British Gas not accepting payment by Standing Order

micim1

I received a telephone call from BG yesterday to say that they are no longer accepting payment by Standing Order - with effect from August 2010. The caller insisted that I would have to set up a Direct Debit immediately, or I would lose the discount I was being given and probably have to switch to their standard tarrif. Can they do this?!
I pay a set amount monthly, currently owe them £200 (but I have not used any gas at all this past two months, so by the time I get my next bill I should only owe around £30). I also always submit a meter reading online every 3 months.
I do not like paying them by direct debit (I initially did,4 years ago when I joined them, but cancelled that after they tried to take the money out of my account 2 days earlier than stated on their bill and I ended up with Bank Charges as there were insufficient funds - which they then refused to pay or re-imburse. They said that they had written to me the same day as my bill had been produced to advise the earlier date, but I never received the letter. The Bank, HBOS, took their side and would not waive the charges)
If they are the ones not accepting the method of payment I have used for nearly four years without missing a payment, why should I be financially penalised (higher charges/no discount)?
Can anyone advise what my rights are? I guess they won't let me switch until the Full Balance is paid, but I am not in a position to do so as yet. Options?!

KimYeovil

It is very unusual to be charged the same for fuel when paying by standing order. Why should British Gas disadvantage themselves and the prices they charge their other customers by continuing to subsidise you? Their competitors don't.

A direct debit coming out a couple of days early should not matter - you should have a whole month or two's buffer in your account if you choose to pay that way. If you don't want to do that pay the extra for a standard tariff. Surely the savings you make with the cheaper tariff can more than cover maintaining a buffer in your bank account?

Andy_WSM

micim1 wrote: »

Options?!

Erm, if what you posted is accurate then the options are either pay by DD or lose the discount and go onto a standard tariff. Seems a simple enough choice to me. Personally I'd choose the first option.

lalli_pickle

Personally I would go with paying them when you get a bill.
I'm with Atlantic and they give a prompt payer discount which probably equals the DD discount anyway if you pay within a few day of receiving the bill.
As far as I'm concerned DDs are evil (Direct debits, not the other DD )

undaunted

Unfortunately the above post is about right & you don't have the option you want I suspect.

Whether that is warranted is another matter. A Standing order does not require British Gas to "subsidise" you in any way that I can see, it simply means that you send the money (a fixed amount)to them on a fixed date where direct debit allows them to vary dates & amounts (supposedly only with notice but that is not always followed by companies)

Ultimately of course you will however have the option to "reward them" by leaving for another supplier who will accept standing order should you so wish.

Brrrrrrrrrrr

I think this DD discount is allowing the energy companies to rip off their consumers - BIG TIME. British gas have just informed me that my current deal is coming to an end and I will be transferred to standard tariff as from Aug 1st. The only way I can get my current rate is to switch to Websaver8 which is only available to customers who pay by DD. This is effectively a charge of £78 for the privilege of paying on receipt of bill!!!! A rip off just like the banks, no wonder BG have doubled profits. DDs should be banned as no one should have free access to another's bank account.
I've just switched to Southern Electric.

Funkyfreddy

Brrrrrrrrrrr wrote: »

British gas have just informed me that my current deal is coming to an end and I will be transferred to standard tariff as from Aug 1st. The only way I can get my current rate is to switch to Websaver8 which is only available to customers who pay by DD. This is effectively a charge of £78 for the privilege of paying on receipt of bill!!!! A rip off just like the banks, no wonder BG have doubled profits.

I'll stand corrected but as it is suggested on the BG products page that WS8 is only available to New Customers [1] who pay by Monthly DD then you may well be able to choose that method over quartely DD after receipt of a bill

[1] New to BG or New to WS8 from another BG tariff ?

Brrrrrrrrrrr wrote: »

DDs should be banned as no one should have free access to another's bank account.

Eh ?

FF.

KimYeovil

Brrrrrrrrrrr wrote: »

I think this DD discount is allowing the energy companies to rip off their consumers - BIG TIME. British gas have just informed me that my current deal is coming to an end and I will be transferred to standard tariff as from Aug 1st. The only way I can get my current rate is to switch to Websaver8 which is only available to customers who pay by DD. This is effectively a charge of £78 for the privilege of paying on receipt of bill!!!! A rip off just like the banks, no wonder BG have doubled profits. DDs should be banned as no one should have free access to another's bank account.
I've just switched to Southern Electric.

Nearly nineteen months after your last post this is what twists your knickers enough to prompt you to pipe up again? :rotfl:

Welcome back.

Premier_2

micim1 wrote: »

....
I do not like paying them by direct debit (I initially did,4 years ago when I joined them, but cancelled that after they tried to take the money out of my account 2 days earlier than stated on their bill and I ended up with Bank Charges as there were insufficient funds - which they then refused to pay or re-imburse. They said that they had written to me the same day as my bill had been produced to advise the earlier date, but I never received the letter. The Bank, HBOS, took their side and would not waive the charges)...

That doesn't sound right at all.

You are fully covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee.

As part of the rules of the Direct Debit scheme, the originator (BG in this instance) are required to give you advance notice of any collection. That advance notice is normally 10 working days (unless they've agreed with you a different period in advance). The originator is not allowed to collect earlier than the date stated on the advance notice.

The bank (who in the event of a dispute, will take the payers word) is obliged to immediately refund, on request, the amount collected in error. You can also ask the bank to recover conseqential losses (e.g. bank charges) under the terms of the DD scheme, but they are not obliged to refund these immediately but only on receipt of those from the originator (typically within 14 days)

If the bank failed under the terms of the DD guarantee, you could complain to the FOS who will in no uncertain terms tell the bank to conform with the guarantee they are obliged to honour.

Perelandra

lalli_pickle wrote: »

Personally I would go with paying them when you get a bill.
I'm with Atlantic and they give a prompt payer discount which probably equals the DD discount anyway if you pay within a few day of receiving the bill.
As far as I'm concerned DDs are evil (Direct debits, not the other DD )

lalli_pickle makes a good point here,

Is it just gas you're getting from BG, or Elec as well?

The Standing Order discount you're getting for the gas account should be, I think, 4.78% of your bill, but capped at £10 a year. If you switch to Standard Cash Cheque, the discount for paying promptly is 2.1% of your bill... but capped at £15 a year- it may well be that your discount on a gas account would actually increase if you switched payment method (and paid promptly, of course). This isn't the case for Elec, though, which had a rather higher standing order discount (which I can't get my head around...)

The Direct Debit discount is much higher, and as others have said the online tariff is cheaper still, but has tie-ins/restrictions.


-- I work for British Gas, so please take this into account when reading anything I say on this forum --