Advice needed please

trafalgar_2

Fran wrote:

Traf there is a point in her contacting Powergen because they can call off the Debt collector. Did she go to CAB because they can negotiate if BG are refusing to give her back the money she is owed?

This messing about is so unneccessary and why these companies get a bad name (though of course meanwhile they have your money in their accounts).

I totally agree ,she is going to ring bg first then powergen .........................and has an appointment this afternoon with cab.......so I've just passed on this info as well.

what a carfuffle ...............mind you if she had talked to me earlier it might not of come to this in the first place,better late than never ,and hopefully now with all your help I can get it sorted.

Then comes the lecture to get her to keep her eye on the ball:D

thanks again

claire2005

I'm in a similar boat to your friend. I transferred to Powergen in February to an online Direct Debit account. I then find out that because I am a prepayment customer I cannot transfer to billing for three months. BG have sent me two bills for G & E - Gas £50.79 and Electric £17. Why do I have these bills from BG, when I have pre-payment meters? Can anyone help me?

captain_insano

I'm in a similar boat to your friend. I transferred to Powergen in February to an online Direct Debit account. I then find out that because I am a prepayment customer I cannot transfer to billing for three months. BG have sent me two bills for G & E - Gas £50.79 and Electric £17. Why do I have these bills from BG, when I have pre-payment meters? Can anyone help me?

BG will have billed you to a reading that Powergen have sent them to finalise the account. So its very probable that Powergen have sent estimates. Or have you used another suppliers card while you have been with BG? For roughly the amounts they have billed you for?

claire2005

Similar to the other person, Powergen hadn't sent prepayment cards for G & E so was still using BG cards until 2 weeks ago, but Powergen haven't come back and said I owe anything, just got these bills off BG. From a prepayment meter, why would I be owing so much? I gave Powergen meter readings when they requested. I'm so confused by the whole thing really - used Scottish Power when I first moved into the house 2 years ago, but then transferred to BG. It's a council house so I was told by the council which companies to ring about G & E. Do I pay the bills or enquire with BG how they have come up with amount for a prepayment meter?

Fran

Yes I would definitely contact BG - it could be that the bill is wrong or not even yours (ask them whose name the bill is in). Your Citizens Advice Bureau will be able to negotiate for you if you take in the bill details. It's always best to keep your own records of gas & electric readings because then you know if their readings are correct and also as you're going to direct debit you might get estimations, which if they're under-estimated could mean you suddenly get a big bill.

Grimbo_2

captain insano's advice was correct, even though you are on a pay as you go type of meter if your final reads do not match up to those passed on by your card at the paypoint each time you charge credit you will get a bill, estimated reads are often the cause for this, give BG a call and they will be able to raise a SAR (Shipper Agreed Read) request with the other supplier to get your bill ammended.

To answer frans post yes she has a right to call and ask for a credit to be refunded thats why advice was given to dig out her old reference number and call BG for a cheque refund if powergen will not initiate the mis-directed payments contact with BG themselves, the powergen option being quicker as this avoids the waiting times in the cheque being printed, the postal service delivering the cheque, and the bank taking a week to clear the cheque before the money is available.

If powergen wont initiate this for you or indeed if you simply do not wish to contact powergen then go for the BG option. Of course powergen doing the right thing would make things alot quicker and easier for you, but at no point was i stating a refund of the credit was not allowed......

=BOB=

trafalgar_2

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!! we have a result,subject to confirmation of course:rolleyes:

believe nothing till it's in writing..............she rang BG who said powergen did contact them but they would not/could not pay them as they entered an estimated reading for the end of the period:o ...........they told her to then ring powergen and speak to a supervisor in the 'quantum meter' thingy(sounds like space stuff to me)

anyway after coaching from me on what to say etc,gleamed from MSE,she spoke to supervisorr ,explained all and because they had to admit they only had an estimated end reading......................they have written off the bill (£42.80)and will be contacting the debt recovery people to say the bill had now been rectified.

she contacted them herself anyway to let them know what was happening,unfortunately they said they can't squash it without a written notice from powergen

now friend explained what was happening but was worried incase powergen didn't send notice to debt people ....................debt people have agreed to return the bill to powergen (at which point powergen will not send it back out,as it is null and void)) that way they are covered.

does that make sense:rolleyes: .............so on thursday she has to ring powergen and get them to send confirmation out if she hasn't recieved it yet.


and the best news is BG will refiund the money as it was sitting in the old account:D
how's that for a result..........thanks everyone......result

Grimbo_2

good news hey! at the end of it your £40 better off, not bad

trafalgar_2

Quick update,friend complained to energy watch about the way all this was handled and she has had a phoje call from BOTH parties BG and Powergen apologising and making sure everything was to her satisfaction ....................crikey ,never expected that.:eek: