British Gas

bubblewrapped

From what I've read so far, a real credit report nemesis! I recently checked my credit report and discovered British Gas had very kindly marked it with a default.

This occurred because I moved house, gave them my forwarding address so they could send me any outstanding bill and promptly forgot all about them

I was reminded over six months later when a debt collector sent me a letter. I settled it and thought no more about it.

As I said, I recently checked my credit report and discovered they had marked it with a default. I wrote to them and they said that they had emailed me my final bill. I've checked my emails and there is no bill, so presumably this was to some old email address that I no longer use/have access to.

I guess my question is, is sending a bill via email (especially when it has got as serious as a default) acceptable notification? I asked for and I gave them my new address because I was expecting a bill to be sent to it. They never once actually posted any correspondence to my new address.

Is there some rule or case law regarding this? Surely when it had got a bit more serious than chasing me up for not paying, somebody should have thought to actually send me a physical letter? Emails are surely unreliable methods of debt collecting? They go into spam boxes, you can get one letter or digit wrong and it would never be received, they are transient; people change their email addresses for a number of reasons (getting married, avoiding spam).

Does anyone know how I can argue that this was unreasonable and unacceptable?

Thanks in advance.

National_Debtline

Hi there,


The answer to this will likely lie in the Terms and Conditions of service that British Gas sent you when you first became their customer. These T & C's should outline the process for defaults. If you no longer have this then you should be able to check them online. If you are unhappy with the service they have provided then you should make a formal complaint. Write/ email British Gas and ask them to remove the default and why you think it is incorrect/ unfair - if they refuse you could escalate the complaint to the Energy Ombudsman.


However, I should point out that British Gas are not regulated by the Consumer Credit Act and so are not required to send a written default notice. They are required to record accurate data with the credit agencies and technically there was money owed when you left the property in question. From what you have said it would seem that was outstanding long enough for a default to be recorded under the Information Commissioners Guideline's.


Your best bet is to complain and escalate it if you need to. Good luck,


Laura
@natdebtline