Can I go to the Energy Ombudsman?

deus

I wondered if anyone could help me with a situation I am having with British Gas. I have been a tenant in my current place since 9th Feb 2011 (date on tenancy agreement) and moved in on 11th Feb (phoned up and gave British Gas the meter readings and opened an account with them).

I received lots of British Gas bills in someone else's name, and these were bills for the period before I moved in and opened my BG account (i.e. 11th Feb).

I have since made numerous phone calls (between 1 and 2 a month) to BG to inform them of these bills. Each and every time I have been told that it would be resolved and that I will not get any more bills for the period that I wasn't living here.

Unfortunately, each and every time has been a lie. Because eventually the bills turned into an 'owner/occupier' account, and then finally had my name on them. Today I received a letter from a debt collection agency, saying that following their investigation (i.e. electoral roll or equifax.co.uk) they believe I owe them that money. This is apparently easy to resolve, I just have to send the debt collection agency a copy of my tenancy agreement. I hope this is the case, but I am very sceptical and only time will tell on this one.

I then phoned BG. I finally spoke to somebody who apologised and made a lot of sense. I have been escalated to have a manager call me back but this won't be for a few days. They can't do anything about the debt collection agency situation, which I appreciate, but I am wondering about if I have a case for the Energy Ombudsman.

The BG advisor I spoke to today told me that it should not have come to this, and that it should have been formally started on a complaints 'process', which would have meant it would have been resolved. They have records of me phoning every month, but no 'process' was started

I want to take this to Energy Ombudsman, but it states that first of all the energy company has to have had 8 weeks to deal with a formal complaint. They have had 8 months of me phoning them to sort this out, but it never was sorted out in the way it should have been, and no complaints 'process' was started even though it should have been.

Do I have a right to take this to the Ombudsman? I want to ask for some compensation for the amount of time, phone bill money and stress this has caused me over the last 8 months.

What are your thoughts on this case? Should I just wait to speak to the BG manager next week when he calls me or should I get on with contacting the Ombudsman?

jalexa

deus wrote: »

They can't do anything about the debt collection agency situation

Oh yes they can, they can take the account back.

I am wondering about if I have a case for the Energy Ombudsman.

Yes, but technically and ideally it is better to have first initiated a formal complaint, though in practice it is common for complaints to be backdated to the date the issue first arose.

What to do is up to you. If the Energy Ombudsman wants to give British Gas more time that would happen anyway. For the sake of a few days, only if convenient, I would wait until the British Gas manager phones back. I suggest restricting the conversation to little more than requesting a "deadlock" letter. See what effect that has. It is win/win for you, either you get the letter and go straight to the Energy Ombudsman or, as the price for delaying the letter, the manager has to resolve the issue 100% to your satisfaction, including distress and inconvenience (D&I) compensation.

Up to you.

chanz4

All you need todo is provide the tennancy agreements , and proof of where you lived at the time

SYNERGY

As Jalexa said ^

Can I add bit more.

Be meticulous in keeping records of dates, times and names in telephone communications.

Make hard copies of your emails and their replies.

Something easy to forget, but when push comes to shove that little stack of papers can be invaluable.

deus

Thanks for your advice and input everyone, very much appreciated.

littletommytucker

I don't think BG has done anything wrong, so no point going ombudsman. The previous occupant didn't provide a forwarding address, which leaves BG with no option than to issue bills addressed to "the occupier" for the specified period to your address. If BG didn't do this, then the balance would be void after a period of one year. The previous occupant could say they had agreed to have the bills forwarded on to them, and the supplier would be at fault for not producing the bills.

As the balance has now been outstanding for several months, the account has been passed on to a third party debt collection agency. After all, BG isn't in the business of debt collection and tracing. The debt collection company has then incorrectly pursued you for the debt, this isn't BGs fault. BG pass the account over as an "occupier" account, and it's the agency that has incorrectly traced you.

You need to provide the agency with your tenancy agreement so they can continue their investigation to locate the correct person responsible.

As a resolution the manager may agree to recall the account, but this won't solve the issue. After a further six months they will just pass the balance back and the agency will most likely incorrectly associate the account with you again.

spiro

It would be even better if you can also send them a copy of your tenancy agreement for your previous address as this will help prove you lived elsewhere.
Suppliers have lots of issues with 'couples' opening an account in one name, running up a debt and then the partner phones to say they have just moved in and can they set up an account in their name.

deus

littletommytucker wrote: »

I don't think BG has done anything wrong, so no point going ombudsman.

BG has done something wrong, on numerous occasions, I just had not been made aware of this until the phone call I had with them last weekend. They should be following Ofgem's complaints procedure guidelines, which is that they should have started a formal complaint 'process'. They had numerous opportunities to do this, and it would have resulted in proper action or advice for me. The fact that this hasn't been done means that they have had very poor compliance with Ofgem's procedures, which as then caused me a lot of unnecessary distress and inconvenience. I will go to the ombudsman if I am not satisfied with BG's resolution.

littletommytucker wrote: »

The previous occupant didn't provide a forwarding address, which leaves BG with no option than to issue bills addressed to "the occupier" for the specified period to your address. If BG didn't do this, then the balance would be void after a period of one year. The previous occupant could say they had agreed to have the bills forwarded on to them, and the supplier would be at fault for not producing the bills.

In fact, I think the previous occupant never even closed the account, as the original bills were coming in this person's name. It was only after I made a few phone calls to BG and told them that the person doesn't live here, that they changed it to an 'occupier' account.

littletommytucker wrote: »

As the balance has now been outstanding for several months, the account has been passed on to a third party debt collection agency. After all, BG isn't in the business of debt collection and tracing. The debt collection company has then incorrectly pursued you for the debt, this isn't BGs fault. BG pass the account over as an "occupier" account, and it's the agency that has incorrectly traced you.

Yes, I know. I never said or thought it was BG's fault that the debt collection agency had tried to pursue me. However, what I have recently been made aware of by BG is that this should have been resolved much more quickly, simply by me passing the bill on to my letting agency and for them to pay it. I was never advised to do this, but I did give BG the contact details and address of my letting agent twice. However, during my phone call with BG on the weekend I was informed that I should have done the former, not the latter.

littletommytucker wrote: »

You need to provide the agency with your tenancy agreement so they can continue their investigation to locate the correct person responsible.

Yes I know, and I have done this already, and my original post stated this intention clearly. I just added that only time will tell if this is enough. You can understand my scepticism when I have been dealing with these bills for 9 months.

littletommytucker wrote: »

As a resolution the manager may agree to recall the account, but this won't solve the issue. After a further six months they will just pass the balance back and the agency will most likely incorrectly associate the account with you again.

I will bear that in mind when I speak to the manager.

jalexa

deus wrote: »

Should I just wait to speak to the BG manager next week when he calls me...

Has the BG manager called yet?

deus

jalexa wrote: »

Has the BG manager called yet?

No not yet! I am due to get the phone call at some point today, but if I don't, then I will be calling back with my complaint 'process' number which states that I am waiting on a manager phone call.

undaunted

Why on earth would mess about any further with that?

According to your post you have been in contact with them for 8 months (though written complaint would be easier to evidence than phone calls & a better bet for the future), they have failed to resolve the issue & now can't even be bothered to call you back as promised (even if only to state that they are still looking into the situation)

Telling you they can do nothing about the debt collector is also blatantly untrue - as has already been pointed out they can take the account back anytime they wish

Though they may attempt to frighten you the debt collector is frankly irrelevant - you do not have to prove anything to them or even speak to them. They can do nothing without court action & why worry about any threat of that if you are in the right?

You are quite within your rights to take it to the Energy Ombudsman after so long with an unresolved complaint if that's what you want to do. That should also put a stop to action of any kind (including the debt collector) until they make their findings