Switched from British Gas six months ago. They just sent me a bill

Lum

So I switched away from British Gas six months ago, paid my final bill and am happily with my new supplier (Eversmart). Until two months ago, I still had a British Gas smart meter which was functioning as a dumb meter, until Eversmart finally replaced it with one of theirs.

Now I've just had an email from British Gas claiming my new bill has arrived and it's £129. I had an online account, so I've tried to log in but can't due to mysterious "technical difficulties". Tried resetting the password, that worked but I still can't log in.

The email is genuine. I make a new email address for every business I deal with and they used the correct one. It also has my full name and address in there.

So anyone know !!!!!! is going on. Have British Gas got technical issues right now. Have they installed my old smart meter in someone else's house but forgot to detach it from my account, do I actually owe them money?

Nice of them to do this at the start of a holiday weekend, so I can't even call them.

matelodave

Did you check your account when you swapped suppliers, did you get a final bill at the time, did you keep a copy of your final bill.

Most companies dont keep on-line accounts open past the date you swap suppliers so it's up to you to check that you've received a final bill and that the readings correspond with the readings that your new supplier is using. You should also download a keep copies of your bills and statements so you can keep track of what's going on.

Ask BG to send you a fully detailed bill so you can check it if you are unable to get into your on-line account.

BTW BG had a bit of a purge late last year and earlier this year and were chasing up a quite a few accounts that had slipped by the wayside, so yours might be one of them.

There were quite a few threads from disgruntled customers who'd failed to keep track and were surprised to get a final bill after many months. BG have up to six years to send out corrected bills.

That's why its a good idea to download and save PDF copies of bills and statements for at least a couple of years after swapping suppliers.

[Deleted User]

Lum wrote: »

Nice of them to do this at the start of a holiday weekend, so I can't even call them.

I'd be surprised if their phone lines are closed, have you tried it?

Lum

Yeah, I paid a £160 final bill.

Was on the road most of yesterday, so haven't called.

notbritishgas

Lum wrote: »

Yeah, I paid a £160 final bill.

Was on the road most of yesterday, so haven't called.

Was the end meter reading on that final bill the same as the start meter reading of your new supplier.
Or was it the end reading of the £129 bill.

Lum

Turns out when Eversmart took away my British Gas smart meter, they accidentally gave the meter reading to British Gas as if it were a final reading.

All resolved now.

Lum

It got better.

So despite claiming to have fixed it, I got contacted by a debt collector for the money.

Immediately disputed it with the collector and got British Gas to sort it out, then demanded that they send me a new bill on paper confirming that I don't owe them anything.

They've decided that yes I owe them zero for the electric, but also my gas was £160 in credit and they're going to send me a cheque. This was doubly daft as this is greater than the amount they claimed I owed them for the electric.

If they don't send it, I wonder if I can get that debt collector to get it for me? :rotfl:

Cardew

Despite the above - I suggest you check your credit record

Lum

I will do soon. My company car goes away on the 10th July and I plan on buying it from the lease company, so I've just emailed british gas and the debt collector telling them that I need any entries on my credit report removing no later than 10th June and asking that they contact me within 7 days to confirm that this will be done.

spiro

Lum wrote: »

I will do soon. My company car goes away on the 10th July and I plan on buying it from the lease company, so I've just emailed british gas and the debt collector telling them that I need any entries on my credit report removing no later than 10th June and asking that they contact me within 7 days to confirm that this will be done.

The issue is if you raise a complaint about this they have 8 weeks to resolve it.