National Gas wants me to pay previous owner's outstanding Bill!!

C_Mababejive

As far as im aware OFGEM do not interface directly with customers. They are a Government regulatory body.

Bishwa

Robin, it seems like you know more about OFGEM. So that means they are useless. At the moment I am just taking necessary steps. This case is being investigated by Ombudsman at the moment. The next will be the court case. I do not care even if OFGEM will give a pat at their back of OFCON will praise them for their dodgy act. I will not stop the fight. The previous owners = dodgy. The National Gas = dodgy. After I gave all the main documents to prove that I am the new owner. If you think it’s cool to support these kind fraudsters then think again buddy. I will expose them one way or another. The bill was around £3000 on July 18 when they removed the gas meter. Today I received a bill of £ 6648.59 with no gas supply. It looks to me like a joke but it is a dodgy conduct from National Gas. My opinion is that previous owners should be tried at court and National Gas should get their license revoked. Sometimes I think both the previous owners and the National Gas have a link or pre-planned as both of them from Bangladesh and from East London. It can’t be a coincidence. They might be friends in real. Just my suspicions...

Bishwa

Update on my case:

The Energy Obbudsman checked all the statement and evidence of both parties. I had all the physical evidence to prove that I am the new owner and the National Gas had no evidence. The National Gas was proven wrong and I was right from the day 1. The Energy Ombudsman demanded the National Gas to:

1) Reconnect the Gas to my restaurant
2) Apologize to me on writing
3) Credit me with 100 pounds on my account

The National Gas was given 28 days.

Now this is what this dodgy company did after that.

1) First they write a letter of apology. One the same letter they state that if I Pay 1350 pounds for reconnection fees and 1000 pounds for security deposit then they would arrange the reconnection of the Gas Supply. I ask them how they would like to pay it once I received the letter. They were quite rude on the phone and said that I have to wait 3 working days. I called back again the following day and was given the account number and sort code. I paid straight away and called them. They then said that to call back after 11 am of the following day so that they can see that amount. The next day I call them after 11 am and they said that I have to pay the bill from 06 Jun 18. I asked them why they are bringing a new thing as I was not even the official owner before 09 Aug 18. I agreed to pay to avoid more delay and asked them to send me a bill.

2) The bill amount was 1428.21 and the meter reading was from 59352A to 59873E. They were again pushing me to pay it or they will not bring the Gas meter. I knew that this gas company is trying to fool me again. I called them again and asked them politely " The Enforcement Officer who removed the gas and wrote the final meter reading which was 5939_, I even told that the officer forget to write the last digit which can be from 0 - 9, please check all the documents one more time and give me the amended letter and I will pay if it is correct". They did not get back to me straight away because they knew they could not fool me. I received amended bill and it was 167.33 (1260.88 less). If it was someone else who would not check the meter readings then those poor people would be paying the wrong bill.

This is the reason why I did not pay the outstanding bill of the previous owners. I held my ground till now. I asked the National Gas about who the account holder was for the outstanding bill and what was the period of unpaid bills 3 months ago, they said that they cannot give me the those detail due to data protection but was forcing me to pay the whole amount. I said I will not pay for someone else, and if I do not know what exactly I am paying for than I will never pay a penny.

I tried to sue the previous owners but they said they do not have to pay for it as they are not the account holder. Now there is another funny part of the story about National Gas.

Scenario:

A Ltd Company was the account holder of the National Gas for more than a year and the Director was not the owner, it might have been their relative. This limited company was dissolved on Nov 2017.

B Ltd Company is the company of the previous owners and the Director is one of them. They sold their business to me. They never were the account holder of the National Gas. This limited company was formed on Oct 17.

C Ltd Company is my company formed on Jun 18. I am the Director and facing all the losses.

In general, B Ltd Company & C Ltd Company is not responsible for paying A Ltd Company's bill. The National Gas should have sorted it out before Nov 17 when they got notice of the A Ltd Company getting dissolved. It took them till Jul 18 to take action. Basically their administration was not that great.

When they send invoice of the outstanding bill then they do not put the name of the limited company but just the name of the restaurant. That makes is doubtful that they are hiding something. All the bills we receive have " Something Something Ltd Company" not " Something Something" only as it is not legit in business field. They have to be specific.

Bishwa

Update on 20 Nov 18:

Today was the day for the Gas Re-connection. I was waiting for this day for more than 3 months. I mentioned to everyone saying that we will open from 21 Nov 18. The National told me to be in the premises from 7 am till 8 pm so that I do not miss the Engineers. I woke up early and was at my restaurant at 0645 am. I waited till 12 pm and the engineer turned up. I was watching my CCTV footage of the burglary that happened 2 days ago in my restaurant because it was closed for long time. They showed sympathy towards me straight away. When they tried to fit the meter it was too big. The engineers said that they were informed that my premises was a school and require a meter size U100 (massive). There was no way to fit that at it was too big and that was what the National Gas told them about the size. I did not get angry as I knew that it is the National Gas's mistake and I knew that they were never competent. They have been making mistakes in every step since the beginning and I am used to with that. I honestly spent more than 15000 pounds in last 3 and half months for the compulsory bills because of the National Gas's mistake. The Engineers said that it can be U16 or U25 but not U100.

The Engineers who came to connect the gas meter and their head office were very helpful. The National Grid admin was superb but the National Gas was useless. The date was postponed for 22 Nov 18 as the Engineers were already booked for different task in different area. I still can't believe I am going through all this.