British gas broke in to my home!!!

Insurebore

Hello Everyone,

On completion of my house purchase I arranged to change gas and electric supply from British Gas to Eon. When I moved in I called BG to advise of meter readings and that I didnt need the tarriff info etc as I had already instructed Eon to arrange transfer. BG advised they hadnt received the transfer notification so I contacted Eon. They advised that they had no record of transfer but I could set it up again online- which I of course did. A month or so later I received a letter from Eon stating BG had refused my transfer. A call to BG was made and they stated this was because I had a debit on the account for the first month- I set up a dd to cover this and any time in between transfer. I then set up a supplier transfer for a third time. I didnt receive any letters from either supplier and BG cancelled my DD so I presumed I was in the midst of the transfer process. Move forward several months later (today) and I come home to what I initially thought was a burglary. My dogs had been let loose and my internal doors were open. There was a letter placed on my sofa with an incorrect date 08/01/2015 stating BG had entered my property after obtaining a warrant and fitted a prepayment meter to recover non payment. The electric supply was in the room that my four small dogs were in and they decided to let my dogs roam free to get access and my sofa and kitchen were subsequently damaged severely by my very upset dogs. We had not received any letters from BG or given the opportunity to contest the warrant.I can not believe that this has happened. Can you please advise if this is legal and offer any advice how to proceed with a complaint.Your advice would be hugely appreciated.

[Deleted User]

I m struggling to believe this has happened too. Force fitting of prepays is really a last resort after a prolonged period, many letters, many visits to avoid this happening. Its certainly legal for any supplier to enter a property to fit prepayment meters, usually with quite large debts which were being totally ignored by the occupier.
Could this all be the former occupiers debts ? Do the meters appeared to be tampered/bypassed. BG will certainly go in quickly with warrants if they are obstructed to the meters of a suspect tamperer. When I find a suspicious meter they act quickly, get a warrant in a week or two if occupier wont admit them access, and go in with a locksmith.
The debt/repayment rates will be on the prepay meters. Electric on screens " S " and "T ", gas will be on 26 and 27.

Insurebore

Thanks for replying
to me.To be honest I really dont think its anything to do with the previous owner of the property. She was a quite wealthy retired university professor and i ve never seen any debt chasing letters or anything to suggest she had problems managing her finances. Im going to call the magistrates court on Monday to find out if they had actually got a warrant. When I called BG they couldnt see the letters to check the address they had been sent to due to "system issues". The advisor was very unhelpful to say the least so I will be making a written complaint.

Insurebore

In regards to meter tampering definitely no cause for suspicion.

[Deleted User]

Insurebore wrote: »

In regards to meter tampering definitely no cause for suspicion.

Ok, I can only guess its a case of a mistaken address. Thats happened before as a complaint on here but that was flats with similar numbers/letters. Its definitely not the normal procedure. BG dont want to waste money on getting warrants and hiring locksmiths without it being really a last resort.
If this is what has happened and someone has blundered into the wrong house its going to be a case of how much compensation is due for your distress and damage.

Insurebore

Thanks. I initially presumed it was a mistake but when I spoke to the useless advisor at BG he seemed to think the problem was definitely due to the fact that we had missed some payments due to the confusion with the transfer mix up . To be honest I dont think they care about the costs as they have billed me for the warrant etc. I will definitely be taking further and referring to Ofgem if a satisfactory resolution is not arrived at. Thanks again for your response.

spiro

Insurebore wrote: »

Thanks. I initially presumed it was a mistake but when I spoke to the useless advisor at BG he seemed to think the problem was definitely due to the fact that we had missed some payments due to the confusion with the transfer mix up . To be honest I dont think they care about the costs as they have billed me for the warrant etc. I will definitely be taking further and referring to Ofgem if a satisfactory resolution is not arrived at. Thanks again for your response.

You can't go to OFGEM, you can goto the ombudsman but only after you have given BY time to resolve the issue and I think the timescale is about 8 weeks.

lush_walrus

So you have been paying for your electric and gas supply since moving in to EON and have received a final bill from British Gas to confirm the transfer? And not received any bills or notifications from them in the meantime? If so it will be very easy to resolve and will be clear it's an error.

I doubt they would come in without a warrant, a member of staff for a large company has no reason to do that and BG themselves would know the procedure and carry it out as routine.