British Gas Complaint...Can someone please me!?

michelleking

[FONT=&quot]Dear British Gas,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have recently received a letter (15th May 2103) that you are applying for a warrant to change the electricity meter at the privately rented property I currently reside in.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I understand the fact that I owe this money to British Gas but at this moment in time I am currently on Income Based Job Seekers Allowance which gives me £200.00 a month. On your website the total a month to repay is a staggering £125.00 which leaves me with £75.00 a month to live on.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Again I understand that this means nothing to you as you’re a conglomerate organization and make Billions of pounds in profit every year, but this leaves me in a precarious position financially.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]For almost a year I have been trying to pay £30.00 a month like I was already doing, all of a sudden this wasn’t good enough and you demanded apathetically that this amount was increased to £79.00 a month and as mentioned before this is now £125.00.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Today 16/05/2013 I called yet again your “Help Line” as there are a number of ways you can Help, the ONLY option was the Pay-as-you-go option, I had offered to pay using the Benefits I obtain from the Job Seekers Allowance I receive as advised in a previous phone call to British Gas. This works out to be £20 per account (£40 a fortnightly) out of my £100.00 a week of my Job Seeker Benefit. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The foreign speaking advisor was not having any of that; he hung up on me abruptly. I called yet another Helpline number that he gave me and this time and spoke to yet another foreign person who was also very insistent that I switch to the advised meter. He then continued to challenge why I was opposed to the meter change and that the warrant was already in place for the 30th May 2013, despite not going to the magistrate court yet. As there are still 2 weeks left in the month of May, you should accept my payment plan offer. The reason he gave me for not being able to accept the payment plan offer was the fact that this could take up to 5/6 weeks to set up, thus enabling you to still issue the warrant and for you to charge the extra £202.00 for the execution of this warrant.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The only reason this has dragged out for so long is your inability to offer help for people who require it, I had payment cards which I’ve been told are no use unless I pay the £79. They have been suspended despite making payments of £30.00 a month previous with no problem at all.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]As I am unemployed and British and I am willing to use my benefit money to pay this bill as best as I can afford, which will leave me struggling for months to come to eat, pay other bills etc.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I now expect you to take my offer of payment through my Income Based Job Seekers Allowance which you will [/FONT][FONT=&quot]organise[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]through the Central Milton Keynes Job Centre so the Warrant to change the Meter can be cancelled as I have offered (again) to pay.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]A quick and swift response would be greatly appreciated. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Regards[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Michelle King[/FONT]

bob_bank_spanker

What difference does the nationality of the BG employee make?

It's nigh on impossible to gauge the exact situation here without some KWh usage figures, but I would be astonished if £30 a month was ever going to cover your usage. The uk average is approx £100 and rising. Did it never occur to you you were paying too little?

Whilst the customer services reps appear to have been less than helpful, I can't help but agree with BG's assertion that PPM's will be best in your situation; you can pay for exactly what you use, and chip away at the debt slowly.

I assume accurate meter readings were given when you moved in and have been submitted throughout this process?

Good Luck

southcoastrgi

bob_bank_spanker wrote: »

What difference does the nationality of the BG employee make?

It's nigh on impossible to gauge the exact situation here without some KWh usage figures, but I would be astonished if £30 a month was ever going to cover your usage. The uk average is approx £100 and rising. Did it never occur to you you were paying too little?

Whilst the customer services reps appear to have been less than helpful, I can't help but agree with BG's assertion that PPM's will be best in your situation; you can pay for exactly what you use, and chip away at the debt slowly.

I assume accurate meter readings were given when you moved in and have been submitted throughout this process?

Good Luck

it makes alot of difference when the person on the other end of the phone can't understand what you are saying, it really p***es me off if they can't speak very good english.

I'm paying £30 p/m for electric & don't have gas

bob_bank_spanker

southcoastrgi wrote: »

it makes alot of difference when the person on the other end of the phone can't understand what you are saying, it really p***es me off if they can't speak very good english.

I'm paying £30 p/m for electric & don't have gas

The OP mentioned nothing about being understood, only that they were speaking to a foreigner.

I'm foreign, and I'm fairly confident I can grasp what native Brits say.

Congratulations on your low energy usage. :T

sheffield_lad

southcoastrgi wrote: »

I'm paying £30 p/m for electric & don't have gas

That's fantastic but very rare, as pointed out the average is around £120 per month. The OP needs to grasp that he was not and will not cover his usage with this amount.

OP, the PP meter sounds the solution to your problems as debt recovery can be set lower and you can monitor your own usage which you look to have struggled with given you thought £30 would cover it.

chanz4

Op credit is not a right

spiro

As others have said you were not paying enough to cover ongoing usage and repaying the debt. A PPM meter is best for you because; your debt wont increase further and the debt recovery rate could be as low as £3.50 per week.

You dont mention what you owe BG.

macman

spiro wrote: »

As others have said you were not paying enough to cover ongoing usage and repaying the debt. A PPM meter is best for you because; your debt wont increase further and the debt recovery rate could be as low as £3.50 per week.

You dont mention what you owe BG.

In such cases, this critical piece of info normally has to be teased out of the OP in a very long thread.
The OP would be crazy to oppose the fitment of a PPM-best to accept it voluntarily and save the additional warranty and entry costs.
It's simply not possible to heat, light and hot water a property for £30pm.

undaunted

Fuel direct would allow you to pay for ongoing consumption plus a nominal amount off your debt (about £3.60 a week) but will only facilitate £30 & prevent collection activity if that covers your usage

How does £30 p/m compare to what you are using ?

See this link if £30 if you think will cover it. http://cfe.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5488/~/information-about-fuel-direct

You could also look at applying for an energy trust grant if you can sustain on going use but not the debt at present http://www.charisgrants.com/splash.html

Good luck

Nada666

michelleking wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]The only reason this has dragged out for so long is your inability to offer help for people who require it, I had payment cards which I’ve been told are no use unless I pay the £79. They have been suspended despite making payments of £30.00 a month previous with no problem at all.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
As I am unemployed and British and I am willing to use my benefit money to pay this bill as best as I can afford, which will leave me struggling for months to come to eat, pay other bills etc.[/FONT]

You have already been offered options. You misused them - you were allowed to pay a minimum of £30 per month. You chose to continue to use more than £30 per month and increase rather than manage your debt - that does not equal "with no problem at all".

Payments taken direct from benefits are not permitted to be unreasonable. This is why that option is not now open to you - your historical usage is far too high.

Your only option is prepayment meters. To save an additional £202 of debt you should contact British Gas to arrange free installation. Your existing debt can then be paid off interest free at less than £4 per week.