British Gas sending emails about direct debit but not a customer now

Thanetguy

The other day I got an email from British Gas saying my direct debit had been cancelled, now initially I suspected a scam since I left them back in October 2021 but on careful examination it was not a scam, all the old account details, name and address etc were correct as were all the links in the email. So I phoned there customer services only to be told there system can get behind in and sometimes send out the odd email like this even after nearly 4 years!

Then to cap it all I got another perfectly valid email from them on the same topic today. Needless to say this time I will call and raise a formal complaint!

Has anyone else had this issue?

Stuart

QrizB

There's a very similar thread here, from yesterday

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6609911/british-gas-email-saying-dd-cancelled-but-no-account-with-them-now

Yes, it seems that BGs billing system is sending out random emails to former customers.

flaneurs_lobster

Thanetguy said:

 Needless to say this time I will call and raise a formal complaint!

Why bother? You have suffered no financial loss.

It's an obvious error that no doubt they will apologise for in due course by sending you another email.

Check that the DD was cancelled/no longer exists on your bank account (if you like) and move on.

Thanetguy

I have now read that. I called BG today and they have now removed my email address from the closed A/C! Lets hope I don't now get snail mail or phone calls!

To be honest this really does beggar belief, their IT systems must really be crap.

Stuart

born_again

Thanetguy said:

I have now read that. I called BG today and they have now removed my email address from the closed A/C! Lets hope I don't now get snail mail or phone calls!

To be honest this really does beggar belief, their IT systems must really be crap.

Stuart

Could be a issue due to changing IT systems.

Thanetguy

born_again said:

Thanetguy said:

I have now read that. I called BG today and they have now removed my email address from the closed A/C! Lets hope I don't now get snail mail or phone calls!

To be honest this really does beggar belief, their IT systems must really be crap.

Stuart

Could be a issue due to changing IT systems.

To be honest that is the case there is no excuse, simply insufficient testing.

Stuart

Alnat1

How long can an energy company store customer details once the account has been closed? Data protection laws say - Retain data only for as long as necessary. How long is "necessary"?

Ksw3

Thanetguy said:

I have now read that. I called BG today and they have now removed my email address from the closed A/C! Lets hope I don't now get snail mail or phone calls!

To be honest this really does beggar belief, their IT systems must really be crap.

Stuart

I raised a complaint because their systems wouldn't let me use the same email address for my new account (new house) and they said there was nothing they could do, I had to create  a new email address just for British Gas. Hopefully they have actually removed your email address and not just said they have like the 3 times I spoke to a customer service rep with my issue...

I also got this random email as well. I do despair at BG sometimes.