BRITISH GAS NIGHTMARE paid £132.68 in new home before electricity was supplied!

samfis

Hi,
Just moved to a house that has BG pay card meters. Had to pay £132.86 of bad debt from previous owners on meter before I got electricity to the property - not even my debt!! I want a refund and compensation - how do I do this - I have told BG I am going to write to CEO but looking at previous threads all they do is pass onto customer service team who sit on it for weeks and are useless.
Tried to set up gas and electric at house and dealing with BG is SOOOH stressful! I want to get rid of pay meters and set up new accounts so that I got gas and electric supply to my property so rang BG - {14p a min from a landline so no idea how expensive it was on my mobile} 25 minute wait each time I called - 6 calls made over 3 days - no joy. They blame their new systems the fact its winter and they are under staffed. I was given an incorrect code to initiate meter so went to activate my account but I had an error code. Called BG - I was told to ring Northern Power to check the meter - they turned up after 2 hours and I was told it wasn't their problem it was the BG meter - the engineer said this happens all the time with BG. Had to get a new Electric code and then went to local PP shop and was told that because my meter had £132.68 debt - that unless that debt was paid my meter would not work - BG must send an engineer out to reset the previous occupants debt. Called BG again and they said it was a system fault it would take 21 days to sort this out knew it was unacceptable but nothing they could do as they could not register me as a customer. I was recognised as a customer on the Gas but not on the electric. This is despite previously paying via dd with BG - 3 days after requesting I got my electricity working - BUT only because I paid the £132.68 outstanding even though this wasnt my debt. The customer service team called again tonight as I have now 2 complaint references and told them I am going to contact their CEO. I was told I am now a customer and I said only because I have paid £132.68 - I want this refunding immediately and I want compensating for my mobile bill and the stress of going to various outlets to set up my meter account. I was told this happens a lot with BG - with the gas meter as it was £5.20 in debt I was told that I had to go the PP outlet and pay £1 on 3 separate occasions to facilitate a credit to deduct the debt that wasn't mine - at the shop I was told there is a minimum of £5 so the instructions were incorrect. Its farcical - what if I was elderly or disabled - I work and have children to look after and I have moved into a cold house with lots of work to be done on it - how can this happen in this day and age that getting gas and electric to a new property is so difficult and expensive and stressful. British Gas need to get their act together. My gas meter will be changed in December but I have no idea how to progress getting back my money that I had to pay out in order to get electricity to my house also how do I get rid of the card electric meter? I have n't the time to keep calling BG and waiting in 25 minute queues as I am trying to get my house sorted as Ive just moved in, I work and also need to prepare for xmas. I also need the money back to buy my childrens presents - can anyone please advise? I will write to the CEO but again if he just forwards letters and emails to the black hole that is customer services I fear the worst.

macman

Did you not obtain new cards for the PPM's when you moved in? If you don't then there is always the chance that you will be paying the previous occupier's debts.

SwanJon

And breathe...
Paragraphs make it a lot easier to read and understand your post. If I miss anything, point it out.

samfis wrote: »

{14p a min from a landline so no idea how expensive it was on my mobile}

Firstly, if you do need to call again use the freephone number 0800 048 0303, or the geographic number 0330 100 0303. I'm not sure which number you found to call, but these have beenn around for a few years. Did you raise your concerns about the call costs? Did they offer you either of these numbers?

samfis wrote: »

I was given an incorrect code to initiate meter

Not all electricity meters can be reset using a code and a new key, only the newer models. If you have one of the older models the agent should have identified this and arranged a visit. The code is linked to the meter serial number, so there is potential for this to cause an issue.

I'm not sure why Northern Power were invoilved, unless the agent thought you had a powercut. It doesn't sound as if there was a fault with the meter either.

If your meter cannot be reset with a code then they need to send an engineer round to reset it. This needs to be booked two days in advance which is usually fine as hardly anyone moves with less notice than this.

samfis wrote: »

local PP shop and was told that because my meter had £132.68 debt

I'm not sure how the shop knew anything about the balance on the meter - it's none of their business and will not affect what they can and can't do for you.

samfis wrote: »

Called BG again and they said it was a system fault it would take 21 days to sort this out knew it was unacceptable but nothing they could do as they could not register me as a customer.

This will have been on their computer systems, and does not affect your meter or the ability to send an engineer.

samfis wrote: »

The customer service team called again tonight as I have now 2 complaint references and told them I am going to contact their CEO.

Why? What do you want that you think this team can't give you?

samfis wrote: »

I was told I am now a customer and I said only because I have paid £132.68

As above, this is on the computer system, and unrelated to the meter or how much you have paid

samfis wrote: »

I want this refunding immediately and I want compensating for my mobile bill and the stress of going to various outlets to set up my meter account.

I don't think you'll get an argument about paying back anything you have overpaid. Most likely it'll come as a cheque. Playing devil's advocate, as they offer a freephone number they could argue against the mobile bill, but if you can tell them how much it cost you then you have more chance.
How much do you want for the stress of going to the shop?

samfis wrote: »

My gas meter will be changed in December ...how do I get rid of the card electric meter?

Exactly the same way as the gas. They'll send an engineer round to swap the old meter for a new one.

samfis wrote: »

I was told that I had to go the PP outlet and pay £1 on 3 separate occasions to facilitate a credit to deduct the debt that wasn't mine - at the shop I was told there is a minimum of £5 so the instructions were incorrect

A gas message takes 48 hours to reach the shop, so your first top up after that should pick up a message (it can be any amount). If there are a lot of messages, or youhaven't used that shop before it can sometimes take a second top up on another day.. Agents say £1 as that is the minimum so you need to pay out less. (Shops are not allowed to say anything different and if they do a complaint needs to be made to PayPoint)

samfis wrote: »

I will write to the CEO but again if he just forwards letters and emails to the black hole that is customer services I fear the worst.

As you have a complaint open you need to let that process go through rather than trying to short circuit it. If you do email or write set down what happened without emotion, in the order that it happened (in your post you have jumped around a bit).
Say what you expect to happen next (e.g. have the money refunded).
They have 8 weeks to resolve your complaint and then you can take it to the energy ombudsman.

dogshome

From your post it seems that you were asked to pay £132.68 of existing meter debt upfront before BG would restore power.

As it's not possible to run up this level of debt on PAYGO meter, it seems that the previous occupier ran the debt up on Credit Meter and BG insisted on installing a PAYGO meter, which would have been set to recover the debt over time, but then the occupier moved on before the debt was cleared.

For BG to even try to recover someone elses debt from you is entirely out of order.
From your post it appears that all your contact with BG thus far has been by phone, and though you say Complaints have been registered, verbal isn't good enough

WRITE a letter headed Compliant - This word in writing carries special weight with Utilites, and a dedicated team must deal with the matter within a 56 day time frame