British gas have misquoted me and now demand 1300 payment

gem1978_2

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

Crikey.

Energy DD's are not a "quote" that you accept, and then you have some sort of entitlement to use what you want.

They are an instalment to cover the cost of your bills .Anything you use over or under that amount will leave you in debit or credit.

After the 2 yearly meter read by the supplier; you have a responsibility to ensure your payments are covering what you use. £68 pounds a month is about half what the average property consumes.

Did the big word estimated not cause any concern?

Kray!

If I have a window cleaner to do my windows and they quote 50 but after they have done it they suddenly charge 200 that i think is unfair.:mad::mad:

StuC75

Whats more the OP's DH fits boilers too, so must be competent around a gas meter..

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/63382383#Comment_63382383

StuC75

gem1978 wrote: »

Kray!

If I have a window cleaner to do my windows and they quote 50 but after they have done it they suddenly charge 200 that i think is unfair.:mad::mad:

But if you have them cleaning the whole street (i.e. more than first indicated), then its not unfair..

macman

gem1978 wrote: »

No one can ever read the terms and conditions when they sign up to something, unless they have no life and like reading boring things for hours.

If I had to read the terms and conditions of everything I would never have time to eat.

We didn't suggest that you read the T&C's-we suggested that you bothered to read the 8 bills you have had that all said 'estimated' on them. If you'd read the ''boring' bills then you wouldn't be £1300 in debt.
You weren't 'quoted' £68 per month. That was simply an estimate based on whatever figures were available when you signed up. You've used far more than estimated, haven't bothered to verify it, so now have a huge catch up bill. It's not an 'all you can use for £68 per month deal.' Your window cleaning analogy is ludicrous, as you don't dispute that you've used the energy (assuming that you've now checked the actual bill against your meter reading).

thriftylass

Agree it's your fault for not checking your actual usage, sorry. You don't have to read the T&C to know that. The analogy to the window cleaner doesn't work. He quotes you for lets say 3 windows cleaned (let's call them 3 units), the gas and leccy supplier doesn't do that. It's not a "quote" as they don't know how many units you use until you tell them, so it's an estimate as it clearly says on your bills. I'm sure you know that electricity is paid in units and not just a monthly membership. Also did you not question that it never changed come summer or winter?

LuSiVe

You can be damn sure that if they'd "overquoted" you, you'd be saying they had to give you money back. You clearly don't understand how this works, and will just have to suck it up.

Somniac

British gas allow customers with DD to alter the amount or pay some off if the bill is getting too out of step. This seems to me to be a good idea.
It's called taking responsibility for what you use and what you spend.
Why do you expect someone else to do this for you?
You must watch what is going on in your own life.

sheffield_lad

A classic example of why we need to teach kids how grown up things like paying bills & reading meters is needed in schools.

mirabelle

gem1978 wrote: »

Kray!

If I have a window cleaner to do my windows and they quote 50 but after they have done it they suddenly charge 200 that i think is unfair.:mad::mad:

This thread is getting silly. I would sack the window cleaner - his prices are extortionate.

matelodave

If you really want to use the window cleaner analogy then it works like this.
You ask him how much to clean some windows.
He asks you how many windows do you want cleaned.
You say I don't know, but the last bloke charged me £70.
He then says I'll guess you've got four then, in which case it will be £50 for the four because I only charge £12.50 a window and I'm guessing the other bloke charged £17.50 a window, so I'm cheaper.
You say ok then, here's £50 get on with it
He comes and finds that you've actually got eight windows, he cleans all eight and asks you for another £50 because he charges £12.50 a window and £12.50 x 8 = £100, but you've only paid him £50 and you agreed with him that his rate was £12.5 a window - you didn't tell him to only clean four.

You now owe him £50 because you didn't check what you were paying for and didn't keep an eye on him whilst he was doing it and stop him cleaning the extra four windows