LPG Gas - Feel Like I've been treated unfairly

andrewtaylor

Hi, first post, so appologies if I rant a bit!

We live in the country, so do not have mains gas. As a result we use LPG gas for hot water and central heating. We moved in last year and acquired the tank which was out of contract with a small family business.

I paid for all gas throughout the winter, but did run into financial difficulty and didn't pay a £400ish bill for 3 months or so. Well, I say I didn't pay, I was rang up at the end of each month when I offered to pay a portion of it, typically around £100 each time.

I get paid at the end of the month, as I explained to the lady on the phone who seemed to understand. However, two months ago (ish) they arrived at my home (unannounced) to disconnect me for failure to pay. My wife who is about 20 weeks pregnant was not very impressed as this caused her a lot of stress and I had to rush back from work to sort it out. On the same day I received a letter from a solicitors demanding immediate payment for the gas. I would love to know if the engineer who was disconnecting me pushed this through the door at the same time.

I phoned up the company in question and informed them that I would get paid tomorrow and that I would pay a portion of the bill. The lady on the phone said that should be ok and that she would have to talk to her credit team or something. They told me that I must pay exactly half the bill off otherwise they would disconnect me. I agreed, as I could not be without hot water. I phoned back the next day to pay half the bill which has caused me financial hardship, which I did mention to the lady who didn't seem that bothered.

I got the amount I owed down to £139 after their scare tactics and was quite concerned that they would try the same thing again. So I resorted to phoning them up to let them know exactly when I was going to be able to pay to make sure they would at least give me warning this time!

I paid off the £139 that I owed them yesterday and tried to order more gas. I was told that because it took me so long to pay my bill that they had to have payment for the gas immediately as I had no credit allowance with them. I calmly told the lady that she could stick the order and that I would swtich supplier.

This really doesn't seem fair. I did pay my bills, albeit late. I was behind with electricity too, but have agreed a repayment plan, they haven't made me pay in advance. I guess they are entitled to do this, but I received no notification about this?

So my 2 questions are:

1. Can the gas company turn up without warning to threaten disconnection?
2. Can they remove my credit account without warning forcing me to pay in full?

I would welcome any comments

Andrew

mattyprice4004

Credit is a privilege and not a right - so yes they can. I'd be doing the same if I was them.
It doesn't matter what the reason was - they trusted you to pay and you didn't, so they want payment up front.

tomtontom

Turn the situation around Andrew - if you loaned someone some money and agreed a repayment schedule, but they didn't keep to it and you had to push them to get the money, would you lend to them again?

stevemLS

If your electricity account had got to the point where they disconnected you, you would have found probably that the supplier would have wanted a security deposit before they would re-connect you.

You would only have got it back after you had demonstrated for 12 months that you were paying your bills.

andrewtaylor

That was not my point. I did already say that I was pretty sure they were able to do whatever they wanted in terms of removing credit.

My main argument was the fact that they arrived at my home unannounced and threatened disconnection without any warning.

I was working with them. I did not break any arrangement to pay. I was discussing my problems with them and paid it off as quickly as I could.

I can understand with the credit. Although to be honest it does seem harsh considering I have to heat (although not a problem now) and heat water for a home with 2 young children in it. Most big utility companies seem compassionate, that was all I was saying.

If I lent someone money and they were late paying it back then sure I might not lend it to them again, I can understand that. But If I went and threatened disconnection that doesn't seem like something I can do.

The OFT guidelines state that lenders should not pressure people into paying more than they can afford if they are talking through the problems, and that they shouldn't arrive at someones home without warning.

And anyway, I did pay all the money back. It's not like I refused to pay. And the fact was I was working with the people on the phone who appeared to be reasonable, when in fact they were arranging solicitors and disconnection without telling me what was going on. That is what doesn't seem fair.

I do think I should of been informed about the withdrawal of credit though

arcon5

Unfairly treated? It took 1/3 year to pay the bill and you expect more credit.

Are these sorts of companies regulated by ofgem?

stevemLS

But they are not either a lender nor a large utility?

andrewtaylor

Ok so far this forum is not proving to be very helpful.

Again. I completely understand why they are not prepared to give me any more credit as it took me so long to pay. If you read my original post I said as much saying that I'm pretty sure they could do whatever they wanted. I was only asking about that.

My main point, which nobody has answered is whether anyone you owe money to can turn up at your doorstep and threaten you with disconnection.

I know that they can disconnect you. But can they do it without warning? That was my only question.

"It took 1/3 year to pay the bill and you expect more credit." Anyway surely 3 months is a quarter, not a third? (3/12 = .25).

Andrew

andrewtaylor

stevemLS wrote: »

But they are not either a lender nor a large utility?

yes that was my qustion, whether or not it applies to them. Thank you.

so can they turn up and threaten disconnection without warning?

bris

andrewtaylor wrote: »

Ok so far this forum is not proving to be very helpful.

Not getting the answers you want to hear? We can't help the fact that you are in the wrong and only yourself to blame, they have done nothing wrong or illegal.

rustyboy21

Forgive me if I am wrong here, but I am sure the LPG co actually own the gas tank, so you are only loaning it off them. If you haven't paid your bill, then they will have the right somewhere in their T&C's stating they can do what they have tried to do.


It isn't like mains gas, where if you couldn't pay the bill, they would put you on a repayment plan, or change it so you are metered, with a payment card you top up. They are usually small independent co's, who loan their large tanks out, with the agreement that you buy all the gas from them.


That is what one of my industry colleagues does anyway


You may be better posting this on the LPG heating and solid fuel board on this site, some posters may be able to give you some better info and ways around it.