Urgent help neede with British Gas/Ombudsman disaster

Richie-from-the-Boro

Steggers wrote: »

Richie don't hold back will you! At least I was honest, I didn't know, made assumptions, thought by asking for help it would be given.

Help was and is given. Appealing to Allah, the pope, the ombudsman or any higher authority won't help, you let things slip and were caught out. Your problem began when you answered a door to door commission only salesman in 2010 who would tell you anything to get his hands on your account for wonka.

My concern for you is you have to control what you do. 7 years after this mistake do you this very tonight know:

- your account number
- MPAN & MPRN numbers
- exact current tariff names
- exact current tariff end date
- exact current tariff prices
- exact current discounts
- your region code
- are you actually on tonights cheapest tariffs
- do you supply your own regular meter readings
- are you on the current cheapest payment method

Best of luck Steggers

Autumnella

Sorry OP, but you should have known you were on E7 as it will have been very clear about this on every bill. It's not really clear what you want as a resolution to your complaint, but British Gas have been more than fair by refunding the difference back to 2014. £2000 is a lot of debt to accrue even if you have been on the wrong tariff. My advice would be to save up, pay the debt off in full, get the meter debt reset and switch supplier.

Steggers

Richie, thanks for that. When I mentioned help in my last post I meant from BG...I'm not that much of a special little snowflake, I know forums can be tough! I take on board what you've said and yes I was remiss, the past few years we've had on line billing and paid by direct debit so have just paid and regularly queried the bills. I think what we were hoping to achieve is an explanation to why we experienced such poor customer service and we wanted answers to a number of questions about the tariff which we still haven't had. We have paid thousands of pounds over the years and live in a small three bedroom terrace house not a rambling mansion. We queried, we failed and on the 23rd of this month will go onto meters which we don't want as it will take 312 weeks to pay of the debt and the tariff is less than favourable. I am not a complainer by nature and after this experience will not complain again lol!

System

Steggers wrote: »

Richie, thanks for that. When I mentioned help in my last post I meant from BG...I'm not that much of a special little snowflake, I know forums can be tough! I take on board what you've said and yes I was remiss, the past few years we've had on line billing and paid by direct debit so have just paid and regularly queried the bills. I think what we were hoping to achieve is an explanation to why we experienced such poor customer service and we wanted answers to a number of questions about the tariff which we still haven't had. We have paid thousands of pounds over the years and live in a small three bedroom terrace house not a rambling mansion. We queried, we failed and on the 23rd of this month will go onto meters which we don't want as it will take 312 weeks to pay of the debt and the tariff is less than favourable. I am not a complainer by nature and after this experience will not complain again lol!

I am struggling to understand why you feel that you have not had tariff information from the supplier. It is a Supply Licence Condition that tariff information is printed on every bill that you receive: (for example)

About Your Tariff

Here is information about your meter. Here is information about your tariff to help you
compare it with others available.

Meter Point Reference Number: xxxxxxxxx Tariff Name: Mercury 12

Meter Serial Number:xxxxxx Payment Method: Direct Debit

Meter Type: Metric Contract End Date: 3rd March 2017

Local Distribution Zone (LDZ): WM

Exit Fee (if you cancel before

the end date): £30.00

Your estimated usage in the last 12 months: 7,641 kWh

If I recall, your first post suggested that you were unhappy with The EO's scrutiny of your complaint. I gave you a link that you can use to challenge their processes - but not their decision. No supplier will re-open an old complaint just because the complainant is still unhappy. You now say that you want more details from BG about the tariff - what is it that you are hoping that BG will provide which is different from the information on every bill?

System

Steggers, if you are going down the prepayment meter route..don t, just get a deal sorted with BG at say a tenner a week if that is acceptable to them. The max debt they can put on a prepay is £16.50 and with a 2k debt that is what they will probably do. Just keep on credit meters if at all possible.. BG do not want the expense of installing prepayment meters if they don t have to. And switch tariff to BGs white label brand Sainsburys Energy for cheaper ECO 7. BG call Sainsburys their no frills supplier, any switches to Sainsburys Energy via the MSE cheapenergyclub may attract a cashback.
I switch between BG/Sainsburys every time a decent deal comes up and have had 4 cashbacks of £40 a time over the last two years. You need to keep on credit meters at all cost.

Steggers

We really don't want prepayment meters and could pay a couple of hundred pounds a month by direct debit, but they have said no, it has to be meters where the debt will be paid off at £6.50 per week.

System

i ve been working for BG for donkeys years and I ve never heard of them refusing such a large repayment amount such as £200 a month. You really could do with escalating THAT scenario to the ombudsman . 2k debt is not at all uncommon nowadays and whoever has told you that information is wrong.For a start paying a mere £6.50 is not enough for a large debt of 2k. Your offer of nearly £50 a week is very generous , especially as how they have helped in a way by letting 2k mount up.Around the £800 mark is when they start putting pressure on.Try again and speak to a senior manager at the call centre..

Steggers

House Martin, about a week after we received the bill we were visited by chap who had sent by a British Gas to discuss said bill, I explained we were seeking further advice on where to go with the whole situation and we really really did not want meters and would prefer to pay off the debt via direct debit. He went back to his car and called customer services who had said no, it was meters only. This is what he wrote down for me...'meter set @ £6.50 p.w. Recovery rate to clear electricity 312 weeks'. We will be getting a gas card meter and an electricity key meter.

System

That is not acceptable for you , and in reality its not acceptable by BG, 312 weeks to pay off ! 6 years ! thats stupid. You have been visited by a BG debt collector who sounds like he s a rank amateur and just started in the job last week. Please call cust services and ask to speak to a senior manager in the debt department. If you escalated that to the Ombudsman for a decision you would win hands down. You are in debt and you are offering to clear it in 10 months not 6 years ! Thats better for both parties.

Steggers

Hi House Martin, thanks again. This whole mess has never been about not wanting to pay it's always been about ascertaining why we've been paying so much over the years, so it's causing me (because I am a wuss) a huge amount of anxiety. I will get on to BG in the morning and see what can be done. Greatly appreciate your advice.