British Gas ~ final bill NOT final?!

novagirl

I switched to another company in april and rang and paid my full and final bill. I then received a letter saying that they were sad to see me go but that my account was all up to date. In fact, I had overpaid (thanks to yet another mess they created when I first moved into the house and charged me over £600 for 2 months electricity!). They sent me a refund cheque of £500+ at the end of May.

I have received another final bill today saying I owe them £200. I rang to ask why and they have given me 3 reasons.

** An erroneous transfer took place

**The new company was querying my meter readings. (not true...both my final reading to british gas and new reading are the same)

**Refund cheque was for too much.(took them nearly 2 months to work out what the amount should be anyway yet they can't get it right?)

I have logged a complaint but do I now pay the bill (or at least try) as it says it needs paying by 22nd December.

Any help would be appreciated. £200 is alot of money to find!

Premier_2

If the calculation was wrong regarding the refunded amount, they are allowed to reclaim it.

You need to verify the calculation.


If you have logged a complaint (i.e. disputed the bill) they should have advised you if they have currently put it on hold pending resolution. You could ask them if it is on hold if unsure.
Have you disputed the bill? If so on what grounds?
Or have you just made a complaint/had a whinge?

novagirl

Thank you for a quick reply! I'll ask them to clarify why they sent a cheque for so much when it should have been alot less. You'd have thought there would have been double checks when they initially issued the cheques but obviously there aren't.

Disputed the bill due to already paying a final bill. Surely a company can't issue final bills and then decide a few months down the line that that wasn't final and that they want more.

Like to whinge too (doesn't everyone?) but feel I have a valid case for a dispute even if it turns out that I have to pay the amount after they have given me clarification of the refund cheque amount.

Cardew

novagirl wrote: »

Surely a company can't issue final bills and then decide a few months down the line that that wasn't final and that they want more.

Generally yes they can.

A company making an error does not prevent them reclaiming money. In the same way that if you discover the error had been to your disadvantage you can claim a rebate.

The exception is that if you accepted the cheque in good faith, had spent the money, and to repay would cause you hardship. There have been cases where a judgement has been made in favour of the customer, but the lawyers costs might be more than you save;)

factoryworker

adding to prev excelelnt advice, make sure your have put the account (bill) into dispute; this is very important otherwise the heavy (threatining) 3rd party debt letters will follow swiftly; they are not allowed to do this whilst account is in dispute, so make sure they acknowledge a/c is in dispute.

I admire your refreshing frankness - you are not trying to get something on a technicality you just want whats right - a bit of breathing space. Personally, once you've found out the correct (if any) outstanding amount, I would politely ask for consideration, (might knock 10% off) but most importantly time to pay; emphasise that issue was not of your making, you have made all payments prev. in timely manner, have never avoided paying/addressing bills, and it would put you in financial difficulty (even if it doesn't); if they demand immediate payment, complain that their errors/incompetency has put you in this situation and that you should be given a similar amount of time to that which has transpired (5 months) to repay...in summary i wouldn't pay the bill in whole immediately if you place in dispute, if you get debt letters do not respond to them only deal with BG and make payments direct to BG (i.e. £35 per month, ideally by online banking for tracebility/records purposes, writing to them explaining what you are doing-they will have no legal recourse if you do this as you are not deliberately AVOIDING debt). If you followed this any court action would be thrown out

novagirl

Thank you all so much! Very helpful advice and I'll start saving for the bill now while waiting for another response from the complaints department.

factoryworker

novagirl wrote: »

Thank you all so much! Very helpful advice and I'll start saving for the bill now while waiting for another response from the complaints department.

you'll have made your first monthly £35 pymt before they respond most likely!

Do not let any lack of correspondance/contact stop you from making small but regular contributions; you have to demonstrate you are being reasonable even if they aren't.

do post back on your progress, and always remain calm

novagirl

That's a fair point and I'll make sure they'll have some money before the due date Thank you so much with your help and I'll post back when I hear something from them.