British Gas Huge Arrears Shown

Gooner12

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help with advice. My father died recently and while settling all his accounts, I took his last British Gas bill to get the account details to phone them. To my amazement it shows a balance of Debit: £2,963.11. They wouldn't discuss it claiming the bereavement team were busy and a meter reading was required to go further - so helpful. Anyway, his house is some distance away and I am going to read his meter on Friday and tackle them. Before I do - Fail to Prepare - Prepare to Fail - I'd like some tips if possible. Plus: How can they send these bills to 89 year old pensioners? Don't they think about the effect on them?
Thanks :eek:

PS He has been paying Direct Debit - I thought they adjusted them to keep on top?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Gooner12 wrote: »

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help with advice. My father died recently and while settling all his accounts, I took his last British Gas bill to get the account details to phone them. To my amazement it shows a balance of Debit: £2,963.11. They wouldn't discuss it claiming the bereavement team were busy and a meter reading was required to go further - so helpful. Anyway, his house is some distance away and I am going to read his meter on Friday and tackle them. Before I do - Fail to Prepare - Prepare to Fail - I'd like some tips if possible. Plus: How can they send these bills to 89 year old pensioners? Don't they think about the effect on them?
Thanks :eek:

Not sure what your question is...

OK - so, a meter reading is clearly needed in order to get the account in order. Good to see you're doing that. Nobody here can answer how the account got into arrears so badly. It's a positive that the front line staff wouldn't go into it - a specialised team is needed for these delicate matters.

As for your last missive - my 85 year old grandmother would be quite insulted tbh.

[Deleted User]

Pensioners can gather huge debts and they re not absolved from them. My Mum died at age 90 owing 16k due to an addiction to bingo/Littlewoods catalogues and Provident money lenders.
If your Father died owing any money to anyone then the debts must be settled only after funeral costs and taxman has had a cut. If there is nt enough to cover these debts in the estate, and there was nt anything in my Mothers, then all the debts are written off.
I might add that O.A.Ps can be very forgetful with meter readings and many are not quick enough to the door when the meter man knocks leading to many many years of estimated bills. He could just as likely to be over estimated for years as well as under, as you say a final meter reading will sort it out

naedanger

Gooner12 wrote: »

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help with advice. My father died recently and while settling all his accounts, I took his last British Gas bill to get the account details to phone them. To my amazement it shows a balance of Debit: £2,963.11. They wouldn't discuss it claiming the bereavement team were busy and a meter reading was required to go further - so helpful. Anyway, his house is some distance away and I am going to read his meter on Friday and tackle them. Before I do - Fail to Prepare - Prepare to Fail - I'd like some tips if possible. Plus: How can they send these bills to 89 year old pensioners? Don't they think about the effect on them?
Thanks

PS He has been paying Direct Debit - I thought they adjusted them to keep on top?

I thought they adjusted direct debits too. As others have said the bill may be correct (e.g. if there a was recent meter reading following years of estimates) but it may also be incorrect, so it is worth checking very carefully.

Not having a properly staffed bereavement team seems a poor show.

Also don't pay this bill (yet) unless you are sure the estate can also cover every other bill in full.

The only tip I can think of is taking photos of the meters as well as readings.