scottish power reckon we owe money on a pre payment meter

timmy_tastic

we changed from scottish power in may to british gas for our gas, and in june they sent me a letter saying i owe them £40. iv phoned them up and asked why i owe this money as i have never been in debit with them i always have about £100 on my meter, they reckon cause i didnt top up in june i owe the £40 now they av sent the debit to a debit colleter company. i thought the reson for a pre payment meter is you pay what you use how can you get a debit if you are always in creidt, iv phoned british gas and they said if there was a debit on the meter they would have refunded it, every time i phone scottish power i speak to people who are very rude and unhelpfull. are they in the right or wrong, when iv switched in the past no other compony has said i owe them money. please help

DragonQ

Did you always have a prepayment meter whilst with Scottish Power? If so, I can't see how you could owe them any money unless they put you on the wrong tariff or something. Either way, you have a right to know why exactly you owe the money, so write them a letter asking for an explanation.

timmy_tastic

the explanation they give is cause i didnt top up the meter in june as i didnt need to as i had about £90 on there and british gas told me not to until after the switch date which was the end of june

DragonQ

But that makes no sense...

timmy_tastic

i know right every time iam in contact with them they just say i owe the money and thats it. but like i said to them other companys iv switched to in the past av never said i owed them money just these

Viberduo

Wow just had an identical problem, it seems they estimate usage even on pre pay so when they work out how much you paid overall it seems you paid too little.

With me they have done it at every property I have lived at over 3 years

datlex

I had similar when I changed from a prepaid to a credit meter. Basically told them was not paying for a debt that wasn't there!! I prepaid. No previous debt - prepaid meter already here when moved. So since payments were prepaid, ie paid in advance and you can't get gas without paying how could I have a debt. They accept the argument and negated the balance!! I am still with the same company my bills are now significantly less.
Be firm but polite. Ask them how you can have built up a debt when you couldn't use the gas/elec without prepaying for it.

The_silver_fox

timmy_tastic wrote: »

we changed from scottish power in may to british gas for our gas, and in june they sent me a letter saying i owe them £40. iv phoned them up and asked why i owe this money as i have never been in debit with them i always have about £100 on my meter, they reckon cause i didnt top up in june i owe the £40 now they av sent the debit to a debit colleter company. i thought the reson for a pre payment meter is you pay what you use how can you get a debit if you are always in creidt, iv phoned british gas and they said if there was a debit on the meter they would have refunded it, every time i phone scottish power i speak to people who are very rude and unhelpfull. are they in the right or wrong, when iv switched in the past no other compony has said i owe them money. please help

Hi Did they get a meter reading when you changed over