British Gas bill over 16 months after leaving

Eclectic_Electric

Hi All,

I recently received a bill for £27.55 from British Gas from a previous contract (I am now with First Utility having been with NPower in between).

The letter states -

We're sorry - we didn't take your last Direct Debit, so your final bill hasn't been paid.
After we sent your final bill on 13/05/2013, we should have taken one last Direct Debit to clear the balance on your British Gas account. But unfortunately that didn't happen. And a glitch in the system meant you haven't been sent any reminders to pay. So, there's a balance of £27.55 that still needs to be paid.
Please give us a call to pay your final bill.
You can pay off your final bill in full by credit or debit card over the phone - just call us free on 0800 316 2018.
Yours sincerely,
Annette Hardcastle
Head of Operations

Am I obliged to pay this or should I ignore it and wait for it to go away?!
Thanks.

DevCoder

It won't go away and the have 6 years to chase you for the debt (and within this time they could seek a CCJ).

Its £27, why not just pay it?

Eclectic_Electric

Thank you for your reply.

macman

If they owed you £27.55, would you be happy for it to 'go away'? I suspect not.

Cardew

If you do a search there are four other recent threads running on the very same issue - all BG and around 16 -18 months ago; some for several hundred pounds.


As stated above, if it is a valid debt, any firm has 6 years to chase you for the money; even if it was BG's fault the money was not collected