British Gas mess-up

Anand

I have been a BG customer since moving into my new build property in 2008 and they have been supplying both gas and elec. I've been on a quartly or monthly direct debit since scheme depending on which tarrif I was on at the time and have never missied a payment.


Shortly before Christmas I recieved a random letter from British Gas - Saying welcome to British Gas and my new gas account has been created (with a new account number). A couple of days after I recieved a bill on the same account for about £1500. Which took my by shock. Looking at the bill, it was dated as far back as 2008 with mostly estimated readings and some "we read your meter".

I called BG and explained the situation and they basically said that they would look into it after I provided a meter refeence number which I did. They said that the meter for the "new" account doesn't exisit so some people will look into it over xmas and get the account closed down.
However, I logged in online to check the status during xmas and my existing account that I had been using had completly dissapeared (along with billing history) and another NEW account had been created with a credit of £920 and and a new bill of £1430 leaving me with a balabnce of almost £600 to pay. The bill is also dated back to 2008 with varios estimated meter readings.

None of my summited readings appear on the bill and BG are now sure that I owe them this money. They are saying the £920 is what I have paid to date and the £1430 is the gas I have used. One problem is that due to being on an online tariff, I do not have hard coppies of the bills and the old account that I had been paying has now dissapeared.

Any help will be apprciated.

Thanks,
Anand

macman

Have you checked the current meter reading vs the closing reading on the new bill?

dogshome

Something has gone 'orribly wrong at BG, and in your own interests you must WRITE to them immediately heading the letter Complaint
Set out the saga as concisely as you can and ask for copies of all the bills issued to you since you moved in - they have to supply them

The complaint letter moves the problem up the management tier to people who have the power to deal with it. and gets you on the road to the Ombudsman if you are not satisfied

pothole50

Exactly the same has happen to me I am switching form BG to Ebico and my account has also disappeared from the BG website so at the moment I am in limbo.

Gingermillie

We've got a similar one here except British Gas are chasing for just over £5 1/2K in electricity costs for the flat my OH used to live in! He had a direct Debit set up, again it's a different meter number (and again apparently imaginary), the bills go back to 2008, it's all estimated and to top it off he was with British Gas and it's British Gas Business chasing for payment.
Just escalated the complaint to their second level, if we get nothing in the next 2 weeks I'm off to the ombudsman (I do like a good fight with this lot!).
Good luck with getting it sorted out, let us know how it goes (and obviously if we hear any nuggets of information I'll pass them on).
Mil

Anand

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the reply and help here. Much appreciated.

To answer macman's question, the latest meter reading they have is what I told them back in December when the issue first arrose so they have calculated back from that.
I have since been on the phone to an "advocate" who is apprently working some additional stuff out. But he said that all previous billing history was deleted when my main account was closed and he said they are obliged to keep any of this (I can't believe this is true).

He said he will call me back Thursday once he has worked through the account - but I will write that letter as you advice ASAP.

Porthole, where is this old accounts section ? Can't seem to find it.

Thanks Again,
Anand

pothole50

Anand wrote: »

Hi Everyone,



Porthole, where is this old accounts section ? Can't seem to find it.

Thanks Again,
Anand

Mine was on the accounts pages at the top of the page was my current electricity account and right at the bottom of the page was the closed accounts section.

Anand

Finally got some resolve!

Got a call back from the "Advocate" earlier in the week who made some minor adjustments by applying the tariffs I had actually been on + the discounts for dual fuel and direct debit. The new bill came out at an unimpressive £538.
I stressed how annoyed I was at the fact that all my billing history had been lost by them and why they can't explain to me why the mess-up actually happened.
He told me some !!!! and bull story that they had compensated my £900ish pounds for the mistake, after which I mentioned about all the payments that I had made to date which came to about £920. I asked, so where is this compensation.. After a short period on hold - he came back to me saying they would compensate the £538 pounds effectively writing off the bill.

Persistence pays!!

The lesson learnt is to keep copies of all online bills and when my contract with British Gas is up - I am off.

Thanks,
Anand

DVardysShadow

Anand wrote: »

Finally got some resolve!

Got a call back from the "Advocate" earlier in the week who made some minor adjustments by applying the tariffs I had actually been on + the discounts for dual fuel and direct debit. The new bill came out at an unimpressive £538.
I stressed how annoyed I was at the fact that all my billing history had been lost by them and why they can't explain to me why the mess-up actually happened.
He told me some !!!! and bull story that they had compensated my £900ish pounds for the mistake, after which I mentioned about all the payments that I had made to date which came to about £920. I asked, so where is this compensation.. After a short period on hold - he came back to me saying they would compensate the £538 pounds effectively writing off the bill.

Persistence pays!!

The lesson learnt is to keep copies of all online bills and when my contract with British Gas is up - I am off.

Thanks,
Anand

Resolved or not, have you put your complaint in writing? I suggest that you still do this and get the resolution in writing. I have a funny feeling that there may be internal fraud on this one.

Butterfly_Brain

Since I have been doing monthly online readings with BG I have printed a hard copy of every bill and keep it in a folder....just in case of such a thing happening.

chanz4

They like a few suppliers are going through migrations to a systems called sap. Its very different to what they are used to so may be a user error