Problems with British Gas...

kleee

Hi

I had a huge problem with Scottish Gas (part of BG) in 2008-09 when living in a student flat :mad:. To cut the story short, we were being billed thousands of pounds for commercial offices below us in the block of flats (which I think were actually empty).

I had to contact the CAB and it took months of calls, letters and complaints from myself and the letting agency before they apologised and stopped all the debt collection stuff.

I thought that everything had been sorted (think they gave £50 gogw), moved out in 2009 and paid the final gas bill - the meter serial number that was actually supplying our flat.

Four years later I have just received a letter from them asking for over £1000 for the same block of offices. (I think this is for 2012-13 but I've not received a breakdown which was supposedly sent to me in September). I'm quite concerned about

1) how they've gotten hold of my address details - is it legal?
2) why they still think I'm responsible for the office account as I should have never been linked to this
3) and I don't know why they've just started contacting me now?

I guess I'll be sending a complaint in writing and going to the CAB again, and I have most of my previous correspondence from 2009 but I'm still at university and I really don't want this to interfere with my studies.

I was thinking about whether it would be worth contacting Consumer Direct. I had a quick look at some forums online, apparently people have a lot of problems with BG, some go to the energy ombudsman but they seem to just give companies the occasional slap on the wrist.

I was wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar to this?

Think this is my first forum post... any advice appreciated
Thanks K

Wail

kleee wrote: »

Hi

I had a huge problem with Scottish Gas (part of BG) in 2008-09 when living in a student flat :mad:. To cut the story short, we were being billed thousands of pounds for commercial offices below us in the block of flats (which I think were actually empty).

I had to contact the CAB and it took months of calls, letters and complaints from myself and the letting agency before they apologised and stopped all the debt collection stuff.

I thought that everything had been sorted (think they gave £50 gogw), moved out in 2009 and paid the final gas bill - the meter serial number that was actually supplying our flat.

Four years later I have just received a letter from them asking for over £1000 for the same block of offices. (I think this is for 2012-13 but I've not received a breakdown which was supposedly sent to me in September). I'm quite concerned about

1) how they've gotten hold of my address details - is it legal?
2) why they still think I'm responsible for the office account as I should have never been linked to this
3) and I don't know why they've just started contacting me now?

I guess I'll be sending a complaint in writing and going to the CAB again, and I have most of my previous correspondence from 2009 but I'm still at university and I really don't want this to interfere with my studies.

I was thinking about whether it would be worth contacting Consumer Direct. I had a quick look at some forums online, apparently people have a lot of problems with BG, some go to the energy ombudsman but they seem to just give companies the occasional slap on the wrist.

I was wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar to this?

Think this is my first forum post... any advice appreciated
Thanks K

1) Yes, they are allowed to perform a trace where they are trying to find debt.

2) I cannot comment on BG but like all big firms, a little bit of ambiguity and debts can be assigned to incorrect people

3) The case of this debt has obviously just come through recently.

You need to go back to BG ASAP and tell them that it is not you and refer them to your previous correspondence. The quicker you deal with it, hopefully the easier it will be. Ask for it to be escalated and ensure that it is clearly marked as a COMPLAINT.