Switching from British gas to EON after moving into a property has been a nightmare for my daughter

ldsanderson

Moved into a property in March25, contacted British Gas immediately to switch the supply to Eon. Received an email to say the switch had taken place and started to pay Eon for their supply of gas. Roll onto November and, upon a billing query, was told by Eon the switch hadn't taken place and British Gas were still the supplier. Rang Bg to ask if this was correct to be told yes it was, the supply was still in previous owners name and my daughter now owes BG for the gas supplied from March to November. When disputing this was told that the bill which is over £100 more than Eon had charged has to be paid by December 19th. Rang BG and told them that she has never had an account with them, they have never sent a bill and therefore why should it be paid to them. Was told that when she moved into the property she should have set up an account and then closed it when requesting a switch. This wasn't mentioned to her at that time and had it have been she would have done as advised. Apparently this is now in the hands of the back billing department who have as long as they like to decide on an action, in the meantime non payment will go against her. The customer service and supply service have been negligent in their duty to my daughter, but we now don't know if we have a case for Ofgem, as BG have said during every call that we are welcome to dispute it because they are in the right!

Ms_Chocaholic

Did you move into a property already supplied by British Gas, if so the first thing you needed to do was set an account up with the current supplier, after that is done you can then switch, straightaway if you so wish.

BG are correct, sorry, the above is what should have happened.  

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/moving-home-your-energy-supply/moving-home-dealing-with-your-energy-supply/

The best thing you can do in the circumstances is pay the outstanding deb to British Gas, I presume her daughter is still on their standard tariff, then arrange a switch or go onto a different tariff with BG.

Ms_Chocaholic

Just re-read, why would your daughter contact BG to arrange a switch to EON

born_again

Has she been sending any readings to EON or paying them anything for supply?

Scot_39

What exactly had EOn been billing for - if only £100 out from EOn'ss gas amount - for last 8 months?

If account move had failed - when did it fail - and did they - as should have known sooner - stop billing for gas at that point.

And how did it appear on her monthly ? statements from EOn ?

Arguably seems EOn and your daughter potentially more at fault here than BG - so no idea why your blaming them for anything.

BG would normally have no part in discussing moving her supply to another provider - its a pull process - EOn in charge.  They would normally only be involved to agree final readings with EOn and/or the third party who validates them - then issue a final bill - within 6 weeks - and expect payment.

Unless you have a transcript suggesting your daughter told them she was new to the property and hadn't yet got an account ....

No idea why told anything about backbilling - as Ofgem backbilling would only apply to units used last year - 12m before bill issued in Nov

My advice, calm down, stop screaming at BG, and advice her to calmly and clearly

- request the refund from EOn (iirc their standard terms are 3 working weeks - including transfer - so thats post Xmas now - if they are at fault they might speed up the process)

- setup the BG account in her name 

- pay the BG bill 

and then 

- once BG happy - restart the transfer process.

WiserMiser

Unfortunately your daughter seems to have done absolutely everything wrong, as others have noted.

That said, submit a Subject Access Request to BG, including the recording or transcript of the phone call to see what was agreed by BG.

Please remember to  come back and tell us the outcome.