Anomalously high gas bill - from British Gas

CazeryBird

Good question. Looking into that now.
Also chasing BG again as they haven't responded to the Ombudsman, still, and I'm now being chased daily by the solicitor to 'get in touch and repay my debt'.

CazeryBird

they are still ignoring the ombudsman and keep trying to call me during working hours (I respond every time to say I can't pick up during working hours, could they please contact me by email, and they just try ringing again and don't respond to my emails).

Petriix

I would send a strongly worded letter to the solicitors stating that the alleged debt is disputed and subject to an ongoing complaint and that any further correspondence will be seen as harassment. You can also speak to the bg collections team and state the same, pointing out that they haven't fulfilled your SAR or complied with the ombudsman. They have the ability to suppress their collection attempts until things are resolved. 

CazeryBird

Petriix said:

I would send a strongly worded letter to the solicitors stating that the alleged debt is disputed and subject to an ongoing complaint and that any further correspondence will be seen as harassment. You can also speak to the bg collections team and state the same, pointing out that they haven't fulfilled your SAR or complied with the ombudsman. They have the ability to suppress their collection attempts until things are resolved. 

Thank you. I'll do this. BG were ignoring my emails until today and just sent me a response with incorrect details "let us update this for you, we just need your gas and electricity readings". There is nothing to update and I am not with them for electricity...the incompetence really is never ending.

CazeryBird

I've just logged on to my bank account and my credit score is now really low with multiple 'missed payments' marked by British Gas. Can they do this when the bills are still in dispute? I have some large bills this month which mean I unfortunately need to extend my overdraft a little, but this is scuppering my chances of doing it. I have never missed a payment on an agreed bill...they said it was fine while we sorted it out and now it's suddenly all on my credit report?!

CazeryBird

I have some progress. BG have accepted the Ombudsmans ruling about their awful communication. So now I can return (I hope) to the dispute with them about that anomalous period. The Ombudsman said I can also return to them about the credit issues if BG don't resolve this within 6 weeks. So we'll see how that goes..
Not sure if anyone really reads this thread anymore, but it's been helpful for me and I'll post in the hope that it helps me and possibly helps others.
I'm still so so stressed and in an awful way over all this. I'd worked hard to get my credit score to very good and it was creeping up all the time, so to see it suddenly lower than it's ever been is the cherry on top of a very awful cake.

QrizB

I'm still reading, but don't have anything useful to contribute (sorry). Good luck!

brianposter

How many gas bills do you believe to be erroneous ? Just one or more than one ?

WBCPB

I am still reading, you need to stop stressing over your "credit score",  B.G will need to remove any markers on your credit file ( if there are any ) as part of your UPDATED complaint.

CazeryBird

Well, they've ignored my last email and re-referred my case to their solicitor. I am stressed beyond words by this whole situation. No matter what I do they ignore me and tip me further into a hole.

WBCPB said:

I am still reading, you need to stop stressing over your "credit score",  B.G will need to remove any markers on your credit file ( if there are any ) as part of your UPDATED complaint.