Debt - british gas now lcs

yl91

I'm a newbie and not sure if this thread is in the right place, I'm seeking some help because I just cant seem to deal with these people. Theyre a bunch of cons and wont leave us alone.

We have been with british gas from 2007-2009 for electricity. 2007-2014 as gas. We run a small family business.

in the middle of 2009 we wanted to change suppliers. My cousin worked for my dad and my dad wanted to change the name over to him also because it was so expensive. I called them to tell them I've found a cheaper supplier and they said I cannot change over until December 2009 as that's when our contract ends. I said to them my dad might stop working and wanted to change over to my cousin. They said unless we they have it in writing then they cant cancel the contract or offer us a new one. Fair enough, we'll just let the contract run out and then switch it to a new supplier. The invoices was still addressed to my dad until October-November time when I notified them that I will be switching suppliers. Everything went smoothly until January 2010 they said my cousin owes them in the region of £2800. I called up to enquire about this and they said that because my cousin took over, the contract terminated. Which ment that they put us on a some daily contract thing that was nearly double the price of the contract we signed in 2007. I've told them that we never ended up switching over to my cousins name and we never sent anything out in writing. They didn't seem interested and only wanted us to pay the debt off.

I've emailed them asking them for call recordings and they wouldn't give it to me. They said I needed authorisation. I then got authorisation and they said they need the actual date of the call which I cant remember. It was well over 6 months since I made that call and I didn't think it was anything important to start off with so never noted the date down.

We started having debt collector letters in. I just ignored them(I know it was the wrong thing to do but the situation was so unfair).

We kept getting letters and it stopped for a while. Then it started coming but this time it was for the amount of £3099.69 addressed to my cousin. I wrote a complaint to british gas which they ignored. They never bothered replying to me.

In 2014 started sending me letters again but from a debt collector. It was from a company called Oriel Collection. I asked the company to provide me with a breakdown of this bill so I can understand how it became so much. I recall being told I was allowed a subject access request so I explained this to them. They replied saying they can only speak to my cousin regarding this issue and wasn't interested in speaking to me. I just ignored them again.

I then read about "statute barred debt" which basically although the debt doesn't get wiped out. They aren't allowed to persue the debt. They then went quiet for a while again.

Now in 2016 our accountant has just received a letter addressed to my DAD this time from LCS to recover a sum of £3951.42 for the gas consumed from Jan 2007 - Dec 2014. We have always paid our gas bills. There was no outstanding gas bills otherwise I wouldn't of thought they would let us change over to our new supplier in Dec 2014. The balance of £3951.42 has an administration charge o £515.40 included.

These bunch of idiots has given me such a headache. I don't know how they made up this sum. I'd assume the recent letter stated for the period Jan 2007 to Dec 2014 is to somehow state that the debt is not statute barred..

Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated and I would like to thank you in advance for taking your time to read my thread.

Upsidedown_Bear

Hello and welcome to MSE :hello:

You would be better posting this on the main Debt Free board here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76

ETA
Thread has now been moved, thanks fermi

yl91

Thank you Upsidedown bear!

I will post it on the main board and try my luck.

Upsidedown_Bear

If anyone could help yl91 with this it would be appreciated

sourcrates

Hi,

Sounds like a tricky one this, and the fact British Gas ignored your complaint is just not on.
Write to the DCA stating the account is in dispute with the original creditor and to go away basically, that will keep them off your back.

You then register a complaint with the energy ombudsman, giving them as much detail as possible :

https://www.ombudsman-services.org

Mention to them your original complaint was ignored by Britush gas, good luck with it !!

WorkingTowardsDebtFree

Subject Access Request them and specifically mention that you require all information they have on your company, your dad and your cousin. This may require three separate SARs at £10 each, but t's worth it.

In the SARs request all information they hold on each "identity" (the company, your dad, your cousin) and especially the date that they claim the change-over the request happened, also request the transcript of the call that they claim this happened in.

That will prove that the switch and the changeover to your cousin was refused, and that you continued as was. Also ask to prove the acceptance of your cousin to take over the account.

If they can't provide the call date, time or transcript then they haven't proven the request to switch to your cousin, nor your cousin's acceptance to take over the account.

yl91

Thanks a lot guys for the advice! I'll be right on it! I have asked for a subject access request before but that was with the previous debt collector. Ill be asking again with LCS now. I've read about LCS in another thread and they just sound like bullies to me. The original debt was from 2009 which would mean its statute barred hence why I think they've changed it to from 2007-2014 for "gas supply" which the original debt was for "electricity supply".

Thanks for everyones advice yet again. Ill come back with an update when they get back to me.