Hi folks,

looking for any advice/info. Apologies in advance - this is all a bit long winded !!

We switched suppliers from BG last year. Supplied meter readings when we did etc.

We were paying BG by monthly direct debit.

We switched November last year and the supplies were swooped around the 18th and 20 th Dec last year. (we were getting gas and electricity from them).

Earlier this year I got a mail from BG saying we owed them £430.

Next day another email saying we owe £260. Later that day another saying £589.

I contacted them via email/message and asked what was going on and asked if they could explain how we could owe so much when we are paying with a monthly direct debit. When I submitted the query I also supplied more meter readings as the website asked.

First reply gave me dates they stopped supplying gas/electricity and asked me to confirm meter readings. Same email said that they would re-issue a final bill.

Replied to this and explained I gave readings when I made the enquiry as requested.

Next email apologised for the delay, said a final bill had been issued but that the meter readings didn't match up correctly They also said something about sending the readings to the new supplier.

To be honest it wasnt clear at all what they were saying.

I replied and asked for clarification. (Never got a reply to this)

The same day I get a mail from my bank saying I was going to go overdrawn. When I checked it turns out BG were trying to take money using the direct debit setup.

They had already taken 2 payments (around £60 and around £150) and now they were trying to take a further £330.

These were all taken in separate payments.

I contacted the bank and stopped the final £330 one and contacted replied to the BG email again.

Couple of days went by and still no replies - so I started another complaint explaining the whole chain of events and suggested they were in breach of the DD guarantee because they had not notified me of the change in payment amount. I further complained that I thought it was out of order for them to let the account get so far out of whack re payments and that they should have advised me sooner and adjusted the monthly payments accordingly.

They say they did advise me of the DD amount so because they sent me a bill via email. They also sent me a breakdown of units used and payments made. They also said that this left a further outstanding £36 or so but they would waive this and the account was now at 0.00

This of course didn't take into account the fact that I had stopped the £330 payment. (Which was showing in the payment breakdown)

I replied to this and said that their suggestion that I was told about the change in DD amount was not valid since I had no less than 3 bills from them before the monies were taken. I then received another 2 after that. How was I ever going to know which was the "real" bill !?

I've now had a couple of mails telling me they are looking into it and some follow ups saying the person dealing with the case is out of office currently and other such wibble.

Also they have tried to ring me a couple of times but I really don't want to discuss this over the phone with them.

At the same time I also have another dept from BG harassing me (via email AND telephone) because I have cancelled the DD and they say that I owe around £330. Both of these seem to ring when im not in and refuse to speak to my partner !

I'm not trying to get out of paying what I owe but at the same time them taking that cash w/o warning has screwed me up a bit. (Though fortunately the bank didn't charge for this).

And i'm less than content with phone calls from 2 different depts. and general poor handling of this whole situation.

Anyone offer any advice or anything for all of this ?

Thanks in advance

Have you actually registered a formal complaint ? Unless you tell them it is a complaint, it won't be treated as such and would delay you going to the Ombudsman if you wanted to.

You really need copies of all bills over say the last 2 years, so you can see what bills were based on actual readings and which were based on estimates. Then you can see how any arrears have built up, because you were making DD payments based on estimates which were below actual usage. Ask BG for copies of statements, using a subject access request if necessary.

I don't quite understand why the final bill has been such a mess. Normally when you switch suppliers, you provide readings to both current and new suppliers. Your current suppliers just work out what is owed, compared to the readings estimate or actual on the previous statement. Given the largish amount, it sounds like no actual readings have been done for at least 6 months.

Thanks for the reply !

i made the complaints via the british gas website. I dont have 2 years worth of blls and I believe its a paperless account.

The DD amount was whatever they said it was going to be though.

£589 is a significant discrepancy though. But regardless of that not actually telling me they would try and take it couple with the harassment from their debt collection dept are really only compounding my frustration.

I dont know why its all been such a mess either - it all seemed quite straightforward to me - but it turns out not to have been !

Further to this (a mere 2 months later) BG have finally attempted to explain what happened. Its around 3 pages worth of waffle as far as I can see.

What it doesnt do is explain why it was OK to try and take almost £600 over the course of 3 days without proper notice. (Although it does attempt to explain WHY it was 3 separate payments).

Neither does it explain why the account could need such a significant final balance (That is to say why given they were getting meter readings they didnt increase the monthly DD amount).

At least I dont think it explains this. Its so long winded its untrue. Seems to me that if its taken 2 months for them to figure this all out then I didnt stand a hope of

a. being able to figure out what went on myself

b. know that 3 payments would be taken from my account over the course of 3 consecutive days.

Not really sure exactly how to reply now though - as I mentioned it was such a long and drawn out reply its hard work - more than it should be !

can we help..

scan it up to ONE multipage PDF..

upload

If you can that would be excellent !

File attached.

Thanks

letter.pdf

Any advice please anyone ?

This still hasn't been resolved. Last but one mail from BG told me that my complaints had been resolved.

I replied and explained they had not since they still had not acknowledged they have broken the direct debit rules. (IE not given me notice of a change in payment) since the bill amount was different to the amount taken and there were actually 3 payments taken not 1. (As well as the fact that the last mail from them prior to taking these 3 payments was they would contact me with a final bill).

I've also asked them to explain why there was such a discrepancy. I provided meter readings when asked so they have have increased the monthly payment amount so there would not be such a deficit. They said this is because they only adjust the figures once per year. I suggested this too was unacceptable.

I've never actually disputed the amount - just the way in which it was taken.

So I suggested based on the mistakes they have made, and stress and inconvenience they have caused taking such a large payment they should offer some kind of recompense. They have offered me 20% from the outstanding amount. (Which personally I think is a joke considering how long this has all taken).