who do british gas think they are?

ckin100

wanted to write into this forum to see if anybody can give me advice or help with british gas as they are completely useless company to deal with.
hey is the story last year my parents received letter from BG apologising for the fact that since 2003 to present they have been sending out bills with only 5 digit reading on statement rather than 6 digits even though our meter does have 6th number to read
Becoz of there mistake they have advise that we need to pay them back £2200.
not happy with this letter i phoned BG up to lodge complaint as but did not get resolved over the phone. they told me to write in b4 they can deal with complaint. i went to the citizen advice with my parents on the same day and advised of the situation. the person their adv that they can only chase upto 2 years backpayment as new laws came out early that year.
they told me to put that in writting to BG telling abt that also. the following week received letter as good will gesture becoz of there mistake they will lower the balance to £1600. also had call from complaint department during that period and basically did not get anywhere and made us feel helpless even further.
parents went back to citizen advice with letter and advise still not happy with amount , they suggested that they will get intouch with them to see if they can come to some sort of agreement as parents said at start not happy with amount that we have to pay. later on person from Citizen advice suggested that my parents can show accounts going all the way back to 2003 as our gas is used for business purposes and also personal use. reason why need to do that is becoz income is low need to show that we use alot for personal use more than business use.
parents went back yesterday to citizen advice as we recieved another letter from BG about the same amount, person there said they are sticking to amount and not going to review it any further and also tthe citizen person advising BG if they can let us repay back over 24 months.
i am really shocked with the outcome and have no sense of trust with BG as it is very expensive mistake on there part which i think is not exceptable.
if anyone has been through this situation and shed some light at the end of the tunnel please let me know as really having sleepless nights dealing with this.

jessc_2001

Although I've not been in this situation you and your parents have my sympathies!

I would suggest you contact energywatch : http://www.energywatch.org.uk/
who may be able to help you with the situation.

quidsin

Hi, I have trouble with BG all the time, my fixed price ends next month, then i'm changing.
Have you been in touch with energy watch? maybe they may help. https://www.energywatch.org.uk/

If you live in the midlands you could try phoning Ed Doulan at Radio WM 10-1 he loves BG 08453 030 030

Hope this helps.

Cardew

£2,300 owing over 3+ years? How much had they paid during that time?

Also if it is used for business you don't have the same protection as a private customer.

You don't seem to dispute that you have had gas worth £2,300 and they have written off £700 because of their mistake.

To me that seems quite reasonable. What do you think they should do?

ckin100

i will contact energywatch today and ask for advice. all i am disputing is how can i trust a company that send a letter to say they made mistake and then still have cheek to charge us. i have always had grief from this company where they have send us a bill that is always big and then having to phone up to let them know that this is mistake. when this company always seem to make mistake with us why should i trust the them.

elektra

If you have used it the energy then I think it is reasonable that BG are charging you for it, but because of their mistake also giving a large discount. Also I would expect BG to allow you to pay by instalments.

Parents had a similar situation where they had not been billed for 4 years due to BG not registering account properly. It was impossible for us to verify the changeover reading as it was 4 years previous and parents did not have old bill from previous supplier. However they did apply large discount and it seemed a reasonable amount for 4 years electric. They also would have allowed us to pay in instalments.

But with new law, I would expect them to produce a new bill for last 2 years and also apply discount for their mistake.

Agree though that their cust services is awful. I have problem withthem that they seem unable to sort out which has been ongoing since July

anniecave

the new guidelines are about not having a bill at all for two years, not correcting an existing bill. I guess another one where it pays to read your meter every now and again so you know what's going on!

I would agree that if you have used the units then you should pay for them, and they've offered a discount and/or reasonable time to pay then that is fair enough.

Cardew

ckin100 wrote:

i will contact energywatch today and ask for advice. all i am disputing is how can i trust a company that send a letter to say they made mistake and then still have cheek to charge us. i have always had grief from this company where they have send us a bill that is always big and then having to phone up to let them know that this is mistake. when this company always seem to make mistake with us why should i trust the them.

If you "have to phone them and let them know they have made a mistake" ('with big bills')that means you presumably have been checking your bills.

Yet you didn't discover when checking your bills that you have been undercharged by £2,200!!

We all either "trust" our utility company(not recommended!) or check our bills carefully. Given that you use some of this gas in your business it is very surprising that you don't check invoices carefully; or perhaps you do!

BG have explained how you have been undercharged and written off £600 of that amount. If you don't agree that you owe £2,300 you are obviously entitled to challenge that amount.

However it seems that you feel that you should either not pay anything, or get more written off. Or what do you want?

ckin100

well going to get a phone call from citizen advice today after meeting with them last friday as they are waiting for call from BG. i have demanded that i want further discount and also take longer than 24+ months to pay back inlight of our financial situation. have demandede if they will not budge then will still uphold complaint. can also someone confirm to me that i can not switch supplier until outstanding debt is paid, can someone shed somemore light on this. if my demands are not met can anyone suggest what is next step to take, eg would local newspapers listen to my story ?? any suggestion will be great

tripled

Usually you cannot transfer if there has been £1 or more outstanding for 28 days or more, however if it is a business account the regs may differ slightly, but being as business customers have less protection not more it is very unlikely BG would release the account.

Also when an account is closed with BG, either from moving house, changing supplier, etc, all balances become due immediately even if there is a payment arrangement in place, so in a few weeks time you'd have to start negociating with em again to try to get put back on the repayment scheme.

peck2007

ckin100 wrote:

any suggestion will be great

Er... pay the bill!:rolleyes: