Final demand from 2006

andy_hardaker

i have searched the site as thoroughly as i can and cannot find any help on this matter so any input would be greatly appreciated. i recently recieved a final demand from a third party debt collectors for a british gas bill from april 2006. the letter claims i have an outstanding amount of £136.50 for utility supply from 04/04/2006 to 11/09/2007. it also states ' you have made no indication that this account is in dispute therefore we must assume it to be correct and payable '.
my main point is that i do not owe this and this is the first i have heard of this! i wrote to them asking what?, why? etc and recieved exactly the same letter back!
how far do i have to go to prove to them i dont owe it, is the onus on them to try prove it and do i even need to deal with a third party when they say its a british gas bill?
thanks in advance for any help you all can give :0)

spiro

Most posts on here will advise not to speak to the debt collection agency but speak directly to the supplier. They have to prove the amount is owed i.e. copies of bills sent and payments made. Some suppliers are now selling old debt but they will have to have provided evidence of the debt to the company buying it.

Cardew

On the assumption that you did indeed live at the address in question for some of that period, it is like any other contract. You had a contract with BG to supply energy and they say you haven't paid for some of that energy.

Their 'proof' will be that BG will have sent a bill presumably to the address where they supplied energy.

You will need to prove.

1. That you were not in residence during the period of the bill.

2. Produce the final bill for your time at the house to date of leaving, and proof of payment.

Did you give BG a forwarding address? Have you got your final bill?

For better advice you need to give more details. e.g. why do you say you don't owe this money?

andy_hardaker

i was in residence at the time but was on a pre payment meter so the theory is if i hadnt paid in advance i cant use the electric. this letter is the first i have heard of the debt not having had any correspondence at all from BG regarding this. is there no time limit or burden of proof on them as having dealt with these customer ' unhelp' lines before i know i am wasting my time and money trying to get a response from them.

Cardew

andy_hardaker wrote: »

i was in residence at the time but was on a pre payment meter so the theory is if i hadnt paid in advance i cant use the electric. this letter is the first i have heard of the debt not having had any correspondence at all from BG regarding this. is there no time limit or burden of proof on them as having dealt with these customer ' unhelp' lines before i know i am wasting my time and money trying to get a response from them.

You can still owe money with a prepay meter.

This is because the meter would have been set at the wrong rate and had not been adjusted to reflect the increased price. i.e. the meter rate was set to xp/kWh but with price increases the new price should have been yp/kWh.

The normal practice was for BG to set the meter to recover the debt at, say, £10 a month.

HOWEVER

That was the system in place in 2006/7 when you(inadvertently) ran up this debt.

These days BG write off any debt accrued in this manner.

I suspect that BG just had this valid debt on their hands and a Debt Collection Agency(DCA) have 'bought' the debt and all they are interested in is getting money.

I would write to BG explaining the situation and that you had no idea you had any form of debt because you were on pre-pay; and ask them to write off the debt and call off their bloodhounds(the DCA)

andy_hardaker

thanks, i'll write to them. its annoying because they have never contacted me even after i changed suppliers. i would have thought that if i owed anything they would have billed me immediately i stopped being a customer :0(