! In the States it was always monthly (at least where I lived). The government wants to push all this paperless billing and saving of the environment (which I'd love to do, but can't until citizenship), then requires us to provide originals for visas. These companies provide sometimes only 1 year or 6 month statements, how am I supposed to cover 2.5 years 'spread evenly' from official sources that way?! I don't WANT to use NHS letters because that means we are having health issues! Thankfully he has only one or two, that's a GOOD thing!

All the while having to fight these companies to get them to just send us a piece of paper in the mail. I'll pay for it! Virgin already charges us £5 a month and I'm fine with that - I get my statements every month. The visa process seriously needs an update to be able to use online statements. Companies are forever opting us in to paperless billing, or burying it in their T&C's. I am forced into possibly a higher tariff just to get a paper statement. I'd rather be charged monthly a small fee for paper statements than pay an extra £15-£30 monthly on a higher tariff or have my husband sign up for a useless SIM contract.

/end rant

Sorry for all that - I vented. I think I finally broke- and my husband is sick of hearing me complain about it  I knew at least some of you might feel my pain! I cannot wait until citizenship, and then no more hoarding paperwork.

Rant away - I know it can be really frustrating.

Honestly, though, it’s probably not a good idea to be trying to sort things out right now, given the current situation and the fact that customer services are limited.

Save any mail you can now, and then contact the companies in a few months’ time when things are better, and they are actually able to help properly.

However, DO use the NHS letters and do NOT worry about health problems.

Having health problems is completely irrelevant to the visa and they cannot consider that when making a decision... plus you are entitled to ‘free’ NHS healthcare anyway. All they care about is the name, date and address on the letters. They don’t care about the content.

In regards to your documents for the FLR(M) - if you really don’t have anything for Jan 2019, just use the Feb 2019 one and write a letter explaining why you were unable to provide one for January. That’s what they ask you to do if you are not able to provide all the documents.


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Twice today I have tried to deal with Virgin Media and EDF Energy to try to sort out getting changes made so we don't have correspondence issues for my ILR in 2022. I want to have it done with - I am missing one month of documentation for this first FLR(M) and I think it's driven me absolutely batty. I am so stressed we will be denied over something so inconsequential (I realise it has a purpose, it is just frustrating to me). We need January 2019 for my husband, I only have a joint bill in late February 2019!

So, onto the core of the rant.

Virgin Media - Sat on chat for three hours the other day to be told they can add my husband's name to my bill. Got transferred twice. Finally gave up. Tried again today to be told in absolutely no way, shape, or form can we add him to the account or the bill. I told them yes, I understand, I am the account holder, I am not asking for him to be responsible, just put his name on the bill. Nope - can't do it. So there's one down. I explained why I needed it, no dice. Alright then, onwards...

EDF - We changed our tariff last fall when it was time for renewal, to find out now (too late) that it's an ONLINE ONLY tariff, and that means we NEVER get posted bills. Absolutely not acceptable, as it's in my husband's name and he already has so little paperwork I can use. I reached out to EDF to ask a very basic question that any customer could have asked them (does x tariff allow for paper statements), to be told I can't even ask a basic question to them about their services because I am not the account holder.  Seriously? So if I want to become a customer I guess I have to withhold any and all questions until I am the listed customer too. Yes, I get it, lesson learnt, it should have sparked something when we never got a bill after renewing.

Lloyd's - One complaint I've had with our bank is their incessant need to opt us into paperless statements with misleading popups when we log in that we have to agree to in order to continue. We basically have to go in each month now and verify they haven't changed it on us. If we had been doing that earlier, we'd have had a January 2019 statement posted to us. Instead it's spotty through the 2 years.

It's amazing to me that a water bill arrives only once a year! In the States it was always monthly (at least where I lived). The government wants to push all this paperless billing and saving of the environment (which I'd love to do, but can't until citizenship), then requires us to provide originals for visas. These companies provide sometimes only 1 year or 6 month statements, how am I supposed to cover 2.5 years 'spread evenly' from official sources that way?! I don't WANT to use NHS letters because that means we are having health issues! Thankfully he has only one or two, that's a GOOD thing!

All the while having to fight these companies to get them to just send us a piece of paper in the mail. I'll pay for it! Virgin already charges us £5 a month and I'm fine with that - I get my statements every month. The visa process seriously needs an update to be able to use online statements. Companies are forever opting us in to paperless billing, or burying it in their T&C's. I am forced into possibly a higher tariff just to get a paper statement. I'd rather be charged monthly a small fee for paper statements than pay an extra £15-£30 monthly on a higher tariff or have my husband sign up for a useless SIM contract.

/end rant

Sorry for all that - I vented. I think I finally broke- and my husband is sick of hearing me complain about it  I knew at least some of you might feel my pain! I cannot wait until citizenship, and then no more hoarding paperwork.

Yes, we completely understand.

As Ksand said, you will be fine, please try not to worry.

A few key things to remember going forward... you only need 3 sources so your annual water bill and one other bill or letter are really all you need as long as you have something coming in monthly to fill in the gaps. A joint bank statement is ideal for that. I understand the issue you have had there, but remember, there are other banks.. lots of them. Just check first to make sure monthly paper statements will not be a problem. You don't even need to close your existing account if you want to keep it too.

NHS- Completely agree with Ksand. These are an excellent source. Use them!

EDF. We were with them for the whole 5 years, paid more to have the paper billing facility which was really annoying. On the plus side though, every time I read the meters, it generated a bill so I read the meters monthly and received a bill every time.  It was a fabulous feeling switching away from them after ILR.
You should be able to see the answer to your EDF question by signing in to your online account.

If/when you decide to switch, there are several comparison websites you can use to help you choose.
https://www.comparethemarket.com
https://www.uswitch.com
https://www.moneysupermarket.com

Virgin Media. I have absolutely nothing good to say about them.

Thanks to you both for the replies. I had to take some deep breaths after dealing with all that.

Once my husband was free, I was able to sort some things out with him - we are going to do full debit monthly on EDF so that we get a bill each month on our existing tariff. I would prefer this anyway, as when we move houses we'd be in arrears and owe a big whack at once. Much more used to the 'pay what you use' setup. We will get hit with a larger bill for switching our payment method, but c'est la vie. It would be owed eventually!

Also he was able to sign up for an EE mobile contract (no phone, just SIM) for only £5 more than we already pay which will allow it to be billed by post to the house each month. I am much more comfortable now. I have setup a spreadsheet with each month from June 2020 - December 2022 when I would apply for ILR and have made sure we have something coming in each month in our name - joint or otherwise!

I will send what I can for January 2019 (will send the joint water bill from Feb 2019) and still write a letter explaining the lack of January date. We just simply don't get enough monthly bills. Sorted that now going forward though