British Gas - Debt collector letter received

zippygeorgeandben

Hello,
I hope this is in the right place and if not can the mods please move as I would like some advice.
A letter has been sent to an address I no longer live requesting money. 


Now I did live at the Supply Address but I left the address on the 9th January 2023 (to move to the address where this letter got sent to this month).  Obviously this is two years ago now.  At the address my name was not on the rental contract, nor indeed was my name on any utilities.  I lived with someone who paid the bills and I just sent them a fixed amount each month (a good friend and still is).
Can I ask what I should do with this please?  Ignore? Respond?  Is the discount meant to entice me and they are exploring all avenues to try and get me to contact them.  I do not know if they have tried to contact the person I lived with because he is no longer there too.  The only thing I am not sure about is whether British Gas were actually our supplier I now live in Spain and do not intend on coming back to the UK anytime soon.
I would appreciate any advice please!

fatbelly

I would say that the 'debt' is now with a debt buyer rather than collector. Someone who has bought it for around £30. Probably Lowell.

Difficult to see how you could be liable for £300 of energy in a 7-day period  after you left the property.

You could engage, and argue. I suspect they are going to lose interest (probably after a few increasing discounts) once they know you live in Spain. To be clear, that's what I recommend. They can start a court claim at your last known address and so it's in your interest for them to know that's a wrong address.

You do not need to do their research for them. Just say why you dispute their allegation, that you have evidence and will defend any claim

Even if they got a ccj, and if it's with BW it may be going that way, they would find it difficult to enforce, it drops off your file after 6 years and bailiffs won't touch a judgement over 6 years old.

QrizB

zippygeorgeandben said:

... I now live in Spain and do not intend on coming back to the UK anytime soon.
I would appreciate any advice please!

Asuming that "anytime soon" means "not for several years", I think you an ignore it.

Gerry1

Two things you should be able to do quite easily.

1. Send a 'Prove It' letter asking for full details and calculations (tariff name and rates, kWh readings, payments received etc) about why they think the amount is due.
2. Ask you friend for more information.  When did he close the account, did he send final meter readings and pay in full?  Does he have any documentation e.g. paper bills, emails, PDFs?

You may get away with it for the time being, but if you’re unlucky and things go wrong you might get an unpleasant surprise if and when you return to the UK.  Your credit record might well be trashed and that could be quite problematic if you want to set up a rental agreement or mortgage.  You might be continually refused or have to pay much higher rates: when there are scores or even hundreds of applicants, why would a landlord choose one with a dodgy rating, and why would a mortgage company give you their best rate?

You might find the additional costs are much higher than the alleged outstanding amount.  There could also be a vast amount of aggro and delay if you need to complete the move back fairly quickly but a trashed credit rating stops you doing so.  Sorting this out several years down the line will obviously be much harder, especially from Spain.

Sorry if this sounds a tad unfriendly, but it looks like it was an unwise arrangement at the time, and you risk digging a much deeper hole if you try to sweep it under the carpet.

IANAL and all that, and perhaps I'm being a bit pessimistic, but there does seem to be a possibility that the bill wasn't settled in full or that charges accrued after he moved out if he didn't give BG the required notice of leaving.  If the claim seems plausible you may have to put it down to experience and consider it the price to pay for future peace of mind.

zippygeorgeandben

Hello everyone and thanks for the responses.

I spoke with my friend and he said he was going to deal with it which was a week ago.  He asked me to send an email confirming that I was not on tenancy and not named on bills (he has been on the phone with BW Legal) and only they should talk with him.  The dates are also out of when he left the property too.

 As I have not heard anything, I am presuming no news is good news, but whilst typing this I am thinking that I figure I could shoot him over a whatsapp! I am meeting up with him at the end of March so I will see what the deal is.