British Gas Direct Debit

Marmajuke_2

Letter arrives from BG informing me that because of the world energy market......blah, blah, blah, my d.d. would increase from £25 to £97 p.m. (288% up).:eek: :eek: :eek: Following my recovery, I sprint to phone to remonstrate & give current reading, thus reducing it to £78 p.m. (212% up). Whoopidoo. Am told increase is partly due to arrears, (although what ratio, I regretfully failed to ask). End result = I cancel d.d. & agree to set up a s.o. to something more manageable. The catch?? Any arrears at end of next quarter, (end of Jan), will be billed & full payment expected. (On top of any current usage).
The fact I was made redundant 4 weeks ago didn't get me any sympathy or suggestions.
My subsequent thoughts are thus. If, arrears have taken 12 months to accrue, how come B.G. expect them to be cleared within 3 or 4 months?
Will admit this message/question should be aimed at B.G. & probably will be shortly.
Should I take all the blame for arrears to develop?
N.B. Arrears = Just over £200, &, B.G. are one of the 'cheapest' suppliers in my area.
G*d knows what surprises B.G. have in store for me re; Electricity supply.

Magentasue

Marmajuke wrote: »

The fact I was made redundant 4 weeks ago didn't get me any sympathy or suggestions.

Should I take all the blame for arrears to develop?

Being blunt, well, yes, you have continued to use more than you have being paying. I know what you mean - shouldn't BG have alerted you to this. But they have sent you statements and you've been able to read your meters so you had the opportunity to manage your account so that you wouldn't be in arrears. At this time of year, you should have built up a credit balance substantial enough to see you through the winter.

I sympathise with you having to deal with this as your income drops but BG would be doing you no favours letting your debt increase. Best bet would be to reduce your usage all you can and budget accordingly.

SwanJon

Marmajuke wrote: »

My subsequent thoughts are thus. If, arrears have taken 12 months to accrue, how come B.G. expect them to be cleared within 3 or 4 months?

Did the arrears really take 12 months to accrue? If so you would be enetering a new 12 month plan and the balance would be spread over those 12 months.
If it was halfway through the plan, then it would try to balance it by the end of the current plan.
Not sure if this would work, but you could ask for a new 12 month plan to start and see if that helps. I imagine a lot of this will depend on the agent you get, so play nicely and fingers crossed.

Marmajuke_2

Magentasue,
Appreciate your level-headed/no nonsense outlook, not to mention your sympathy. Have since simply turned off heating & taken to wearing extra clothes!

Marmajuke_2

SwanJon,
Became B.G. customer on 7.12.07.
Despite B.G. suggesting I go the s.o. route, (thus controlling what I pay each month), &, telling me they'd stop the d.d., this has not happened, (in time). Seems that some time in the very early hours of 10th Nov., they've relieved my bank account of the aforementioned £97.
Have since stopped d.d. (god bless internet banking).
Methinks another phone call to B.G. wouldn't go amiss. As you hinted at, I might get a more sympathetic agent.
Like you, please excuse any typos, hands so cold I'm wearing gloves:-)

Magentasue

Marmajuke wrote: »

SwanJon,

Methinks another phone call to B.G. wouldn't go amiss. As you hinted at, I might get a more sympathetic agent.

Yes, ring again. Before you do, work out your budget of essential payments and income. Things like mortgage/rent/council tax/water etc. Not Sky and broadband, though. Allow sensible amount for food etc (CAB and others linked on Debt Free Wannabe help with this) and work out what you can reasonably pay. No good agreeing to an amount you cannot pay without getting into more debt. If you don't get anywhere on the phone, get CAB or similar to help negotiate - there are three or four organisations that do this for free - limked on DFW board, don't go to one that charges.

Well done on turning the heating off! Again, don't let your home get too cold and start damp problems but do what you can to reduce.

bristolleedsfan

[quote=Incisor;15607309_Ask_for_all_assumptions_and_arithmetic_workings_so_that_you_can_verify._These_blighters_should_be_publishing_their_DD_calculation_methods.[/quote]



On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 10:28 AM, britishgas.co.uk <customerservice@britishgas.co.uk> wrote:

Dear Mr ……..

Your Gas Customer Reference Number: 8500……….

Thank you for your email about the monthly direct debit for your gas account, please forgive the delay in my reply.

I am sorry that you are not happy with your gas direct debit payments. As we have no history of your gas consumption, we have set your gas direct debit payments based on the average industry consumption. Your next reassessment is due in February 2009 so if we are able to reduce your payments we will do so then.

Your account will be reassessed every six months and your payments will be adjusted depending upon your balance and your consumption. If we propose a change to your payment amount, we will provide you with a minimum of seven working days notice in advance.

We are due to bill your gas account so please submit your current meter reading by visiting https://www.britishgas.co.uk/meterread.

To help you find more ways to use less energy, we've made our Energy Savers Report even better. It now has a new Energy Planner that shows you how you could save energy and money – up to £444* in fact. Just visit https://www.britishgas.co.uk/esr.

Thank you for contacting us.

Yours sincerely

Yawar Ali




Re : Your Email 10th November 2008.

Firstly I did NOT ask to be lied to. British Gas DO have a history of my Gas consumption as can be seen by this previous account number which ill quote for British Gas aide memoir. ( Why have I been lied to ???????????????) In addition I had a long standing relationship with British Gas over many years prior to 2008 on a paper bill basis.

Gas
Customer number: 8500……..

You are currently viewing the account history information for
your Gas Account Number: 8500…….. View history for a
different account.


Bills
Any account adjustments or payments that you have made can be seen
by viewing your bill.

Date Description
10 Jun 2008 Bill
30 May 2008 Bill
24 May 2008 Bill

Secondly British Gas are incorrect in its apparent belief that it can dictate how much my Gas monthly payment is based on the "National average consumption", to prove this point my Bank have already refunded me the 69.00 that BG lifted from my account on 5th November under the direct debit guarantee being as BG neither agreed the amount of the payment to be taken, nore did it inform me of the amount it planned to take. Ive also cancelled DD debit mandate in respect of my Gas account to prevent BG from helping itself to any more of my money without prior agreement/ permission. Today I have supplied a Gas meter reading as requested which proves that not only do I NOT owe British Gas a penny for gas It would appear that im in credit by 2.33.......

Gas

Customer number: 8500……..
Credit Balance: - £ 2.33

Finally ( for now) with reference to your comment that "Your next reassessment is due in February 2009 so if we are able to reduce your payments we will do so then.", British Gas seem to assume that I will still be with British Gas in February 2009 which smacks of apparent arrogance, as I have no confidence in BG being trusted with a direct debit mandate I may well change supplier before then and get a cashback reward payment from another supplier for doing so.

Please answer my complaint of 5th November truthfully.

"On what basis from both my previous British Gas history and previous supplier history did BG decide to deduct 69.00 from my account in respect of my gas account ?????????"

Why was I lied to on 10th November ??????????????

I look forward to an honest answer

Premier_2

Oh well, bang goes your DD discount (worth up to £88 p.a I believe with BG)

I hope you are in credit as anything owed will be billed now for immediate repayment.

But at least now you understand why I also dislike paying monthly by DD.

bristolleedsfan

Premier wrote: »

Oh well, bang goes your DD discount (worth up to £88 p.a I believe with BG)

I hope you are in credit as anything owed will be billed now for immediate repayment.

But at least now you understand why I also dislike paying monthly by DD.

I wont be losing anything I can assure you. Electricity Direct Debit BG set at 25.50 a month which is amazingly low for both me and id have thought for the "National average". I have been cutting back on my electricity usage so I see 25.50 a month as a challenge.

I havent used any Gas since I went back to BG around a month ago, they usually phone to agree the monthly direct debit amounts during the switch over process, and of course BG are always aware of previous consumption histories. :laugh:

[Deleted User]

The address for the Office of the CEO is:
Sir Roy Gardner
CEO British Gas
Centrica plc
Millstream West,
Maidenhead Road
Windsor
SL4 5GD.