Avoid British Gas at all costs

gazfocus

I moved out of my previous rental property in September 2011 and notified British Gas of the move. I never received a final bill from British Gas but then on 27th October 2011, British Gas issued a bill reminder saying that I owed them over £190. Struggling to manage this in one go, I phoned British Gas to arrange a payment plan but was told I couldn't pay it by direct debit so agreed to pay via their website by credit or debit card. First payment went through fine but then when it came to making my next payment, the British Gas website would not accept my account number. I then tried to make the payment over the phone and had the same problem. I was unable to pay the payments. British Gas said I could pay by post (but don't have a cheque book) or Bank Transfer (but would you trust a bank transfer if your account number was being rejected?)

I then put the money into a savings account with Barclays Bank. Each month I first made an attempt to pay the payment online, then when that didn't work, I tried on the phone, each month I emailed British Gas customer service and was ignored. I then made a transfer from my personal bank account to my new savings account for the exact amount due to British Gas.

I later found that British Gas had entered numerous late/no payment markers on my credit file, not only for this account but also for every previous British Gas account I have had despite the reasons being down to British Gas's system rejecting the account number, so I decided to contact the British Gas CEO Phil Bentley. Phil Bentley passed my complaint onto a member of the executive office for investigation. This person stated via email that without paying the outstanding balance in full (at the time, just over £150), he would not be making ammendments to this specific account on credit file, therefore giving the impression that following receipt of the outstanding balance in full, he would remove the negative reporting on my credit file. This person agreed to remove majority of the late/no payment markers from my credit file because he agreed that they were due to British Gas errors. However, he refused to remove the ones that are having the most negative impact. These are the ones due to British Gas's automated payment systems rejecting my payments.

This person has been unable to produce a copy of the final bill he claims to have been sent on 7th October 2011 despite six requests for this to be forwarded. Instead, he has forwarded me an 'ammended bill' issued on 25th March 2012 which has serious calculation errors. When challenged, he then refused to comment and said British Gas will no longer investigate the issue, however, they have failed to provide any evidence that a bill was in fact issued on 7th October 2011 and furthermore, has failed to provide any evidence of the money owed.

I believe I have been intentionally led me to believe that following payment in full, Britsh Gas would remove the negative reporting from my credit file in order to get payment from me and in fact had no intention of making any ammendments to this account. Furthermore, I now believe that this payment wasn't even owed and was due to calculation errors by British Gas. British Gas has refused to comment any further.

Following financial difficulties 6 years ago, I have spent 4 years making sure my credit report stayed clean as my default is due to drop off my credit file any day now. This negative reporting on my credit file is now having a significant impact on our ability to buy a house as first time buyers and we are now facing the fact that we will have to wait upto 3 years before this negative reporting will stop having an effect on our ability to obtain a mortgage, meaning we could be thousands of pounds out of pocket should house prices start to increase again.

DUTR

gazfocus wrote: »

I moved out of my previous rental property in September 2011 and notified British Gas of the move. I never received a final bill from British Gas but then on 27th October 2011, British Gas issued a bill reminder saying that I owed them over £190. Struggling to manage this in one go, I phoned British Gas to arrange a payment plan but was told I couldn't pay it by direct debit so agreed to pay via their website by credit or debit card. First payment went through fine but then when it came to making my next payment, the British Gas website would not accept my account number. I then tried to make the payment over the phone and had the same problem. I was unable to pay the payments. British Gas said I could pay by post (but don't have a cheque book) or Bank Transfer (but would you trust a bank transfer if your account number was being rejected?)

I then put the money into a savings account with Barclays Bank. Each month I first made an attempt to pay the payment online, then when that didn't work, I tried on the phone, each month I emailed British Gas customer service and was ignored. I then made a transfer from my personal bank account to my new savings account for the exact amount due to British Gas.

I later found that British Gas had entered numerous late/no payment markers on my credit file, not only for this account but also for every previous British Gas account I have had despite the reasons being down to British Gas's system rejecting the account number, so I decided to contact the British Gas CEO Phil Bentley. Phil Bentley passed my complaint onto a member of the executive office for investigation. This person stated via email that without paying the outstanding balance in full (at the time, just over £150), he would not be making ammendments to this specific account on credit file, therefore giving the impression that following receipt of the outstanding balance in full, he would remove the negative reporting on my credit file. This person agreed to remove majority of the late/no payment markers from my credit file because he agreed that they were due to British Gas errors. However, he refused to remove the ones that are having the most negative impact. These are the ones due to British Gas's automated payment systems rejecting my payments.

This person has been unable to produce a copy of the final bill he claims to have been sent on 7th October 2011 despite six requests for this to be forwarded. Instead, he has forwarded me an 'ammended bill' issued on 25th March 2012 which has serious calculation errors. When challenged, he then refused to comment and said British Gas will no longer investigate the issue, however, they have failed to provide any evidence that a bill was in fact issued on 7th October 2011 and furthermore, has failed to provide any evidence of the money owed.

I believe I have been intentionally led me to believe that following payment in full, Britsh Gas would remove the negative reporting from my credit file in order to get payment from me and in fact had no intention of making any ammendments to this account. Furthermore, I now believe that this payment wasn't even owed and was due to calculation errors by British Gas. British Gas has refused to comment any further.

Following financial difficulties 6 years ago, I have spent 4 years making sure my credit report stayed clean as my default is due to drop off my credit file any day now. This negative reporting on my credit file is now having a significant impact on our ability to buy a house as first time buyers and we are now facing the fact that we will have to wait upto 3 years before this negative reporting will stop having an effect on our ability to obtain a mortgage, meaning we could be thousands of pounds out of pocket should house prices start to increase again.

Payments have to come from a current account.

gazfocus

DUTR wrote: »

Payments have to come from a current account.

I meant that I put the money into a savings account because I was unable to pay using the automated services, so to save risking spending the money elsewhere, on the payment due dates I transferred the money each month into a savings account, hoping this would be sufficient proof that I'd made attempts to pay rather than just not bothering.

DUTR

gazfocus wrote: »

I meant that I put the money into a savings account because I was unable to pay using the automated services, so to save risking spending the money elsewhere, on the payment due dates I transferred the money each month into a savings account, hoping this would be sufficient proof that I'd made attempts to pay rather than just not bothering.

How were you paying the bills prior?
The online banking allows payments with the customer reference (I have a barclays account and I am currently with BG).

gazfocus

DUTR wrote: »

How were you paying the bills prior?
The online banking allows payments with the customer reference (I have a barclays account and I am currently with BG).

A direct debit was setup then British Gas cancelled this when I notified them of the move. It was British Gas's website and phone system that was rejecting the customer reference number saying 'you do not have access to this account' so I had no faith that paying by online bank transfer would get there. British Gas don't seem to see this as a reasonable concern.

DUTR

gazfocus wrote: »

A direct debit was setup then British Gas cancelled this when I notified them of the move. It was British Gas's website and phone system that was rejecting the customer reference number saying 'you do not have access to this account' so I had no faith that paying by online bank transfer would get there. British Gas don't seem to see this as a reasonable concern.

What it is there is that (I have just or in the process of migrating from BG) when you log on further down the screen it says access closed accounts, then you click on there and access the account as per normal.
But as mentioned earlier on the barclays site click on standing order set up and enter your details there and make a one off payment to the account .

gazfocus

DUTR wrote: »

What it is there is that (I have just or in the process of migrating from BG) when you log on further down the screen it says access closed accounts, then you click on there and access the account as per normal.
But as mentioned earlier on the barclays site click on standing order set up and enter your details there and make a one off payment to the account .

Thanks but still doesn't work. Try to add the old account and it says 'You do not have access to this account'. This is the same problem I've had since the start.

The account has been cleared now (as of 4th April) because someone from the exec office manually took the payment.

MK55

gazfocus wrote: »

I then put the money into a savings account with Barclays Bank. Each month I first made an attempt to pay the payment online, then when that didn't work, I tried on the phone, each month I emailed British Gas customer service and was ignored. I then made a transfer from my personal bank account to my new savings account for the exact amount due to British Gas.

They asked you to pay as no company reporting to a CRA can amend a file when an overdue balance is still active.

Even if you set up a payment plan with a utility company if your account is closed you have a final payment date, each month the balance isn't paid they will report 1 for 1 months in arrears all the way to 6 but it will sta at 6 as you have used credit and closed the account this is due for full and immediate payment. It's like if you go over your agreed overdraft for over a month they will report a 1 even if you agree to pay it back over x amount of months.

If you can prove you was ignored when you said you emailed you may have an ombudsman case who can get your file corrected as you wasn't informed, bu can't see them not contacting when you said you emailed them.

gazfocus

I have acknowledgement's of enquiries for every time I tried to contact them via email and not one reply. I'm hoping that will be sufficient proof.