British Gas closing my account randomly

BeenieCat

Hi

I've recently moved home. In the old house I was with British Gas and I said I wanted to stay with them.

The new house was already with Eon so i had to be with them for 6 weeks while BG took my supply over.

Electricity is now all sorted. And Gas was due to be taken over on April 29th and i gave my opening meter reading as they asked. I kept logging into my account to see if my gas one was up and running but it wasn't yet, i assumed it was coming.

Yesterday i get an email saying "sorry you're leaving us" and that my gas account will be closed on 13th May :huh:

I emailed them to ask why, and they replied saying "your electric account is fine". Totally not what i asked. :mad: and when i replied to clarify and ask them which company is trying to take over my supply, they emailed back saying they don't know and to ring National Grid on an 0844 number. :huh::huh: I don't get it, i'm BG's customer so why aren't they sorting it? I've not signed up to anything online or at the doorstep so a bit confused.

Terrylw1

Its called an erroneous transfer and its sadly common.

Bgas are responding poorly because you don't need to do anything other than contact them to state you have not consented to this switch. They will then contact the other supplier for you and get you back.

The failed switch will show in the distributors database, but you will be switched straight back on will owe nothing to the other supplier.

So, do this and the other supplier has to prove you have. Its common that neighbours get the wrong MPRN and sign you u by mistake. So, they could also be chasing this new supplier asking why it keeps getting stopped. So, if possible ask who signed or requested the switch so you can tell them they've got your MPRN in error or this could happen again if the other supplier doesn't stop it.

BeenieCat

Thanks for the reply, I've got a reply back from BG who say it's Southern Electrics who are trying to take the account and "here is their 0845 number to ring and sort it out yourself". Charming.

On the phone to BG now who appear to be sorting it more helpfully than their email team... Will wait and see

Bah...... right, update. British Gas say that Southern Electrics are trying to take over the supply of a house nearby (we're all new builds) and they can't stop it because the National Grid have their database wrong :huh: so i have to ring Southern Electric myself. I asked them why can't THEY do all of that (as per Erroneous Transfer Customer Charter....) they fobbed me off. *insert roll eyes smiley*

BeenieCat

Omg, SE have said that i need to ring British Gas again as they shouldn't be sending the customer on a wild goose chase (as i suspected). :mad::mad: So i need to explain it all again. Sigh

Update again: I called BG back and FINALLY spoke to someone who knows what they're talking about and they're sorting it, i don't need to do anything. They said it was all Southern Electrics fault (lol).

Seems like my house number (4 My Street) and the other person's (69 Adjacent Street) was somehow mixed up with my new build house's PLOT number (69). Wow what a lot of hassle, when if i'd spoke to him in the first place i'd be 45 mins of my time richer.

Terrylw1

Glad its moving along for you.

Bgas have been telling you wrong, you have no contract with the other supplier and since it will be someone else's name on the contract, they can't discuss details anyway due to the DPA.

At least the other supplier advised you correctly.

Sadly, new connections cause a fair amount of situations with crossed meter details and addresses.

As long as both suppliers for the addresses ensure you correct postal address has been updated from the plot and your meter is also correct, you will be OK. If you need to check this, you can call the distributors MPAS number and ask they confirm your address, meter number and MPAN.

If the distributor has the wrong address and I can't fully tell from your post, telling the neighbour can help. The reason I say this is just after you sort this out, the new supplier will inform them they can't take their supply over. If the other customer took the wrong MPAN or the sales agent, they may ring the supplier stating they still want yo go ahead. Since all registrations have the be future dated, it will be another new contract but what if they again just use your MPAN...

I've seen this repeated ET business happen a few times and the customers on both sides are just as frustrated as they can be in the dark. Its good that you know what the root cause is incase it happens again.

Often it can be the builders that cause these issues rather than the suppliers, neighbours, sales agents, etc. Builders sometimes renumber the properties after they have already told the Distributor to do the work which causes the distributor to hold the previous planned addresses.

If Bgas cause any more problems, just raise as a complaint instead. At least you got someone experienced who could help.