British Gas warrant not in my name!

Bigberto1

Hi,
Getting quite frustrated and unsure on direction to go now.

Quick run through,

Bought a property in July 18.
Spoke to BG rep in nov 18 to say I had bought the property late I know but we still haven’t moved in due to renovations. They tried signing me into a contract, I said no at the time as we weren’t living there and wanted to check options.
Went to the property 5 days ago to find a note on the staircase stating the gas meter had been changed to pre payment.
Confused to how they had got in I called around everyone who had a key builders relatives and even knocked o both neighbours door to see if they had let them in. All no.
Finally called BG and have them the reference number on the form, for them to call me previous owners name.
I told them I wasn’t this person.
They then asked my name and date of birth and immediately said oh yes, and told me the address which the warrant was issued.
So they had my name at this address. No correspondence to me or The Occupier.
I explained as above, they weren’t interested the only way it would change back would be if I registered as a customer. At this point frustrated and wary about the warrant not in my name I have declined and still not a customer of BG or registered customer.
Along with the entry and meter change, I have recently had the boiler changed for new and all pipes and radiators etc. This isn’t finished there’s no vent on the gas pipes as they’re installed in walls and plumber hasn’t got that far and the earth to the gas pipe isn’t fitted. This can be seen as the earth clamp is on the pipe just above the meter. However the BG chap decided to leave the unsafe boiler on when he left, so when I went to the property 2 days after the meter change was puzzled why the boiler was on.
Apparently nothing can be done by BG unless a sign up with them,
The warrant team don’t want to take on my complaint. (That was easy for them)
And the customer care team will put the old meter back in and that’s it.
The BG rep said the police are supposed to be present when a warrant is executed.
I have called them explained the situation and got an incident number, the chap I spoke to couldn’t see any record of them attending. Not to say they didn’t but the neighbours didn’t see the police. Only BG van and locksmith.

The story does go on but I will leave it at that point to see if anyone has any feedback.

Thanks
Rob

antrobus

Bigberto1 wrote: »

Hi,
Getting quite frustrated and unsure on direction to go now.

Quick run through,

Bought a property in July 18.
Spoke to BG rep in nov 18 to say I had bought the property late I know but we still haven’t moved in due to renovations. They tried signing me into a contract, I said no at the time as we weren’t living there and wanted to check options.
Went to the property 5 days ago to find a note on the staircase stating the gas meter had been changed to pre payment.
Confused to how they had got in I called around everyone who had a key builders relatives and even knocked o both neighbours door to see if they had let them in. All no.
Finally called BG and have them the reference number on the form, for them to call me previous owners name.
I told them I wasn’t this person.
They then asked my name and date of birth and immediately said oh yes, and told me the address which the warrant was issued.
So they had my name at this address. No correspondence to me or The Occupier.
I explained as above, they weren’t interested the only way it would change back would be if I registered as a customer. At this point frustrated and wary about the warrant not in my name I have declined and still not a customer of BG or registered customer.
Along with the entry and meter change, I have recently had the boiler changed for new and all pipes and radiators etc. This isn’t finished there’s no vent on the gas pipes as they’re installed in walls and plumber hasn’t got that far and the earth to the gas pipe isn’t fitted. This can be seen as the earth clamp is on the pipe just above the meter. However the BG chap decided to leave the unsafe boiler on when he left, so when I went to the property 2 days after the meter change was puzzled why the boiler was on.
Apparently nothing can be done by BG unless a sign up with them,
The warrant team don’t want to take on my complaint. (That was easy for them)
And the customer care team will put the old meter back in and that’s it.
The BG rep said the police are supposed to be present when a warrant is executed.
I have called them explained the situation and got an incident number, the chap I spoke to couldn’t see any record of them attending. Not to say they didn’t but the neighbours didn’t see the police. Only BG van and locksmith.

The story does go on but I will leave it at that point to see if anyone has any feedback.

Thanks
Rob

So who is your gas supplier?

When you bought that property in July 18 you would have 'inherited' the previous occupiers gas supplier. ( See deemed contract. ) If that was indeed BG, and you refused to make arrangements to pay them, then you are the architect of your own misfortunes.

POPPYOSCAR

Did you get BG in to disconnect the meter?

If not you are liable for the standing charge even if you did not use any gas.

Bigberto1

Yes I notified them in November and told them that I had bought in July. Accepted that there would be standing charge of which I have tried to pay today. They wouldn’t let me. Because I’m on there system at the address but not as a customer.

If the situation is of my own making, does that mean the boiler was allowed to be left in an unsafe manner?

Could have been a lot worse.

The police didn’t attend.

The locksmith didn’t change the lock so did he now have a spare key cut? Prompted me to change the locks.

And no letter at least to the occupier?

Appreciate the responses

POPPYOSCAR

Sorry but you are not making much sense.

If you have given BG your details and agreed to pay the standing charge when you bought the property why are you only trying to pay the standing charge today,several months later?

Bigberto1

Sorry. Spoke to them in November. As I said late I know.
Told the chap we’ll be working on the house, not living there. All he was interested in was getting me to sign into a contract for energy, I declined. Understood there would be a standing charge. Waited on correspondence in the form of a letter. Didn’t get anything.
To myself or the occupier.
In talks with them recently they haven’t been interested about the standing charge. I brought this up with them because I wanted to clear balance if any so I could move forward with a different supplier.
They informed me of the outstanding balance which was next to nothing. I asked if I could pay in full, they declined because I’m not a customer??
I then explained because they’re not able to resolve my issues or even take on my complaints I will be looking at someone else to supply energy to the property.
Apparently that’s not happening either because of the previous tenants debt there will be a notice on the property to other energy suppliers that bg won’t allow a new meter to be installed by a different company, unless I sign up as a customer first and BG will change it.
Just feel they’re desperate to get me to become a customer. Unsure if this is because they have or haven’t done something they should have and trying to cover it up.

POPPYOSCAR

You cannot do things they way you suggest.

You cannot just pay a standing charge without being a customer you have to be a customer of someone.

The only thing you can do now is register with them and switch.

antrobus

What did you do about your electricity supply?

Bigberto1

That may be the way forward, just would appreciate some sort of sensible response from BG with regard to the boiler being left on. As I said before it wasn’t deemed safe as the install wasn’t finished. Surely a gas engineer would see things like this.
In an empty property being renovated.

Have just found it all frustrating have been on the phone to them for roughly 5 hours on and off hold over the course of a week.

Bigberto1

Electric and gas all with them.

Still annoyed at the fact they have me on file at the property, surely there system isn’t that bad they have all my calls recorded which they’ve gone back through and agreed I notified them in November yet not able to send a letter to me.

Cardew

As BG were supplying the house with gas and electricity, you were on a legally binding 'deemed contract' with BG from the day you bought the house.


So you are under contract to BG; who else do you feel is contracted to supply you with energy?


This means you have a period of 8 months(July to March) when you have been in a legal deemed contract with BG but refused to accept the situation.


As you state the previous tenant was in debt to BG it is probable that the pre-pay meter is set to recover that debt at £x per week. As you say this will stop any other supplier taking over the account until the debt is cleared.



They probably have obtained your name from the Council, but they cannot make the assumption that you are responsible for bills; owners are not responsible if they have tenants. Indeed there are regulations that prevent a company informing third parties of debts.


P.S. Locksmiths 'pick' locks.