British Gas and Debt Collectors

Aquaapple_2

Hi there

I've lurked on these forums for a while but today something happened which made me feel the need to post.

Between Aug 2007 and Jan 2013 I lived in a flat owned by my parents. At the time I was a British Gas customer.

Today my parents received a final demand letter to their home address (the address I gave when leaving British Gas almost 3 years ago) for £25. I found out about it around lunch time and intended to contact them this evening. Imagine my surprise when I then get a text message and an email from Moorcroft debt collection agency saying I need to contact them urgently regarding my British Gas debt.

British Gas couldn't tell me anything when I called them As my file has been 'archived' and they'll have to send a request to their back office team to recover the information about the debt. They estimate this will take 2 weeks.

When I called Moorcroft they said an agency fee of £18 has now been added to it as well...despite me getting the first contact today!

BG passed my parents address, my mobile number and my email address onto Moorcroft, proving they had plenty of avenues to contact me. Why wait 3 years?!? If they had told me I owed it at the time I would have just paid it!

There seems to be a lot online about this sort of thing but it's a bit of a minefield so I thought I'd ask here to see whether you guys think it's worth me arguing for the sake of £43? And equally whether anyone has had a similar experience?

Thank you in advance

sourcrates

You can ignore moorcrap completely, they have no authority to make you pay there fee, and it will not appear on your credit file.

If it turns out you owe the £25, just pay British Gas direct, and forget about the other chancers.

National_Debtline

If you gave them meter readings when you moved out in 2013 then the debt would have fallen due at that point. Normally, they should make you aware of any outstanding balance at this point so that you can settle the account. However, British Gas would have 6 years to chase you for the money owed from when the debt fell due.


You could complain to British Gas about their conduct on recovering this debt and that you don't feel they gave you a fair chance to respond to their letter (because presumably you have the letter and text message dated within a couple of days of each other). Ask them to take the debt back from Moorcroft and waiver the £18 fee. If they refuse you could consider escalating the matter to the Energy Ombudsman. Good Luck


Laura
@natdebtline