British Gas Over charge

Sandandlime

I am in need of some advice a few months ago now British Gas rang me and said would i like a smart meter I had many times expressed an interest but was always told that i could not have it done so was surprised by their call. The Gas rep said it was possibly because your still running night and day meters although by your usage your not using the night storage heaters and they could install a smart meter at no cost and update my board. I would be saving between £20 /£30 a month straight the way as i would save on the commonly seven charges and just be on one standard tariff. I said i was a little confused we are already on a standard tariff i changed that 20 or 25 years ago when i picked on the issue myself. I think they went back about 5 years at the time and we ended up with a small refund of around £25 back then but because of my board they would still take day and night reading and re-just them back into day time standard tariff but i was talking from memory it was a long time ago but i may have paperwork as they recalculated the whole 5 years and as i said we had a small refund. The gas Rep said well your still paying for the additional charges and i cannot find anything on our systems he first offered a months re-bait to cover our losses but i explained that while appreciate he has made me aware of the situation but from my point of view I have been paying for something that was to my understanding completed many years ago and i would expect to reimbursed what i have over paid. He did extend his offer of a re bait to 2 years but I maintain it was much longer than that he then confirmed he found the cor response and actions in the Archives and indeed i was correct and it was going back to 1999 when i first raised the issue myself but for some reason unknown to him the reticulation was never done and i have been charge for night storage ever since. He agree to make an immediate payment into my back account of £1000 and credit my account once they have had chance to do the calculations. He explained as it was going to be complicated and was above his level of authority it had to be passed higher for approval and may take a week to sort monies out. I was more than happy and i can confirm i received a little over £1200 in total and to be honest i am grateful for their honesty in the matter. We are now a few months on and while i did have a refund and it is marked as adjustments on my bills not over payments as expected and my concern that i am asking help with is that I have had no written breakdown of the refund like i did in 1999 its almost like someone though of a figure and said that will do. It may sound that I am being greedy but in fact i want to keep a record for my own use and really to ensure they have gone back and everything i have over paid has been returned that to me does not sound unreasonable. In 199 they sent me a complete recalculation of my account for the five years and i received about £25 back then but this is some 19 years on now and prices have gone up so i would appreciate accurate figures. My question how do i address this as clearly i have not received a written calculation or indeed an apology any advise would be gratefully received on how i seek address. thanks for your time

[Deleted User]

I can't decipher that.

Can you break it down

jbuchanangb

You have done well to get BG to issue you with a bill recalculation over a 19 year period, and an associate refund in the order of £1200.

If you are an anorak like me with a spreadsheet of 35 years of gas and electricity bills, you might stand a chance of understanding how they have calculated this over all the years and changes of prices etc.

If not, then just enjoy the refund, make very sure that they now have you on the right tariff, by checking the readings and the next few bills very closely.

You don't want to wake up in 20 years time and have to do it all over again!

Sandandlime

Hi I apologize it is quite long winded on my part the point is i was given a refund of £1200 Thank you i agree but my point is for some 20 years or more they charged me even though i spotted their error in the first place. My thoughts are and i do not wish to sound greedy but they took money from me for such a long time had it been in my account for that length of time i would have earned interest and is the £1200 a correct figure to what is owed to me from my point of view I should be entitled to the full amount over paid interest and compensation within reason. While I agree £1200 is a nice windfall for anyone but i would like them to repay what they over charged me and compensate accordingly I just feel someone made up a figure and said give him that even today 18/10/18 I still have had no breakdown of how their refund was worked out and they have not replied to any of my update requests. If this was PPI there would be an Oms-binman I could seek for final closure and to be honest i have been with British Gas all my life so not very good customer service there either. Thank you though your remarks are appreciated.

System

Sandandlime wrote: »

Hi I apologize it is quite long winded on my part the point is i was given a refund of £1200 Thank you i agree but my point is for some 20 years or more they charged me even though i spotted their error in the first place. My thoughts are and i do not wish to sound greedy but they took money from me for such a long time had it been in my account for that length of time i would have earned interest and is the £1200 a correct figure to what is owed to me from my point of view I should be entitled to the full amount over paid interest and compensation within reason. While I agree £1200 is a nice windfall for anyone but i would like them to repay what they over charged me and compensate accordingly I just feel someone made up a figure and said give him that even today 18/10/18 I still have had no breakdown of how their refund was worked out and they have not replied to any of my update requests. If this was PPI there would be an Oms-binman I could seek for final closure and to be honest i have been with British Gas all my life so not very good customer service there either. Thank you though your remarks are appreciated.

There is an Energy Ombudsman. To use their services, you have to follow the supplier’s formal complaints procedure and wait either 8 weeks or agree that the matter is deadlocked. The Energy Ombudsman is not known for grand financial gestures. Any Decision is binding on the supplier: you have the right to reject it but if you do all bets are off. The supplier is effectively off the hook as far as your complaint is concerned.