British Gas cancelled account without permission

ShazzaD79

My mum received an e-mail this morning with a final bill for British Gas and letting her know her account had been closed. She also received a postcard in the week welcoming the new owners to the house. Her and my dad are not moving house however there is a new build next door which doesn't appear to have a street number yet and the builder has previously used 'adjacent to..... before my mum's address which she wasn't happy about.

The new build has been having utilities connected over the last couple of weeks and it seems that they have taken my mum's address in place of the new build but surely British Gas can't cancel an account without the account holder knowing? They have even used an estimate for the final reading.

Is this going to be easy to sort out? My mum and dad are obviously worried (they also have a boiler service agreement etc set up too which now doesn't exist) and this could potentially affect all their utilities. Any advice appreciated x

bspm

ShazzaD79 wrote: »

My mum received an e-mail this morning with a final bill for British Gas and letting her know her account had been closed. She also received a postcard in the week welcoming the new owners to the house. Her and my dad are not moving house however there is a new build next door which doesn't appear to have a street number yet and the builder has previously used 'adjacent to..... before my mum's address which she wasn't happy about.

The new build has been having utilities connected over the last couple of weeks and it seems that they have taken my mum's address in place of the new build but surely British Gas can't cancel an account without the account holder knowing? They have even used an estimate for the final reading.

Is this going to be easy to sort out? My mum and dad are obviously worried (they also have a boiler service agreement etc set up too which now doesn't exist) and this could potentially affect all their utilities. Any advice appreciated x

Call British Gas

Marktheshark

has she clicked any links in this E-mail and entered passwords ?

BorisThomson

It's either an admin error or the builder next door is pulling a fast one to get their services connected more quickly.

Give them a call tomorrow (though the relevant staff may not be in until Tues) and let them know about the error.

ShazzaD79

No she thought it was odd so logged into her account properly - I did think scam! Typical that its a bank holiday!

System

ShazzaD79 wrote: »

My mum received an e-mail this morning with a final bill for British Gas and letting her know her account had been closed. She also received a postcard in the week welcoming the new owners to the house. Her and my dad are not moving house however there is a new build next door which doesn't appear to have a street number yet and the builder has previously used 'adjacent to..... before my mum's address which she wasn't happy about.

The new build has been having utilities connected over the last couple of weeks and it seems that they have taken my mum's address in place of the new build but surely British Gas can't cancel an account without the account holder knowing? They have even used an estimate for the final reading.

Is this going to be easy to sort out? My mum and dad are obviously worried (they also have a boiler service agreement etc set up too which now doesn't exist) and this could potentially affect all their utilities. Any advice appreciated x

Raise a formal complaint in WRITING with British Gas pointing out that a mistake has been made and your parent's account and contract must be honoured. Ask them to treat it as an Erroneous Transfer of Supply as I suspect that they have mistakenly linked your parent's meter number to the new property. I am not sure how any computer can cope with an address 'adjacent to'?

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-supply/youve-been-switched-to-a-new-energy-supplier-without-your-agreement/

Technically, it isn't an erroneous transfer of supply (just a meter) but it will make them think.