British Gas - Missing £500

TonkyHonk

Having waited since around August last year for People's Energy to refund an accumulated £500 on my balance, their administrators eventually wrote to me in May this year, to say they had passed my money to British Gas.

Even though I have been asking British Gas for months, the have consistently denied having it, though admit their refunds system has been in chaos.

I have cancer and have been in and out of hospital and I told them.  This has not stopped British Gas threatening and intimidating me with letters, emails and texts, every day, threatening legal action, even though I have paid the amount of the bill over £500.  There letters have been insensitive.  I have even pointed out to them that under the Equalities Act 2010 they should make 'reasonable adjustment' to my case, at least by not writing to me while in hospital.  I have now told them that I withdraw an implied right for them to contact my by phone, email or text but they can continue to send letters by post.  All this has done is caused them to become more aggressive with a credit collections agency contacting me today.  I have written to the CEO of Centrica Chris O'Shea but even he has not produced my £500 and seems so far not to have found my money or called his army off.

When British Gas last called me I was shaking with a rigor and was admitted into hospital the next day and spend the week having tests, including a CT scan, ultrasound and x-ray. I have grown weaker both in energy and my voice. I cannot stand their abuse any more.  I would like to call the police but they probably won't respond.  I would be grateful for any thoughts.

welshmoneylover

Have you paid any bills since you went to British Gas?

TonkyHonk

Yes, I paid them a bill very soon after joining.  Then I paid a second bill before I paid them them a bill minus my £500.

In the midst of this Peoples Energy seem to have also been in a muddle.  First they asked me to pay an amount of around £180 which I did saying that I could not understand - what had happened to my £500?  But I paid anyway.  Then, eventually a letter from Peoples Energy in May saying that they had now paid my £500 to British Gas.

welshmoneylover

British Gas may have the amount sat in a rogue account. 

Ask people energy for a payment reference number and they may be able to trace it .
it’s a nightmare when the energy companies failed and people got passed to the solr.
have you asked your MP to intervene ?

pochase

TonkyHonk said:

Yes, I paid them a bill very soon after joining.  Then I paid a second bill before I paid them them a bill minus my £500.

In the midst of this Peoples Energy seem to have also been in a muddle.  First they asked me to pay an amount of around £180 which I did saying that I could not understand - what had happened to my £500?  But I paid anyway.  Then, eventually a letter from Peoples Energy in May saying that they had now paid my £500 to British Gas.

This sounds to me like you did not wait until BG sorted out your transfer from Peoples Energy.

In short,

- you knew about a £500 credit and decided to not pay this part of the bill
- BG did not process your account due to lack of information from Peoples Energy, so for them your account was £500 in debt
- only in May your credit was confirmed by Peoples Energy

So for a long time you did not pay what you owed to BG, why are you confused that they contacted you to get their money?

People Energy will not have paid anything to BG, People Energy are bust and have no money to pay to anybody. Credits at the bust companies are paid through the SOLR process, in other words they are paid by all of us. I assume you mean you received a final bill that showed your credit?

Now that there is a final bill, BG will apply the £500 to your account, this still might take some time.

MattMattMattUK

I second what Pochase says, you underpaid your bill, you refused to pay what was due when chased, their next course of action will always be debt collection. You have misunderstood the SOLR process and you created this problem by refusing to pay your bill, if you wish British Gas to stop chasing you due to overdue invoices then you need to bring your account up to date. 

TonkyHonk

welshmoneylover said:

British Gas may have the amount sat in a rogue account. 

Ask people energy for a payment reference number and they may be able to trace it .
it’s a nightmare when the energy companies failed and people got passed to the solr.
have you asked your MP to intervene ?

Yes, I think that's what they may have done.  There is nothing worse than when a big organisation use their weight to intimidate.  I imagine many people just give up because of the stress.

TonkyHonk

The answer has revealed itself.  People's Energy wrote to me initially saying that the £500 that had built up had gone and asked me to pay extra, which I did.  I could not understand their explanation so I wrote saying I would accept their explanation but that I honestly couldn't understand how the figure was arrived at.  I paid the requested amount.

Then, after a while, People's Energy wrote again saying they had effectively located my £500 and sent it to British Gas after all.  I relayed this to British Gas.

British Gas more or less inferred I had made this up.

Even though BG knew I was ill as they phones me when I was in a very poor state - within hours I was admitted to hospital. I wrote and told them.  They then proceeded to harass me with threatening messages via every known mode of communication simultaneously.  These continued even after assuring them I would investigate once out of hospital.

The made no "reasonable adjustment" for my disability and health emergency.

On discharge from hospital, I sent British Gas a copy of the personal email from the People's Energy administrators saying they had sent BG the money.

BG appears now to have contacted the P.E. administrators.

The administrators for P.E today have sent me a written apology.   They say that the £500 had been used up after all and not sent to British Gas as claimed.

Because my pain and weakness had been getting worse across a number of weeks, I did not have the physical or mental resources to rectify the matter with all parties, though BG & PE could have done this without my help.

I have paid the outstanding amount.

Even though the finance is now resolved, I will not forget the bullying after I had contacted senior management.

Even if I have to pay a higher tariff elsewhere, I will leave BG in the coming days and will never ever return to them again. I will gain great satisfaction from ensuring I never get another message from them in any form.

Having said that, I am in the process of making a complaint about aspects of my treatment to relevant bodies

pochase

If I understand correctly the £500 was the debit orders you paid and they "disappeared" because used energy and had to pay for it.

The £500 was not sufficient for your energy use and they send you a bill asking you to pay the additional money owed which you did.

They than told you they have found the £500 and would pay them to BG? As I wrote earlier Peoples Energy is in administration, they don't have money, and they cannot pay anything over to BG, they will just issue the final bill and report credits to BG. Otherwise if they are able to make payments why would they not just pay it directly to you?

Finally it now turns out that there was never a credit, you have used it up for energy while you were at Peoples Energy.

In the meantime you used energy provided by BG and you refused to pay for the energy used. There are hundred thousands of people in your situation, having a credit with the busted energy suppliers and who still had to pay and wait until the credit was sorted out and the credit was applied or they got a cheque for the money if they changed supplier in the meantime.

What do you think BG has really done wrong? Yes you are vulnerable, but you just refused to pay the money you owe to them. I don't think a "reasonable adjustment" is to just write the money off if somebody refuses to pay for his energy.

Exception would be for me if you could not afford to pay, but you don't mention anything in this regard, it sounds more like a matter of principle not paying BG because you believed you had a credit with Peoples Energy.

Alnat1

Sounds a bit like refusing to pay in Tesco because you've got some credit in Morrison's Christmas Savers stamps 

TonkyHonk

"What do you think BG has really done wrong? Yes you are vulnerable, but you just refused to pay the money you owe to them. I don't think a "reasonable adjustment" is to just write the money off if somebody refuses to pay for his energy." (Pochase)

I repeat, in May People's Energy wrote to me saying that they had discovered that they had passed my £500 to Brirish Gas. It's one thing for people to be able to fully understand their accounts when they are fuctining and well and quite another when they are a coping with a serious co-morbid conditions. Age, oncoming memory difficulties, chronic illness and the coercive presure on such people to go online and operate corporations computers for them, sometimes defeats individuals.

It's no coincidence that British Gas rate poorly in customer service.  Certainly, whatever needed explaining, wasn't being in a way that took account of my situation.

It's great that you personally are on top of things in your life.  I hope you are lucky enough to remain that way - but the odds are against it.  One day you may well discover that what might be obvious to others, is no longer obvious to you.