British Gas - payments not showing on bill

sonicshelly

Hi - this is for my dad. He pays his gas and elec every fornight on his payment card. He did not receive a bill for the previous quarter and then his bill that arrived a few weeks ago, showed he was in debt, which has never been.
However there was 3 payments missing from the bill - the same period but on his gas shows 7 payments but this elec bill only shows 4. He rang up and queried it. One operator said yes they were missing and it would revise the bill and send a new one out. The bill arrived saying the same amount and payments still mising.
So he rang again and another operator, said no - the payments were showing and the balance was correct. My dad questioned why his payments were not showing on the bill. Could not give an answer, but assured him the balance was correct and the payments were showing on the system.
By now my dad was getting quite stressed and confused. So I rang for him, speaking to another different operator. They too said the payments were showing. I asked for the bill that he did not received, previous quarted to be re-printed and sent out so we could see if they were on that bill or at least try and work out the calculations.
He said that would be done, but I could also log on the internet and look at previous bills myself - what how ridiculous is that when it isn't working. Its been 3 weeks and no bill has been sent.
How many more phone-calls will it take, all I want is a re-print of a previous bill and then if it is not showing on any of the 2 last bills, what can I do to persuade them they are wrong????? I don't understand why its so difficult for them? Any help appreciated. thanks

stimpo

You may need to provide receipts to show proof of payment.

sonicshelly

Hi - yes we have the receipts, but if they won't provide me the information I need to challenge the error, what can I do. Surely they need to provide evidence that they have unputted these payments onto their system.

Cardew

sonicshelly wrote: »

How many more phone-calls will it take,

You are wasting your time phoning!

Write a letter to BG and copy it to energywatch - that will get a response.

People seem to spend hours on the phone when a letter will get things sorted out much quicker.

SwanJon

Sorry if this is brief, wrote a reply and the internet ate it.
The payments are most likely on the missing bill, especially if it was printed a while after the reading it used. (e.g. a bill with a read from 01/08/07 printed on 15/09/07 will include all payuments in between, which means they won't show on the next bill on 01/12/07)
If you do chase, get them to confirm the address the copy was sent to.

The debt is probably just because the plan spreads the payments through the year, and you tend to use more in the winter, unless you are lucky enough to need air conditioning in the summer.

sonicshelly

Hi - the bill last received was period 6 July - 17 Oct (dated 26 Oct). This is showing payments from some point in Aug up till middle Of Oct. There are 3 payments missing from 6 July - 12 Aug (receipts show this).

They say they have been taken into account, but if the payments have been taken into account why are they not showing on this bill.

The previous bill that was never sent, is showing as dated as 13 Aug on the website even though I cannot view it on there.

They have sent another copy out (4th copy that we have yet to receive). I have seen other threads on this site talking about the viewing of bills online with BG and see its a problem that has been going on for a long time.

I just don't know what else to do, we just want to see written details of these payments and calculations to his balance. Phone-calls don't seem to be working??!! You try to explain over the phone and then end up getting AAAARRRGGGGHHHH stressed. Its not hard is it - to reprint and bill and then post it.

Cardew

sonicshelly wrote: »

I just don't know what else to do, we just want to see written details of these payments and calculations to his balance. Phone-calls don't seem to be working??!! You try to explain over the phone and then end up getting AAAARRRGGGGHHHH stressed. Its not hard is it - to reprint and bill and then post it.

As said above phone calls will not work!!!

Until you write the agents in the call centre will just fob you off - they will even hang up if it gets too dificult - they don't want problems.

It is very difficult to reprint a bill if the computer system 'ain't working' for the period in question! They were having problems migrating old records to the new system.

I had exactly this problem and wrote and a manual account was sent.

If it is any consolation the payments have almost certainly been credited to your account.

sonicshelly

Thanks for the advice, will get writing after xmas.

Its my dad who is getting himself into a state. Its more to do with the same period but last year, he was in credit by £90. As its his elec bill, wouldn't have thought it would have changed that much. You would expect his gas to be increasing at this time of the year, but he is in credit of around £90 as he expected his elect to be.

I have tried to explain to him, that maybe his useage has increased a little with his partner moving in, cost may have risen of his elec - but he thought his prices were frozen for a set period of time?????

So until he see it in writing that those payments are credited to his account, then he believes they are not. In fact I am going to start writing the letter now,as its all floating around in my head.

Thanks for the help

SwanJon

sonicshelly wrote: »

Hi - the bill last received was period 6 July - 17 Oct (dated 26 Oct). This is showing payments from some point in Aug up till middle Of Oct. There are 3 payments missing from 6 July - 12 Aug (receipts show this).
...
The previous bill that was never sent, is showing as dated as 13 Aug on the website even though I cannot view it on there.

If the missing bill was printed on 13 Aug, and you made a payment on 12 Aug, it is more likely that it is showing on the 13 Aug bill than missing.

It does sound like you are having trouble getting a copy of the bill, but you have receipts and agents have told you they are there. Is it worth the hassle?

If you do call again, have a reading and ask to have the bills back to and including the 13 Aug one cancelled and replaced and have one new statemtn to cover all the time - this might kick the gremlin out of the system.
If they tell you that it can't be done, their manager can so ask to speak to them. Take their name and their manager's name if they are going to call you back (most likely if it is busy).

Hope it helps.

sonicshelly

Sorry SwanJon, i am not with you on this.

The date of the bill we have is dated as 25 Oct for the period, 7 July - 23 October. The first payment showing is 23 August of 14.00. My father made payments on 12 July, 26 July & 9 August. These are not showing on this bill, even though they were made in the period the bill is for.

I need to see the previous bill to see if they are on there, all BG keep doing is sending a bill for the month that we ring up, one received for Nov and now one received for Dec.

It is worth the hassle for my dad as that is £42.00 that is not showing on his bill, and to him £42 is a lot of money.

I just don't understand how hard it is to reprint a bill for the date we have requested. It is so frustrating when the online facility does not seem to work and my email was forwarded to the faults dept on 5 Dec to be resolved within 14 days and I have not heard anything from them.

Since this whole charade my father has suffered angina attacks because the stress this has caused him, something so simple is taking nearly 2 months already.

SwanJon

Sorry, I can understand that it is frustrating.

What I was saying was the consumption dates and payment dates don't always tie up, especially on estimated bills.
So the bill dated 13 August includes all payments up to 13 August, but only charges for electricity to 6 July.
The next bill charges for electricity from 6 July to 17 Oct, and includes payments up to from 13 August to 26 October - it won't show the same payments again.
It's not hard to reprint the bill and they should have done it. If there is an issue then they can cancel back the bills and try again.
I'm sure the payments have arrived and all is fine (as the agent said), but they should do what you asked.
If you need any more help, IM me.