prepaid gas meter wont stop beeping, help please

petghost

My son has just moved into his flat. He has a matrix prepaid gas meter and can only buy cards from the estate agents to top up. We topped up the gas and it says there is £9 credit on there but now it wont stop beeping. Have rang the estate agents and they still have done nothing so wanted to see if anyone here knows anything that could help?

C_Mababejive

Maybe he needs to change gas supplier once this is sorted?

torbrex

The meter needs to be checked by a qualified engineer, it may be a tamper alarm that is beeping, bypass the agent and call BG and ask for it to be checked.

Ich_2

It may be that this is a private meter if the only source of cards is from the estate agent!

SwanJon

Sounds to me like a sub-meter: http://www.meters.co.uk/cardgas.htm

Don't think BG could do anything even if they were the supplier.
Keep on at the agents (or try Matrix directly).

Also - find out what price he is being charged for gas - they are not allowed to profit from the reselling of gas (or electricity) so ask to see the bills from the supplier and compare them.

Good luck

ic

SwanJon wrote: »

Also - find out what price he is being charged for gas - they are not allowed to profit from the reselling of gas (or electricity) so ask to see the bills from the supplier and compare them.

Surely they can charge admin for dealing with him, a price for the card, the meter installation, etc - and still not be classed as "making a profit"? Otherwise they'd be making a loss on administering the meter.

SwanJon

ic wrote: »

Surely they can charge admin for dealing with him, a price for the card, the meter installation, etc - and still not be classed as "making a profit"? Otherwise they'd be making a loss on administering the meter.

Yes, but that admin charge needs to accurately reflect the actual costs - e.g. it looks like the card & box it comes in cost 13p so they can legitimately add that costs in. I imagine matrix also charge for the vending machines, delivery etc so a portion of that can be included.

petghost

I think it is private. The gas box is a Matrix one and when I looked online for any info, it says they provide for landlords. Will just have to keep pestering the estate agents I guess.

Fire_Fox

The contract is between tenant and landlord not tenant and agent and the landlord is legally responsible for repairs and maintenance. If the agents are unhelpful contact the landlord directly using the address at which to serve notices which should be on the tenancy agreement. If there is no such address write to the agents requesting one
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/landlord's_address.htm

It is best practice for all faults with the property to be reported in writing, keeping a copy plus proof of posting/ delivery - this is 'acting in a tenant like manner'. This helps protects the tenant if the landlord later claims the tenant has damaged the property or failure to report damaged the property. Anything urgent can also be reported verbally.

chris1973

Perhaps it beeps when the credit drops below £10?, try putting £15 on and see if it stops. £9 is unlikely to go very far anyway (like putting £5 of petrol in your car) especially if the meter is also deducting a standard charge.