BG prepayment issue - help

w00000

In about 2006 I had a prepay gas meter installed in rented house as had large bill we couldn't pay (we weren't good at paying bills in those days). I don't have any paperwork, but I recall it being around £600.

At some point the gas meter stopped taking debt, and just took money for gas used - I assumed i'd paid it off.

I moved out of house in 2011, phoned BG to close account, gave forwarding address to send closing statement to. Thanks very much Miss w00000, thank you for being a BG customer - nothing mentioned about any money owed. No closing statement received.

Fast forward to August 2013, 3 houses later, I get letter from a debt collection company, called them, please pay £1400 re BG account at xx address. They had no info, called BG - apparently, BG exchanged the meter (they did, several times, something about an electricity powered meter in a damp cellar...) and didn't reload the outstanding debt.

Asked BG to prove it, they said they'd send a full breakdown/statement. Nothing arrived.

November 2013, letter arrives from another debt collection agency, please pay BG £1400. Called them, explained situation, they had no real info but this DC is persistent, texts, emails, phone calls several times a day.

So back I go to BG, who say they will investigate, and i finally get DC to put account on hold over xmas.

On 6th Jan, I get an email from BG which says something like 'we will recall account from DC and nothing is owed'. This was from a guy based 'offshore' (sorry but it is relevant) and other parts of the email didn't make sense, so I called BG to get an email in plain english to state that I do not owe BG any money in relation to this matter and any debt on their system was written off. BG agreed that it wasn't clear, and a few days later i got the email - you do not owe BG any money and we will recall account from DC.

Few weeks later, DC still contacting me, BG had not recalled the account. Get someone at BG to investigate, outcome was that they say it shouldn't be written off, and I still owe the £1400!!

Contacted the energy Ombudsman in Feb, they took case. Last week, I get their final decision (I appealed their original decision) which is that BG have agreed to take £400 off total. Woop-de-doo. They've agreed some other stuff as well like to clear my credit file and to give me a payment plan and to apologise for the substandard customer service.

So, I've got 28 days to decide whether to accept this massively unfair outcome, or to reject ombudsman decision, and I assume BG will set DC back on me for the full amount.

By the way, BG have never provided me with ANY evidence that I owe this money, but I can't prove I don't

Has anyone got any experience of what I can do, or do I have to suck it up and pay £1000????

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

So (and please correct me if I'm mistaken), BG want you to pay for energy used since 2011? Do you have copies of the tenancy agreement documenting your move out of the property?

w00000

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Sorry no, they are saying that when they exchanged the meter the final time the engineer did not reload the outstanding debt onto the new meter.

If this is the case, I genuinely never made a connection between new meter and no debt, and as my first paragraph I didn't think the debt was that much to start with (and i'd been paying it off for several years by this point).

BG did not inform me that there was any outstanding debt when I coded the account in September 2011.

lstar337

If it is just the case that they didn't re-load the debt, then why has the amount gone up?

Original debt was £600, presumably you paid a fair chunk of that off before the meter swap? But now they are asking for £1400?

Something doesn't seem right.

Have you got anywhere with them supplying a full break-down of charges?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

As above, the debt can't have increased by that amount whilst on a PPM.

This one is a little baffling, I'd be tempted to write to BG telling them to disclose what evidence they have for this bill, and if they can't provide it, to book a date at the county court. No judge will order you to pay BG if they can't give any evidence you owe it.

[Deleted User]

Its a bit odd why the prepay gas meter was changed several times. Prepay gas doesnt have a mains supply to it, only battery and I go into cellars with a foot of water all year and both prepays work fine.. OP, so why has the debt increased from the original £600 ( or so ) ? Whatever the reason for the various meter exchanges it wont be because of a damp cellar, the meters are pretty weatherproof

chanz4

sacsquacco wrote: »

Its a bit odd why the prepay gas meter was changed several times. Prepay gas doesnt have a mains supply to it, only battery and I go into cellars with a foot of water all year and both prepays work fine.. OP, so why has the debt increased from the original £600 ( or so ) ? Whatever the reason for the various meter exchanges it wont be because of a damp cellar, the meters are pretty weatherproof

leaving cards in kills them

w00000

Sorry for the delay, i've had a mad couple of days.

I'll try to answer the questions....

The £600 is what I believed the debt to be, I have no paperwork any more to prove (or disprove!) this, BG did not supply any statements or bills while the PP meter was in. Despite several requests they have not supplied any proof whatsoever to me to support this balance. They have confirmed that I was not told that there was an o/s balance on the account when I closed it. From what i've been told during various phone conversations, I think the balance was 'discovered' at some point after I moved out.

The Ombudsman letter indicated that BG have provided proof to them, I have no idea what form this proof takes.

I don't understand why this is so difficult for BG, surely it's meter reading x (opening account balance) from meter reading y (reading when pp meter was installed), less payments made = pp meter balance. Then less payments made on pp meter = o/s balance.

The meter exchanges - I think this was the 3rd meter during the 5 or so years. The exchanges happened because the meter displayed 'get help' (or similar) on the screen. The engineer who exchanged said he spent a lot of time exchanging these meters in damp cellars. The card was never left in the meter.

This one is a little baffling, I'd be tempted to write to BG telling them to disclose what evidence they have for this bill, and if they can't provide it, to book a date at the county court. No judge will order you to pay BG if they can't give any evidence you owe it.

I would love to tell them to take me to court, but if I decline the Ombudsman's offer, wouldn't they just set the debt collection firm back onto me and i'll be back at square 1?

Does anyone know of any way 'in' to BG - a name of someone who can make things happen or similar??

Thanks for all your responses so far

Joyful

If it went over 8 weeks or was deadlocked and went to the Ombudsman I would have expected BG to have given you a manual breakdown as you requested. I would contact the Ombudsman and ask for a copy of what BG have sent or ask BG.

[Deleted User]

Theres hundreds of thousands of these meters both outside in the weather ( saw two or three today outside in all weathers and working fine ) and in dank damp cellars. Meter fitters wrong I think on the cause of the "call help" sign. Battery fault or a dead battery will show "call help", also if "call help " and "off " is displayed AND gas continues to flow, then either someones done a valve puncture internally or battery failed and shut meter down with valve stuck open