Threatened by British Gas

JohnBravo

Hi,
I moved to a rented property.
After some time I have found some letters from BG addressed to "The Occupier".
I have opened them.
There were statements asking to pay hundreds of pounds for 0kWh.
From landlord I know that there was a gas pipe at the property, but it was disconnected during refurbishment years ago, but apparently BG has failed to update their system and acknowledge that their service is no longer used, apparently they were making it live on the system and charging monthly just for their pipework and meter which is no longer there.

The property is heated from a different system (Switch2) which is BG independent.

Anyway I was trying to arrange a BG visit so they can see themselves that this is no longer in use.
It was a bit chaotic with them and they were confused that the property is gas heated, but they could not find their meter anyway (it was removed from the kitchen long ago).

In the meantime some unidentified man has managed to enter our building and knocked my door.
He looked like someone from the agency and he asked me about the gas meter. I have showed him where it supposed to be. Before he left in confusion he asked me for my name and phone number. This has happened I think before or in between when BG visits. There were 2 visits to finally confirm that there is no meter and there should be no charging.
By the way I have not opened any account with them (they should not have any of my details apart from the date I have moved in).
After some time I received some more letters to the Occupier asking to pay for the period before I have moved in and now also to my name to cover for the time I supposedly used their service after I have moved in.

From the landlord I know that this is ongoing thing and keeps coming back because BG is like that and she said that I should ignore it.
They also started sending letters from this company that handle outstanding bills.

Please advise.

RedMonty

That's horrific. Multiple visits, multiple letters, and and now referral to a debt agency!

I'd like to say go straight to the Ombudsman, but you need to go through the BG complaints process first (if you haven't already done so).

Quickly email BG at customercomplaints@britishgas.co.uk, copying your post above, adding details of your address, relevant dates, name of debt collection agency etc. If possible, put in dates of when they visited you.

Try not to take too long on this, you don't want to waste more of your life on this. Email is better than phone / online form because you have your own copy and a paper trail you can refer to in future. CC to your landlord so that she is informed, and can support you if needed.

Outcome 1: it get sorted out.
Outcome 2: 8 weeks later, you're still not happy. (Mark this date in your diary when you send the first email.) Escalate to the Omsbudsman by emailing osenquiries@os-energy.org.

Info from: http://www.britishgas.co.uk/help-and-advice/contactus-personal-details/complaints/gas-electricity.html
https://www.ombudsman-services.org/downloads/OSE_factsheet.pdf

Hope that helps.

CashStrapped

You can't go to the ombudsman as (as far as I am aware) you have no account, you have to have a complaint with BG first before you can go to an ombudsman. You can only log a complaint with an account I would assume.

If you don't have an account, do not set one up as there is no supply. Do not give them your name or attempt to set up an account otherwise you may get screwed (by that I mean if a debt collection agency get your name they will try to make you liable.)

Do not reply to any debt agency letters. Just forward them to your landlord to deal with.

You may want to try ringing citizens advice bureau for assistance.

spiro

If the meter was removed years ago then it is possible that this was done by National Grid. If they failed to update the central register then suppliers will believe a meter is still in place.