How to make a complainr against your probvider

geek84

Hi Folks

I am thinking of making a complaint against my gas & electricity supplier, and would be very grateful if you could advice if I have a good case (below) for doing so -


I have been getting both my gas & electricity from the same provider for the last few years. I also have a maintenance agreement with them which covers for breakdown of the boiler etc.

To cut a long story short, I pay monthly by direct debit and my 12 month contract ran out last July (they tell me!). I never received any letters from them reminding me that my contract is coming to an end or asking if I want to renew my maintenance contract etc. They also stopped taking the direct debit payments. By the way, during the last 2 years, they never sent any engineers round to do the annual gas safety inspection (which they should do).

All this came to light when, in December, looking back through my old records, I rang them up to say that they have never done the annual inspection for the last 2 years! The person who I spoke to said he does not know the reason for this, but the contract ran out in July anyway! I told them that they should have reminded me that my contract was coming to an end and I would have definitely renewed it. They said that a letter had been posted and perhaps I never received it!

Anyway, they talked me into siging a new contract with them (which I did in December 2010). By coincidence, due to the bad weather we had in December, my boiler became faulty. I rang them up again asking if someone can come round to fix the boiler. They refused saying that because it was a new contract (which they talked me into signing one), an initial inspection of the boiler needs to be done before any work can be carried out! This is the inspection which they hadn't done for the last 2 years (as stated earlier). An inspection has now been done by one of their engineers and in his report he has started that the boiler is faulty (as expected)!!

They are now refusing to fix the problem by stating that the boiler was faulty BEFORE taking out the contract with them! However, as stated earlier, I have been with them for a number of years and they did not notify me that my maintenance contract was coming to an end, and on top of that they never did the required inspections!

So, do you thinki I have a good case to make a complaint? If you think I do, is it better to contact someone else, such as citizens advice, to get more advuce of wqrting my letter of complaint etc?

Many Thanks for any responses.

undaunted

If you feel you have been wronged you have little to lose by making a complaint.

I suspect however that you will face some difficulties in winning it - for example they are likely to query how / why you failed to notice that you had stopped making payments last July & whether your subsequent complaints arose only after your boiler broke down in reality?

Good luck

Cardew

Agree with above, I don't think you have a good case - especially as they say they sent a letter. These letters are generated automatically by the computer so it is not a case of a person forgetting.

It does look to an outsider that you allowed the contract to lapse(as you didn't notice your DD had lapsed) and when boiler started playing up, you decided to try and restore the old contract - Not accusing you of that - merely how it appears.

For you to take the complaint forward you will need to put your complaint in wtiting and get a response before taking it further.