HELP!! British gas

Miss_Money

im at my wits end with Bg i need some advice heres whats happened so far..
signed up to Bg on 12th jan told id get a monthly bill, got one aftwe 7 months it was incredibly high. paid half of it as i was stuggling with money. 2nd bill came begginging of aug. Also incredbly high this was a quaterly bill for £200 plus. I then noticed that they hadnt put on price protection from jan till 2009. rang customer services who said theyd sort it out. i then got a debt collecters phone call from 1st credit who bullied me into paying £5 off the origonal. when i got off the phone i realised im paying an illegal debt as i dont owe them the amount of money they are trying to get out of me.
rang bg complaints they agreed i was in the right and theyd get the debt reaclled. (they havent done this after 6 weeks im now getting threatening letters to take me to court) i keep ringing bg who fob me off. im really fed up and now vry scared ill get taken to court. can i take some kind of action against gb? as i was promised a revised bill 6 weeks ago and have heard nothing other than threatening letters from 1st credit even tho ive been told the account is on hold? also had a dissconection letter!! All i want to do is pay the RIGHT amount and not be robbed. please someone help!

smartie1976

don't ring - WRITE in with a formal complaint.
You could ring today to advise them that they are undertaking illegal actions (re the debt) and that you are taking BG to court for this reason unless this matter is sorted with immediate effect, and you will also report to offgem.

State you are sending a registered letter detailing the contents of your call, the situation, and any other calls etc.

Also tell them you are recording this call (do this at the start) which means they will be liable for anything they say if not followed up.
Make sure you get the name of the person you are speaking to, and ask them to confirm that your previous contact with them is logged in the notes on your account (gas and ele are both on the same system now).

as for the price protection thing, you need to speak to the customer care team (in Leeds) who are the dedicated team for customers who haven't been put on their chosen price plans.
I'll try and dig out a number (and will PM it to you)

In the meantime see what energywatch have to say, on 0845 906 0708

Miss_Money

thankyou for your quick reply, i will ring them to advise of legal action and offgem. And then write a letter. they just dont seem to care about what happens to me! and i certainly dont want the stress of court hangng over me!

pondie1

we are havin trouble with bg aswell,we had prepay meter and it was taken out (due to increasing cost of it)we keep gettin letters saying we are in credit and its goin up all the time,we cant get to the bottom of it,energywatch are onto,the last two letters were one threatening to cut us off for owing £250 other saying revised bill £81 in credit,followin this logged onto house.co.uk and saw now £129 in credit,and bill cant b shown due to being prepayment meter readings,the prepayment meter has been gone since january,what a problem this company are

Miss_Money

They honestly dont seem to give a damn about thier customers!
As soon as this mess is sorted out im switching companies to someone who has a better record of customer care!

hilary1

I have been with BG for a while and have no problems at all but my daughter had huge rise in the quarterly dd and couldnt get anywhere so I rang them (as if I was her) and since I was so persistant it was sorted out that day.

They even got the energy efficiency people to ring her to try to reduce her bills.

Depends who you get on the other end of the phone.

Miss_Money

Depends who you get on the other end of the phone

ive had the customer complaints manager "dealing" with it obviously shes not the right person!! i want the person you had!

frivolous_fay

BG have been supplying my electricity since May and still haven't bothered to make my bill available to me. I can only pray that my direct debit is covering our consumption... at least until a BG monkey gets back to me and tells me what the hell is going on...

Miss_Money

update! i called energy watch yesterday who said i have nothing to worry about and they will sort it out for me yay! they also said any letters or telephone calls from 1st credit are to reported to them so they can sort them out. He said GB's new billing system has made a right mess and customers are ringing them in droves complaining!
basically gb have made a simple problem over complicated and this letter should sort it out. they even said they would go to court with me rgarding 1st credit if gb dont get thier act together and id win heh! i feel sooo much better no more sick to my stomache feelings if anyone has a problem with them i recomend energy watch they are fantastic!

miller

I had representatives from British Gas round earlier today. I am with Scottish Power, but apparantly because "they are in Scotland they pay us a £1.50 standing charge which we don't want you to pay".

I then did the following:
- lodged a complaint with energy watch
- emailed Scottish Power to tell them not to transfer me to BG (I wouldn't have put it past this bloke to forge my signature).

I feel sorry for the elderly and vunerable who have these "people" coming round their house spouting lies. *When* is the regulator going to do something about these cowboys.

hilary1

frivolous_fay wrote:

BG have been supplying my electricity since May and still haven't bothered to make my bill available to me. I can only pray that my direct debit is covering our consumption... at least until a BG monkey gets back to me and tells me what the hell is going on...

Just a thought though to you and others that dont seem to receive a bill - did you sign for 'paperless billing'?

I did as you get a discount of £5 per utility and I just go on line when I want to see the bills.

Maybe if you register online you can check your bills anyway?