British Gas

Options
CountsThePennies
CountsThePennies Posts: 2 Newbie
in Energy
Hi I am currently paying £138 per month for gas and electricity from British Gas,i received a bill from them on November 2016,saying i was in debit for £1100. I was shocked as i was paying this direct debit, but when i called the operator said i had changed to paying yearly.

I did not make that change to my account, and now i am paying £138 per month to try and get this bill down.

The question i am asking is am i able to take this further too see as i feel British Gas should have at the very least sent me a letter saying my direct debits had stopped and i was now paying yearly instead.
«1

Comments

  • trickytree1963
    trickytree1963 Posts: 255 Forumite
    Options
    Have you submitted meter readings so the bill is accurate?

    Did you not notice you had a lot more cash in your bank if you had stopped paying £x per month by DD?
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,038 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Rampant Recycler
    Options
    I don't understand what you mean by 'paying yearly' with BG.

    Did one(or more) of your Direct Debits(prior to November 2016) fail to get paid by the bank? If so your DD payment scheme can be cancelled and you should pay quarterly. Do you have copies of your bills?
  • dogshome
    dogshome Posts: 3,878 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Options
    Problem with phoning a suppliers Customer Service Desk is that you don't know how experienced that member of staff is in the job.

    Stand to be corrected, but I know of no supplier who offers an 'Annual Bill' service. It just doesn't make sense - Would you pay your supplier steadily throughout the year, and then only bill your customer after 12 months.

    Direct Debit stops are common, but the bank will say it's the supplier who just stopped asking for the money, and the supplier will say the bank didn't respond their requests.

    If you are sure there was always enough money in the account to meet the D/Debit amount, ask the bank to verify in writing that they did not recieve payment requests from BG
    Armed with this you should be able to negotiate a stage-payment plan to pay off the debt
  • datlex
    datlex Posts: 2,239 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Options
    CountsThePennies wrote: »
    Hi I am currently paying £138 per month for gas and electricity from British Gas,i received a bill from them on November 2016,saying i was in debit for £1100. I was shocked as i was paying this direct debit, but when i called the operator said i had changed to paying yearly.

    I did not make that change to my account, and now i am paying £138 per month to try and get this bill down.

    The question i am asking is am i able to take this further too see as i feel British Gas should have at the very least sent me a letter saying my direct debits had stopped and i was now paying yearly instead.
    Do you not check your bank accounts to see if a DD has come out for these or indeed any other DDs.

    I am with BG and I have to submit monthly readings as a requirement of the tariff. They then generate a monthly bill and I have a fixed monthly DD. When I submit the reading it tells me my estimated balance. Every now and again I have an adjustment on the DD depending on my usage. Currently the last payment has gone down. I have put in a couple of timer switches and spend less time here.

    I did have a month where the DD had not been collected. So I rang them, at first the person tried to say it had been collected. However once I asked if the call was recorded and that therefore since he was telling me that the payment had been made that they could not then later claim it was not he then decided to look in their back ground system, which confirmed what I said. He was then able to reprocess the payment. I actually got £20 credit off them for the fact the late processing of the DD meant I did not meet the requirements for the reward fee on the bank account (I only asked for the reward amount).
    Paid off the last of my unsecured debts in 2016. Then saved up and bought a property. Current aim is to pay off my mortgage as early as possible. Currently over paying every month. Mortgage due to be paid off in 2036 hoping to get it paid off much earlier. Set up my own bespoke spreadsheet to manage my money.
  • footyguy
    footyguy Posts: 4,157 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Options
    CountsThePennies wrote: »
    Hi I am currently paying £138 per month for gas and electricity from British Gas,i received a bill from them on November 2016,saying i was in debit for £1100. I was shocked as i was paying this direct debit, but when i called the operator said i had changed to paying yearly.

    I did not make that change to my account, and now i am paying £138 per month to try and get this bill down.

    The question i am asking is am i able to take this further too see as i feel British Gas should have at the very least sent me a letter saying my direct debits had stopped and i was now paying yearly instead.

    I too have no idea what you mean by "i had changed to paying yearly." :huh:

    Have you been supplying regualr meter readings, and more importantly is the bill based on correct meter readings?

    It's not really clear what you have been paying since November :huh:

    Assuming you have been paying £138 pm (£1656 pa) and are already £1100 in debit (based on correct meter readings), then you do seem to be using an awful lot of energy, far more than you originally agreed so consult a compariuson site to ensure you are on the best deal for your increased consumption.

    Even if you have not paid a penny, to have used £1100 worth of energy since Novemeber is still a lot, and I fear that you now paying only £138 pm will not be enough to cover the debit you have already accrued.

    I suppose a request to see a legible image of your latest bill/satement detailing your position is not going to happen is it? So best I suggest is you take all your paperwork along to the CAB to get this sorted out.

    Good luck!
  • Hammer_Time
    Hammer_Time Posts: 447 Forumite
    First Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    edited 31 July 2017 at 12:36PM
    Options
    Why did I transfer to BG, so far they can't set-up my d/d on the account, but it's showing on my bank account. BEWARE!!!
  • MeterMan
    MeterMan Posts: 433 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    Options
    Hammer_Time wrote: »
    Why did I transfer to BG, so far they can't set-up my d/d on the account, but it's showing on my bank account. BEWARE!!!

    Beware of what, the fact that a company or your bank has messed up the direct debit? Hats off to you for providing factual information.
  • Hammer_Time
    Hammer_Time Posts: 447 Forumite
    First Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Options
    MeterMan wrote: »
    Beware of what, the fact that a company or your bank has messed up the direct debit? Hats off to you for providing factual information.

    The error is with BG as they told me so, I just hope it's not the start of things to come.
  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 31,967 Forumite
    Name Dropper Photogenic First Post First Anniversary
    Options
    If my supplier were to allow me a cheap DD only tariff and let me keep the money in my bank account I would be more than happy to accommodate them ;)
  • Hammer_Time
    Hammer_Time Posts: 447 Forumite
    First Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Options
    molerat wrote: »
    If my supplier were to allow me a cheap DD only tariff and let me keep the money in my bank account I would be more than happy to accommodate them ;)

    I would too, however I will get 2% cashback on my D/D.
This discussion has been closed.
★ ★ ★ Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 343.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 250.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.9K Spending & Discounts
  • 235.7K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 608.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 173.3K Life & Family
  • 248.3K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards