British Gas say they will charge extra £50 unless i pay remainder of bill today isn't

CharlieBilly

I assume they dont have much money, not all pensioners are poor in fact I know very few that are and I know many pensioners

Your best getting bills paid by DD and tell them you readings regularly I know it wont sort this out but may help in future

I do sympathise with you tax credits are a nightmare I once got over paid and they admitted it was there fault but had to pay it back

furball wrote: »

Thankyou Lube, but parents are pensioners. Rang the gas board and gave them a final reading told them we will be changing suppliers they said they would ring us back, still waiting.

undaunted

The poster comes here asking for help & gets this? The "tone" of some of the replies is unbelievable. I wonder whether some of you have ever hit misfortune / had to struggle & what your reaction will be in the future if you ever do.

£50 (or £66 in total) sounds high but unfortunately they may well have something in the terms & conditions allowing them to do it I'm afraid.

Direct debits (or even running accounts on line) are only helpful if you know the money is always there to cover them - otherwise you'll just end up accruing bank charges too.

You could try raising this with them

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2509271

asking how they are considering affordability for you (as their license will require) etc though I doubt whether Ofgem will be much practical help even if they do refuse to budge I'm afraid.

Your threat to leave is quite possibly your best response, providing you can afford to clear the debt (otherwise they'll just object). It's surprising how losing a customer can sometimes refocus their attentions isn't it

Good luck :beer:

furball

Thankyou Freddie but at the moment we pay nothing by direct debit due to bank card being cloned and fighting bank charges, nearly sorted and most of charges reclaimed:T. Hopefully once the gas bill is paid by the middle of next week depending on gas boards charges we should be up to date with all our bills. We keep a very tight reign usually on all our bills but sorting the Npower bill out caused us to get behind on the gas, we shouldn't have let it run over so long, our gas bills are the lowest bill now as we no longer have a gas fire or a gas oven. We have a multifuel burner and this saves on heating as we never use the central heating and we have a very very efficent electric cooker.

CharlieBilly

undaunted only one reply was negative not some, but one so lets get things into perspective shall we. Kim is from a well known troll who likes to stir trouble ignore her I do

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/profile.php?do=addlist&userlist=buddy&u=481391

furball

Thankyou undaunted one of the posters replies did suprise me as i have always found the boards and forums on here to be a wonderful supportive community. We have struggled to get out of debt bit by bit and have finally nearly managed it, we haven't had a holiday for 7 years and i am a firm believer in the oldstyle boards, all home cooking and makedo and mend, don't go out and budget carefully for christmas and birthdays, it feels really good to finally see the end of the tunnel but as always when you think you have got there something always comes along and trips you up.

furball

Thankyou CharlieBilly, that explains a lot.

undaunted

CharlieBilly wrote: »

undaunted only one reply was negative not some, but one so lets get things into perspective shall we. Kim is from a well known troll who likes to stir trouble ignore her I do

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/profile.php?do=addlist&userlist=buddy&u=481391

One poster, two replies from her (though I wasn't aware of her as a "troll" to be fair). The "Today is the 18th June! ....... pipe smoke it" comment also seems to have negative / critical implications to me however - so that is 3 replies or some in my eyes, not one reply.

Furball I hope that there is soon finally going to be some light at the end of your tunnel (& not just the usual train coming your way)

Dunstonuk

KimYeovil wrote: »

They are additions - your day to day costs should not rely on them.

Sound like you dont like folk who get Tax Credits and as for a "rely´on them" yes 1000s of folk do just that because they have too, you are clearly a person who does not otherwise you would not have even made your first reply post in the bad taste is was written in. But then again maybe its your 3000 odd post replies that blind you to the question being asked by not having time to fully understand the question that was asked.

"misfortune/lack of planning" was not the Question and you well know that KinYeovil.

CharlieBilly

Not sure what you mean by in bold

I wasnt being critical just posting a observation if you are referring to my post.

undaunted wrote: »

One poster, two replies from her (though I wasn't aware of her as a "troll" to be fair). The "Today is the 18th June! ....... pipe smoke it" comment also seems to have negative / critical implications to me however - so that is 3 replies or some in my eyes, not one reply.

Furball I hope that there is soon finally going to be some light at the end of your tunnel (& not just the usual train coming your way)

SwanJon

I'll start by saying I work for BG - if I don't I usually get pounced on.
Furball - whatever has happened has happened, time to start looking towards the next (and subsequent) bills.
There are ways to stop the bill (apart from clearing it in full) - arrange a payment scheme - this needn't be DD, you could get a card and pay at the PO/PayPoint Fortnightly or monthly. You could set up a standing order. The other option is to arrange to get a pay as you go meter in. If you get a payment scheme, register onlie and put readings in frequently (even weekly to begin with).
The advantage of a payment scheme or PAYG meter is that you don't get big bills dropped on you - either way you are paying towards it as you use it. Ideally you shoud look on a comparison site and choose the best deal that meets your needs.

(As to the charges, they are to cover the costs of the recovery steps already taken in the last 8-10 weeks)