Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Thank you *very* much for these comments, BankFodder. If you don't mind, please see below, especially what I've denoted as a "***MAJOR NEW QUESTION***" Thanks. I actually did this yesterday. Need it be a letter or would email suffice? Anyway, I made it clear in the initial recorded phone call that I was hereby beginning their complaints process which, if not settled within 8 weeks, would result in the matter going before the Ombudsman. This is sort of the heart of my question. By writing me “Rest assured the bill is put on hold while we continue with the process” while at the same time threatening me with a warrant if they don’t get the full amount – nominally under investigation—they are de facto ignoring their own process. Does this not contravene the 2013 Ofgem standards, e.g. “Behaviour: suppliers must behave and carry out any actions in a fair, honest, transparent, appropriate and professional manner.” – I think I can make the case that the good cop / bad cop routine fails these tests have been neither fair nor honest “Process: the supplier must … ensure that customer service arrangements and processes are complete, thorough, fit for purpose and transparent.” – I think I can make the case that if they ignore their own process, it is not fit for purpose, and if they contradict themselves via good cop / bad cop, it is not transparent. In an ideal world, anyway. I have no idea whether the Ombudsman would agree or care. Which leads to a ***MAJOR NEW QUESTION***: what about paying the bill to keep them from doing the “done deal” of a gett8ing a warrant, but making it clear that I am doing so under duress – after all, if a pay-as-you go meter gets installed, my landlord will be very upset and give me a bad reference, at it will also impact my credit rating (which is 100% clean) -- but stating that, although paying, I do not consider the matter closed, and so that after paying I will contest the action before the Ombudsman on the grounds that they have not followed their own process / the 2013 standards? If I win, can I be made whole after the fact this way? I don’t have the time to take them to court, and don’t have the funds to pay their legal costs if they win. Again, in an ideal world I think I’d win, but this is the real world. I did read that. The reason I don’t call and record is that it simply adds to the hassle – taking time to transcribe the calls, and makes for that much more of an unwieldy package of evidence to assemble for the Ombudsman. Much easier to just have everything in writing. Side point: My understanding is that one must tell the party that they are being recorded at the outset if the recordings are to be admissible as evidence.

Hi all, I need some help understanding how to deal with a situation with British Gas ("BG"). Their complaints handling team is playing good cop while their collection people are playing bad cop-- blatantly contradicting one another -- in a way which I think might violate their own procedure, as well as perhaps the 2008 regulations on complaints handling and / or the 2013 standards of conduct. It now seems like they are trying to strong arm me into paying a bill which I am disputing before the 8 week period for dialogue, prior to being able to go to the Ombudsman, has ended. Here's the background. In mid-March I received a power bill so high that I told BG I wanted to dispute it. (£1,076 for 6 months for a two bedroom flat. Highly implausible). We spoke by phone; at the outset I told them I was recording the call (with which the BG lady said was fine). She agreed -- on the record -- that BG would put the demand for payment on hold while we discussed the issue. I told her that going forward I would like to discuss the issue only in writing, and that I would start the process by email the next day. I told her I hoped we could come to some resolution, but that if we did not, I'd want the ncontrovertible paper trail in case we had to go to the Ombudsman. She said that was fine, and I did email the next day. BG did not reply to the email, but did send me a bill, dated the same day of the call, demanding full payment. That struck me as odd, as it contradicted what she said about putting the bill on hold. I sent a second email which again went unanswered. Finally, 3 weeks into the game, I sent a third one, to which they did finally reply. They suggested I give meter readings for 7 consecutive days. I agreed, although due to travelling I could only start doing so this week. They wrote they were fine with this, and only two days ago they wrote "Please be assured, I've reversed the bill for the moment and I'll re-bill the account, once you provide us with the readings . .. Please get in touch by 10 May 2017 with the details above, so we can progress this for you. If however, you don’t need us to help or you’re happy that this is now resolved, you don’t need to do anything and I’ll make the arrangements to close your complaint on 10 May 2017." Ok, so far, so reasonable, by and large. Until today, when a card was slipped through my door reading "Please contact us urgently. We visited your home today to discuss what you owe for your electricity supply [despite saying they were fine keeping it all in writing]. We've added £36 to your account to cover our costs." Excuse me? This comes out of nowhere, and contradicts the complaints department's email, as well as thier pledge to respect my wish to keep all matters in writing. It gets worse... they say "If we don't hear from you" -- it doesn’t say by when - - they may apply for a warrant, enter my flat and install a pay as you go meter, charging me £56 for the warrant application and another £150 to carry out the warrant. Hang on - - BG seems to be inhabiting two contradictory universes. On the one hand, we are officially following their procedure, with the bill on hold etc. while meter readings need to be made, I've the right at the end of 8 weeks , if need be, to go to the Ombudsman; and on the other, they can dispense with any investigation of the problem, could care less about the meter readings, deadlines etc. -- they have simply decided that I owe them the whole amount. I called the Ombudsman and said they seemed to be trying to pre-empt their own process, and force an outcome 5.5 weeks in, without even waiting for the evidence they say they are happy to wait for me to give them. I said this was in effect their way of declaring a deadlock without actually using those words, thereby not triggering the right to proceed to the Ombudsman before the 8 weeks are up. I asked if in this case I could start proceedings with Ombudsman, and the lady said sorry, need to wait 8 weeks. The problem is, I explained, they could do a fair bit of damage before those 8 weeks are up. I am a tenant, the landlord will freak out if a prepayment meter goes in; and as I am unemployed at the moment, having to pay £216 for the warrant is a material cost for me; and they could impact my credit rating as well. She said sorry, nothing we can do. I asked, well, if they do this, and then after 8 weeks I go to the Ombudsman and show that BG has acted wrongly, can the Ombudsman make me whole? "I can't address hypotheticals," she said. I asked, ok, in general, can the Ombudsman issue binding orders, and deal with infractions of the customer complaints handling regulations or the standards of conduct? "It's not my job to answer that." Can you tell me what the Ombudsman does? "It's not my job to answer that either." I'm not making this up. What can I do to stop BG if they continue to be so minded before the 8 weeks are even up? The Ombudsman lady's responses lead me to believe that even if I have solid documentary evidence of BG's contradictions, prevarications and strong-arming, it might not do me any good. I can't afford to take BG to court. Seems like BG can act with complete impunity. Grateful for any advice!