Need help with British Gas

ladycatnap

I'm having major problems with British Gas and i'm not sure what else to do.

I moved house last year and took the metre reading of the new house but it took me a month to give them the reading as their phone lines were saying 60 min wait till operator. Anyway gave metre reading then got a bill for £106 for 6 weeks gas, i live on my own and work alot. Call to query and they didn't have opening reading from me it was never put into computer. Complained and had to give metre reading then call back following week for another then they would compare and send out new bill which would take 6-8 weeks. Did all of this then 8 weeks later recieved letter from debt collection people. British gas never used the two readings. Complained several times got no help then spoke to lovely lady who said the new bill would be reduced to 40 units of gas instead of the 102. Again have to wait 6-8 weeks. Well i have recieved a bill for £94 now which is still so high. It means i spent £60 a month on gas last october which isn't possible. They are saying the last owner gave a reading which i don't believe as she was in a nursing home months before i moved in.

Have spoken to them again and they are now saying its all my fault as i never gave reading which i no longer have and say its too late to change the bill. I can prove that i did call them as its on my phone bill.

Spoke to enerywatch who put me back to British gas and have offered £20 off bill but this is to cover phone calls ect. I have already spent over £10 on calls and recorded letters which they don't reply too.

Anyone have any ideas?

Cardew

ladycatnap wrote: »

Anyone have any ideas?

Whilst I understand your annoyance about the meter reading confusion, why do you feel it is 'not possible' to spend £60 in a month(October) on gas? - or £94 in 6 weeks.That is probably lower than the average spend.

You have the meter reading when you moved in, and you have the reading now, so it is a simple matter to work out how much gas you have used, and how much it will have cost. You can then see if your charges are excessive.

There isn't really much point in complaining about your gas bill until you know if you have been charged too much.

If you post your initial meter reading, and current meter reading, together with details on your bill we will be able to tell you how much you should have been charged.

ladycatnap

I don't have the first reading anymore which i know is stupid but after giving British Gas the original reading didn't think to keep it.

I know that the reading is high as when i gave them the next reading i had only used 42 units in 50 days. I had to give them a reading for a week and had only used 9 units of gas. In fact since i have changed supplier from 29th of november to 22nd of june i have used 206 units of gas in 174 days. I am a chef so out at work alot of the time, live on own and get most meals at work so very little gas is used.

I have given British gas 3 readings now and when i speak to the next person none of the information is on their screens and even though i can give them most of the readings this isn't good enough, basically they don't believe me.

I have been told by them previously that they will change bill to 40 units of gas but again this hasn't happened and i can give them the persons name which call centre and the time of call but they say there is nothing on the system.

RenStar

Hi there,

a few years ago when I had a dispute with British Gas and got nowhere after numerous attempts and them ignoring me, I made a complaint in writing to Ofgem - http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Consumers/Pages/Consumer.aspx

They wrote to BG on my behalf and British Gas suddenly found someone to investigate the case and resolve it, even removing the default they placed on my credit file. If you've got nowhere with BG, I'd say escalate it to Ofgem because BG will take it seriously then.

Good luck.

Ren