British Gas credit use (cost + debt), had enough for 4 years so considering court action.

tifo

Jyana said:

British Gas do something called Friendly Credit, by the looks of it you are letting that build up between top ups which is then having to be paid back. 

No, i've never used Friendly Credit, i always top up when there's between £5 - £10 credit left. I check credit every few days after the first 5 - 7 days to see where credit has gone to.

I've only been cut off on 3 occasions in the 4 years i've been on the meter, once when they first installed the 'dumb' meter, added £5 (or £10, i forget) initial credit but the top up card didn't arrive in the post until 5 days later (installed Monday card came on Friday) and the credit ran out. Then twice with the smart meter when i got caught out with it using more credit than expected compared to previous weeks.

tifo

I was expecting BG to offer me some credit as reported here

https://www.centrica.com/media-centre/news/2023/british-gas-increases-support-for-prepayment-customers-this-winter/

and

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/11/british-gas-is-giving-p250-free-credit-to-certain-prepayment-cus/

but they haven't.

I've emailed customer services and complaints team (within my ongoing complaint for a breakdown) and forwarded to executiveoffice but none have replied back to this enquiry or the general ongoing issues being looked at. Hence this thread as i'm at a loss how to go forward other than court action. How can i make them reply to me which is entirely reasonable of me within a complaint.

tifo

tifo said:

cannugec5 said:

We are on page 6 and you have still not posted a picture of your actual meter as requested some way back. 

i'll have a look.

pictures of screen options?

Pictures added.

The meter index is 2585.416m3.



£42.36 credit as i had to top up manually, £40 was bought 2 days ago but not sent to the meter, this happens regularly.

tifo

I know people may have given all the advice they can and that's appreciated.

I've got to move my issues forward as i'm getting no replies from BG. This is why i said "considering court action". It may be the only way to get them to reply.

The Ombudsman isn't an option as, from previous experience, they're no help for the consumer.

Qyburn

tifo said:

The meter index is 2585.416m3.

Thats what I was asking, can you see actual usage. If you keep note of that at intervals you can cross check what you've used against what you're paying for. There'll be a very small element of estimation as the calorific value (kWh per cu.m) can vsry slightly.

tifo

I still need a breakdown from BG, yes, i'll try and work out myself but they can give a breakdown because credit use is variable depending on data they appear to send with a top up.

There's still the issue of managing the outside meter with my conditions and having to do this because of BG's lack of accurate (or any) data in the app and website.

There's also the issue of their debt collectors Arvato who've not sent me any data re meter fitting. This is the same company that was in the news and BG no longer use.

gt94sss2

tifo said:

I know people may have given all the advice they can and that's appreciated.

I've got to move my issues forward as i'm getting no replies from BG. This is why i said "considering court action". It may be the only way to get them to reply.

The Ombudsman isn't an option as, from previous experience, they're no help for the consumer.

You should go via the Ombudsman - it does no harm and you are not bound by their decision (which you can also appeal)

It would also probably help any court case to show that you had tried to resolve it in this manner

mongoose2009

go thru the meter menus and it will give the figures on

if you post them up we can see what your should be paying

Here’s what the displays mean:

Display	What it means
00	Amount of your last top-up (this updates when you put your card  into the meter after buying credit)
01	How much of your last top-up is being used to pay off debt on your  meter
02	How much of your last top-up is being used to pay back any  emergency credit you may have used
03	How much of your last top-up is being used to pay for your gas  supply
09 or 10	Price you pay per unit of gas
17	Your standing charge (per day)
21	How low your credit needs to fall before you can access your  emergency credit
22	How much emergency credit you can access
24	What percentage of credit will be used to pay back the money you  owe
25	Minimum debt repayment the meter will take each week
26	Maximum debt repayment the meter will take each week
27	Total amount of debt that still needs to be paid back through your  meter

tifo

gt94sss2 said:

You should go via the Ombudsman - it does no harm and you are not bound by their decision (which you can also appeal)

It would also probably help any court case to show that you had tried to resolve it in this manner

"You should go via the Ombudsman - it does no harm and you are not bound by their decision (which you can also appeal)".

I've not had good experiences with the Ombudsman, for example, on another complaint (not BG) I was once told by the investigator that the energy company are correct and within the rules but when i asked which rules she said she didn't know !!

I've had a complaint against BG in the first year of the prepayment meter and wasn't happy with how it was investigated.

"It would also probably help any court case to show that you had tried to resolve it in this manner".

I've been trying for 4 years, there's enough evidence to show how patient i've been and getting nowhere with BG.

tifo

I need to quantify my claim for court if I have to take that route, and at the moment i'm getting zero replies from BG for the issues raised ..... nothing even from the executive office which i'm very surprised about as in the past they've replied.