Having Problems Changing Supplier For My Gas & Electric

macman

Maria_MacGowan wrote: »

At the moment I am going by both, but to be really honest if I get a lower direct debit I am happy as I am having less outgoings a month. In my previous property when my husband was not sick and earning a good wage the direct debit amount did not matter and the unit price did, but now the situation is a whole lot different by £150 per week which it is now from £500 per week when hubby was well enough to work you need a lower direct debit as you still need to eat and feed family. I am more likly to stick with a utility company if they keep the Direct debit to a minimum British Gas want £68 for Electric and £58 for gas a month done as 2 seperate monthly payments 1 gas & 1 electric Eon want £80 per month as 1 payment for both gas and electric and all I need to do is give them on the 1st of each month my metre reading who would you go for? I do understand what you are saying about unit prices, but at the end of the day it depends on your financial circumstances.

No you are not, all you are doing is building up future debt! Taking your argument to it's logical conclusion, you would be happiest if they reduced your DD to £1 per month-and then you quickly ended up owing them £500 in arrears...
What your DD is set at is completely irrelevant in the long run-what matters is your actual consumption, and being on the cheapest tariff for you.

Maria_MacGowan

Hi
Everyone thank you for your suggestions regarding the direct debits and unit prices, but we seem to have lost focus on what the real issues are. 1. How British Gas are using a clever little suggestion from OFGEM to keep thier customers (Can't leave unless you pay the bills off 1st, which despite paying high DD's for are still high and if you are on a limited budget you have to pay in instalments, then by the time you have paid that bill you will have to still pay off the other gas and electirc which you have used from British Gas while paying off the last bill so you still can't go with another supplier until that is paid off, hence you have a viscious circle and I wondered if anybody new if there was a way of getting out of this so that I could go to my new supplier and still pay off British Gas off in instalments). 2. The other issue on how British Gas seem to have a habit of keeping old customers bank details and using them iligally e.g. if you do go back to British Gas they just persume you want to pay DD and use the bank details from your previous account which by law should have been removed, then when you do ask for it to be removed they say they have then take a DD payment which was meant to have been cancelled. These are the issues I want advice about please.

KimYeovil

What is wrong with point 1? Why should you be free to escape the supplier without paying your debt first? How do you propose they get their money back? You complain about direct debits increasing to cover their price rises - how do you think people swanning off without paying hundreds or thousands of pounds of debt will affect their costs - you will be paying even higher prices to cover their written-off bad debts. Make up your mind.

Maria_MacGowan

No Kim I think you have the wrong end of the stick here! I will be paying them off in instalments but you need to break that vicious circle 1st that is what issue 1 is. When I have changed supplier in the past, which I have done many times before I have been aloud to go to the new supplier then pay off the previous supplier (Remember EDF even suggested it would the best way to go when I moved out to use the suplier who was already suppling the gas and electric instead of them, but they never demanded the bill with them be paid off 1st see reply 11 on this thread) and I have never not paid them back, some people might not pay them but I do, and I never once said when I started this whole forum thread that I was not going to pay them, I just wanted suggestions on how to get away from British Gas 1st then pay the bill of in instalments (I am not being funny but you don't work for them do you?) The only time I with hold money from any company is when they have made a mistake and they need to rectify it (sometimes that is the only way to get things sorted out once problem is solved they get the money owed) so I would appreciate it if you would not accuse me as being a non payer. I never once asked them or told them to write off the debt I just said to them close my account, send me the final bill and I will make payments in affordable instalments.

macman

No supplier is obliged to allow you to leave and 'pay in affordable instalments'! If you want to switch, you need to pay your balance owing otherwise they may/will block the switch.
Nobody has suggested you are trying to avoid paying, but you seem to expect to be given an interest free loan for an unspecified duration on a debt that has already been incurred.
How long do you wish to have to pay off the debt, and how much is it?

t0rt0ise

It seems to me that you were free to move suppliers until you made it obvious to British Gas that you couldn't pay the final bill. Now you've told them that, they are afraid that once you are no longer their customer they will never get it. It seems an understandable approach for British Gas. If you really want to leave them then it may pay you to get a loan from somewhere else and pay them back. But do be careful as the interest rates on a loan might be more than the savings you will make.

backfoot

Suppliers will allow you to switch with a debt. I did it with Npower. For some daft reason, when opting to switch, they took the final debit balance on electricity. On gas, I owed a much bigger balance of over £450, they decided that they couldn't action my Direct Debit.

When I phoned them to ask why,I was told it was too high an amount. I said it was ok,the funds were available but they refused my offer.

Then they went on to offer me a payment arrangement. They said three or six months? I jokingly said 12 months and they agreed.

Numpties. :rotfl:

Maria_MacGowan

backfoot wrote: »

Suppliers will allow you to switch with a debt. I did it with Npower. For some daft reason, when opting to switch, they took the final debit balance on electricity. On gas, I owed a much bigger balance of over £450, they decided that they couldn't action my Direct Debit.

When I phoned them to ask why,I was told it was too high an amount. I said it was ok,the funds were available but they refused my offer.

Then they went on to offer me a payment arrangement. They said three or six months? I jokingly said 12 months and they agreed.

Numpties. :rotfl:

Thank you some one else agrees with me you can change without paying the bill off 1st like I said before I have change supplier loads of time and paid of the previous supplier in instalments with no trouble at all, I have just called Eon and British gas are letting me go over with the gas at the mo still with no final amount but still refusing on the electric, mine tends to be the other way round though low gas high electric lol. But what you are saying about Npower saying the DD amount was to high to action is even more crazy they would rather take installments than take the whole lot o'dear it apears these suppliers use these laws and regulations to suit themselves. Hee Hee.

Maria_MacGowan

t0rt0ise wrote: »

It seems to me that you were free to move suppliers until you made it obvious to British Gas that you couldn't pay the final bill. Now you've told them that, they are afraid that once you are no longer their customer they will never get it. It seems an understandable approach for British Gas. If you really want to leave them then it may pay you to get a loan from somewhere else and pay them back. But do be careful as the interest rates on a loan might be more than the savings you will make.

No I didn't tell them I could not pay the final bill at as I had not even had it all I got was this letter, so they had no idea I was intending to pay in instalments. They did know however I had issues with them using my bank account with out my permission before I got the letter.

Maria_MacGowan

macman wrote: »

No supplier is obliged to allow you to leave and 'pay in affordable instalments'! If you want to switch, you need to pay your balance owing otherwise they may/will block the switch.
Nobody has suggested you are trying to avoid paying, but you seem to expect to be given an interest free loan for an unspecified duration on a debt that has already been incurred.
How long do you wish to have to pay off the debt, and how much is it?

I am not expecting an interest free loan either I am just trying to keep costs down. I still have not had the final bill for my gas or electric so I have no idea how much it will be at he moment. Everytime I go into my online account with British Gas it keeps saying I owe nothing for gas or electric, which don't make sense either. Ironaclally I called Eon today and it seems they are letting me go with the gas, but not the electric work that 1 out and it was the electric they took an illigal DD payment for on Saturday. If the the bills come to no more than £50 each then I will pay it out right which after being with British Gas for only 28 days should be less than that if it comes to more I would be extremly worried. I was thinking £10 per month instalments for each account if it comes to more than £50 each.