British Gas revised final bill over 1 year after account closed

MrsMN_2

I have not used one of these sites to actually post on before but I do reference them. My treatment by British Gas has been so bad I feel duty bound to tell everyone I possibly can to warn them.

Basically I changed from British Gas to EDF for dual fuel supply in January 2011. (Additional note, I have found EDF customer service equally as apalling!). The account with British Gas was settled and closed.

Skip forward to 29th January 2012, when I receive email notification from British Gas that my "online bill" is available to view. Assuming this is an error I email BG out of courtesy advising them there must be an error. I am told there is no error and this is the revised final bill for my account. A whopping £211.30 which must be paid immediately!! You can imagine my reaction. Several email exchanges follow with at least 6 different "customer service assistants" who clearly are not english and do not reside in england. All emails were littered with spelling mistakes and errors - including instruction for me to contact EON. EON have NEVER provided my energy. Then they started calling both my home and my husband pestering us for payment!

I have now escalated the complaint and am being told that even now they cannot confirm this is a final bill as EDF did not provide the meter readings. But they expect me to pay.

My point is this:
At what point is it no longer acceptable to expect a previous customer to make payments on an account which has been closed in good faith for over 12 months? At no point during that 12 months did I receive any notification that were was even an issue on my account, let alone a dispute regarding the final bill.

To then expect immediate payment just adds insult to injury.
I am neither a thief nor a conman and am happy to pay for what I use but in this economic climate, who can afford a £200 bill slapped in their face?!?

When will the UK realise just how poor our customer service is???

I have found the transfer process to be painful anyway but this is the final straw.BE warned people.

rogerblack

MrsMN wrote: »

Basically I changed from British Gas to EDF for dual fuel supply in January 2011. (Additional note, I have found EDF customer service equally as apalling!). The account with British Gas was settled and closed.

Does the closing meter read on the BG account you are being asked to pay match the opening read on the EDF account?
If so, it seems clear you actually used this electricity, and if BG have properly calculated this, you did owe this amount.
If you can avoid paying it due to their error or other factors is another question.

jalexa

MrsMN wrote: »

The account with British Gas was settled and closed.

This is not to doubt your word but to focus on the issue. When you say "settled and closed" can you elaborate?

I have now escalated the complaint and am being told that even now they cannot confirm this is a final bill as EDF did not provide the meter readings.

Do you recall providing transfer readings to Edf? Are you being billed by Edf for both fuels?

MrsMN_2

"settled and closed" - I recieved a Final Bill, my account was in credit from direct debit payments and therefore I was refunded monies.

Open readings were provided to EDF and they have been billing (despite a 3 month delay to set up the Gas account).

I read my meters at least 2-3 times a year and always submit to my provider.

As stated "I am neither a thief nor a conman and am happy to pay for what I use". My post was to serve as a warning for others about to change providers.

t0rt0ise

Sounds like the three month delay in gas might have something to do with it. But you do need to look at closing reads with BG and opening reads with EDF and see whether they match.

lithopsian

I agree with the others. Find out if they are billing you correctly based on the closing readings. Which you took, right? Get the facts right before you start ranting off at people, otherwise they won't take you seriously.

If the readings they are using are just bogus and don't tally with the readings you started out with EDF, then tell them that, in writing, and don't pay. It would help to get a copy of the first bill from EDF. Regardless of whether the readings were correct at the time, that opening/closing reading is all your are obliged to pay to BG. The rest goes to EDF,

If the bill is correct based on the opening/closing readings then I would suggest putting in writing that you don't feel you should have to pay this since you met all your obligations and closed out the account in good faith. Make it clear that you expend them to suspend collection proceedings while your complaint is processed. I don't know how far this will get you, but I bet it gets you somewhere. Twelve months isn't long enough that I would automatically expect them to forget about it, but it is long enough that I'd expect them at a minimum to make concessions of some proportion and a sensible repayment period.

mrcow

If you don't get anywhere with your complaint, then do escalate to the ombudsman.

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/energy.html

I certainly would not pay a penny until I'd recieved some sort of apology and/or reassurance from BG that they know what they are doing/charging for.

jalexa

MrsMN wrote: »

Several email exchanges follow with at least 6 different "customer service assistants" who clearly are not english and do not reside in england. All emails were littered with spelling mistakes and errors - including instruction for me to contact EON. EON have NEVER provided my energy. Then they started calling both my home and my husband pestering us for payment!

Are you 100% sure this is not a scam? Have you made contact with British Gas using known good telephone or email addys, not contact details on the 29 Jan email?

Check here... https://www.britishgas.co.uk/HelpAndAdvice/LookUp/?SXI=4,CASE=2709

...after determining that the above link is genuine.

burnsguitarman

A similar think happened to us when we changed from BG to EDF in Dec 2010. In Jan 2012 I received a final bill from BG saying I owed £28, having spent 30 mins on the phone to customer services I read the bill again and realised the dates were from the previous year and had just been duplicated and reissued!!!


If you are sure that your correspondence is genuinely from BG I would call them on the number given on your old bills and see what they have to say.
It sounds like you may have been scammed tbh.