advice please re british trash oops i mean gas

cookiemonster25

ok long story but here we go,.....
4 years ago bg installed a new gas meter we were paying about 70ish pounds a month, 6 months later following a meter reading payment went down to £5..this isnt unusual for us it swings from one extreame to another..anyway a few month later we queried why we were still paying so little, we were reasured it would be adjusted as per reading

we have queried this with them ever since we contacted them aprox 4 times last year and were told that the new meter has never been registered by them, we asked them again to readjust our payments to be told on more than 1 occasion that the system was updating and nothing could be done at that time....

today without warning £380 disapeared from my account :eek: this is apparently our new monthly DD to clear arreas!

after 3 hours on the phone today they have refunded the money ( hasnt appeared yet) an one of the delightful customer services people calling my OH a " snotty nosed toerag" while she though he was on mute, we offered to pay £150 per month they are refusing saying we have to have a pay as you go meter fitted and pay off the debt whilst paying for our monthly usage
I dont want to go down this route as we will pay more for our gas and in reality this is their mistake
I dont object to paying for what gas we have used but need advice on where to go next with this

me and my snotty nosed toe rag appreciated any help

oh by the way the cs who called my oh this has been disciplined so dont need any advice on that one thanks

SwanJon

Firstly, call back and report the agent - all calls are recorded so the manager will be able to hear what they said. (missed this bit in your post, but will leave it for others.)
Also ask for as long to pay it back as it toook to build up - 3-4 years.
Your bank will be able to deal with DDs taken without notice a lot quicker than BG - it's part of the DD guarentee.
Have they managed to bill you since the new meter went in? If not you can remind them of the billing code so you only pay for the last 12 months.
If they have billed you to estimates, make sure they have cancelled them all back and charged you the right amount at the right prices.
While it is their mistake for not updating the reading, you have been using the gas and knew you were paying too little - were you putting a bit extra aside in an interest earning account for when this day came?

PS - You complain that they insulted your OH, then do the same in your title. The people on the other end of the phone are people too, so the bets way to get them to go further for you is to be nice to them.. I should know, I work there.

cookiemonster25

SwanJon wrote: »

Firstly, call back and report the agent - all calls are recorded so the manager will be able to hear what they said. (missed this bit in your post, but will leave it for others.)
Also ask for as long to pay it back as it toook to build up - 3-4 years.
Your bank will be able to deal with DDs taken without notice a lot quicker than BG - it's part of the DD guarentee.
Have they managed to bill you since the new meter went in? If not you can remind them of the billing code so you only pay for the last 12 months.
If they have billed you to estimates, make sure they have cancelled them all back and charged you the right amount at the right prices.
While it is their mistake for not updating the reading, you have been using the gas and knew you were paying too little - were you putting a bit extra aside in an interest earning account for when this day came?

PS - You complain that they insulted your OH, then do the same in your title. The people on the other end of the phone are people too, so the bets way to get them to go further for you is to be nice to them.. I should know, I work there.

fair play swan john but am not insulting an individual in my title
thansk for your advice

cookiemonster25

[EMAIL="sam.laidlaw@centrica.co.uk"]have[/EMAIL] just got an email from ombudsman so hope to follow their advice and resolve in my favour not theirs.

scotty1971

probably got this wrong,but i thought if they made a mess of your bill,they could only bill you for the previous 12 months,i'm sure someone will be along soon,and make a point by correcting me!

Cardew

scotty1971 wrote: »

probably got this wrong,but i thought if they made a mess of your bill,they could only bill you for the previous 12 months,i'm sure someone will be along soon,and make a point by correcting me!

Sadly not so!

It is 12 months backbilling if you have not been billed(i.e. a bill not raised) not errors on bills.

If money has been taken from your account without notification(albeit that notification can be hidden in the smallprint and missed) your bank will immediately refund it and you don't need to contact the Utility company. They won't question you! If you say you have not received notification, that will suffice.

What is not clear from the OP's post is what bills he has received over the last 4 years.
I am not certain what advice the OP wants?

Paying £5 a month for 3.5 years will obviously have built up a huge debit balance and will need to be paid back.

Obviously a lot of that debt will have been when gas was much cheaper so a drastic reduction on the outstanding amount(assuming it has been calculated at current rates) is due. Or they may have estimated usage at various dates in the last 3.5 years.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi

After the meter was changed 4 years ago have you been receiving estimated bills or was it just a case of money being taken from your bank? If you have not received bills, even estimates, you may have a case under the Billing Code.

This is where companies are not allowed to charge you for more than 12 months back charges where they are at fault. Particularly where you have told them there is a problem.

Check the meter readings are accurate. Also make sure they are not charging you for 4 years gas at today's prices. They need to charge you at the prices that applied when the gas was actually used.

On the latest bill make sure the meter details are correct. Check the meter serial number on the bill is the same as on your meter. It can be seen on the front of the meter. Make sure the meter readings now being used are in line with those you have taken previously.

Also ask for a payment arrangement. They may be willing to spread the outstanding amount over a period of time you are comfortable with.

Did they inform you £380 was going to be taken from your account before they took it? This is usually done by letter or on the bill itself. If not, this can be raised under the Direct Debit guarantee that applies to all these arrangements.

cookiemonster25

we asked for a payemnt arrangment they were only happy with £375 per month , the money has now been refunded as no advance notice was given
thanks for all your advice we have contacted the ombudsman and have contacted BG who hopefully will get back to us soon

cookiemonster25

this is now sitting with BG specialist escalations department.

we did pay £5 per month but only for about a year prior to that it was around the 40 mark During during that time we were actually £1200 in credit due to credit built up previous to new meter - we asked to up the payments but on several occasions were told that the system could not do that as it was still in process of being updated.

there is a case iaw the billing code under the clause "accurate billing" and as they did not accurately bill us due to their error in not updating the meter when installed or on the several occasions i rang them to inform of their mistake.

BG have owned up that it is their fault we are just agrieved to have to pay more for our gas usage (pay as you go) and loose DD discount due to their error.

cookiemonster25

just an update and huge thank you to the advice on here esp swan jon
after a couple more weeks of wrangling with BG they ahve now agreed to only back bill us 1 year instead of the 3 we were previously quoted ( under the billing code)
so if youre having the same type of trouble as us keep trying
many thanks all

:T