Battle With Bg (long Story Sorry)

Chesnut1

In Aug 06 my pensioner mother had her prepayment meter changed to a normal credit meter. At the time she checked on 2 occasions as to was their any oustanding balance either way on credit meter and was told no. By March 07 she still had not recieved an electricity bill. By end of March they apologised for not updating her records and said it would take approx 3 months to get a bill sorted in the meantime they would send her a payment card incase she wanted to make make payments to what would be a large bill. I have spent many hours on the phone between March and present day.By the 7th June07 they sent the bill for £283.00 (she had already paid £160 onto the card) I phoned to clear the remaining balance but was informed that they could not find the £160 and to send all receipts which I refused. In the meantime they wanted another reading. A couple of weeks ago it transpired that the old prepayment meter was in debt by £383.00 and the card had been for!! I got put through to Nikki in the prepayment section and she stated as it BG's fault as they never updated the meter and the debt would be written off. Since then I havce had to give another meter reading. So now she has a bill for 9 months Aug06-April07 for £283.00 and a 9week bill forApril to June07for £250.50. None of these are estimates!! Oh and BG has renaiged and said she must clear the balance on the prepayment meter which is now at £170 odd. Got Enery Watch involved and they were disgusted especiely as she is about to have major surgery and is a pensioner who lives on her owm. By the way she also has gas central heating so does not really use electricity except for lighting and microwave. She lives in a small 2 bedroom flat. How can they change their mind on the prepayment debt???? and what about her usage they state the meter is new and electricity has shot up in the last few weeks but how can a 9 month bill be £283 yet a 9 week bill be £250.50 in what was a very warm time. Incidentily when she was on the old prepayment meter it averages about £8 per week so by my calculations for a year she would have been £400 she paid + the undercharge £330 ish would mean entire year of £730 = £14 per week but they reckon she is £27 a week. Sorry this is so long any ideas? I will be phoning Enery Watch on Monday. Thankyou for reading this I am just sick and tired of BG lies and rudeness.

Ken68

Sorry to hear about your mother, Chesnut, hope things go well.BG are not to know of her condition however, and this is maybe confusing the issue.
Start assembling all written evidence and make a note of all phone calls back as far as you can. Make up a statement in date order and all new communication with your provider must be in writing,(keep copies) as EnergyWatch will need something more concrete than phone calls. You and your mother have other things on your mind at present so some stay of action is necessary.
Your phone call (send a letter too, keep a copy for your files) to Energywatch should stress this.Maybe they will take on the whole case or suggest a format letter to write.
BG need to recognize that you are organized.

Queenieviolet

I have also had years of wrangling with BG on my last two house moves - I also advise keeping a record of any communication and also asking for the name of anyone you speak to. I have just moved again and am with Npower with a prepay meter. Being in the middle of nowhere I wanted to go back to a direct debit payment but was told I had to be on this meter for 12 months before being allowed to change, this was policy and it was also the case that a different provider would not change the meter, this had to be done by Npower. I rang back to complain and have another shot at getting my meter changed which worked when I talked to someone different! So my advice if anyone is in the same boat is don't give up and accept this situation

gotnobread

Assuming the bill is correct, then there's no way BG should charge your Mother for the debt.

Just thinking about whether it's morally right to take someone who is indebted to you off a pre-payment arrangement and extend them a credit facility? Besides being against BG's own internal policy, I'm not sure that it would look very good in the press...

Shout loud enough and the bill will definitely be written off.

Cheers,
Gotnobread.

tripled

As of Dec 06 they no longer backdate charges for incorrectly set meters. Unfortunately for periods before that date they won't usually write it off I'm afraid. However they seem to have made quite a hash of things, hopefully energywatch will get it resolved and extract some form of compensation from them.

gotnobread

Tripled, my insider knowledge of BG is a few years out of date now. Even so, I think this would go beyond policy changes - it relates to the morality of allowing a vulnerable customer to build up further debt with you. I.e. the meter should not have been changed to a credit meter if there was money outstanding on the pre-pay, surely? Just don't think it would stand up if BG tried to take this to court. Customer could easily argue that they should not have to clear this.

tripled

If it was one of the old token meters, they may not have been aware there was an outstanding balance if it hadn't been read for a while.

Chesnut1

Thank you to everyone who has replied. I have spoken to Energy watch again as BG have taken the £160. and still want the remainding £170 odd of my mother they are also adamant that the bills are all correct. My mums opp has been delayed due to this as her blood pressure is way to high as she is sitting worrying. BG are offering her to pay 1weeks pension a month untill the debt is cleared. Energy watch are writing to them again as they are also disturbed by their attitude. They asked BG to supply a breakdown of charges. NO REPLYThey asked why a 9 month bill was £280 ish yet a 9 week bill was £250.50 NO REPLY. They asked why did they never adjust the pre payment meter NO REPLY. At least BG has admitted that none of the bill were estimates they were all from her meter reading but this still does not explain a huge 9 week bill when the weather was very warm. Enerywatch says little can be done about the pre payment meter debt but they did ask why they sent her out a payment card under false pretences (claiming it would be for the current bill) guess what NO REPLY. They also asked why they said they would refund this ammount as it was their error but then changed their minds, NO REPLY Energywatch is also disturbed that they did not send a copy of my mothers letter to them as they requested a copy. I had to read it to them over the phone. I have an awful feeling they are either going to kill her with the stress or if she suvives all this she will need to live off 3 weeks pension a month for over a year. Either way totaly horrible for someone of her age as she said today she would be better off out of it. I am so angry especialy the condecending letter they sent out which was more suitable for communicating with a young child rather than an adult. Any further ideas guys as this is starting to stress me too. The a/c is still frozen but only untill this Saturday. Many thanks.

BBB

sent you PM