British Gas - Grrr

welshjpc

Hello!


I owned a property which had tenants until last December when they left. The house remained empty until I found a buyer for it, and the sale completed in June. As I lived a long distance away from the property I left all of the paperwork etc to a local letting agency.


I have applied for a mortgage recently and have been told that my credit file isn't good enough for the mortgage that I require. I was surprised by this as I was under the impression that I all of my accounts (mobile phone contract, credit card etc) were all in order.


It turns out that when my tenants moved out that british gas started an account in my name. I spotted this when checking my credit report with Noddle this morning and found an outstanding balance of £57. I phoned to query this payment (prepared to pay the £57 to get my credit file back on the level) to be told that the balance was actually nearer £300, inclusive of gas, electricity and meter rental. As I have not paid this over a number of months then they have indeed marked my credit file. I had not paid this as I had no idea that I owed it!!!


At no point did I request british gas to supply any utilities to my empty property and I certainly had no idea that I was renting meters! The chap on the phone informed me that "this is in the T&Cs that would have been signed for" - not by me!


I asked if I could clear the debt over a few months and was told that this would be OK. Once the deposits were paid and direct debits were set up I asked if the credit mark had been removed from my file to be told that it would only be cleared when the full balance has been cleared. Therefore I have had no choice but to pay this daylight robbery to clear the mark from my credit report, with the intention of appealing this fee in the future.


Could any of you lovely people tell me how long this mark will affect any mortgage applications?


Do you know of anyone else who has had a similar experience? I am absolutely livid with british gas to be honest. I remain homeless thanks to some stupid debt that I never knew existed, although it is now paid now.


Many thanks in advance all.

MrSilk

First of all, is it displayed as a 'Default' at all?, if so I'm 99.9% sure you wouldn't be able to have this removed.

Thrugelmir

welshjpc wrote: »

At no point did I request british gas to supply any utilities to my empty property

Would have been foolish to leave the property empty with no heating on in the middle of winter.

welshjpc

Oddly on my noddle report it only shows the original gas balance (£54) - this is why I was surprised to be told that I actually owed £300 when I called. I can provide a screenshot but cannot upload it.


Yes in hindsight maybe it wasn't the best idea to leave the house unheated over winter however I had plenty of other things to deal with and so the house wasn't high on my priorities.


The guy on the phone at british gas told me that whatever credit mark that had been applied will be removed with immediate effect - so are you under the impression that this is false?

micky2phones

welshjpc wrote: »

Hello!
Hi, many years ago i had a Uncle who moved into a house two streets away from me,after six months he moved, a month later i had a bill from B.G for gas supplied at his address.

Many phone calls and letters later and the fact i lived were i lived for over ten years. Sorry it was human error i was told.

Most recent in 2008 i moved house. Gave B.G up to date meter reading got and paid final bill.

In 2009, B.G sent me a bill from my former house for gas used over eight month period after i had left, again i had to prove i had moved and was not living at my old address.

Not sure this helps in anyway but it does show i m o that you have to keep on until you find a person who sees your problem and knows its not your fault then has the time to sort it out for you.

Neil_948

BG employees are not always the sharpest tool in the box, I was looking after my aunts cat whilst she was away in 2007, when she got back she received a bill on the Wednesday, then on the Thursday I received a bill for the same account (same account number and everything) pretty good considering I didn't live there.

So went through the whole rigmarole to get it sorted which was a nightmare as we both had to be present as they could not speak to me about my aunts account nor could they speak to her about the account that was supposedly mine.

So it went on for about 2 months and we was told that the change had taken place with a door to door canvasser and I told them that it was illegal to change account liability.

In the end up back in 2007 I asked what was then OFGEM to step in and BG then admitted it was there fault and that I would be removed from the account and that it would be written off, Never heard from them again.

Until this year which made me laugh as not only would the debt have been SB'd last year BCW contacted me for payment this year, So went straight to BG and lodge a complaint to be told that the person who had removed my details from the account like they told me they would, They didn't have the brains to realise that it was a duel fuel account and so removed me from the Electricity account but not the gas.

So the surprise that they are reporting your account as £57 when it is higher I'm not surprised,

And when you say you are getting charged rent for the meter is it actually rent or is it standing charge?