help with british gas

jonhd

HI, can anyone help, last year we switched are electricity supplier to british gas as they offered a good rate and were very helpfull, we set up a direct debit and as the money was coming out of my bank i beleived everything was set up. we never received any bills and as the meter automatically reads its self we never had a reading taken by a human. a couple of month ago we received a letter, with the wrong post code on it, informing of an increase in the rate of 100% and because we did not reply to a letter in december they automatically entered us into a two year contract at this increased rate. this was the first letter we recieved from them due to the wrong postcode on our mailing address, after endless phonecalls theyve told us its our fault we should of ammended this after recieving our first letter? :mad: . the post code wasnt even similar to the correct post code. thanxs for your time in reading this. Jon

Cardew

Is this is for a business?

Or were you on a domestic tarif that has ended and now been switched to their fixed to 2012 tariff?

Joyful

Is this for Business gas?

jonhd

yes business, does that make a differance?

Cardew

jonhd wrote: »

yes business, does that make a differance?

Yes it does I am afraid. You don't have any protection afforded to domestic customers.

The evil 'roll-over' contracts have been discussed frequently. No consolation to you but the practice(by all companies) will soon be stopped.

You entered a contract with that roll-over condition in the small print.(loads of small businesses have been similarly caught). You might get out of the contract because of the wrong postcode - but you might have to go to court.

The trouble is that no other company will take you on if BG object to you moving - 'thick as thieves' comes to mind - they are all the same.

spiro

So as a business you have been paying a supplier money (doesnt matter that its gas or elec) for over 6 months and they have never sent you an invoice. Didnt you book keeper raise this as an issue? What about your VAT return?

It is bad enought when domestic customers dont contact their supplier because they have not had a bill, as a business you should know better.

dogshome

Hi jonhd - As already posted by others, you have been snared into a rolling commercial supply contract, in which the "small print" allows BG extend the contract period and put up the price if you don't follow an exact procedure within an exact time frame to cancel the contract at it's end date.

However in your instance there is the problem of BG filing your address with the wrong post code.
The way the law works is that if a letter is sent, it is deemed to have been recieved, but because of the mis-addressing, BG cannot rely on this - You should have had a hard copy of the contract in the post when the contract started, did you get one?

If you did not
Write to BG pointing out wrong post code on the latest letter and advising them that you have not recieved a copy of the contract nor the letter they say they sent in December, and that you regard the contract as void.
If you did
Trawl thro' the contract looking at the small print to see if BG were supposed send you written advice at the contracts end date, if they were write to BG pointing out that this notice was not recieved due to their mis-addressing, and that because of this failure they have lost the right to roll the contract over.

BG are hardly likely to just roll over on this so be prepared for a long battle - But take the view that BG deliberately set out to ensnare you, and other small businesses, in unfair contracts.
Good Luck

jonhd

many thanks, ive been giving a phone number to call to someone at BG to discuss my original phone call and see who,s fault it is regards the wrong postcode, rang her numerous times and waiting for a call back, ill keep you posted, many thanxs again.

Cardew

jonhd wrote: »

many thanks, ive been giving a phone number to call to someone at BG to discuss my original phone call and see who,s fault it is regards the wrong postcode, rang her numerous times and waiting for a call back, ill keep you posted, many thanxs again.

As dogshome stated above you must write to BG. Phoning is just a waste of time they will just not ring back or fob you off.

It might even be worth getting a solicitor to write and claim his costs.

Or take them to the small claims court yourself, they will concede rather than get the bad publicity.

jonhd

RESULT:j

Finally got through to the lady who took the original phone call, after a few minutes of trying to make her understand what had happened and stop her from redirecting me to another department she took aproximetly 20seconds to renew our original contract on the affordable rate and reinburse the money we'd paid at the increased rate:money:.


:beer:thanx again for your help, I really do belive it depends on who you get at the end of the phone.

Cardew

jonhd wrote: »

RESULT:j

Finally got through to the lady who took the original phone call, after a few minutes of trying to make her understand what had happened and stop her from redirecting me to another department she took aproximetly 20seconds to renew our original contract on the affordable rate and reinburse the money we'd paid at the increased rate:money:.


:beer:thanx again for your help, I really do belive it depends on who you get at the end of the phone.

Well done - you have managed what few other have achieved.

The 'law'(well code of practice) is changing to give small businesses some protection against conditions like the roll-over condition that has caught out many in the past.

However I would read your small print very carefully and check exactly the conditions of your contract - in particular when the new contract ends.