Do I need a solicitor? re my British Gas account

Dash145

Hi,

I was unsure where to post this, but as it is about a log term problem with British Gas I thought I'd start here, but if there is a better part of the forum, could a mod please move it.

I have been a British Gas customer for many years now & for several years I have had a long term problem with my electricity bills. I have only in the past few days had it confirmed to me by a senior advisor at B.G. that I have been over charged (seriously overcharged) since 2007!!!

This is what happened...back in 2007 we were told that our electricity metre was out of date & was in need of replacing, so we rang & arranged for a British Gas engineer to come out to switch us to the new one. However when he turned up it turned out that he was not qualified to replace it, so he got in touch with someone else & we were told he would change it later that day. So as promised the second engineer turned up that afternoon but he had the same problem as the first, he was also not qualified to replace it & he arranged for a third engineer to come the next day. So sure enough the next morning we had an engineer turn up who did change us to a new SINGLE electric metre.

Now I know I have highlighted the fact that we only have a single electric metre, but ever since we had the first engineer turn up, they all logged themselves down as doing the job. So it turns out that the National Database which logs the amount of feeds into a property then logged our single occupancy house as now having 3 separate electricity supplies, not just the one single supply. So since these 3 engineers came in 2007 we have be charged TRIPLE what we should have been paying.

I have been in dispute with British Gas since our first bill arrived after having the new metre fitted as I was sure it was wrong, but they never corrected the problem, or change my bill. So for the past eight & a half years I have tried my best to get the problem fixed & I even contacted the energy ombudsman who fobbed me off the first couple of times.

Over these past years I have been called a lair by a manager who accused me of sub letting rooms in our house, I have been told many times that the problem would be sorted by customer service staff, but it never was & we kept getting stupidly high bills (£750 for 3mths in 2012). Thanks to these ridiculous bills we could never afford to pay them on time & B.G. ended up giving our account to the debt collection companies (Lowell mainly), who had been given our full details including both home & mobile phone numbers. As I'm sure many people will have heard of Lowell & their methods, which is constant letters with threats & also constant phone calls, even until late evening, which is exactly what we suffered. Things got so bad with the phone calls, both my wife & I had to change our mobile numbers, after they managed to get hers & after 10 months Sky eventually agreed to change our landline number.

But what really tops it all off was the day I had someone from the courts turn up threatening to disconnect our triple supplies & to only end up seeing we had one supply & he could not turn it off as we have 2 young children, but mainly as our youngest daughter is autistic.....though in a stupid way it was through this court official that B.G. decided to investigate our supplies further.

So just to recap...

1: We've just had it confirmed we've been over charged on our electric bills for 8 1/2 years.

2: We've been called liars by a British Gas customer service manager.

3: We've had our personal information given out to debt collection agency's,after we could not pay the incorrect bills on time.

4: We've had to change all our telephone numbers.

5: I have had my credit score destroyed thanks to the debt companies involvement, so bad I can't get ANY type of credit card or financial help.

6: Both my wife & I have now suffered ill health through the stress of threats of disconnection & having court officials at our door.

So what I would really like to know is....

1: Should I be seeking legal advice from a solicitor?
2: Do I need a specialist solicitor & does anyone know any good ones?
3: Also will it cost me or will British Gas have to foot the bill?
4: What should I need compensating for?

I do know that we have over paid British Gas thousands of pounds, but they have told me they only keep records of bills for the past 27 months & will have to estimate some of what we are owed. They have also told me that we are the first people to their knowledge to have suffered this sort of huge mess & I personally hope that we are the last to suffer it.

I know what I have wrote may seem long winded, but I've tried to keep it brief, so I hope there is someone who may be able to advise me or point me in the right direction for the best help.

Thanks for looking & all help or advice is very much appreciated.

Dash

modsandmockers

I have only in the past few days had it confirmed to me by a senior advisor at B.G. that I have been over charged (seriously overcharged) since 2007

The very first thing you need to do is to get BG to write you a letter confirming that they have recognised the problem. An un-recorded phone conversation with an un-named senior advisor will probably be of very little use to a solicitor.

I had someone from the courts turn up threatening to disconnect our triple supplies & to only end up seeing we had one supply

Do you know the name of the court official, and which court he/she came from? Are you sure it wasn’t a bailiff, or somebody from British Gas?

Do you still have the bills which BG have produced since 2007? Is there a separate bill for each meter number, or are all three meters itemised onto a single bill. Do you know the three different meter serial numbers which are said to be installed in your property? How do the meter readings compare? Since 2007, there should have been at least 4 or 5 ‘actual’ meter readings by BG-appointed meter readers. SFAIK, a meter reader would always check the serial number of the meter itself before checking that day’s meter reading. If there is only one meter on site, then it is hard to understand where the other two meter readings might have come from.

Dash145

modsandmockers wrote: »

I have only in the past few days had it confirmed to me by a senior advisor at B.G. that I have been over charged (seriously overcharged) since 2007

The very first thing you need to do is to get BG to write you a letter confirming that they have recognised the problem. An un-recorded phone conversation with an un-named senior advisor will probably be of very little use to a solicitor.

I had someone from the courts turn up threatening to disconnect our triple supplies & to only end up seeing we had one supply

Do you know the name of the court official, and which court he/she came from? Are you sure it wasn’t a bailiff, or somebody from British Gas?

Do you still have the bills which BG have produced since 2007? Is there a separate bill for each meter number, or are all three meters itemised onto a single bill. Do you know the three different meter serial numbers which are said to be installed in your property? How do the meter readings compare? Since 2007, there should have been at least 4 or 5 ‘actual’ meter readings by BG-appointed meter readers. SFAIK, a meter reader would always check the serial number of the meter itself before checking that day’s meter reading. If there is only one meter on site, then it is hard to understand where the other two meter readings might have come from.

Hi & thanks your your reply,

I don't have a letter as such, though I do have email correspondence which does show part of the problems, but I'm sure that if I ask I could get a complete breakdown of everything from the advisor who is helping me. There is only one person who I now contact via telephone or email & he has all the details of the problems & he gives me regular updates to any progress being made.

I do have a copy of a letter from the courts firstly making the threats of disconnection, but I also have the letter which was given to me by the court official on the day he came to disconnect our supply. The letter given by hand does show all details of which court he came from & what he was there to do.

As for previous bills etc, all of the bills showed 3 separate readings but all had the same metre number. Two of the three readings were estimates but one of them matched the correct reading & the other was slightly lower. The metre was read regularly by G4S people, who I did keep asking if they were there to take one reading or 3 readings. The people who came to read the metre kept asking where the other metre's were, to which I kept telling them there was only the one. I got them to check there machine to check the metre numbers, which they then saw was the metre they had just read, so they proceeded to just repeat the same reading to cover each of there required readings.

As far as I understand the reason they kept asking for 3 separate readings all came down to the fact that we had 3 engineers come out & each engineer was then logged down with the National Database as all fitting a separate metre. So 3 engineers was then seen as over the space of 24hrs as our property now having 3 metre's, but all with the same serial number. I did actually send photo's to B.G. showing our single metre, the serial no. & that it was a sealed & that there was no way we could give 3 separate readings, that's when a manager actually called me a liar & said it was not our metre in the photo & that we were sub letting.

I had kept them all safely to one side for years, but by accident the bulk of them somehow managed to end up being thrown out (recycled). I think this happened during one of my very disheartened days when I just wished it was all sorted & when I was starting to resign myself to this problem never going away. I did keep a backup of most of the bills & some email correspondence on a computer, but one day the hard drive decided to partially fail. I have however installed some recovery software on to a secondary hard drive & I'm going to see if I can recover the data I need (fingers crossed). I would have started this recovery already, but thanks to the school holidays & either myself or my young daughter needing to go in & out hospital it always seems to be put back. I did start the software up & it estimated recovery at taking approximately 56hrs of continuous running, which I will restart later today.

I hope this helps answer the points you have raised & thanks again for replying.

wildesavings

Did you pay from a bank account - contact your bank and get statements for the last 7 years! Really hope you get this sorted, sounds like hell

Bigphil1474

If it were me, I'd be going through all the bills I had and estimating how much overpayment has been made - may be complicated, but if you have enough info to work out for 2 or 3 years, then you'd have a good guestimate for the whole 8 years. If you start with that figure and deduct what you have/haven't paid etc. then you have a good idea where you are. I'd be expecting them to repay what they owe you, with an element of compensation (including additional issues like having to change numbers etc.), and a commitment to remove any bad debt records associated with this. If they come back to you with something you're happy with, fine, if not you could seek legal advice. If they are now admitting their error, then it may be worth revisiting the ombudsman? Good luck.

Dash145

wildesavings wrote: »

Did you pay from a bank account - contact your bank and get statements for the last 7 years! Really hope you get this sorted, sounds like hell

It has been hell at times, especially when the extra large winter bills came in. All payments were made via our bank account, so I'll see if they can possibly help.....Thanks for the advice,it is appreciated.

Bigphil1474 wrote: »

If it were me, I'd be going through all the bills I had and estimating how much overpayment has been made - may be complicated, but if you have enough info to work out for 2 or 3 years, then you'd have a good guestimate for the whole 8 years. If you start with that figure and deduct what you have/haven't paid etc. then you have a good idea where you are. I'd be expecting them to repay what they owe you, with an element of compensation (including additional issues like having to change numbers etc.), and a commitment to remove any bad debt records associated with this. If they come back to you with something you're happy with, fine, if not you could seek legal advice. If they are now admitting their error, then it may be worth revisiting the ombudsman? Good luck.

I know I have several old bills including a winter bill from 2011/2012 where we were charged £750 for 3 months electricity, we then had our winter gas bill to add to that so we were charged over £1000 then. I do have the name of an advisor at the energy ombudsman, who I think I'd better now ring to see what she can advise.

I know they have stopped any further possibilities of further damaging my credit score, but my credit score is a joke, though I have made sure my accounts are all clear. Currently we have to rely on my wife should we need to apply for anything, though we do try to save to buy anything big.

The advisor who is currently helping me has already told me that we have over paid by a very substantial amount in the thousands. I have asked about interest we would have accrued had the money been in bank & he thinks we should get possibly an added 5% on top of what we paid. I've just been getting concerned as to whether I should have spoken to a solicitor as it now seems there will hopefully be a large amount money involved & I don't want to get anything wrong.

Thanks for your help & advice it is appreciated.

modsandmockers

If you have a named adviser within BG whom you are able to contact directly by phone and by email and who actually responds directly to your issues, then you are in a rare position indeed. If I were you, I would ask him to let you have some kind of written statement regarding the situation which has developed, including an indication of the steps which need to be taken to sort the issue out. I would also ask him to email you after every conversation with a copy of the notes which he has placed on your file.

You really need to do some sums of your own in order to come up with your own estimate of how much you are owed by BG, and it is possible that an accountant would be able to help you just as much as a solicitor. No specialised knowledge would be required, and it probably wouldn't need to be an accountant with qualifications - all you need is someone who is used to wading through volumes of incomplete paperwork and then negotiating with a large organisation (usually HMRC, but BG would also qualify) in order to agree a settlement figure.

Dash145

modsandmockers wrote: »

If you have a named adviser within BG whom you are able to contact directly by phone and by email and who actually responds directly to your issues, then you are in a rare position indeed. If I were you, I would ask him to let you have some kind of written statement regarding the situation which has developed, including an indication of the steps which need to be taken to sort the issue out. I would also ask him to email you after every conversation with a copy of the notes which he has placed on your file.

You really need to do some sums of your own in order to come up with your own estimate of how much you are owed by BG, and it is possible that an accountant would be able to help you just as much as a solicitor. No specialised knowledge would be required, and it probably wouldn't need to be an accountant with qualifications - all you need is someone who is used to wading through volumes of incomplete paperwork and then negotiating with a large organisation (usually HMRC, but BG would also qualify) in order to agree a settlement figure.

I must admit this new the person who is helping me now does seem to know more about what needs to be done, but I will send him an email to get all the information that you suggest I need. I should have really thought on to ask that already, but I think it's partly the shock that it seems to be getting sorted that made me forget to ask.

I'm going to see if I can recover the bulk of the information, ie past saved bills & copies of emails from that failing hard drive. If that can be saved then I think I'll look in to speaking to an accountant for some help.

Thanks for the help & advise, it is much appreciated.

modsandmockers

It is quite possible that the advisor at BG has no more idea than you do about how to calculate a suitable settlement figure for the refund which is due to you. A suggested figure on a letter from somebody with headed notepaper would quite possibly give him the authority to accept it immediately (so make sure to start with a high figure!).

But you also need to get rock-solid acceptance that there is only one meter at your property, and that the recorded meter number is correct.

Some years ago, I lived for three years in a converted almshouses, and the mixture of meters old and new, in a cupboard which could only be accessed through my flat, caused chaos. Meter readers called regularly but, despite all my efforts, I received no contact from any energy supplier until the very week that I was moving out. The lady from BG called me on my phone and already knew which flat I lived in even though it was several months since I had last written to them. She wanted to know the number of the meter which was linked to my flat (which I had tried to give them countless times both by phone and by letter). I haggled, and she agreed to waive all electricity charges for the three years of my occupation.

wildesavings

How's it going Dash? Any closer to getting it resolved?

Dash145

Hi,

Sorry for not replying sooner, but my wife has recently taken ill & was rushed into hospital, so getting her sorted obviously came first.

Here's a copy of an email from the B.G. customer relations person who is helping me, which I think after reading it shows we may have it all sorted before the end of the month (fingers crossed).


"Dear Mr Bxxxxxx,

You’ve recently been in touch and asked us to look into an important issue. Thanks for giving me the chance to resolve this for you. I wanted to let you know what’s been done so far.

After our initial discussion on 14 July 2015, you advised me there’s only one supply at your property with one Meter Serial Number, which is A09X042109. Our records showed two supplies for your property with two meters. As mentioned, the details we had were incorrect and needed to be updated. In order to do this, I raised a query with the National Database so the details were updated externally. This was to remove the incorrect supply from their records and also remove the additional meter as this had been on file for numerous years.

The correct supply for you had a link on the National Database and also our records as this was grouped together. Therefore, I requested for the association of the two supplies to be broken and show as a singular supply for each. Once this was done, I arranged for the account to be ungrouped on our records so the account would be billed for one supply with one meter moving forward.

Separately, I raised an enquiry to update the details externally to show the incorrect supply has been closed and no longer there. This has been actioned so going forward, this won’t re-appear and cause any unnecessary statements regarding this.

Your account now shows one supply with one meter. The bills created prior on your account have been incorrect as the balance on the account shows you used more than your actually have, due in part to the additional meters we had on record. As such, we need to work out what you’ve been over-charged. Due to the nature of this, it can take a few weeks as this needs to be done manually and means having to work with one of our upper level management. Once this has been done, we can arrange to discuss the outcome of your enquiry and look at any shortfalls in service you’ve had whilst looking into this matter.

I’ve set the next review date for me to look at this as 21 September 2015 so this gives enough time to work out any over-charging and get the credit signed off.

When you get in touch, to make sure you and your household are getting all the help you’re entitled to please can you let me know if anybody living in your property has any medical conditions, disabilities or additional requirements that you would like us to be made aware of?

I look forward to hearing from you shortly and resolving this issue for you.

If you’d like information about our complaints handling procedure you can view a copy by either going online at britishgas.co.uk/energycomplaints, or by getting in touch and one of our advisors will arrange to send you a copy free of charge.

Kind regards

Xxxxxx Xxxx
Customer Relations"

So lets hope for an end to this soon.