Infuriating letter from British Gas

Rox84

Several years ago, I would hazard a guess at 6ish!, I got into problems financially and was unable to pay my electricity bill. I cannot remember the exact amount, but I'm pretty sure that it was a good few hundred pounds.
Anyway, they agreed to put me on a prepay meter and I would pay it off over time. As you can expect, this debt was paid off IN FULL around a year ago, or so I thought!!
Today, I received a letter from British Gas saying (In short):

We've made a mistake transferring your outstanding balance to your prepayment meter (Something to do with installation).
In the next few weeks, we'll transfer your current outstanding balance of £210 directly to your meter and programme it to make repayments at the rate of £20 per week.

Now, I completely understand that I owed them that money, and I should pay it back, but surely this is not my mistake to pay for? I was under the belief that I had paid it all back and was home free! I am now pregnant and, as some of you may know, Statutory Maternity Pay will not go very far to pay that extra £20 a week.

Am I entitled to some form of compensation? Or an appeal? Do they not have to provide proof? Surely they cannot just write me a letter a few years later saying I still owe them money, out of the blue?!
Has anybody else had a similar situation?

Any comments are much appreciated.

:mad:

KimYeovil

I take it you did not check that the correct sums were entered in your meter?

If you are unhappy with the rate they are asking the debt to be repaid you can ask them to lower it - down to a bit over £3 per week.

Premier_2

Rox84 wrote: »

... Do they not have to provide proof? Surely they cannot just write me a letter a few years later saying I still owe them money, out of the blue?!
...

You have the right to expect them to provide (on request) a breakdown of the amount originally owed, the amount already repaid and so the balance now outstanding.

If you don't agree with any of those values, it'll probably be for you to prove they are wrong.

Gerrard_8_lfc

Rox84 wrote: »

Am I entitled to some form of compensation?

Soon to be britains most favourite word.

You may appeal against it and get the debt recovery amount reduced to suit your own circumstances. I don't think there will be compensation tbh.

specialsparky

Hi Rox, ask BG for the following 1) How much was the original debt 2) How much have you repaid 3) Why has this apparent error been made 4) Why has it taken so long to let you know etc etc.
If you used the fuel and had a debt it is only fair that you repay it,however I have some sympathy if they have made an error and you in all good faith have been topping up your meter thinking that you are clearing the debt ,and then to be told you still had an outstanding amount.
Compensation is out of the question here but it may be worth asking BG why has it taken so long? Ask for a complete breakdown of payments and the debt portion.
The one thing that I find strange about this is you say about 6 years, this is an incredible length of time for a supplier to agree to a repayment. Normally they are a year and maybe 2 but 6,I cant understand if you have been topping up your meter reguarly why this debt has not cleared before.
Hope this helps, if so thanks are always welcome

Rox84

It's true, I was careless not to remember exactly how much I owed and at what rate they were entering it into the machine, but what's done is done.
What I am sure of is that it was around 5 or 6 years ago, and I may have "paid the debt off" before last year, I cannot be sure because any contact with BG has been minimal, they never sent me a breakdown of what I owed and never told me when it was paid off. I attempted to speak to them over the phone but their customer service is ridiculous!
I am also in credit with them, to the value of £30. When I moved in I was sent a payment card for gas, so I went to the post office after a while and paid £30 off my account, only to find out that my flat does not use gas!! This has been sat on my "account" for years and I have asked for the money back in cheque form but received nothing! I'm certainly going to push that subject with them now!

Anyway, thank you for your help. I will contact them and ask if I can lower the rate, and have a full breakdown of what I did and didn't pay. I was silly to expect compensation, I realise that now!

Thank you for your comments. I am slowly learning to be more careful and keep a handle on my money!
x

spiro

The other angle to use is that knowing you were pregnant you saw that the debt would be cleared in time for when you received (a) reduced income and (b) increased costs and as a result took no further action.
Also given that it is several months since you believe the dent has been cleared I would argue why has it taken so long for the to realise they have stopped collecting any debt. You might also point out that if they had sent you annual statments it would have been more obvious to you that there was more money due.