British Gas owe my father £5000 +

JosieJ

Can anybody help?? I have recently switched suppliers for my parents. They have been with British Gas for 10 years roughly. Whilst switching I found that they have been charging my parents for day and night rate the wrong way round. I worked this out with the new supplier and they changed them immediately. I have gone back over the last 2 years of statements re calculating them the right way round and have worked out that they were being overcharged by £500 each year, they were with them for 10 years plus. I have a bill from 2012 showing clearly that the readings were taken by one of their engineers, my dad being an OAP carried on giving them the readings through the years but never realised they were the wrong way round until I switched suppliers. I am already in a battle with them trying to get the £470 back which he had overpaid when the account closed. What can I do? Is he entitled to the money back? I feel they are taking advantage of a vulnerable person he is in his 70s, what can I do and who do I go to next? I am getting nowhere with British Gas they keep fobbing my dad off and I think it is absolutely disgusting! Thanks

clochi

JosieJ wrote: »

Can anybody help?? I have recently switched suppliers for my parents. They have been with British Gas for 10 years roughly. Whilst switching I found that they have been charging my parents for day and night rate the wrong way round. I worked this out with the new supplier and they changed them immediately. I have gone back over the last 2 years of statements re calculating them the right way round and have worked out that they were being overcharged by £500 each year, they were with them for 10 years plus. I have a bill from 2012 showing clearly that the readings were taken by one of their engineers, my dad being an OAP carried on giving them the readings through the years but never realised they were the wrong way round until I switched suppliers. I am already in a battle with them trying to get the £470 back which he had overpaid when the account closed. What can I do? Is he entitled to the money back? I feel they are taking advantage of a vulnerable person he is in his 70s, what can I do and who do I go to next? I am getting nowhere with British Gas they keep fobbing my dad off and I think it is absolutely disgusting! Thanks

Suppliers are generally permitted up to 8 weeks to refund after they stop supplying
i.e. up to 6 weeks to produce a final bill, and a further 10 working days from the final bill to refund.

If there are still problems then, follow the supplier's complaint procedure


Btw, according to BG, they give automatic refunds whenever any account is £75 or more in credit.
(Reviwed & paid on the 12 month anniversary of when you signed up to the tariff.)
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/#refundpolicies

MWT

JosieJ wrote: »

Can anybody help?? I have recently switched suppliers for my parents. They have been with British Gas for 10 years roughly. Whilst switching I found that they have been charging my parents for day and night rate the wrong way round.

Usually that would result in an underpayment, not an overpayment so presumably your parents have storage heaters or similar but use very little electricity during the day?


You say you tracked the reading as being wrong from a 2012 reading made by BG, but you said they were with them for 10 years, were the readings before that correct or was the engineer following the pattern of a prior incorrect reading?


Were all the readings after 2012 customer readings?


... and there has been no meter change during the 10 year period?

matelodave

As above, who has been reading the meter and who has been checking the bills.

The customer does have to take some reponsibility in this. If they haven't been reading th meter properly, not sending in readings and not checking that the bills are correct - eight years is an awfully long time for a problem like this to go unnoticed.

Likewise the large overpayment tends to suggest that bills haven't been checked properly and that estimates are being used rather than actual readings.

If as you say the parents are "vulnerable" (I'm not really sure what you mean by that in this context) then they should be put on the vulnerable service register and a request made to have their meters read by the supplier.

The fact that he might be an OAP in his 70's doesn't necessarily make him vulnerable although I'll concede that it might if he's confused or got some disability.
I'm in my 70's, I can still read a leccy meter, check my bills, manage my money, drive a car and do a host of other things (although I do find that climbing tree's with my grandkids is getting a bit more difficult nowadays)

Cardew

Under Statute of Limitations BG only need to go back 6 years - even if they accept liability.

[Deleted User]

I m a meter reader for BG. If you have working Eco 7 storage heaters then you would be overcharged for the night rate if the readings were transposed. This is normally very noticeable and occupiers usually contact BG quickly to get put right. Eco 7 users normally use more night than day rate units over the year.
If you had an Eco 7 meter and now use gas central heating transposing the readings would result in a much lower bill and therefore would owe the supplier . when this happens I have found that occupiers are less likely to contact the supplier and just "let it ride " accepting a lower bill.
The problem of transposing the Eco 7 reads is a long standing problem with BG and other suppliers who contract meter reading services out to , now Morrisons Data Services, formerly G4S who still use a handheld meter reading recorder which shows the night rate meter as 1 and day rate as 2... On digital meters rate 1 is normally the day reading with 2 assigned to the night reading.. Meter readers see 1 on the meter and record this in the night field position, hence its reversed..
Both BG and MDS are aware of this but have nt done anything about this for over a decade..

Andy_WSM

matelodave wrote: »

I'm in my 70's, I can still read a leccy meter, check my bills, manage my money, drive a car and do a host of other things (although I do find that climbing tree's with my grandkids is getting a bit more difficult nowadays)

Love this :beer:

st999

I'm in my 70's, I can still read a leccy meter, check my bills, manage my money, drive a car and do a host of other things (although I do find that climbing tree's with my grandkids is getting a bit more difficult nowadays)

Me too, though my grandkid is 25 and doesn't climb trees.

sevenhills

matelodave wrote: »

I'm in my 70's, I can still read a leccy meter, check my bills, manage my money, drive a car and do a host of other things (although I do find that climbing tree's with my grandkids is getting a bit more difficult nowadays)

I went round to cut my 92 yr old relatives hedge, he had done it himself the previous day !!

welshmoneylover

Some oaps have more energy and gumption than today’s youngsters!! Lol

dogshome

Oh come on, just because a 70+ person hasn't analysed the fine detail on the energy bills, it doesn't mean they are lazy or stupid.


We all live different lives with different priorities - It's a fair bet that from now on, this consumer will make the energy billing a priority