British Gas problems and now "can't" issue final bill

spidereyes

I bought my house in august, with the vendor having vacated in the May. When I moved in there were 20+ letters from British Gas threatening legal action and disconnection along with requests for payments for several hundred pounds.

I immediately called them and gave them all my details etc - I confirmed to them the move out date for the vendor was correct and that the property had been genuinely empty for 4 months or so. They told me that would be the last I'd recieve "to the occupier" letters chasing payment.

Everything was fine for about a month but then I started recieving debt letters addressed to me by name, claiming an investigation on behalf of british gas revealled I was responsible for the empty months on the property. I disputed this and was asked to send them a letter from my solicitor confirming the date I actually bought the property. This apparently wasnt enough to stop them chasing me though and told me it was British Gas I had to speak with.

I spent about three hours on the phone to British Gas trying to get it sorted out and eventually they advised they had to manually revise the move out dates of the vendor and reupdate my account, although this meant they had to put me as moving in the day before I did - I told them this was fine.

That resulted in the bill I had been issued being cancelled and my online account was showing a negative useage which I assumed would be resolved when I provided new meter readings.

I closed my account with British Gas in november however I am still yet to receive a final bill despite repeated requests in order for me to make payment.
I never paid anything for the period and calulate that I owe them around £220, they now tell me over again that due to a "technical issue" that they cannot seem to resolve I cant have a final bill which I assume was down to this manual amendement on my account.

Whilst i am willing to pay what I owe, I cant keep the money sat aside forever and if they cant issue me a final bill anytime soon, what are my rights if they suddenly decide they want payment 5 years down the line with interest etc?

My main concern is that the bills are issued electronically, my email address they hold for me is no longer in use and they wont update their records because the account is closed, therefore short of me logging into my account every month for the forseeable future to check if a bill has been issued I may end up missing it and end up with the goons from the debt agency chasing me again!


All I want to do is pay what I owe and be free of British Gas:o

molerat

Write a letter headed COMPLAINT. State exactly what you want them to do. In 8 weeks time when they have failed to resolve it escalate to the ombudsman. These worse than useless energy companies need reporting more often and then the worse than useless ombudsman and worse than useless regulator might do something about them.