British Gas - Tonik - "Late Payment" HELP

TonyLladwod

Hi All,


I'm after some advise and guidance.

In May I left British Gas and joined Tonik energy. Tonik issued a reading to British Gas which generated a bill 4 times my usual. Instinctively I contacted Tonik to discuss to which they told me not to worry they would contact British Gas and deal with it. British Gas also told me they could not resolve this it had to come from Tonik.

In the meantime, I started to receive letters and phonecalls from British Gas regarding the payment to which I told them the situation, that Tonik were dealing with it.

I was back and forth with Tonik (who I found awful to deal with), via email, phone calls, each and every time I was told they were dealing with it.

Also, each and every time I contacted Tonik I had to relay the whole story to them as nobody I had spoken to previously had taken and notes!

I received debt collection letters from Moorcroft, which I told Tonik who said they were still dealing with it!

This went back and forth until 16th July, when I contacted Tonik and asked to speak to a manager who advised me that to buy time with British Gas I should pay them ad Tonik would refund me. I made the payment and all was cleared with BG and Tonik have agreed to not charge me until the figure I paid was balanced.

This was all well and good BUT.. British Gas have now issued a late payment to my credit report! I feel so hard done by. If I was told to make the payment in the first instance I would have done so.

I have built up my credit score after buying a house last year and due for due remortgage next October, This is the biggest kick in the teeth, for what I deem not my fault.

Is there anywhere I can go with this? British Gas refuse to remove it as they said they were not in the wrong.

I don't know where to go with this as it affects my future and all the hard work I have done to get a decent credit score.

I have raised a complaint with Tonik and they have asked me how I would like this to be resolved and it felt like they were hinting towards a monetary resolution, however I just asked then to contact British Gas to put this right.

can anybody point me in the right direction of how to solve this?

JJ_Egan

Do you have end of BG meter readings ??
Or did you not give them readings .
Do you have old BG bills to compare meter readings ??

jcontest

If your on a trial service with one of the credit agency then you should be able to add a note to it to contest it. If you have lots of documented proof going back and forth between BG, Tonik, and yourself then I would be tempted to use the word "Ombudsman" to BG and see if that gets you anywhere. From what I am reading I cant see you saying that BG ever admitted Tonik should be dealing with your underpayment or inability to pay the closing balance, did BG ever say at any point that the remaining debt would be transferred to Tonik (and more to the point, do you have proof of it)?



To me it sounds like you were on estimated bills and not reading your meter, you switched supplier and ended up with bill shock. Assuming your readings when you switched were correct then you should have paid BG for your usage and any outstanding balance.


So key points.
Did you read the meter when you switched?
If you didnt read it where did BG/Tonik get the reading from, a meter reader or a estimate?
Assuming it was an estimate, is the estimated reading higher than what the reading shows on the meter at the moment?.. It sounds like you made the swap over a month ago so you should hopefully have supplied readings by now again.

TonyLladwod

Hi,

Thank you for the reply.

I did not read the meter when I made the swap no. I have issued Tonik with another reading and they admitted their estimate was much higher and I don’t have any payments to make to Tonik for the next 3 months to balance it out.

My issue is that if they have have said this at day one I would have paid British Gas. The fact they told me they were “dealing with it” meant I never paid British Gas.

Maybe naive of me, but I didn’t know how he’d things work.

So in summary, Tonik supplied BG with an estimate which was way over. They said they would speak to British Gas to resolve. They never. BG continued to send letters. Tonik finally say pay it and they will refund me. BG issued a late payment.

TonyLladwod

Sorry, just to add I was on a smart meter with British Gas. That’s how I know the bill was too much because I looked at my usage.

Tonik supplied BG with an estimate.