british gas saying they sent a letter when they didn't

jed786

i had a 1 year contract with british gas to supply my electricity and the contract ran out in july 2010. british gas say they sent me a letter prior to my contract running out which i didnt recieve.
while in the duration of the contract my electricity supply rate was 8.8 but after july my rate went up to 13.6 which is nearly double. when i realised this i rang british gas up and told the situation and they said because i didnt reply to there letter in july i have automacticaly put on a rolling contract. so i would like to know is there anyway i can get out of this so called contract, because the rate is crippling me.

thanks
jed786

brewerdave

If you have been put on their "standard" tariff then there will be no penalties for switching to a better deal UNLESS BG are owed money when they may well object.There are lots of threads in this forum on how to switch and the best ways of doing so.

kai666

if it's a rolling contract, you can get out of it anytime you like if you give the required notice

Joyful

I would imagine all you would have to pay is the penalty fee for leaving earlier if they have put you on another tariff ( apart from the standard). So you can leave. Just go into a comparison site and check your consumption. It may make it worth while to move suppliers and pay any exit fee.

When you signed up you would have been sent the terms and conditions. If your tariff had an end date it would have advised you what would happen at the end of the period so you could have been proactive rather than waiting for a letter.

If you are a business then different rules apply.

dogshome

H jed786 - From your post I presume this is a contract to supply Gas & Elec to a business.
These contracts, often sold over the phone, became such a scandal that Ofgem the regulator, laid down some rather weak rules in January this year, but these rules are not retrospective to contracts signed prior to January For more information see Ofgems website - Enter "microbusinesses" into the search window on the opening page.
It's important you carefully read the small print on the contract to understand what you are up againstThe typical scam was that the prices offered on the phone were attractive, but what wasn't said was that if the customer didn't follow a very precise procedure to cancel it at the end of the first year, the contract would roll on for another X years at whatever price the supplier decided to charge.

From previous posts it appears that there are only 2 ways customers can get out of these contacts
1) Entirely change the legal identity of your business - You'll need the help of a legal eagle to do this - so the supplier is left holding a contract with a customer who is no longer trading and doesn't use any gas or Elec.

2) A long shot but it has worked on at least 2 occasions in the past Examine the address to which BG have been sending thier letters, which must be exactly right in every detail
If it isn't COMPLAIN to BG pointing out that thier addressing error makes the contract nul & void
BG are relying on law which states that if a letter is posted it is deemed to have been received, but if the address is wrong they are stuffed

spiro

The other things that have been pointed out to business people who report this on this forum are:
1) It was in the T&Cs of the original contract which you should have read.
2) Why did you not put a reminder in your diary to check prices before the contract was due to end.

Not much help I'm afraid but as a business you should be more aware of contract T&Cs than the average domestic customer.