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British Gas - Final Bill Query

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Hi All,

last week British Gas upped my direct debit from £20 a month to £96 to try and clear the bill that had been building up over the course of the last year.

I received no notification of the increase, i first i knew about it was when i checked my account. When i queried this with them, apparantley it was on my bill, but as i stuipidly signed upto paperless billing, the only access i had was via the website, but since they switch it to the new one, i haven't been able to.

So i cancelled my direct debit and stopped it from leaving my account and i'm currently switching to a new supplier. I've never done this before, but i assume i will get a final bill from B.G. which i expect to be around the £400 mark, i'm loath to pay this all out in one go, can i just tell them i will pay £XX a month and they will accept it? or will they push for full payment? I've nothing against paying for what i've used, i just think it's BG lack of customer service that put us in this situation, so screw 'em.

thanks
«1

Comments

  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,059 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Rampant Recycler
    Welcome to the forum.

    You are not alone in your criticism of the BG on-line billing disaster.

    Although the review and notification of increased DD is indeed on the paperless bill I have had separate notification by letter of changes to my DD.

    I think your question is acedemic. BG will normally refuse to allow you to change supplier unless you pay your arrears in full.

    This is a policy of all utility companies and ties in those without funds to clear their debit balance.
  • Well thats a bit of a blow, didn't know that, i'd better get in touch and get it cleared then. The thought of staying with BG fills me with anger.

    Incidentally, i have since been able to access my Gas account, the leccy one is still missing somewhere, and it tells me that the DD will increase to £25. Its also shows a Previous Meter reading on 26th Apr and the recent one on 25th Apr, which is clever of them. Of course completely ignoring the readings i have been sending them since April.

    I wrote in a letter of complaint last week, and emailed the website, but heard nothing...

    how can a company opperate like this? and still make money?
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,059 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Rampant Recycler
    how can a company opperate like this? and still make money?

    1. Apathy.

    2. Ignorance is bliss!

    3. People like me on a fixed to 2010 tariff(nothing is as cheap) who won't cut off their nose etc.

    4 BG Click energy is very competitive.

    I, like you, am hugely frustrated at the abysmal web-site. However nowhere in my dealings with BG have I found them to be dishonest, and for many things - the treatment of pre-pay debit balances for example - they are excellent.

    Not sure that that makes up for their accounting incompetance though.
  • not dishonest, hmmm

    2 people in 3 bed semi, direct debit set at £20 a month. this is apparantley the average, so i must be an heavy user, even though both my wife and i are out all day at work. Maybe some one else can point out i'm wrong, but if £20 is an average, then there must be people using less.

    Or do they set it low so you are always in debit and therefore can't switch away?
  • espresso
    espresso Posts: 16,448 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    not dishonest, hmmm

    2 people in 3 bed semi, direct debit set at £20 a month. this is apparantley the average, so i must be an heavy user, even though both my wife and i are out all day at work. Maybe some one else can point out i'm wrong, but if £20 is an average, then there must be people using less.

    Or do they set it low so you are always in debit and therefore can't switch away?

    Don't fall for the low DD trap, they all want your custom and if you fall for this ploy, they get it! Work it out for yourself. You know how much you use and how much the suppliers charge per unit, so get your calculator out.

    :rolleyes:
    :doh: Blue text on this forum usually signifies hyperlinks, so click on them!..:wall:
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,059 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Rampant Recycler
    not dishonest, hmmm

    2 people in 3 bed semi, direct debit set at £20 a month. this is apparantley the average, so i must be an heavy user, even though both my wife and i are out all day at work. Maybe some one else can point out i'm wrong, but if £20 is an average, then there must be people using less.

    Or do they set it low so you are always in debit and therefore can't switch away?

    2 points.

    As Expresso has stated the initial DD set has absolutely no relationship to your consumption/costs. All companies, and in particular the comparison websites, will set your DD as low as it takes to get your custom. The call centre operators and comparison websites are on commission - and that is all that matters to them.

    The UK average consumption is 20,500kWh per year. So that will be around £40 - £50 a month depending on your tariff.

    Try an experiment.

    Contact any comparison website and say you are paying £50 with BG. They will offer a deal at, say £45 with,say, EDF(or whoever is paying them the most commission). Contact another website and tell them you are paying £45 with EDF and you will be offered a deal with, say, NPower at £40. Keep repeating this process and you will probably finish up with BG at £20!!!!
  • tripled
    tripled Posts: 2,882 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Not all agents are like that - I usually suggest 'setting it at the same as what you are paying your current supplier to start it off, then once it's settled in we can always reduce it for you and any credit will get refunded'. However most of the customers I deal with don't know what their usage will be yet so I'm not competing on direct debit amounts with other companies. In other departments I'm sure there are agents out there who do use the lower dd trick to get people to switch though, although I'd hope they'd be in the minority!

    briandiggle, if you have always been on a direct debit and haven't missed any payments BG may let the account go, as the balance is not technically outstanding, as you haven't been asked to pay it off immediately. However the most they would let you pay the final bill off is over three months in installments, if you didn't stick to that they'd pass it off to Wescott, who would put a dirty black mark on your credit file.
  • As i said earlier, i've got no probs with paying for what i've used, just fail to see why we have to bend over backwards to get these things sorted.

    As for the low DD, first time i've had an credit account with them, so i
    genuinely believed it would at least be close to actually figure. In fact, last week, the lady in the call centre i spoke to still insisted that £25 was the average.

    Still, we live and learn, eh...

    tripled, thanks for the info, i'll just have to wait with baited breath and see what happens...
  • espresso
    espresso Posts: 16,448 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    As for the low DD, first time i've had an credit account with them, so i
    genuinely believed it would at least be close to actually figure. In fact, last week, the lady in the call centre i spoke to still insisted that £25 was the average.

    So have you calculated it for yourself then? Presumably you know how many kWh you use per annum and the cost of the units. You should be telling them how much your DD should be per month.

    :rolleyes:
    :doh: Blue text on this forum usually signifies hyperlinks, so click on them!..:wall:
  • BBB
    BBB Posts: 258 Forumite
    tripled wrote: »
    Not all agents are like that - I usually suggest 'setting it at the same as what you are paying your current supplier to start it off, then once it's settled in we can always reduce it for you and any credit will get refunded'. However most of the customers I deal with don't know what their usage will be yet so I'm not competing on direct debit amounts with other companies. In other departments I'm sure there are agents out there who do use the lower dd trick to get people to switch though, although I'd hope they'd be in the minority!

    briandiggle, if you have always been on a direct debit and haven't missed any payments BG may let the account go, as the balance is not technically outstanding, as you haven't been asked to pay it off immediately. However the most they would let you pay the final bill off is over three months in installments, if you didn't stick to that they'd pass it off to Wescott, who would put a dirty black mark on your credit file.

    Yep, ditto. Nothing more annoying than a customer going mad because the idiot agent who actioned the sale set the DD at £20 when it should have been £40 and they've got an increase.
    :beer:
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