Will British gas litigate over £36

pixiewose

Hi all. Can anyone help? I recently left BG and they sent me various bills to close the account. I got a settlement cheque for my elec, but they now say I owe £36. I presume it would be uneconomical to persue. I just don't have the money to pay. Any suggeStions welcome!

NeverInDebt

Have you received a letter to say why you owe the money considering you got got a cheque what you believe the final settlement, did its say final bill etc. They may well sell the debt on even at £36 to a debt agency who will out on high chargers, its worth dealing directly with BG

spiro

Have you received a revised final bill?
Did you just change suppliers or move to a different address?

pixiewose

I changes suppliers. The cheque was for the electric and the debt is for the gas. They sent me 3 'final' bills in total- one saying I was £50 in credit, one saying I owed £2 and one saying I owed £36. Also they deactivated and reactivated my accounts- meaning I couldn't give a final reading. I presume the reading they got was from npower, who I switched to. I know it only seems like a little bit of money, but I'm just skint!

[Deleted User]

pixiewose wrote: »

Hi all. Can anyone help? I recently left BG and they sent me various bills to close the account. I got a settlement cheque for my elec, but they now say I owe £36. I presume it would be uneconomical to persue. I just don't have the money to pay. Any suggeStions welcome!

All this over £36 quid :think:

WhiteHorse

Ask them to show their workings (a full accounting of how their figures were arrived, dates etc). They won't be able to. Anything they do send you won't make sense, and then you have them.

macman

BG have in excess of 15 million customers. Writing off £36 per customer would cost them £0.54 billion. So the answer is yes-they will sell the debt on to a DCA.

spiro

pixiewose wrote: »

I changes suppliers. The cheque was for the electric and the debt is for the gas. They sent me 3 'final' bills in total- one saying I was £50 in credit, one saying I owed £2 and one saying I owed £36. Also they deactivated and reactivated my accounts- meaning I couldn't give a final reading. I presume the reading they got was from npower, who I switched to. I know it only seems like a little bit of money, but I'm just skint!

They dont transfer balances between gas and elec. You should have used for elec settlement cheque to pay your outstanding gas bill.

If the big suppliers are to be believed £36 is 2 years profit for a customer.

jalexa

pixiewose wrote: »

They sent me 3 'final' bills in total- one saying I was £50 in credit, one saying I owed £2 and one saying I owed £36.

I presume the reading they got was from npower,

I don't condone you trying to avoid paying a valid debit balance but...

the final final bill needs to be accurate and transparent. Starting with the reading, can you see the starting reading which you provided to NPower on any of the final final bills? That is the final bill which is most likely to be accurate. Does the date agree? What is the balance on that bill?

If you have been "confused" by receiving 3 final final bills you are fully entitled to raise a formal complaint. I suggest in writing or by email. This will give you time to set aside the worst case outcome - £36.

jalexa

spiro wrote: »

They dont transfer balances between gas and elec.

That does seem to be true. My experience is that dual-fuel single bill accounts never show a seperate energy split until transfer time when a single fuel debit balance can suddenly appear on an account which has previously been in credit.

I think that is potentially very confusing and I'm not convinced by supplier explanations that it "has to be done that way".

pixiewose

jeepjunkie wrote: »

All this over £36 quid :think:

When you don't have enough money to buy food every week, £36 is a lot, particularly if it is unnecessary. I spoke to them today, and it seems they have an incorrect metre reading, so I'll sort it with npower. Thanks for your advice.