Direct Debit

wartcat

I recently have had a lot of trouble with BritishGasX. I joined them and immediately regretted it as they were impossible to contact, they eventually set up a direct debit in the name of Tillicum and when I phoned British Gas to try to sort out the set up etc they denied that British Gas X was part of them, they suggested it was not legitimate (which turned out later to be a mistake by them not being informed of BGX creation). I quickly switched back to my original supplier, however it seems that I was in fact with BGX for a little over a month. Today they sent me a bill for the energy used and although I wasn’t keen on paying the full amount as I had been messed about so much, I was convinced by the customer service person that I should pay or face a credit rating problem which I guess is correct as I did in fact use the energy. I asked if I could just pay by debit card or even a cheque as I was not keen to reinstate the Direct Debit for one payment as I now will have to cancel it and the bank may also block the setting up of the direct debit because of the problems with it in the past where I was told it was a possible fraud. They insisted that the only way to pay is by DD. Are they allowed to do this? Surely if I can pay using a card for most things over the phone then I should be able to pay a huge company like this using a debit card? I am Looking at making a formal complaint but wanted to know about the rules on their insistence of the DD. Sorry for the long post. TIA. 

MWT

They may not be set up to handle card transactions over the phone, and nothing obliges them to offer that as a payment method, but why not ask if you can pay by bank transfer?

Gerry1

They are a cut price version of BG.  As such, they can ask you to pay with potatoes if they want to.

Absolutely no point in wasting everyone's time by making a formal complaint: if you want cut prices you have to play by the rules.