Being taking to court for extortionate Gas and Electric bill - please help.

LuisDiaz

QrizB said:

Have you heard anything from the court since September? There was a 28 day deadline, that must've passed by now?

Hi, after I submitted to court, they replied saying copy had been served on the claimant. I have not heard anything since ? Is this normal ?

LuisDiaz

Robin9 said:

LuisDiaz said:

/.......................................................  Unfortunately, in between that period, the debt collection agency have sent another threatening letter - despite confirmation from BG who informed me they had sent a ''stop'' instruction to the agency......................

Have you this in writing from BG?  If so keep it available and also send a copy to the debt collection.



In between Sept and now have you had any bills ? Do they have Estimated or Actual Readings ? Have you given them any readings?  Have you paid any DD's?

Hi there, yes they have been. In fact, they took payments out in September for the 175 (which was the D/D they setup and has been running for a while) and then in October and Nov they took over 500 and then 600, leaving me O/D - they gave me no notification they would be doing this ? And the payment ref is different too. I am really confused. 

LuisDiaz

Robin9 said:

LuisDiaz said:

/.......................................................  Unfortunately, in between that period, the debt collection agency have sent another threatening letter - despite confirmation from BG who informed me they had sent a ''stop'' instruction to the agency......................

Have you this in writing from BG?  If so keep it available and also send a copy to the debt collection.



In between Sept and now have you had any bills ? Do they have Estimated or Actual Readings ? Have you given them any readings?  Have you paid any DD's?

And yes, I did manage to get BG advisor to email me this (after spending hours on the phone) a few months a back - credit to the advisor who sent me the below: ''your account has been recalled from the debt collection agency and as I have taken further information on your account to ensure that we are able to locate the payment that you have made on the account'' - would this be sufficient ? 

Robin9

And yes, I did manage to get BG advisor to email me this (after spending hours on the phone) a few months a back - credit to the advisor who sent me the below: ''your account has been recalled from the debt collection agency and as I have taken further information on your account to ensure that we are able to locate the payment that you have made on the account'' - would this be sufficient ? 

Yes - print it off and keep a copy

Ref the DD's of £500 and £600 - I think not. It's my understanding that they must give you advance notice - usually on the bill but may be by email.

Scot_39

LuisDiaz said:

hello, I just wanted to share some updates.
A written complaint was sent to BG back in October '24. There was a acknowledgment sent but no further updates. Several more calls were made but was simply told ''its with complaints team''. No further updates. Another written letter has been sent.  Unfortunately, in between that period, the debt collection agency have sent another threatening letter - despite confirmation from BG who informed me they had sent a ''stop'' instruction to the agency. I can not afford to get a solicitor ... but should I borrow some money to get this sort of help ? Is getting Ofgem involved a route that could help ? What options do I have now ? I have no idea why such a big org like BG are behaving like this.

If it's been 8 weeks since complaint - and it probably has - without resolution - then you are entitled to raise it as a formal and factual (best to keep emotion and subjective statements out of it has been common advice here - but I've never gotten that far when dealing with past complaints with EOn, SGas and SPower to name but 3) complaint with the Ombudsman - not Ofgem - who are the market regulator - who will deal with any significant regulations to improve the customer experience - but not individual cases.

See  Ofgems general intro

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/complain-about-your-energy-supplier-0

Which then links to

https://www.energyombudsman.org/

and specifically for suppliers

https://www.energyombudsman.org/how-we-can-help/energy-suppliers

Scot_39

LuisDiaz said:

QrizB said:

Have you heard anything from the court since September? There was a 28 day deadline, that must've passed by now?

Hi, after I submitted to court, they replied saying copy had been served on the claimant. I have not heard anything since ? Is this normal ?

As per the reply from @BarelySentientAI above - BG / debt agency had 28 days to challenge your response - I am not sure how long the court would take to contact you if they did - but I suspect it would be quick - even if any arranged arbitration or actual court case might be in a long queue.

Perhaps if anyone actually familiar with the process here - could comment on timescales.

The hole point of the electronic system is to speed things up - so 3 months without formal contact I suspect is pushing it.

Are the debt agency still chasing you for the full outstanding bill, if so I'd copy BGs we have recalled debt to them - and copy the agency letter to BG as well - stating you were told they had recalled the debt action - and that it might not have worked.

In big orgs "left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing" scenarios are not uncommon.

elsien

Robin9 said:

And yes, I did manage to get BG advisor to email me this (after spending hours on the phone) a few months a back - credit to the advisor who sent me the below: ''your account has been recalled from the debt collection agency and as I have taken further information on your account to ensure that we are able to locate the payment that you have made on the account'' - would this be sufficient ? 

Yes - print it off and keep a copy

Ref the DD's of £500 and £600 - I think not. It's my understanding that they must give you advance notice - usually on the bill but may be by email.

I agree, This is part of the direct debit guarantee so if you double check that you didn't get any notification (mine tend to come by email) I would make a further complaint about this. And keep a record of what it has cost you in overdraft fees etc.

brianposter

I would be inclined to ask on the parking forum "how do I find out what has happened to my court case ?".

LuisDiaz

Robin9 said:

And yes, I did manage to get BG advisor to email me this (after spending hours on the phone) a few months a back - credit to the advisor who sent me the below: ''your account has been recalled from the debt collection agency and as I have taken further information on your account to ensure that we are able to locate the payment that you have made on the account'' - would this be sufficient ? 

Yes - print it off and keep a copy

Ref the DD's of £500 and £600 - I think not. It's my understanding that they must give you advance notice - usually on the bill but may be by email.

Thanks for coming back to me.

And nope, no notification at all on the 500 and 600 DD they have taken. I've checked the post and email. 

Last night, I received another email from BG acknowledging the complaint and nothing else. I've noticed in some instances, they do acknowledge the complaint but then I never hear from them again, until another chaser is sent. 

Never experienced anything like this.

LuisDiaz

brianposter said:

I would be inclined to ask on the parking forum "how do I find out what has happened to my court case ?".

Sorry, what does this mean ?