Letter from BW Legal

WorldGoneMad91

Good Morning! 

Just wondering if anyone could help with some advice on the below, unsure where to really go from here at this point. 

I was renting a property for 2 years with the supply of gas/electric coming from British Gas, all fine! I exited the Property at the beginning of February, provided my final meter readings and made British Gas aware of my moving date (date of my tenancy ending) all fine and I paid my final bill. 

Yesterday morning I received a letter at my new home address from BW Legal advising a £157.01 bill was outstanding for Electricity used between 09 February - 09 April which was after I had exited the property. I logged into my British Gas account to double check and my balances were showing as £0 across Gas & Electricity. So I called British Gas who confirmed that I didn't owe anything. 

I contacted my previous letting agents to inform them I was being chased for a debtthats wasn't mine and infact was probably the new tenants debt. They asked for a copy of the letter, which I provided and they took this up with the landlord who advised they'd pay the bill. 

Later in the day I then received an email from British Gas, asking me to provide them with a copy of the letter I had received, which I sent them as requested. I've then received a call from British Gas this morning requesting proof that I no longer live at the address. In utter disbelief I asked them to raise this as a formal complaint. 

I'm unsure if I've just never had the experience dealing with something like this before but surely just because I was a previous Customer at that address doesn't give them the right to chase me for a debt? This has currently been marked on my credit file but I was made aware yesterday they'd have this removed. But again how can they do this when they don't even know who's debt it is? 

I'd also imagine that the gas bill hasn't been paid if the Electricity Bill hasn't but I've yet to receive any further letters.

At this point, what would you do with this? Seems madness that they can chase someone for a debt purely because they lived at the address before. Appreciate it's a bill from straight after I've moved out but how can they justify it. Seems all the onus is on me to prove I wasn't at that address and they don't have to prove that I was!

Hopefully the landlord arranges for the bill to be paid promptly and I'll monitor my credit file to ensure this is removed. 

Thanks

fatbelly

Is this actually on your credit file?

To cover the BW angle I would respond to them with a standard prove-it letter as found on the debt free wannabe board.

I doubt there would be a court claim for £157 but you are dealing with extreme incompetents here so rule nothing out

On the bgas angle give them 8 weeks to respond and if they do not, or do not do what you want, escalate it to the Energy Ombudsman

WorldGoneMad91

Morning @fatbelly

I have requested a copy of my credit report so can't 100% say for sure that it is, however British Gas had informed me yesterday that it would be. 

I really didn't want too but I've got a copy of my old tenancy agreement which shows I had exited the property, so whilst I don't feel I should have too I'll provide them with a copy of this. I just feel it's ridiculous that the onus has been put on me to prove I wasn't at the address anymore and chasing me for a debt that they couldn't 100% be sure was mine. Guess this might just be how the world works!

I'd stick to my guns and ask them to prove it, but I've nothing to gain by doing that I feel and will just go ahead and submit and prove it.

I've dug my heels where I can though and I've emailed the CEO and their Legal Council this morning asking a few questions and asked for an explenation on how this is justifiable.

Just unsure if they've acted fairly? If my data has been used within GDPR guidelines. BW Legal sent me the letter to my new home address that I recently purchased. So assuming British Gas had supplied them with this address, so if they believed I was at this new address I'm unsure why they'd chase me for a debt of electricity supply at the old address. I'd not received any prior letters/calls/emails from British Gas. Just this one letter from BW Legal. 

Thanks and have a good Tuesday!

la531983

WorldGoneMad91 said:

Just unsure if they've acted fairly? If my data has been used within GDPR guidelines. 

A tracing agency could have been used, which is fine.

WorldGoneMad91

Morning @la531983

You're right they may well have, I've asked the question how they've obtained my new address. But if they're aware I reside at this address why are they chasing me for a debt at the other address. They've also not chased me for a Gas debt only electricity and that property has both supplies. So if someone has paid the Gas Bill surely they'd chase them for the electricity. Just all doesn't make much sense to me with how they've handled it. 

I've never had a problem like this before so it's all very new to me. Just seems unreasonable to throw the onus on me and expect me to prove the debt isn't mine. I'll stop moaning now! lol 

la531983

WorldGoneMad91 said:

Morning @la531983

You're right they may well have, I've asked the question how they've obtained my new address. But if they're aware I reside at this address why are they chasing me for a debt at the other address. 

People can own/rent (combination thereof) more than one property at any given point in time, and be responsible for the utilities at both, its not uncommon.

If that isnt the case here though, you have nothing to worry about.

WorldGoneMad91

la531983 said:

WorldGoneMad91 said:

Morning @la531983

You're right they may well have, I've asked the question how they've obtained my new address. But if they're aware I reside at this address why are they chasing me for a debt at the other address. 

People can own/rent (combination thereof) more than one property at any given point in time, and be responsible for the utilities at both, its not uncommon.

If that isnt the case here though, you have nothing to worry about.

I fully understand that but if I've told them I'm a 'tenant' and not the 'homeowner'  when I registered and I told them my move out date and included my new address why they would then chase me for a debt for a date range I wasn't residing at the property. To me it just seems wrong that as I was known at that address they can just assume the debt is mine and assign it to me and then it's my responsibility to prove it isn't. 

I know there may be people out there that may say they've left and haven't, but it just doesn't seem right that they can simple put all ownership onto me.  

The account number also referenced on the letter to me, isn't my Gas Account number when I was their Customer. If they thought the debt was mine why not apply it to my account and contact me.... 

As I mentioned before too, this letter from BW Legal was the first time I'd heard from them or British Gas since exiting the property so seems ridiculous no prior contact was made and was simply just sent to debt collectors. Why not send people to the address to persue payment. 

I believe I'll have it all sorted now as I've provided them with my tenancy agreement which clearly states my exit date so all should be fine. I'm just unsure if they've acted fairly. 

t0rt0ise

The answer to your questions as to why this and that is partly because their business is run by the computer system and not by thinking people who seemingly can't override the system, and partly because they are just plain incompetent.

Ectophile

Not really an answer to your question but...

Log onto your British Gas account and download every bill to your computer or phone.  Never trust somebody else to keep copies of past bills, and especially not energy companies.  It's not unknown for them to decide that there was an error in a past bill, so they recalculate them all, with no trace that the previous bills ever existed.

The same goes for any on-line messages.

WorldGoneMad91

Just a bit of an update: 

Still no response from British Gas despite contacting their CEO, I called them again today to ask why I hadn't received a Manager call back as promised. Was assured today that a Manager would call back within 2 hours... the call as suspected, didn't happen. To be honest at this point I very much doubt I'll get anywhere with them, it's more wanting answers to some questions I had asked. Such as why they have opted to chase me for the debt despite the Gas supply been fully up to date with payments - surely they'd know exactly who to chase! (The person who paid for the Gas). Why they hadn't made any prior contact to me themselves (Email/Call etc) before passing on the debt to a debt collection company. 

I contacted BW Legal today, provided them with my Tenancy Agreement which shows my end of Tenancy Date as well as my inventory report from when I exited the premises. Received confirmation verbally and by email that they'd no longer be chasing me for the debt. Still though, I don't feel I should have to prove that the debt isn't mine but just how it is I suppose! 

Will update again when (if) I hear back from British Gas.