Watch out for British Gas

Simonmw_2 · 20 February 2017 at 7:29PM

I was a Sainsburys Energy (British Gas) customer and swapped over to another supplier. I handed over the final meter readings and waited for the balance. The balance came to over £500 so I phoned up to query as you would; we had been paying direct debits for a year.

The customer services confirmed and said not to worry as you could pay it off over a year. I checked to make sure it was interest free and he said it was. I thought I might as well do that as the money is better in my pocket then theirs. I could have paid at the time but thought I might as well take advantage of the 0% loan they were offering. I was transferred over to another department where they took my details and told me what the repayments would be. I said fine and left it at that.

Today, a week or so later, I checked my credit report and hey presto I had effectively defaulted on my !!!!!!! payment and signed up to an arrangement to pay. I phoned them up, shouted a bit and settled the payment in full and opened a complaint. At no point did the bas***ds tell me I was defaulting and I was going to screw up my 100% credit rating that I have been nurturing for the last 20 years. It will stick with me for 6 bl**dy years if they don't fix it.

I'll report back with what happens to the complaint.

Arleen · 20 February 2017 at 7:34PM

What did you think did you agreed to if not for a payment plan? I mean you admit yourself that you could've paid but wanted to take advantage of the 0% loan, without actually asking if it is a loan, or what sort of thing it is - just whether it's interest free.

Call them, explain calmly that you didn't understand what you were agreeing to, offer to repay it in full if they will remove the markers and they will most likely agree.

Lemonsqueezer78 · 20 February 2017 at 8:02PM

I would say it would certainly not be obvious to many people that agreeing to make payments to a utility company for a particularly large "surprise" bill over a number of instalments would immediately be lodged as some kind default - especially if you have actually been making Direct Debit payments every month in good faith - as the OP appears to have been doing.

Something like this should not be down to the customer to quiz them on - many people are not even aware that some utility companies even record data on CRAs (not all of them do).

The most you could accuse the OP of is not providing meter readings regularly enough.

If none of this was clearly explained to the OP - then it should have been.

Arleen · 20 February 2017 at 8:16PM

Then people need to start reading the agreements they sign, or at least do a very cursory google search: https://www.britishgas.co.uk/help-and-advice/Bills-payments/Trouble-paying/Sharing-information-with-credit-reference-agencies.html . It says, in plain letters:

We share information with credit reference agencies, including details on whether you pay bills on time or late. If you don’t pay your bill in full and on time, you may find that this shows on your credit record. So it’s important you pay what you owe on time.

And with a further link to terms of service that has a lot more clauses explained, although in less plain format.

But this isn't even a matter of someone in a bad situation being taken advantage off. OP simply was greedy and wanted to take advantage of what he thought (without asking) was 0% loan rather than simply pay his bill in full, and it bit him in the patootie. The old adage applies - if it's too good to be true - it is. Luckily for him, it's very early into the agreement and should be easy to roll back as long as it is paid in full.

But seriously, read what you sign. Contrary to what people think, T&S do not have 90 pages, are not unreadable. And if you don't understand something, there are various internet boards where people will be happy to clarify.

GingerBob_3 · 20 February 2017 at 8:38PM

Who's at fault here: British Gas 100%, the OP 0%.

This is not the first time we've had a post on here about British Gas maliciously reporting this type of payment as a default or late payment. It's simple enough, the call centre operator should have said "yes, you can pay this off over 12 months, but please note that if you do so we'll flag it up with the CRAs as a continuing late payment, and this will almost certainly affect your ability to obtain credit."

British Gas are the worst offenders at malicious CRA reporting. Their actions described here by the OP are pretty close to fraudulent. OP, please report this to the ICO.

I make no apology for saying this again: Utility companies (and phone companies) should not be allowed to report customer accounts to the CRAs.

OP, you don't say which supplier you moved to. Most of the big six report, but EDF don't and SSE - I think - just report defaults. Hopefully you moved to one of these providers.

Simonmw_2 · 20 February 2017 at 8:40PM

I just thought they were doing the decent thing. I had been sending in my meter readings regularly and I thought they had just screwed up. I didn't think anything of it as I assumed that it must happen to lots of people and BG don't want to go around annoying people with £500 pound bills when they can do the right thing and stagger them out.

Simonmw_2 · 20 February 2017 at 8:47PM

“
We share information with credit reference agencies, including details on whether you pay bills on time or late. If you don’t pay your bill in full and on time, you may find that this shows on your credit record. So it’s important you pay what you owe on time"

I had paid everything on time and all the time. I had several phone calls with them to make sure the transfer to the new supplier was going OK and I thought I had resolved everything. At no point did I think I wasn't paying what was owed.

Arleen · 20 February 2017 at 8:57PM

Simonmw wrote: »

I just thought they were doing the decent thing. I had been sending in my meter readings regularly and I thought they had just screwed up. I didn't think anything of it as I assumed that it must happen to lots of people and BG don't want to go around annoying people with £500 pound bills when they can do the right thing and stagger them out.

They were doing the decent thing - offered someone who can't pay a no-hassle way to spread it into interest-free installments, instead of for example hounding you to pay the whole thing, in full, now.
The reason your end bill was most likely because you didn't submit meteres for long time. If you will check your statements they should say whether they are estimates or according to the meter readings you've provided.
If your statements for last months are not estimates (and those were the important heating months) then you may want to check with your previously provided meter readings, as they may have indeed made a mistake in the amount.

Simonmw wrote: »

“
We share information with credit reference agencies, including details on whether you pay bills on time or late. If you don’t pay your bill in full and on time, you may find that this shows on your credit record. So it’s important you pay what you owe on time"

I had paid everything on time and all the time. I had several phone calls with them to make sure the transfer to the new supplier was going OK and I thought I had resolved everything. At no point did I think I wasn't paying what was owed.

You didn't pay that last bill in full, instead you've asked for installments. And it says clear as a day "full and on time", not "or". And of course that the transfer went fine, why wouldn't it? You've set a plan to pay back the bill, are paying it, why would they make any troubles?

rtho782 · 20 February 2017 at 9:36PM

Either you did not provide correct readings or you used a ton of electricity/gas in the last period.

If you had provided accurate readings all the way through, the debt would never have built up.

GingerBob_3 · 20 February 2017 at 9:47PM

rtho782 wrote: »

Either you did not provide correct readings or you used a ton of electricity/gas in the last period.

If you had provided accurate readings all the way through, the debt would never have built up.

Somewhat missing the point. Yes, maybe that's true - bear in mind we're in the middle of winter - but the issue here is one of BG trickery. Their T&Cs do not state that if you pay off a final debt in agreed instalments this will be treated as an "arrangement to pay" à la CRA arrangement to pay marker. It would cost them nothing to inform potential victims of this fraud; they don't do so (other cases on this board). They are guilty.

Chappaz · 20 February 2017 at 11:17PM

Is it deceiving? Absolutely.

But to me, this is one of those "if it's too good to be true" type of things. I would immediately be cautious of any company which offers a deal like that with seemingly no ramifications at all.

You almost have to wonder if the customer support person thought they were doing the right thing. After all, what does BG gain out of black marking someone's credit file in exchange for longer-term repayment with no interest? It would be in their own best interest to demand payment upfront and at least try for that first with the staggered payments as a last resort. I doubt they prioritise being spiteful over earning money.

It wouldn't be the first time that customer support staff in a company have been blissfully unaware of the credit file implications. The person might have thought they were doing you a favour and then the automated system marked the file.

Anyway, I hope the complaint works out well for you.

Watch out for British Gas

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