£14 Tele Message Issue Charge?

[sjc1985]

Iv just got my new gas bill and part of it says £14 Tele Message Issue charge? Does anyone know what this is please?

Thanks

[Bookworm]

Why don't you phone them and ask them? (And then report it back here for everybody else! )

[sjc1985]

Im informed its because they have sent "numerous letters"... £14??? For letters? How many exactly are they saying they have sent?

[ozzywizard]

To be honest, never heard of it. What company are you with ? and what explanation did they give for it ? I am sure this can be disputed. If it is a charge for letters my guess is it is not justified. Let us know please.

[chris600uk]

I've had lots of them. I get the most ridiculous estimated bills, if I'd used as much power on lighting as their estimated bills say I'd used, I'm sure you'd be able to see my house from space!

What I used to do, was to get on the phone, complain that the estimation is crazy, give them a new reading and ask them to remove the telemessage charge. It usually works fine.
Trouble is, I'd spend 20 minutes trying to get through, 10 minutes explaining, and the rest of the night trying to get my bloodpressure down.

Now I'm sick of spending half my life on the phone, and so now I do it in writing, although with ScottishPower I can send them an email.

I'll scan one of my old ones and try and post it.

Hope that helps a bit,

Chris.

[chris600uk]

Hmm, can't seem to insert the image.

but if you pm me I'll send you one.

Chris.

[ozzywizard]

if I'd used as much power on lighting as their estimated bills say I'd used, I'm sure you'd be able to see my house from space!

Lol, now thats a new one. . .

What is the charge for exactly.

[chris600uk]

It's for late payment of the bill, threatening all sorts of dire consequences.

Basically it says:

Urgent Telemessage from British Gas
You have not paid your gas bill. Unless you pay 1000000000 immediately
*We will get a warrant to enter your home and disconnect your gas supply
* You will incur fees of up to £361 as well as the amount you owe. It could take several days to reconnect your supply
*the Police may be present when we call
*We have charged you £14.00 for this letter. We will charge you an additional £50 for the cost of a debt collection visit.

Call us NOW on 0845 955 xxxx and quote ref number "your ref" to discuss payment and to prevent a debt representative from calling at your property.
Your call may be recorded and monitored for quality and compliance purposes. If you're hard of hearing, or speech impaired and use a textphone, please phone xxxx xxxx xxxxxx


It's scary when you first get one.

Chris

[gumbobriggs]

My OH has recieved one of these in the last month.

"Urgent Telemessage" in big red letters!

Urgent? Telemessage? it came in a standard envelope in the normal mail!

Phoned BG to sort it out, the drone at the other end of the phone said we'd have to sort it out as a complaint, by letter. (although we did pay the 90 odd quid that was outstanding at the time)

Done and had the charge removed.

So it's not that bad, just phone once, if they don't sort it, then write a complaint letter

regards to all

[chris600uk]

I had a phone call today from a very nice BG man from Scotland.
He apologized for all the trouble I'd been put to, writing letters and receiving the most amazing estimated bills.

He explained that because the computer assumes that the estimated bill is probably correct, any reading I had given, which was the same as in 2005, led the computer to beleive that the meter had "gone round the clock", and had charged me accordingly.

That said, he removed the £14 telemessage charge and has zeroed the account.

So it goes to show, that if you write to the complaints management team, some one does read the letter.

hope that helps some one out there.

Chris