Help! British Gas charged me Exit Fees despite cancelling switch in cooling off period

ss123

I have been charged £142 of exit fees by BG which I believe are incorrect and have made 7 calls without success to get them back and keen to understand my options. The background:

I opted for the BG 'price promise' deal in February switching away from E.On on 17/2.

I changed my mind & called BG on 26/2 (during the 14 day cooling off period) to cancel the switch. E.ON formally picked up the supply again on 11/3 (a date and event I could not control and is not mentioned anywhere in BGs terms, as below.

Also, my online account was not accessible after I called British Gas and I had no access to the invoice they raised or any other comms before I got charged nearly £400 for less than 4 weeks supply!

The BG Price Promise terms state:

"If you want to cancel or switch your tariff

You have 14 days from the day after you agreed to this tariff to change or cancel your tariff without paying exit fees. This is your cool off period. For more information go to www.britishgas.co.uk/cooloff.

If you agree to a supply start date during your cool off period and then cancel before cool off ends, you will have to pay us for any energy you use (and standing charge due) before your cancellation takes effect.

+

You can switch to another supplier without giving us any notice. If you switch to another energy supplier after the 14-day period and before the last 49 days of your contract, we’ll charge you an exit fee for electricity and gas. We’ll collect exit fees before any other amounts you owe us, either from payments you make or from any credit balance you have with us" 

Please can anyone suggest anything I can do - my bank is not keen to reclaim under the direct debit guarantee as they say I should resolve with BG but it's proved impossible to make progress with them. 

BarelySentientAI

You make a formal complaint, and then 8 weeks later go to the Ombudsman if they haven't fixed it.

ss123

BarelySentientAI said:

You make a formal complaint, and then 8 weeks later go to the Ombudsman if they haven't fixed it.

Thanks - Ombudsman had occurred after I posted. Anyway just received a call confirming (for the 2nd time) that a refund will be made (it was originally confirmed but nothing happened). This time refund is due by 24/5 - touch wood.

Phones4Chris

@ss123 Did they notify you they were going to charge you exit fees before they took the DD or did they just take it and you discovered afterwards?