British gas

martyhopkirk_2

Oh boy have i been duped by British gas.
12 month contract comes to an end on 10/12/2010 but good old reliable BG have locked me in to a further 12 months because i didn`t notify them 90 days before contract end that i wanted out.
Not sure whats worse, the fact that i can save £500 with N power or that the new BG contract will cost me £900 more over the next year.
If anybody knows of a loophole to get me out of this mess i would be eternally greatfull.

spiro

Is this a domestic or business contract because I thought most domestic had a 30 day clause?

martyhopkirk_2

Hi thanks for your interest.
It`s business.
We run a childrens nursery and £1400 down the pan is worth a fight.

dogshome

Hi martyhopkirk - From your post I suspect that you are a business with a commercial supply contract from BG

BG are not alone in this scam, all the Big6 suppliers were at it and these commercial contacts became such a scandal that Ofgem the regulator, made some effort to tighten up the rules in January of this year. Unfortunately these changes were not retrospective and don't apply to contracts entered into prior to January
To check your situation visit Ofgem's web site and enter 'microbusinesses' into the search window on the opening page.

From memory of previous posts, two businesses have managed to 'escape' from these contracts.
One totally changed the legal identity of thier business so that the supplier was left with a contract with a customer who did not use any Gas or Elec.
The other found there was a discrepancy in the address that BG were using to send him mail, and the contract was voided because the supplier could not rely on the legal premise that if a letter was sent, it was in law deemed to have been recieved

spiro

martyhopkirk wrote: »

Hi thanks for your interest.
It`s business.
We run a childrens nursery and £1400 down the pan is worth a fight.

There are various posts on near about this. A lot of people have previously responded to say that as a business you need to be more aware of things like contract renewal dates. I know that does not help but it is something that you need to plan carefully for. In this age of PCs and PDAs it should not be too difficult to set up an electronic reminder. Sorry that does not help but there are more rules to protect domestic customers than business ones.

martyhopkirk_2

AHA
Now things are getting interesting.
The address they use for us is not our correct post code, so how it gets to us i have NO IDEA. Maybe its the big sign outsde.

dogshome

Hi martyhopkirk - Looks as though you stand a good chance, and interestingly the supplier of the previous 'Wrong Address' poster surrendered on the strength of just a phone call.

In your position I would arm myself with Post Office confirmation of what your correct post code is, and quote this in any phone-call you make. DON'T issue photo copies of the documents you have had from BG because if they cover everything you should have recieved, it will undermine your position
Good Luck

martyhopkirk_2

Excellent
Thanks for your help
Great site