Anomalously high gas bill - from British Gas

CazeryBird

They say the SAR data will be with me by the end of the month. So that's something.

Meanwhile, my relationship of twenty years is looking like it's going to end because of all this. I'm so utterly drained.

brianposter

Both of you must realise that this kind of dispute can be enormously upsetting.

CazeryBird

brianposter said:

Both of you must realise that this kind of dispute can be enormously upsetting.

Sadly not. He has various personality disorders/issues which mean he doesn't have empathy or any emotional intelligence. He just sees my failure to first spot it last april and now to sort it quickly enough. My upset is just annoying to him and proof of weakness.

Oh well.

I've set up a direct debit for ongoing usage and paid off half the owed money. Will set up a direct debit for the other half. Want to chip away at it while I dispute the meter jump. They can always refund when I find proof but I need some of the stress of the debt collection stuff off my back so I can think straight.

BG will only consider my issue if its different to that I took to the ombudsman. The ombudsman said smart meter/kWh stuff is out of their remit so I'm wording it around that. I just need evidence that the meter jump was just that and not incremental. Fingers firmly crossed for something useful in the 30th June data dump they'll be sending me.

RedFraggle

Hope you're ok

brianposter

I dont know if it helps to point out that you are far from unique, eg

hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbv6VXB2-qM

brianposter

And if I were you I would bang in another complaint to the Ombudsman that BG are not prepared to explain why there is a discrepancy between your bills and your Loop? data. I think that it is entirely reasonable to expect a supplier to be able to explain such a discrepancy.

Make it clear that you are not contesting the gas bill but that it appears to be incorrect.

CazeryBird

This really is farcical - now my SAR is delayed due to 'resourcing issues'. I thought it was a legal requirement to reply within 30 days?! Eurgh.

brianposter

That should permit an interesting sentence or two in any complaint to the Ombudsman.

 "The bill itself cannot be disputed because, for X months, BG have failed to respond to the relevant SAR. Does this warrant compensation as a separate matter ?"

CazeryBird

They keep refusing to discuss anything with me because the Ombudsman found that the m3 readings matched. I've said that I am not querying that, but am querying the one specific jump (which they themselves refer to as 'incorrect'. They're just ignoring this reference now though...

brianposter

Is the refusal to discuss in response to a complaint, or simply part of normal contact ?