British Gas DD increase without permission

Phebes

I know that the gas has been spoken about going up in general but surely that provider is meant to contact you first before taking money from your account.

My Gas bill went up by £14 this month with no notification that this was going to happen, now i am not happy that the prices are going up but surely it's against the law or something to just help yourself without notifying me that extra money to be removed from my DD account as i had already accounted for that money and just lucky i checked my balance?

I am always happy to ensure all my bills are paid on time and never fell behind with any payments of any firm so if i am required to pay more i would have but i was shocked at the fact they can just dip into my savings without consent.

Is this legal?

I tried to go online and sent a message but they do not give you an email address just a phone number or write to an address given.

LittleVoice

Do you have paperless billing? (I think they give you a discount for doing so.)

If so, they probably included a note about a change in your DD on the last statement.

I'm not sure that that is what they will have done, it just seems possible to me.

SwanJon

Yes, they need to notify you before they change a DD.
They will usually do this on your statement.
Speak to your bank and get the payment reversed under the DD guarentee.
Get a reading & email/phone BG and double check that the chnage is correct.
Get yourself onto BG's cheapest tariff at the same time (and look about to see if you are on the best deal)

KimYeovil

This is not true. You give your gas company authority to take as much as they determine is necessary. This is not covered by the guarantee as nothing erroneous has happened.

If you don't want the utility company to have this authority, choose a different payment method (and pay the costlier charges).

SwanJon

Kim, while you give them authority to take what is necessary, they have to inform you of any changes (to make sure the money is there).

Cardew

Agreed they can take what they deem necessary BUT they must inform you in advance or the DD guarantee applies.

However it is often buried in the 'small print' at the bottom of the bill - can be missed, and should be more prominent.

megwatt

Kim

if you set up a dd then a supplier can "dip" in but they must notify you. BUT if you set up a standing order with your bank for a set monthly amount then only your bank and your self can change the amount specified.

WhySoHard_2

This is why I do not trust Direct Debits. I have one set up for my mobile and one for my internet but I simply don't trust the power companies enough to give them access to my bank account!

Cardew

megwatt wrote: »

Kim

if you set up a dd then a supplier can "dip" in but they must notify you. BUT if you set up a standing order with your bank for a set monthly amount then only your bank and your self can change the amount specified.

However the discount for Standing Order is not as attractive as Direct debit.

Direct debit is fine as long as you keep tracks on your account - especially if you have just moved to a new supplier.

megwatt

I work for one of the "big six" so if i can be of any help ust ask.

quidsin

This happened to us twice when we were with BG, DW pays the gas/elec 2-3 days after the DD was taken we had a letter informing us of the monthly DD increase, both time we phoned our bank and had the DD returned - breach of the DD guarantee. We phoned BG who had put the DD up by £30- even though we had a fixed price, we told them we weren't happy and the should put the DD to what it was, BG refused and said they could only reduce it by some 10%
2nd time it happened I hit the roof- i found out that BG was doing this to all its customers, so how much extra revenue were they getting from this?

Were moved suppliers shortly after.