British Gas trying to charge me again.

wonderwhatif

I moved out of my apartment back to my parent's house in November. British Gas took our final readings and said they would organise a final bill and send back any money we were owed. We received a bill, called up and were told it was the final bill and paid it. A couple of weeks later my husband and I received a 60 pound refund.

Now they are demanding we pay a final bill of 70 pounds, three months later, saying it's only so much because our refund should have gone towards it.

We were told it was the final bill last time. Anything we can do/ use to fight this?

Sincerely,

Lorna

Hintza

You have a final reading where is the error? Are they trying to charge for a higher reading at a later date ?

sweetstudent

I work in the industry (not for British Gas) and to be honest there is nothing that can be done as a supplier has 1 year to bill you once you have left supply or accumulate a debt. If you refuse to pay all that will happen is that it will get sent to a Debt Collection Agency, whist it is your choice if you pay or not - i would recomend that you pay the £70.00 as it will be a hell of a lot cheaper once the collection agency add on their 'admin fee's'.

wonderwhatif

Hintza wrote: »

You have a final reading where is the error? Are they trying to charge for a higher reading at a later date ?

They are trying to say the last bill we paid was not the final bill, even though at the time we were told it was, they closed our account and sent us a refund.

wonderwhatif

sweetstudent wrote: »

I work in the industry (not for British Gas) and to be honest there is nothing that can be done as a supplier has 1 year to bill you once you have left supply or accumulate a debt. If you refuse to pay all that will happen is that it will get sent to a Debt Collection Agency, whist it is your choice if you pay or not - i would recomend that you pay the £70.00 as it will be a hell of a lot cheaper once the collection agency add on their 'admin fee's'.

Except that we closed our account and they said they had finished everything, so as far as I'm concerned we owe nothing, it was their mistake to send us the refund. Which might be callous, but I moved home as my circumstances changed and can't afford it now.

I might just let it go, as I'm immigrating in a month and they have none of my new contact details anyway.

wealdroam

They made a mistake.
You still owe them money.
They, or their debt collectors, have six years to collect it, adding on their fees as they go.

You decide.

Pssst... the word is emigrating.

arcon5

wonderwhatif wrote: »

They are trying to say the last bill we paid was not the final bill, even though at the time we were told it was, they closed our account and sent us a refund.

Then they was wrong, and the it wasn't infact a final bill.

Their mistake doesn't change the fact you used to service and have to pay for that usage.

Pay up, you won't find loopholes to avoid paying a legitimate bill.

bod1467

Emigrating is a pretty good loophole.

The_Pedant

Have you actually checked the numbers?
- What did your final bill say for the readings and did they tally with the final ones given by yourself?
- What are the readings given on final bill number 2 & how do they compare you your own 'final' readings?

Could it simply be a case that the usual quarterly bill was issued & there was some sort of mix up, so the 1st one you paid wasn't actually based on the final readings? (just thinking out loud there)

The bottom line is you need to double check what you've been billed for and what you've actually used to try and determine where the difference has come from.

arcon5

bod1467 wrote: »

Emigrating is a pretty good loophole.

Not really a loophole. Just makes it much harder to chase/enforce .

wonderwhatif

The_Pedant wrote: »

Have you actually checked the numbers?
- What did your final bill say for the readings and did they tally with the final ones given by yourself?
- What are the readings given on final bill number 2 & how do they compare you your own 'final' readings?

Could it simply be a case that the usual quarterly bill was issued & there was some sort of mix up, so the 1st one you paid wasn't actually based on the final readings? (just thinking out loud there)

The bottom line is you need to double check what you've been billed for and what you've actually used to try and determine where the difference has come from.

Thanks for the tip, rather than just yellng at me >_<.

I'm not actually sure of the bill because I think we paid the same amount every month. I believe the 'final bill' was actually them tallying up everything we used over the amount we normally paid, it's just irritating that the amount they're charging is now huge because they sent us a refund instead of using it towards the bill.