Debt arising from supplier's failure to install prepayment meter

HAbod

No necessarily if they were cancelled prior to the date of the appointment. It is unusual for that many appointments to be booked and cancelled though so there must be a reason why. Could be they had been out previously & the property isn’t suitable for a prepay meter but the customer keeps booking them, or eventhough the customer says they want a prepay meter, they are avoiding getting one installed because they then have to start paying for their gas so are conveniently out on the day. It does happen. 

You would really need to speak to the supplier to find out why this is happening. There should be notes on the account for each cancellation, I say should, but not always unfortunately. Good luck in getting it sorted & let us know how you get on. 

Yes, I've little faith in suppliers' ability to keep accurate notes after calling BG today and having a carbon-copy of an hour-long conversation I'd already had on Wednesday because there were no notes left on the account... Thank you, I will update here after speaking to client and supplier on Monday.

CouldntResist

I'd challenge the assertion that the debt is because there is no credit meter fitted. The debt is from using energy and at the same time not setting up any way to pay for it.

In lieu of a credit meter why didn't your client put an amount of money aside that they were going to put on the meter? Might not have been the right amount but they must have had some ideas what they would have put on the card?

SwanJon

Gerry1 said:

HAenergyadvisor said:

Gerry1 good spot - it is Scottish Gas, though I'm under the impression that British Gas and Scottish Gas are the same company, just with different names depending on what side of the border you're on? 

There's probably a Chinese wall between them, so you'll need to contact the right one !

No - same systems and people dealing with both - just a different letter head really

HAbod

CouldntResist said:

I'd challenge the assertion that the debt is because there is no credit meter fitted. The debt is from using energy and at the same time not setting up any way to pay for it.

In lieu of a credit meter why didn't your client put an amount of money aside that they were going to put on the meter? Might not have been the right amount but they must have had some ideas what they would have put on the card?

Yep, that's a fair comment. I think there is still a legitimate complaint to be made about how difficult it has been for her to get a prepayment meter installed (especially considering she has a smart meter, so physical installation isn't even required!)

I'm contacting BG today to switch meter to ppm mode, agree the repayment rate and discuss compensation, will update afterwards.  

HAbod

Update - BG were having trouble communicating with the smart meter to switch it to ppm mode so an engineer appointment has been booked again. Client isn't very enthused as they have been here before and the appointments are always cancelled. We have opened a complaint regarding previous cancelled appointments and are awaiting a response from that.

Chieveley

Any updates?

HAbod

Sorry Chieveley, I've just logged back on after a busy period and some annual leave. Frustratingly, we have had a couple more missed engineer appointments and that combined with some complications in the client's personal life means that nothing more has really happened. I was supposed to have a call from British Gas to discuss the complaint yesterday but they didn't call. I will speak to the client this week to discuss escalating to the Ombudsman.