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British Gas not paying me credit note

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Hi,

At the end of January I switched my electricity from British Gas, I was paying by direct debit and had built up a credit balance in my British Gas account. When I got my final statement through I saw that they'd used an estimated electricity meter figure that was grossly inaccurate (my smart meter stopped working in November and I couldn't submit meter readings manually,  this is a whole separate issue, unfortunately). I called up British Gas to dispute the estimated figure that they'd used to final bill me and they then sent me a corrected final statement with a 4 figure credit amount to be paid to my bank account. 2 weeks after receiving the letter to say I was owed money, that money hadn't hit my bank account. I've now called British Gas 4 times since that initial 2 week wait for the money and I keep getting told a different story each time, but the main point of ambiguity boils down to the fact that because the credit amount is over £500 payment has to be approved by management, so what I get is either they don't know why the payment hasn't been approved by management or its been approved and I have to wait 5 working days (but the money never comes through to my bank account). I called British Gas this afternoon and asked to speak to management in accounts payable but was told that no manager was around and to call back next week...

Therefore, I'm asking here what my next step should be? Should I even bother trying to call back given the last 4 calls have been fruitless / useless? Or should I go to the energy ombudsmen as I fear I'll never get my money sent to my bank account otherwise. Any other thoughts or ideas on next steps would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you. 

Comments

  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 34,549 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 31 March 2023 at 6:14PM
    Raise a formal complaint using the complaints procedure on their website.
    The balance should be returned to you within 10 working days of the final bill.  If not they owe you £30.  Once they are aware of the breach of the regulation they have another 10 working days to pay or you get another £30.

  • Eldi_Dos
    Eldi_Dos Posts: 2,130 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Dotdot681 said:


    Therefore, I'm asking here what my next step should be? Should I even bother trying to call back given the last 4 calls have been fruitless / useless? Or should I go to the energy ombudsmen as I fear I'll never get my money sent to my bank account otherwise. Any other thoughts or ideas on next steps would be greatly appreciated. 

    Like you I have found it very frustrating dealing with BG staff while trying to get refund due. On web chats and calls I was told more than once refund was being processed which turned out to be untrue.Best to make complaint and if unresolved after eight weeks take to Ombudsman.

    British Gas have been updating their systems and seem to have a problem,when one account is on old system in making refund.
    On two separate occasions on web chat staff have told me that there has been a increase in attempted fraud and that is why refunds are in some sort of accountancy limbo.

    As a indication of possible timeline it took BG twelve weeks to acknowledge receipt of complaint.

  • pochase
    pochase Posts: 3,449 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 1 April 2023 at 11:00AM
    When you switched from BG you must have given your new supplier the opening reading?

    This reading is not accepted automatically, but is verified and decided by a third party which sends the reading to be used to old and new supplier.

    Is the final reading on the new final bill the same reading that your supplier used for opening your new account? Otherwise there might be a new bill from BG coming up. They are allowed to change a final bill if it proofs to be wrong.

    It seems unlikely to me that you can dispute the meter reading for a final bill just with one supplier, and you can't even dispute it the difference is less than 250KWh electrcity and 1200KWh gas.

    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2018/10/rec_v2.0_-_switch_meter_reading_exceptions.pdf
  • @pochase - I gave my new supplier an opening meter reading but they also got sent the grossly wrong estimated final reading from BG aswell.

    I've been in contact with my new supplier and explained the backstory aswell as sending them photographic evidence from my electricity meter to back up my opening meter read submission.

    My new supplier is separately trying to get BG to confirm that what they initially sent to them is incorrect and get the actual final electricity meter reading confirmed as the one on the photograph I took and also the figure thats on the renewed final bill from BG to me aswell, however, that seems to have stalled aswell as I can still see BG's bogus reading in my meter read history on my new supplier account .

    At the moment my new supplier can't bill me for electricity as what I submitted as my opening reading and the bogus number final read from BG are so wildly different. 

    @Eldi_Dos - thank you for letting me know what you've been through with BG, worried now how long it's going to take to get my own money back from BG. 
  • Alnat1
    Alnat1 Posts: 3,842 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    As long as both companies use the same reading it doesn't really matter, the unit rates will be pretty much the same. The new company will only start charging you for the units of electricity once the meter actually passes the figure that they used as the opening read.
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