British Gas and LCS Advice

technopersia

Hi,

My flatmate and I were with British Gas until October of last year when I moved our Gas and Electricity provider to Eon. I paid them in full as per their final bill. A few months later I logged in to my account and I noticed I was about £50 in credit. I asked for a refund and after 3 attempts to send me a check spelling my name correctly they managed it!

Last week I received a 'scam sounding' phone call saying I owed British gas money. I tried to explain to the Indian fellow on the phone that I am no longer with them and they have even refunded me. Thinking its a scam I told them to send me a bill. They sent me a bill saying I owed them about £60 from April 2015 to Oct 2015.

However the new bill is in my name only, even though my contract with them had my flatmate and my name on it. My flatmate left last month so I can't ask for the payment. I also don't see why I need to pay for their mistake, whether it is the numerical calculations or a bigger mess. They got my name right this time so I am inclined to think they billed me again because its a new name.

My account on the British gas website is also closed, so I can't really check. It will be very difficult to find the gas meter readings from a few months ago as well.

What do you suggest?

Shall I make an official complaint through the British Gas website?

Sorry for the long text and thank you in advance.

footyguy

technopersia wrote: »

Hi,

My flatmate and I were with British Gas until October of last year when I moved our Gas and Electricity provider to Eon. I paid them in full as per their final bill. A few months later I logged in to my account and I noticed I was about £50 in credit. I asked for a refund and after 3 attempts to send me a check spelling my name correctly they managed it!

Last week I received a 'scam sounding' phone call saying I owed British gas money. I tried to explain to the Indian fellow on the phone that I am no longer with them and they have even refunded me. Thinking its a scam I told them to send me a bill. They sent me a bill saying I owed them about £60 from April 2015 to Oct 2015.

However the new bill is in my name only, even though my contract with them had my flatmate and my name on it. My flatmate left last month so I can't ask for the payment. I also don't see why I need to pay for their mistake, whether it is the numerical calculations or a bigger mess. They got my name right this time so I am inclined to think they billed me again because its a new name.

My account on the British gas website is also closed, so I can't really check. It will be very difficult to find the gas meter readings from a few months ago as well.

What do you suggest?

Shall I make an official complaint through the British Gas website?

Sorry for the long text and thank you in advance.

I'm not sure exactly what your issue is here.

Obviously you are not expected to pay money unless you have a fully detailed bill. If you disagree with what the bill says when you get it, then in the first instance you need to contact the supplier to explain the cause for dispute. Depending on what then happens, you may need it to be a formal complaint ... although I'm sure BG will do that for you on the phone when you call them if they cannot resolve the matter there and then.

If you are concerned about the authenticity of the bill, then again contact the supplier who will confirm it's authenticity or otherwise.
Use a number for a the supplier you know is correct, perhaps one from an earlier bill you know to be true, or get their contact details from their website. Don't call the number solely because it's what's on the latest bill, if you have reason to suspect that that bill is fraudulent.