British Gas Complaint - should I escalate ?

Austinhead

I was only with British Gas for 1 year, having moved from OVO (with smart meter) due to a cheaper tariff. I moved back to OVO in Sept 2020.
During my time with BG, the smart meter didn't work (I think it was an old version), so I had to provide them within initial meter readings and manual meter readings throughout the year. I had nothing but trouble with my bills not reflecting the meter readings i gave them - including them using an estimated reading as my initial reading !.
They reduced my DD by around £50 a month, and despite me providing them with new readings, they didn't take these into account. They also missed taking a payment for a month. This has resulted in me owing them around £450.
I raised a complain with Resolver as i wanted to ensure that my final bill covered the entire year using accurate readings, and query both the fact they hadn't used my readings and had missed taking a payment.
The upshot is, they have offered me £25 in compensation, apologised and offered no reason as to why a months payment was missed. We have reached a deadlock and now either I accept or raise this with the Ombudsman. During this time they also sent my debt to Moorcroft and placed a marker on my credit file as i hadn't paid it off, as i didn't respond over Christmas within a given time period. The credit marker has been removed, but the debt is still with Moorcroft.
Is it worth going down the Ombudsman route ?. I am not arguing that I used the energy they state, but had they used my meter readings and not missed a payment, the outstanding debt would be far less than the £450 that it currently stands at. I don't feel that £25 is sufficient compensation for the hassle this has caused (many online chats trying to get meter readings, having to contact OVO for previous readings, submitting readings via the app or website that didn't go through etc and dealing with debt agencies)
Would welcome your advice.

SaverRate

If you knew they missed a payment you should have kept the money aside. Also if you thought you were using more energy than the direct debit why didnt you raise the direct debit amount yourself or kept the money aside? Take the £25... Did you ever contact them about the payment not being taken or increasing direct debits? 

niktheguru

While I think them referring you to a debt agency was unacceptable how long did you leave it before not paying your bill? Had you cancelled your direct debit on purpose (considering you talk about a missed payment, the final payment should have gone automatically......if you cancelled the direct debit and missed the payment then that is your own fault, if the direct debit was active and it didn't process then you have reason to complain.
Would it have really made a difference if the outstanding debt was say 250 rather than 450? You used the energy so you have to pay.
You have got £25 compensation for their inability to bill you correctly. (which i understand is incredibly frustrating)
You've got the black mark off your credit file removed. 
What exactly more do you want?

As Harry stated, on british gas its very easy to go on your online profile and see what you've paid in, alter your direct debits and ensure you stay in credit. If you thought you werent paying enough you could either keep the money aside for when they ask for it, or pay more into your account. In future keep an eye on YOUR USAGE and pay accordingly. You did the right thing trying to correct them, which is really poor. But you could have complained and got compensation without letting your account get into a large debt.

Austinhead

The missed payment was in August, I moved supplier in Sept but they were informed after the DD should have been taken. I had the money for that payment.
Why would I raise the DD amount when i was sending them the readings for them to work it out and do it themselves ? Without them resending the bill following the updated meter readings, i wouldn't know what a suitable DD payment would be.

SaverRate

I think you need to take a look at this page as British Gas only review direct debit payments twice a year... however you can easily go into your online account and see if you will be in debt or credit at the end of your plan and adjust the direct debit amount yourself. They even recommend an amount so you know what a suitable amount would be https://www.britishgas.co.uk/help-and-support/bills-and-payments/changing-your-direct-debit

welshmoneylover

Did you ring up to make a card payment once you realised the dd wasn’t taken?
also if the bills were estimated did you ring them up to correct them?
it sounds as if you could have been more proactive in managing your account and £25 is a fair sum.

Austinhead

welshmoneylover said:

Did you ring up to make a card payment once you realised the dd wasn’t taken?
also if the bills were estimated did you ring them up to correct them?
it sounds as if you could have been more proactive in managing your account and £25 is a fair sum.

I was very active in trying to bring everything up to date. As I mentioned in my post, i contacted them many times - email, online chat, through the app, but several times was told they would log the meter readings and then didn't.
Regarding the missed payment, as i said in a previous reply, it was in the last month I was with them. I did make a manual payment for £100

Austinhead

niktheguru said:

While I think them referring you to a debt agency was unacceptable how long did you leave it before not paying your bill? Had you cancelled your direct debit on purpose (considering you talk about a missed payment, the final payment should have gone automatically......if you cancelled the direct debit and missed the payment then that is your own fault, if the direct debit was active and it didn't process then you have reason to complain.
Would it have really made a difference if the outstanding debt was say 250 rather than 450? You used the energy so you have to pay.
You have got £25 compensation for their inability to bill you correctly. (which i understand is incredibly frustrating)
You've got the black mark off your credit file removed. 
What exactly more do you want?

As Harry stated, on british gas its very easy to go on your online profile and see what you've paid in, alter your direct debits and ensure you stay in credit. If you thought you werent paying enough you could either keep the money aside for when they ask for it, or pay more into your account. In future keep an eye on YOUR USAGE and pay accordingly. You did the right thing trying to correct them, which is really poor. But you could have complained and got compensation without letting your account get into a large debt.

Yes I cancelled my DD, i raised a complaint when i got my final bill as I wanted to ensure they had used actual opening and closing meter readings, plus TBH i didn't have an extra £450 and didn't want to end up being over charged and having to try and get the money back from them.
The DDs were reduced during the summer months, i didn't KNOW that i was behind, all i knew was that i had provided meter readings and they were still showing as esimates on my bill (and less than the ones I had sent them).

niktheguru

Austinhead said:

niktheguru said:

While I think them referring you to a debt agency was unacceptable how long did you leave it before not paying your bill? Had you cancelled your direct debit on purpose (considering you talk about a missed payment, the final payment should have gone automatically......if you cancelled the direct debit and missed the payment then that is your own fault, if the direct debit was active and it didn't process then you have reason to complain.
Would it have really made a difference if the outstanding debt was say 250 rather than 450? You used the energy so you have to pay.
You have got £25 compensation for their inability to bill you correctly. (which i understand is incredibly frustrating)
You've got the black mark off your credit file removed. 
What exactly more do you want?

As Harry stated, on british gas its very easy to go on your online profile and see what you've paid in, alter your direct debits and ensure you stay in credit. If you thought you werent paying enough you could either keep the money aside for when they ask for it, or pay more into your account. In future keep an eye on YOUR USAGE and pay accordingly. You did the right thing trying to correct them, which is really poor. But you could have complained and got compensation without letting your account get into a large debt.

Yes I cancelled my DD, i raised a complaint when i got my final bill as I wanted to ensure they had used actual opening and closing meter readings, plus TBH i didn't have an extra £450 and didn't want to end up being over charged and having to try and get the money back from them.
The DDs were reduced during the summer months, i didn't KNOW that i was behind, all i knew was that i had provided meter readings and they were still showing as esimates on my bill (and less than the ones I had sent them).

If you cancel your direct debit you are asking for trouble.
While I agree with you that it sounds like they've bodged your billing by not taking account of your actual meter reads did you make a formal complaint about this during the time?
If you know your bill is being estimated, you should be comparing your meter reads with what they are billing you. That way you can easily calculate what the true cost was, and kept money aside for when they asked for it. When you closed your account you could have calculated your exact usage and made a manual payment to balance the account, particularly important if you cancelled the direct debit.....otherwise they will just write to you asking for money, and if you dont respond or pay then they will refer you to a credit agency like they did.....which is far more hassle and deleterious to you.

Austinhead

Thanks to everyone who responded.
What i'm hearing is, i shouldn't have cancelled the DD, i should have done more to ensure that the bills were up to date, i should have worked out any shortfall myself and saved the money.
Kind of feels like everyone suggesting that BG can have appalling customer services, buggy software and processes and offering a £25 compensation is OK.
I'll get back in my box.

niktheguru

No doubt what they did was bordering on complete incompetence, and is worth a complaint
However, you left yourself exposed when there was plenty you could have done to protect yourself and keep aside money owed, and british gas has an online account (not the app) which has quite a lot of detail and payment options on it, compared to other utility companies that have nothing.

The question I ask people is would you have done anything differently if you realised from quite early on they were massively overcharging you and overestimating your meter reads, changing your direct debit to a larger amount when you could see your meter readings were lower, or would you have waited till a year and your final bill? I would suspect the majority of people would be on them like a hawk. Then why do people think its ok to not pursue them quicker when it is an underestimation, when you knew your readings were higher than they were using. Yes i know you say you attempted contact, and most of these companies have been less than adequate during covid regarding customer service, but perhaps being more forceful then would have been better. Yes they shouldn't have made a mistake, but the time to make a formal complaint  was earlier before leaving yourself exposed to non-payments and referrals to debt agencies.