ADVICE NEEDED! Unexpected bill from British Gas

KevMac

We have been a British gas customer for 15+ years and have always paid by direct debit. In march 2013 we left British gas and joined Npower for a brief 10 months and decided to switch back to British gas in January 2014.

Two weeks ago I recieved two letters from BG, one for gas and the other for electric saying "sorry you're leaving us" we rang up BG and queried these letters as we weren't leaving, and was told that there was nothing on the system about us leaving and that the letters were sent in error and to disregard them.

Then on Tuesday 15th July we recieved another two letters, which read "Apologies-we didn't take your final balance when you left us" and continued with..

When you left us,we sent you a final energy bill. This should have been collected as one last direct debit, which would have cleared the balance on your account. Unfortunately, due to a technical problem, this didn't happen and you weren't sent any reminders to pay what you owed.

We rang BG about these letters this morning and they now believe we owe them nearly £400 and say that this is the bill for both gas and electric during the switchover to Npower, which was from March 12 2013 to 16 April 2013.

I believed that I was fully paid up on both gas and electric at the time of the switch to Npower. And I refuse to believe that I can spend £400 on energy in one month as when my direct debits are paid I am normally in credit at the end of the year.

Thanks for reading and any advice would be greatly appreciated

Nada666

They are not saying you used £400 in one month - that is simply the balance after a few months of estimated billing. If you had read your meters when you started the process of switching you would have known this (that is one of the very first steps - you need to know what your outstanding balance will be to see if you can afford to switch in the first place.)

They have six years to chase you for this bill. They are well within that time limit.

retepetsir

Have you got all of the meter readings for the past couple of years? That would be a good place to start.

Tolley99

I have just received an apparently identical letter, and am really dissapointed that it's taken them so long to realise their oversight (17 months in my case), and the letter doesn't even state how much is owing! They should be embarrassed with their own inefficiencies - I think I will write them a letter....

Fletchasketch

I realise that this is an old thread, but I'm interested to know what eventually happened to both of the posters in this thread.

I am being chased for 89 pounds I know I paid in Feb'14 but having changed bank accounts I can't prove this, nor do I see why I should have to after such a long time has elapsed.

Thoughts?

vuvuzela

Neither of the posters have been back to the forum in the last year, I wouldn't hold your breath for them to answer. Hopefully there'll be other posters who have had similar situations. Has your old bank refused to give you a reprint of your statements ? They will certainly still have them, maybe you need to look into a subject access request - this will cost a tenner https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/personal-information/

Fletchasketch

You're probably right, but it's worth a shot. Its obvious from a quick Internet search that this happens regularly with British Gas, I'm !!!!!!ed if I'm shelling out a tenner when it's so clearly their mistake.

naedanger

Fletchasketch wrote: »

You're probably right, but it's worth a shot. Its obvious from a quick Internet search that this happens regularly with British Gas, I'm !!!!!!ed if I'm shelling out a tenner when it's so clearly their mistake.

It sounds quite a risky stance you are taking if you are ever likely to need to borrow money. BG may well mark entries on your credit file saying you were a non payer of this money.

Although you say you should not need to prove you do not owe this money, if they were to sue you for payment then you would (but on the balance of probability), similarly if you tried to get any erroneous credit entries corrected you would need to prove on the balance of probability that they were wrong.

My alternative suggestion is you pay the £10 to get bank details showing you have paid. (Consider keeping them in case of any other disputes, and not just with BG.) Then complain to BG and demand they correct any erroneous credit entries, repay your costs [£10] and perhaps pay an amount to cover your inconvenience [£25?]. If they don't agree to pay then after 8 weeks take your case to the Energy Ombudsman (the Ombudsman may, or may not, agree with your complaint).

GingerBob_3

naedanger wrote: »

It sounds quite a risky stance you are taking if you are ever likely to need to borrow money. BG may well mark entries on your credit file saying you were a non payer of this money.

Although you say you should not need to prove you do not owe this money, if they were to sue you for payment then you would (but on the balance of probability), similarly if you tried to get any erroneous credit entries corrected you would need to prove on the balance of probability that they were wrong.

My alternative suggestion is you pay the £10 to get bank details showing you have paid. (Consider keeping them in case of any other disputes, and not just with BG.) Then complain to BG and demand they correct any erroneous credit entries, repay your costs [£10] and perhaps pay an amount to cover your inconvenience [£25?]. If they don't agree to pay then after 8 weeks take your case to the Energy Ombudsman (the Ombudsman may, or may not, agree with your complaint).

Yes, BG are notorious for this. Apparently they are the worst offenders of all the energy companies. All the cards are stacked in their favour and they use credit reporting as blackmail. So be careful. They will put you on the credit reference agency blacklists without a second thought.