Major problem with British gas bill i've already paid for!

abbd962

hi guys

i'll try and be concise and straight to the point as possible.

in january 2007 while i was staying at a rented flat we had a visit from a British gas inspector who was looking to see why the gas bill hadn't been paid. We explained to him we had been there for 3 months and were newish tenants so he set up a new account for us. However he calculated the gas bill for those 3 months which came to £312.55 (i know it's high but i lived with 3 girls who just had the heaters on 24/7)...anyways so i wrote a check out and paid it off...done and dusted..so i thought.....

next month bill comes for about £550 and i was confused...but then a few days later the bill for the previous tenant came through also so i opened it up and surprise surprise they'd put MY cheque on his outstanding account!!! I then proceeded in emailing british gas (about 3 times and i have references for each), calling 2 times and sending letters twice....however i continued to pay the amount required just leaving the £312.55 (if that makes sense)...in the mean time i received about 7/8 letters about british gas coming round to disconnect supply etc etc...usual BS...anyway after speaking to some helpful guy at British Gas (yea its amazing i tink he's an anomoly!!!) he gave me details of where to send the letter and ask for compensation and everything. so i moved out in june 2007 thinking everything was ok....but my was i wrong...

Went away to barcelona for a few months and came back only to receive a phonecall from Buchanan Clark and Wells about some outstanding debt i had with British Gas...i explained the situation and the lady told me to send them photocopies of my statement etc etc...in the mean time i've been receiving threats such as 'effect your credit rating', 'take you to court' etc etc...again i thought it was all done and dusted because I didn't hear from them for a few weeks....then i call them on some number and ask if all is ok and they said british gas got back to them and said they couldn't find my payment on the other persons account!?!?!? i'm shocked!!!!

Now here's where the situation gets worse....they've given me until 1st june before the debt collectors come round....but not only have i got to worry about that...recently i was made a job offer and for it they have to do credit checks etc etc..what if they check my credit see this outstanding bill (WHICH I HAVE PAID!!!!!!!) and not give me the job...additionally i have an exam on tuesday which i am finding rather difficult to concentrate on...

What should i do??????
should i pay it off and then try and get the money back from BG or fight it all the way with the chance of this going to court and possibly forgoing the job offer i received???

one final thing i should mention is that i have EVERY SINGLE BIT OF PROOF to show i've paid the bill....the things i have are...
1. Copy of the account my cheque has gone to
2. my bank statement.
3. a photocopy of the cheque i paid BG.
4. the receipt given to me by the inspector which clearly shows he wrote the account number on it incorrectly.
5. reference numbers and log of the time and dates i've called/emailed BG

sorry....it actually turned out a bit longer than i thought....but thanks for reading all of this if you've managed to follow!

D.

tuggy

i'd be tempted to just let them take me to court. then you can explain the whole story and get some sense from them! you've got all the proof. you shouldn't be worried. you can probably do them for harassment or something!

DdraigGoch

Sorry not to be much help, but have you been down to Citizens Advice Bureau? They can be really, really useful in situations like this.

MrsTinks

Personally I'd write a full account of what has taken place include copies of the copies and send to BG, the industry watchdog and also the company they are using to chase the "debt".
Make sure that you point out that having several times spoken to them and explained the situation you have now provided final and full explanations and proof of the error on BGs behalf. Any further attempts of trying to recover this debt will be treated as harrassment and you will have no compunctions about seeking legal advice should they wish to contact you again about this alledged debt for any purpose other than to provide you with a full appology and confirmation they have now corrected their records.

But that's just me.

Poosmate

Hi Abbd,

I had a problem with BG last year. My account was in credit by £140 so I asked for it to be refunded. To cut a long story short I ended up going through the EnergyWatch website and made a complaint about BG. It only took a week or two after Energywatch got involved to sort it out - I received a cheque for £171 (that's how much credit was in my account by the time the whole episode ended) and "as a gesture of goodwill" on their part they credited my account with £5. Whoop-di-doo! I should have sent them an invoice for the time it took me to type all the emails, make the calls and the costs of the calls!

Anyway, hope you get it sorted. Oh and a couple of months ago the "Tonight with Trevor Macdonald" show were asking for people with problems with utilities to feature on their show - I can't remember watching the programme so don't know if they have filmed it now or not.

Good luck with that, your exam and your new job.

Poo