Having Problems Changing Supplier For My Gas & Electric

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.

I might consider a loan only as a last resault, but it all depends on the bill amounts if I do it may be from the social as they don't charge interest. I am hoping this will get resolved without a loan if they do carry this on then I will use my bank account illigal use issue against them as I sure they have broken that law, which is more serious than changing supplier with an outstanding debt and to for them to use it 3 times well that is even worse.

macman

Firstly, you can work out exactly what you owe by reading your meters now and calculating what you have used since your last bill, then add your arrears and deduct your payments.
Then you want another x months to pay off arrears of £50+ at £10 per month? That sounds like my definition of interest free credit...
You've failed to grasp the whole concept of using a service and paying for it. Some suppliers may allow you to switch away without clearing the debt, but they are not obliged to do as some sort of human right.
if you feel that the DD has been wrongly taken then you have an obvious remedy via your bank under the DD Guarantee Scheme.

Maria_MacGowan

macman wrote: »

Firstly, you can work out exactly what you owe by reading your meters now and calculating what you have used since your last bill, then add your arrears and deduct your payments.
Then you want another x months to pay off arrears of £50+ at £10 per month? That sounds like my definition of interest free credit...
You've failed to grasp the whole concept of using a service and paying for it. Some suppliers may allow you to switch away without clearing the debt, but they are not obliged to do as some sort of human right.
if you feel that the DD has been wrongly taken then you have an obvious remedy via your bank under the DD Guarantee Scheme.

Its not just the fact they took a DD wrongly those bank details should have been removed off their system when I left them the 1st time round but had not, then I have had to phone them twice to have them removed and they promise the details have been removed when in fact they had not then they took the DD. Yes their is the DD Guarantee Scheme, but I think that is there for errors that occur when a company has you bank details with your permission. At the end of the day they should not have had my bank details, I asked them nicely to remove them twice and both time they promised they had but obviously had not and they are probably still on the system now even after the 3rd incident which again they said they have removed them and refunded the money there is no way to check this till the next incedent. I have not had my 1st bill form British Gas yet so have nothing to calculate the outstanding amount with as there is nothing on their website that has my previous reading when I joined them.

macman

You would have supplied your own closing/opening reading when you switched, do you not have a record of that?

Maria_MacGowan

No I submitted it by phone I scrapped the bit of paper it was written on ironically about 2 weeks ago when I was having a sort through old paper work as I was not expecting this kind of hassle.

Maria_MacGowan

Right guys we are not getting anywhere with this all this thread has turned into is a debate, which is ok if it is going to be helpful and get us anywhere but it is not. So this is what I want only, everything else will be ignored:-

1. I want people to contact me if they have had any of these problems in the past (cant change supplier till bill is paid and your bank details still being on a companies system with out your permission even if you was no longer or was with that comany) How they delt with these issues (what steps you took and companies reaction and did you win your case)

2. Any suggestiosn on how to sort these issues out, but still being able to leave company and pay in installments. (these suggestions can include loopholes)

3. These companies don't have to be just Gas and electiricity suppliers then can be other companies too eg phone, credit card, insurance, loan etc

Also some funny stories would be nice like the 1 Backfoot sent me.

Once I have these helpful hints I will be using them as evidence as I will be taking on British Gas anyway and rest assured I will get this sorted with them and be paying in instalments, I take on these people and tend to win 99.9% of the time it is just a question of finding what hurts them most and using it. e.g. (This is nothing to do with this but a good example) I am the only person who lives in Barnsley Council property with locks on the upstairs window and got them fitted by them, I had to do it after my son nearly fell out of 1, I complained to the council about this told them what I wanted doing and they told me it was law not to have locks on uspstairs windows incase of fire, and they was informed by the local fire service of this law. Cut a long story short I took them on, got the school involved, local fire service involved, local MPs involved, who in turn got the papers involved, got doctors and social services involved with in a month the council backed down I threatened them with going to the media but the MPs had already done it for me. 1 council worker who dealt with the windows side of things when he came to deliver a set of keys for downstairs windows said I would never get it done I told hime where I came from (London/Essex) I was known as the Rotwiler and for getting things like this sorted and I will get these windows done just you wait and see, he was very insistant I would not, well I did and guess who had the job of fitting the locks the very same man who thought I would not win, he was like you said you would win and you did no one has ever taken on this council like that and won before and he had been with them for years.

In turn when I find a solution I will post it on here for anyone else to use along with any useful research and loop holes.

macman

So this is what I want only, everything else will be ignored:-

Hmm...I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding about how a public forum works. It's supposed to be a debate for the benefit of the wider community, it's not just a free information resource for you.

Maria_MacGowan

This will be the only reply to this, if a forum is mean't to be for debates then lets invite British Gas to join in and I will show you how to take down a very large company down and how you teach these large companys some mannners (they seem to have forgotten the old saying 'the customer is always right!')

Forums are also a good way to find people who have been through the same thing who have got their problems sorted and to find out if there are any others that are having the same and need help (it will be interesting to find out who else is having these issues and how many of them are haveing them with British Gas). When I started this thread also I thought there might be people who was willing to help and maybe to change things you know a bit of people power it has worked in the past and if we help a few people along the way to stand up these people all well and good. Right that is the end of that now lets get back to getting what I need at this particular time.

Just 1 thing what you going to do if I prove you and a few others wrong and get British Gas to back down?

t0rt0ise

Maria_MacGowan wrote: »

I am the only person who lives in Barnsley Council property with locks on the upstairs window and got them fitted by them

That's weird. I just moved out of a Housing Association house that had locks on all the windows. Seems you were told rubbish about the law unless my HA was breaking the law.

But still, what I said before still stands. You left BG, got a final bill, told them you could only pay in installments, went back to them then tried to leave again. They then knew that you couldn't pay the final bill so stopped you leaving. I can't see how you're going to find a loophole there.

Energy companies usually have the upper hand as they can change the meters for prepayment meters and reclaim their debt from there. You only have any leverage if you aren't still their customer.

Maria_MacGowan

Small world, you live in Barnsley as well. As it turned out Barnsley Council was telling porkies about this so called law. I don't know about your windows they could have been fitted by the people who lived there before you. I have those tilt and turn windows upstairs which if done in a certain way open very wide and there is nothing to stop them. The day the Barnsley cronicle went to print was the day windows got done coincerdents, I don't think so if you live in Barnsley you might remember the article about late April 09 late May 09.

We will see what happens with British Gas remember I do have the iligal use of bank details to use which I will do if I have to, even if I don't get them to back down if I loose the payment in instalment battle and have to get a loan out they will be sorry because I will use the bank details issue against them and make there life hell (I am sure they don't want that to become public knowledge at the moment it is only between people on this forum and those on facebook but it will go very public if they don't back down) I e-mailed my complaint to the complaints department regarding both issues and made it quiet clear to them that them using my bank details without permission will be leaked via tv, papers, radio, internet etc if they don't back down. (Sorry I do have an evil streek I'm afraid hee hee) British Gas complaints department have got till lunchtime Monday to get back to me or I will be calling them to find out what they are going to do about the situation, for a company who are desperate for my money they don't seem in to much of a hurry to send the bill out I still have not got it, bad snow is no excuse as I can be sent it through paperless billing via e-mail.