B.Gas - billing error by them

samasama

British Gas have just cancelled my previous 12 months' bills, replacing it with one higher bill. After a week of trying to get an answer to some very simple questions, they have finally told me that ...

"I would like to inform you that the electricity charges vary from region to region in the UK. We've been incorrectly billing your electricity account to the electricity prices for the different region.

When we rectified this error, we've cancelled all your bills and re-billed your account with the correct electricity prices. That's the reason your bill amount increased"

Can they do that?

Surely if they make a mistake, that's just tough? If I bill a customer wrongly from my business, I would dream of going back up to a year and re-billing them.

I think I've managed to get the to drop the extra charge (unfortunately the email responses I've had have not been written in English that can be understood by a native English speaker)

Your thoughts?

Terrylw1

The billing code allows for correction of the last 12 months of consumption under certain conditions. So providing they haven't gone any further, they have acted with this self regulated code.

Its a matter for a complaint. There is nothing stopping them changing your tariff to correct it now without applying any backbilling. If you push, they way change this or just give you some compensation for the error.

The error is theirs as they set you up this way when it is clearly identified which region to belong to. They've used the wrong tariff code basically.

Its does happen but when I've seen cases with another supplier, they just corrected it going forward to be fair to the customer.

Did you know that your rates were wrong? Were the rates what you were quoted? If quoted and incorrect its a miss selling issue as well which adds to your complaint.

Cardew

samasama wrote: »

Surely if they make a mistake, that's just tough? If I bill a customer wrongly from my business, I would dream of going back up to a year and re-billing them.

Just on a general point, any firm who makes a mistake in billing can correct that error; just as a customer can demand a refund if they had been overcharged; and both have 6 years to act.

In the case of gas/electricity most suppliers are bound by a code to produce accurate bills, and I am not surprised they have written off the small sum caused by their error.

I suspect that the cancellation of previous bills and re-billing is because 'The Computer's program' cannot cope with a house moving from one area of UK to another;) so it is easier to cancel everything and start again.

Terrylw1

Cardew wrote: »

Just on a general point, any firm who makes a mistake in billing can correct that error; just as a customer can demand a refund if they had been overcharged; and both have 6 years to act.

In the case of gas/electricity most suppliers are bound by a code to produce accurate bills, and I am not surprised they have written off the small sum caused by their error.

I suspect that the cancellation of previous bills and re-billing is because 'The Computer's program' cannot cope with a house moving from one area of UK to another;) so it is easier to cancel everything and start again.

Usually its a reversal then a bill up where all payments are reapplied. When writing off, it can mean adding a credit adjustment.

samasama

Cardew wrote: »

I suspect that the cancellation of previous bills and re-billing is because 'The Computer's program' cannot cope with a house moving from one area of UK to another;) so it is easier to cancel everything and start again.

Ahh that makes sense

They have credited my account to cover the difference, so I'm not out of pocket retrospectively.

Mostly I wish they had told me about the change before doing it and also had staff that were able to understand and explain the change when I queried it. I wouldn't have got half as angry if they'd been more customer-friendly.

But then what more can I expect from a company that keeps trying to push me to sign up for dual-fuel (gas to add to my electricity) when there isn't mains gas in the area and they have already investigated and said 'nope, sorry, we can't provide it'.

So British Gas score:
0/10 customer service
0/10 billing accuracy

Terrylw1

It depends on policy really. Using credits can cause ledger problems and finance directors stop it as bill correction is the proper method and causes no distortion for them. It just takes longer, same result though.

The main issue is that someone coming along later might not know what it is and if the operator didn't put notes, it can get reversed...but hopefully not.