British Gas saying I owe them a year after moving

MrMoo123

I moved from British Gas last May to Igloo.   Transfer went smoothly and all was well, or so I thought.  I even got a credit from British Gas at the end of May as my account was in credit when I switched. 

A few weeks back British Gas sent me a Final Bill saying I owed them £430!   As it's been nearly a year since I moved and the first I had heard of me owing them any money, I called them and challenged this bill and I was told that they only bill annually and I need to pay them.  At first they refused to send me this bill, but after 2 weeks it finally came in the post.  I have barely had a chance to look into it and now I have a letter demanding payment within 7 days or they will pass my details to a debt collection agency ! 

As Igloo have gone bust, I can no longer access my statements from them so I can't check if the meter readings add up.   What can I do here?  £430 is a lot of money to pay out when I wasn't expecting it AND i'm not even sure its correct.  But at the same time I don't want it to affect my credit rating, or worst still have debt collection agencies contacting me.   

MrMoo123

Just to add... the final bill states that they read my meter reading as.... and then goes onto to say we have estimated your final meter reading - so the bill is for this estimation !  Surely they can't make up a meter reading and then bill me for it?!

Robin9

Write (snail mail - get a proof of posting)  to BG  - don't bother with Customer Service - headed COMPLAINT --  keep to the facts , keep emotion out of it, copy them the bills you have. 

PS Do let us know how you get on

MWT

Do you have the final bill they issued last May (assuming it was a final bill up to the point where you switched) ?

They certainly should not be estimating a reading, they should have been using the approved meter reading which they would have received from Igloo...

MrMoo123

Unfortunately I don't have their bill from last May, and when I log into my account it just says Something Went Wrong and that there is a Technical Fault so there is no way to access it.   It just seems like they have estimated a random meter reading and applied it to my account a year on.... something is very fishy. 

If I write a letter - presumably that will take ages - in the meantime don't I risk them passing my details to a debt collection agency and affecting my credit score? 

Robin9

They should freeze the Debt Collection process once they get the letter

Gerry1

MrMoo123 said:

If I write a letter - presumably that will take ages - in the meantime don't I risk them passing my details to a debt collection agency and affecting my credit score? 

Also send a copy to the CEO whose info can be found at the ceoemail website which is a dot com.