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Have British Gas Gone Mad?

Today I received a letter from British Gas telling me I was almost £420 in credit. A figure I knew and was happy about. However British Gas have also informed me that because of this credit, they have refunded £370 to my bank account. This the leaves me with just under £50 in credit, and as a consequence, they are increasing my direct debit payments!

Is it me or can any one else follow the logic of giving you money back with one hand and taking it back with the other?

It's no wonder that gas is so expensive when they are wasting money processing refunds and sending out letters informing customers of their completely pointless antics.

Comments

  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,129 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    The purpose of a DD plan is to give you a zero balance at the end of winter. The process you describe is probably done entirely by computer with that aim in mind.
    Why give BG a free loan of as much as £420-that's far too much to see you through the winter.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • undaunted
    undaunted Posts: 1,870 Forumite
    I can see both (or even all 3) points of view here

    On one hand as op says it does seem very contradictory / illogicalm (& the fact you have a credit that's more than they think you'll need this winter surely suggests they made a mess of earlier estimates)

    On another BG probably can't keep easily collecting DD's unless they reduce the credit to a manageable level

    On another (& the one I most agree with) as macman says why would you want to give BG an interest free loan of £420 (or more depending on future DD's)?
  • It's your money isn't it?

    This shows utility companies are doing the right thing and you can choose what you do with your money.

    Remember a few years ago you would have had a real fight on your hands to get that money back
  • mattcanary
    mattcanary Posts: 4,420 Forumite
    Surely if the OP has built up a credit, BG shouldn't be increasing the DD amount even if they refund the money - the OP will just go massively into credit again. BG are treating the OP's payments as an interest-free loan.
  • Premier_2
    Premier_2 Posts: 15,141 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    mattcanary wrote: »
    Surely if the OP has built up a credit, BG shouldn't be increasing the DD amount even if they refund the money - the OP will just go massively into credit again. BG are treating the OP's payments as an interest-free loan.

    That would depend on all the circumstances.

    e.g. although the OP currently has a £420 credit balance (before the refund), if this credit balance was say £1000 last year then the monthly payments alone would not be covering the current usage :)
    "Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 2010
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