OH GOD British Gas - nightmare !!

Anniemay_3

Hello all

I am so furious with BG . We moved house two years ago and were faced with serious levels of incompetence by BG so we chnaged providers at the first opportunity.We received a final bill and assumed that was the end of it. We were with another provider and all ok when out of the blue THIRTEEN MONTHS later we have a baliffs letter for fifty odd quid from Brit Gas. WE rang them and they could not tell us what the bill was for !!! / we asked for a senior manager to ring us back they never did !! so we paid it anyway although we did not think we owed it because we were concerned about credit rating . We have just applied for a new mortgage and failed because of poor credit rating and this is Bloody British gas !! My husband rang thm today and they said they had sent letters to us ( we not received any except the ba;iff one and they said they rang ans someone said my husband does not live here ! they did not speak to me and my baby does not answer phone yet !! We are seeking legal advice as they wont remove it from credit report . Any advice please would be very welcome Thanks AM X

DaisyW

Anniemay wrote: »

Hello all

I am so furious with BG . We moved house two years ago and were faced with serious levels of incompetence by BG so we chnaged providers at the first opportunity.We received a final bill and assumed that was the end of it. We were with another provider and all ok when out of the blue THIRTEEN MONTHS later we have a baliffs letter for fifty odd quid from Brit Gas. WE rang them and they could not tell us what the bill was for !!! / we asked for a senior manager to ring us back they never did !! so we paid it anyway although we did not think we owed it because we were concerned about credit rating . We have just applied for a new mortgage and failed because of poor credit rating and this is Bloody British gas !! My husband rang thm today and they said they had sent letters to us ( we not received any except the ba;iff one and they said they rang ans someone said my husband does not live here ! they did not speak to me and my baby does not answer phone yet !! We are seeking legal advice as they wont remove it from credit report . Any advice please would be very welcome Thanks AM X

We have had a similar problem with a mobile phone company. Like you the first we knew was there was any arrears was when we received notification from the debt collection agency. We tried to find out what this was for but recvd very little help so we paid the full amount even though we did not know what it was for and believed we did not owe anything as we weremoreworried about getting a ccj. My partner cancelled the contract 3 years previous and as far as we were concerned we paid the amount within 10 days of our first notification. Then wenoticedthis has been recorded as a default which states thecomapny had made several attempts to contactus (which they never)and we failed to pay. We are too trying to get a mortgage and have joined experian to fully understand the credit report. They advised us to contact the lender to have the default removed however the mobile phone company said they couldnt but have shown the account as settled. We have also put a notice of correction to explain the default was not due to our inability to pay but a communication error. Youcould try the office of fair trading or there might be a utility ombudsman you can direct your complaint through and mention because of therefault you hada mortgage declined. Good luck

Scousebird_2

Fight it. I had a similar problem and I had letter from their collections company over a debt that someone else had admitted liabilty for and they got my name mixed up when closing the account and opening the new one for the new tenant. They were adamant that I owed them money (even though they let me switch to another supplier whilst all this was going on-because they prob knew they didn't have a leg to stand on).
Funny thing is, I had written statements declaring I had nothing to do with the debt and the person who actually run up the bill was copied and signed the letter. I even travelled back to the house for a cup of tea with the girl and we rang BG together to tell them to take my name off the account-(they should of worked out that I had an account in one house-where I wasn't living so shouldn't be there and then another account that I was paying by DD in the house I was actually living in)! But no-too much like common sense!
I have a written apology from the debt collection section (but not British Gas headed paper as the debt must of been transferred) all I got was someone in BG collections saying 'oh yes, it appears to be our error and we'll sort it)

WHAT TAKES OVER A YEAR!!

No apology-when it was all sorted i didn't care, until recently when a salesman knocked on my door-I saw his badge, laughed and said 'you poor thing-I don't envy your job, i've been with BG and I have experience what can only be described as a living hell' but thanks for knocking and have a lovely day.

He didn't argue bless him!!
Feel sorry for the face-to-face sellers really because they must get so much stick!

Anniemay_3

Thank you Daisy W and Scousebird for the advice. We have been to the solicitor and set the ball rollling. We are expecting it to be a long road knowing British GAS !! however , we have not done anything wrong and are prepared to take it all the way . Will keep you posted and many thanks again for replying it has really helped

Anniemay xx