British gas billing error

carlosuk

Hi,


Its been a while but I've finally had a response from British Gas on Friday (24/6/16) as below and was wondering what you guys think?


Here is what I asked them to answer in my original letter which as you will see that haven't really answered.....


Why was the misdirected payment applied to my account with no investigation or notification to me by yourselves?

• Why were there no notes on my account so that your agents could easily identify what had happened when I called?
• Why was I not called back as promised after my phone call on the 29th March 2016 and my e-mail on the 31st March 2016?
• Why were my e-mails sent on the 31st March 2016 and the 8th April 2016 ignored?
• In your e-mail to me on the 19th of April you felt that the matter was resolved, what steps did you take to reach this conclusion?
• What exactly was the misdirected payment in relation to and what are both yours and the industries procedure/process for dealing with such payments and have these been followed in this case?

You will notice that the dates mentioned at the bottom of the letter about timescales have already passed which I presume is a mistake.


I’m sorry for the delay in my reply and thank you for your patience.


In your letter dated 11 May 2016 you requested a detailed response.


A misdirected payment was in relation to payments which had incorrectly been sent to British Gas. This payment is usually only applied onto a prepayment account.


Due to this payment being incorrectly allocated its subsequently been removed. The incorrect allocation of the payment won’t happen again onto your account.


I’m sorry the calls you were promised didn’t go ahead when you were promised on 29 March 2016 and 31 March 2016. Also that you didn’t receive a reply to your emails dated 31 March 2016 and 8 April 2016.


As compensation for the issues experienced I’d like to offer you £50.00.


If you feel I haven’t answered all your questions, or you‘re not satisfied your complaint has been completely resolved, please feel free to contact me on the details above. I’d be more than happy to help you further.


On 13 June 2016 your complaint will have been open with us for 56 calendar days. Shortly after this you'll receive a letter from us advising you of your rights to refer the matter to the Ombudsman Services - Energy. Please be assured that we are working hard to resolve your complaint and remain committed to finding a solution as soon as possible.


If you’re happy with what’s been done you don’t need to do anything and I’ll make the arrangements to close the complaint down for you on 23 June 2016.


I’m glad we’ve been able to get to the bottom of this. We know it’s not nice when things don’t work, so thank you for taking the time to contact us.

dogshome

Thanks for the update

Yes you can go to the Ombudsman, but the final tally is that although you suffered an extended period of stress in fighting off unjustified demands for quite a large sum of money, in the end the cost to you was just your time and phone calls.

Previous posts show that the Ombudsman's compensation payments for time and trouble are in the region of £40 - So a bit lower than BG's offer of £50
On the other hand it will cost BG a several hundred £'s fee if you do take it to the Ombudsman - So it's up to you as to how angry you are with BG

Whatever you do, keep your records on this safely filed away for at least 6 years