Reckless Scottish Gas

gaz1922

I am looking for some advice on what to do.............!

Last year i recieved a call from Scottish Gas asking if i wanted to switch provider for my gas and electricity. We were originally with E-on and because it was in my Wife's name, i asked them to send me more information by mail as i was in no position to agree to anything at that moment.
I received a letter some time later stating that my electricity and gas had been successfully transferred over to Scottish Gas and it was in my name!!! I had never agreed at any point to transfer my supplier nor indeed wanted to. I phoned Scottish Gas highlighting this point, with them replying that it was a mistake and they would transfer me back to E-on without incurring any bills.
A year later, with no bills at all from either company, Scottish Gas got back in touch saying E-on were unwilling to take us back and that i would be charged a full years bill, which was £1300, and as a good-will gesture they would subtract £300 off.
I am now getting all the phone calls and letters under the sun, telling me i have to pay the amount due or they will cut off our energy!!!!
I am a student, my wife works full time, i have two children under 10 and with christmas here, and other necessities i cannot afford to keep up with a plan of £100 per month for each bill until the debt is wiped!!!

Can somebody give me some advice on what to do if anything?????

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

tuggy12

It's christmas, so I'll be charitable and not state the obvious.

macman

The obvious being that you knew for a year that you were not being billed and did nothing about it, so you've had interest free energy for all that time, and now they are offering you another 10 months to repay it.
You've also received (assuming that £1300 was the correct billing) a discount of nearly 25%, so I don't quite understand your complaint?
Bear in mind that much of that £100 per month will be to cover your ongoing consumption, as well as repaying the debt, so £100 per month does not seem unduly high. Indeed, if your annual bill is c. £1300, it seems much too low.

dogshome

As tuggy12 has indicated with tongue in cheek, letting a full year elapse with no bills wasn't the wisest move to make, but as you have said no bills were recieved from either company when in fact you should have had a Final Bill from E-on, something is very wrong that's not your fault

You have to deal with the situation as it stands now
WRITE to Scot. gas heading the letter Complaint, setting out the history of this saga - If you have not had actual bills and only written demands, then demand detailed bills, (They have to supply them), showing meter readings, dates and the tariff charges that applies at the time - By doing this you should stop any further demands for payments.
When you get the bills, check the Start Readings and the prices against what you were paying to E-on, if they are higher WRITE a 2nd letter of Complaint

Get in touch with E-on asking why they would not accept you back as a customer, my bet is that they were never asked by SP - If you can get them to confirm this, send SP a 3rd letter of Complaint

You are obviously going to have to pay for the E & G you used over that year, but the name of the game is to pay for it at the lowest prices, with perhaps a little compensation for the inconvenience SP have caused you with
an unrequested transfer.

macman

Correct, but the OP has already been offered nearly a quarter off the billing without any prompting, which is not a bad offer.

tripled

gaz1922 wrote: »

Scottish Gas got back in touch saying E-on were unwilling to take us back

Doubtful. Even if they don't want you as a customer as an erroneous transfer I'm pretty sure they have to reinstate the account, although if you make a habit of not paying your bills they might try and be awkward. Make a written complaint to Scottish Gas and if it isn't resolved then escalate it to the ombsudsman. Don't bother contacting Eon as the return has to be organised by Scottish Gas, unless you get it in writing from Scottish Gas that Eon won't reinstate the account (in which case write to Eon with a copy of the letter from Scottish Gas before going to the ombudsman). If you are already under threat of disconnection follow it up with a phone call to BG advising them you have written a letter of complaint and if not resolved it will be taken to the ombudsman so they need to suspend proceedings.

I am now getting all the phone calls and letters under the sun, telling me i have to pay the amount due or they will cut off our energy!!!!

You don't need to pay Scottish Gas until the complaint is resolved, as long as you actively chase it through until you get a resolution. However I would make the payments for now to be on the safe side as they would refund them if the account is transferred back to Eon. If you don't either chase through the complaint or pay them then you'll get cut off and be liable for the bill and charges.

If you persue your complaint and are successful then you will be returned to Eon and they will bill you for the fuel you used. I take it you weren't expecting to have a free year's gas and ele were you? You might also get some compo from BG, however it's unlikely to be 300 quid. Eon are unlikely to give you anything off the bill as they haven't done anything wrong. Best thing you can hope for from Eon is being allowed to clear the bill over the time it has accrued, i.e. 12 months.

So your choice is, pay BG (Scottish Gas) or persue the complaint and if it's successful pay Eon, but BG are likely to be the only ones who will knock money off your bill. If you were hoping not to pay for what you've used over the last 12 months then forget that now.

insanegloss

tripled wrote: »

Doubtful. Even if they don't want you as a customer as an erroneous transfer I'm pretty sure they have to reinstate the account, although if you make a habit of not paying your bills they might try and be awkward.

This isn't the case, there are scenarios where a losing supplier can reject an Erroneous Transfer, however this isn't very common at all.

An example of a scenario where an ET would be rejected is;

A transfer done when the customer didn't request it (a valid sales complaint) but has since moved out. The losing supplier would reject this as the new tenant has a valid deemed contract.

Just to clear it up from "they would always have to reinstate the account to the losing supplier" to "they should be able to reinstate you to the losing supplier, where possible"