British Gas Direct Debit

KimLouise17

Hi All

Hubby phoned up British Gas in Mid April to set up a direct debit for our Gas and Electricity and was told it would be £59 per month starting on 15/05

Went ahead with it and today i have checked the bank and they have taken out £122!!! checked the online BG account and it says thats our monthly payment, we did not agree to this and are now overdrawn

is there anything we can do? i cant phone them because the account is in hubbys name and he is at work untill 2pm :mad:

JJ_Egan

Is the DD wrong in that it does not reflect usage ??
£59 pm is far to low for an average dual dual bill especially for the winter months .
This looks like you have been paying to little and the DD has increased to cover the debt .

GingerBob_3

KimLouise17 wrote: »

Hi All

Hubby phoned up British Gas in Mid April to set up a direct debit for our Gas and Electricity and was told it would be £59 per month starting on 15/05

Went ahead with it and today i have checked the bank and they have taken out £122!!! checked the online BG account and it says thats our monthly payment, we did not agree to this and are now overdrawn

is there anything we can do? i cant phone them because the account is in hubbys name and he is at work untill 2pm :mad:

Invoke the direct debit guarantee with your bank. You'll get an immediate refund. Then take up the matter with BG. When dealing with the bank tell them specifically that you are invoking the guarantee otherwise they might try and fob you off and say they can't do it - but they can, and will, if you insist.

Then BG - tell them in no uncertain terms that if they pull a similar stunt in the future you'll be going onto some other method of payment. Try and get an undertaking from them (record the call if possible) that they won't trash the CRA files about you by putting a missed payment marker against your name. BTW, if you have joint account with BG, change it so that you don't.

GingerBob_3

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Is the DD wrong in that it does not reflect usage ??
£59 pm is far to low for an average dual dual bill especially for the winter months .
This looks like you have been paying to little and the DD has increased to cover the debt .

But they should inform the customer of any change.

KimLouise17

Hubby has phoned BG and they have said we were told the wrong info on the phone! they told us to Phone the bank and get a chargeback

I understand that the £59 wont cover both gas and electricity for the year but we were willing to pay the excess at the end of the 12 months!

Its just cheeky that they felt the need to change it and not tell me leaving us overdrawn!

cifpower

KimLouise17 wrote: »

Hubby has phoned BG and they have said we were told the wrong info on the phone! they told us to Phone the bank and get a chargeback

I understand that the £59 wont cover both gas and electricity for the year but we were willing to pay the excess at the end of the 12 months!

Its just cheeky that they felt the need to change it and not tell me leaving us overdrawn!

If a £112 DD leaves you overdrawn how will you pay the considerable balance after 12 months?

lstar337

cifpower wrote: »

If a £112 DD leaves you overdrawn how will you pay the considerable balance after 12 months?

Bit of a puzzler that one?

OP, I can see a PPM in your future.

lstar337

OP, if your finances are cutting it this close then I think you should look at other suppliers.

I very much doubt a BG DF tariff is the cheapest for you.

footyguy

KimLouise17 wrote: »

Hi All

Hubby phoned up British Gas in Mid April to set up a direct debit for our Gas and Electricity and was told it would be £59 per month starting on 15/05

Went ahead with it and today i have checked the bank and they have taken out £122!!! checked the online BG account and it says thats our monthly payment, we did not agree to this and are now overdrawn

is there anything we can do? i cant phone them because the account is in hubbys name and he is at work untill 2pm :mad:

Direct Debit Guarantee

Contact your bank and request a full & immediate refund of the amount inappropriately collected.

Also ask for consequential losses (overdraft charges) to be recovered. It might take you a couple of weeks to get those back as the bank usually awaits the supplier to pay them before refunding you.

footyguy

KimLouise17 wrote: »

Hubby has phoned BG and they have said we were told the wrong info on the phone! they told us to Phone the bank and get a chargeback.

Correct procedure by BG. You need to contact your bank.
It's a claim under the Direct Debit Guarantee as opposed to a chargeback. The bank will probably understand something else by the term chargeback, that is not appropriate here.

KimLouise17

thanks all

for those wondering about our finances, we live paycheck to paycheck, i was supposed to get paid today but a computer error means we wont get it untill monday, and we paid the remaining balance on our daughters christening bits yesterday assuming i would be paid!


thanks for the advice, it has been sorted now