British gas billing error

dogshome

Nice to see that Malc the Eon rep. is taking an interest in this Mare's Nest.

Particularly his fourth paragraph, "Once a situation........ ", that advises that there is an industry standard to deal with this problem, which from the OP's experience, BG have failed to follow.

The WRITTEN Complaint letter should have put a stop to any further demands for immediate payment and threats of enforced PAYGO meters from BG, but it would be as well if Carlosuk printed out a copy of Malcs input and kept it safe for further negotiations with BG

carlosuk

Hi guys,


I really appreciate all of your help and insight on this matter, and thought I'd give another update.


I haven't as of yet sent a written complaint via the post for the simple reason that I had e-mailed them back before I had posted the update on here and so thought I'd give them an opportunity to respond and also so I'm not contradicting myself, clearly my faith in BG replying to me was misplaced as they haven't so I have sent one final e-mail asking them to respond to me by 5pm today before I instruct my bank not to authorise payment over £100 and then pop my letter in the post.


I have also contacted EON and they have said that they don't understand why BG have told me to contact them as they can't access any details on this!


I'll keep you updated........

dogshome

In the Utility Industry, there are Complaints and Complaints

All too often, and this is not just BG, a complaint by phone or even Email is brushed aside and 'Closed' in a cursory way, just as yours of 18th April was.

A WRITTEN Complaint carries far more weight because it establishes the firm paper trailof evidence thatwill required by the Ombudsman, and it's important that it is headed by the word Complaint - The way Ofgems govenance works is that if the word 'Complaint' does not appear in a customers correspondance, no matter how serious the problem, the supplier does not have to regard it as such or follow the set rules

carlosuk

Hi,


I got a response just after 5pm, so cutting it fine!


They have cancelled my direct debit altogether and have put my account on hold so that I don't start getting chased up for payments whilst they investigate as they are unable to reduce my monthly payments with the balance on my account at the moment.


I take this as a positive step forward and hope that we are going to get to the bottom of this, but I will still pay £100 onto my account manually.


I will keep you posted........

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

dogshome wrote: »

Nice to see that Malc the Eon rep. is taking an interest in this Mare's Nest.

Particularly his fourth paragraph, "Once a situation........ ", that advises that there is an industry standard to deal with this problem, which from the OP's experience, BG have failed to follow.

The WRITTEN Complaint letter should have put a stop to any further demands for immediate payment and threats of enforced PAYGO meters from BG, but it would be as well if Carlosuk printed out a copy of Malcs input and kept it safe for further negotiations with BG

Hope I've managed to shed a bit of light on this dogshome. There was a lot of speculation though. It just rang a bell with something from the past. Certainly worth the OP asking the question.

Malc

dogshome

Thank you Malc
It seems that BG have temporarily called off the Attack Dogs, but Carlosuk still has the problem of establishing just what monies went to BG, before he can investigate just how much was, or was not, credited to his account, before he can even start to exmaine BG's demand.

In his post #13 he says he did contact Eon, but was advised Eon could not 'Access' this information. At a guess I'd assume that without an account or meter number, that was the only reply the CS Desk could give.

However, somewhere in the Eon system there is a dept. that raised the claim with BG, and have all the data to hand
Any chance of posting their address & phone, so Carlosuk can contact them ?

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Sorry dogshome but MSE don't like company reps posting that sort of stuff on the open forum. Happy to advise the OP if they drop an email to the address in my Profile. Alternatively, they can phone the number in the Prepayment section on our website and ask about mis-directed payments.

I suspect, though, data protection will mean our advisors will only be able to advise about activity on their old account. If I'm right, the payments in question will have been made by another customer and so will now sit on their account. They won't be able to talk about this.

Malc

dogshome

Wow Malc - This mare's nest gets bigger by the moment

I can fully understand that the details of one of your customers account is subject to data protection, but

Through no fault of his own, Carlosuk is facing legal sanctions for the sum of £1500 that came about by an initial error by Eon.

To defend himself he needs to establish exactly what sums of money and dates of transfer were mis-directed by Eon, before he can even begin to check the veracity of BG's claim.

Surely he is entitled to a document which lists this information, which has been redacted so far names, addresses and meter Nos are concerned ?

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

This may well be possible dogshome but will need to be done through the industry process I mentioned concerning mis-directed payments coming through the prepayment infrastructure.

Please remember, I'm guessing here. If I'm right, the payments were made by another person and not the OP. Certainly, if they had been made by the OP then we would be able to give them chapter and verse from their old account. What we wouldn't be able to do is discuss the account of the prepayment customer and this is what I meant by data protection restrictions. It's best the mis-directed payments team at the two suppliers look at this, talk to each other and advise the OP.

My assumptions could, of course, be totally wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.

Malc

Wolf3

I don't understand why the OP is being directed to speak to Eon!! There is an industry process for misdirected payments with prepayment meters, which we know Eon have claimed back from British Gas.
This money had been incorrectly routed to the OP's British Gas account, which should not have occurred anyway if the meter records had been kept up to date on the British Gas account.
This credit has supplemented the OP's account, lowering the balance they have had to pay. When Eon have made the claim British Gas have withdrawn it from the OP's account to pay the claim, which should be correct as they haven't paid this money. This is not the OP's or Eon's fault, it should lie squarely with British Gas, who despite being made aware of the situation, did nothing about it.
I would as the OP to get an itemized bill showing the balance and ask for a gesture of goodwill as they made British Gas aware of the issue. Then ask for a reasonable repayment plan over the same time period the mis-directed payments occured.