British Gas

thedapper

Hope you can help with my issue, i will try and keep it short.

basicly i have my electric and gas through British Gas, for nearly a year i have been paying monthy DD on there payment scheme (bill every 3 months) the gas was set at £1pm and electric £4.40pm, this was fine as i was paying large amount every 3 months to keep it down.

I rang British Gas for a gen enquiry and they noticed the issue of the low DD amount, so they upped the gas to £80 and the electric to £60, this caused a few issue's but managed to pay them, last month i had to cancell the DD due to not having the funds, i rang them back last night to setup the DD, the woman on the phone demanded the full amount (around £350) i said i could not afford this untill the end of the month and although the account shows up to date and the bill is not due untill 19th this month, she then threatend to cut me off, fit a meter, or send someone round???

i advised i can pay another £50 she refused, i asked for a supervisor she said it was her!!

I then said i will pay the full amount and go elseware at the end of the month, she said plenty of customer come back and did not seem the slightest bothered by my comment and in fact added that if i did not pay the full amount they would refuse any other company to take over.

I am not happy with this company at all and to say it is National Customer Service Week to this company is a joke.

My questions are.
I am willing to pay the amount back on DD and also payed another £50 online, Can they cut me off?

Can they refuse another company to take over?

Can they up my DD amount by £1 to £80 considering the new advise from Ofgem (http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Consumers/CCI/Documents1/Direct%20Debit%20Arrangements.pdf)

My account history is good considering this is, can they leggaly do this?.

I hope some one can advised on some of the questions, i may call them again tonight see what the view of another agent is.

Cardew

Lot of questions!

Firstly the principle of the Direct Debit scheme is that you should pay 12 even monthly payments that should cover your annual bill. The incentive BG offer is a discount for paying by DD.

For you to be paying £1 and £4.40 by DD each month and paying large sums each quarter means you are effectively on quarterly payment with a DD discount. So you had the best of both worlds and BG the worst of both worlds.

Certainly I don't blame you for enyoying that arrangement(wish we all could have it) but it is entirely understandable that BG have insisted you pay the correct DD.

With regard to the future DD. It is a DD agreement, and if either you or BG cannot agree on the revised monthly sum, then BG are entitled to end the DD agreement and revert to quarterly payment terms. That means you lose the DD discount and any money owing from the last quarterly bill becomes due.

They certainly cannot impose a DD of £80, any more than you can insist on paying £1. They have to notify you in advance of any increase - which they did. If you were not happy with the £60 an £80 you should have tried to negotiate a mutually acceptable sum. By simply cancelling your DDs for £60 and £80 you have effectively ended the DD agreement yourself.

If you threatened that you would pay the full outstanding amount and switch to another company, you would appear to have 'shot yourself in the foot' to plead that you now cannot afford to pay your bill.

Whilst in theory they can cut you off, the normal step is to fit a pre-pay meter with the meter set to 'claw back' the debt by £x each week. You can either agree to have the meter fitted, or they will get a court order to get it fitted and you will pay court expenses.

They can of course refuse to let another company take over your supply until you have cleared your debt. Without that provision some people would run up huge debts with a company and move from company to company leaving a trail of debts in their wake.

thedapper

Cardew wrote: »

Lot of questions!



They certainly cannot impose a DD of £80, any more than you can insist on paying £1. They have to notify you in advance of any increase - which they did. If you were not happy with the £60 an £80 you should have tried to negotiate a mutually acceptable sum. By simply cancelling your DDs for £60 and £80 you have effectively ended the DD agreement yourself.

Thanks for the answers Cardew

When they seen that i was paying so little (the 6month account review did not pick it up) they put up the DD amount advised me over the phone and refused budge on the amount,

Your completly right in regards to the low DD payments it was easy i could afford to pay whatever, But im most angry at them saying they will not put be back on the scheme.

It even stated on there letter that if i could not pay to call them for help?

i advised i could pay it off becouse i get a large bonus every 3 months its a shame tbh just had the gas bill and for 3 months it was £66 not bad for a 3 bed semi.

I will call them later see if we can arrange alternative payment terms.

Thanks again for your help.