BRITISH GAS - Gone away/default in my name when account not in my name??

solentsusie

OK...

So I have just got my Experian credit report and noticed something odd on there from British Gas.

They have registered a default against my name for a bill I know was not in my name. The status says "Gone Away". Yes, the person who was named on the bill did 'go away' and I informed British Gas.

Anyway... I have never been contacted to my knowledge to state that I was being defaulted for a bill not in my name nor that I had "Gone Away". I have only noticed this since getting my credit report today.

Looking at my account with British Gas it seems I had another account in my name (which I know about!) that was opened on 29/05/09 and ran until 09/08/11 and is marked as settled. The "Gone Away" account was defaulted on 06/02/10. Not only did I go away but I was also paying another British Gas bill registered at the same address at the same time?!?!

How should I go about getting this corrected? It seems a bit of a mess....

forgotmyname

Same as the other threads. Contact them?

happy_bunny_2

Write to them with a complaint. British gas respond this way as I sent them one a few months ago.

Give them the relevant info and tell them to remove the default.

solentsusie

forgotmyname wrote: »

Same as the other threads. Contact them?

As I have already stated please stop commenting on my posts if you have no constructive support other than "contact them". And as I have already explained I have put separate posts because I did not wish to confuse the separate different issues - I apologise if this has annoyed you.

I have no idea whether I should contact the credit reference agency or British Gas first.

I have no details of this debt other than I remember being chased for it and receiving lots of bills not in my name which I sent back to British Gas. I had an account with British Gas at the time in my name so I was surprised receiving demands for debts not in my name. I had no clue they had put a default on my file in my name and a 'gone away' marker next to it for a debt that is not mine.

solentsusie

happy_bunny wrote: »

Write to them with a complaint. British gas respond this way as I sent them one a few months ago.

Give them the relevant info and tell them to remove the default.

Thank you. I will try with British Gas first then. Unfortunately I have no details of the debt as this all happened a few years back and as the account referred to was not in my name I just sent the letters back to British Gas and told them that I wasn't paying it as it wasn't my debt. I had an account with them at the time that was totally up to date so it was quite confusing. Never had a reply from them about this being marked as a default in my name!

Interesting what you find on your file when you look. Wish I had done this a while ago... Just goes to show you should keep an eye on what information is reported about you.

happy_bunny_2

Send the relevant section of your credit file to British Gas. If they can't prove its accurate, they should remove it or you can escalate to the Ombudsman/ICo etc.

Don't waste your time reporting to the CRA. They will just ask British Gas if its accurate, who will say yes and that's some time wasted.

HB