Powergen strange gas bill after 13 months

[Fishmilk]

Hello all!
This is quite a complicated one but i will start from the begining.
December 2005 i moved from my old address to my new house, upon moving i gave my meter reading to powergen for gas and later recieved a bill saying i was in credit for £146. To be honest i knew this wasn't right so gave them a call and was basically told i couldnt be in credit on a pre-payment meter, the thing is i was not on pre-payment meter but paid a regular monthly direct debit. After a discussion i was told i didnt owe them and they didnt owe me. Fair enough i was happy.
Then in august 2006 i recieved a bill for gas used at my old address for £119.57 I immediatley rang them and was told not to worry its a mix up and i had no bill outstanding and that my final bill had been paid up to date. Yet again i came off the phone happy.
December 2006 i recieved a letter from a debt collection agency trying to collect a debt of £119.57 on behalf of powergen, i rang powergen and was told this is my final bill, oh no sorry but your account is closed you wont hear from us again. slightly concerned but happy it was settled i came off the phone.
January 2007 i receive another letter from a different debt collection agency demanding £119.57 to be paid in 7 days or bailiffs would be calling, i rang powergen who now tell me it is my bill from the last address and i did have to pay it, i explained what had happened and the said they are very sorry but that was it. I then checked my old bills and found they had estimated my winter quarter useage at £4.50! Totally unreasonable i think and i should have noticed at the time.
I have spoken to powergen to express my dis belief of a 13month old bill being re issued after i had been told my account was settled and been offered a 10% discount. I refused it and said i was insulted by there offer. they have now offered a 20% discount on the bill which i am still not happy with but wonder if this is reasonable or am i well within my rights to hold out for more and what is the best way of doing this? I have opened a complaint with them and they seem more concerned about closing this complaint at the minute.
Any help is much appreciated, thanks all and sorry for the long post!!

[ozzywizard]

Offer to pay half over the phone.

[Sandy483]

Have you got the phone calls logged to prove that you called them?

I do notice you are doing everything by phone, i would of by now be getting things on hard copy correspondence.

Next communictaion write a letter advising of last dates of correspondence this way they have to reply in writting and you have evidence if you ever need it.

Have you any ideal what you usage would normally be on a Winter quarter. If you did use the gas and they can prove it, you may benefit from taking the 20% reduction.

If you wanted to realy cause more of a stir you could make inquires into the previosue phone conversations and that you would like to obtain transcripts or copies if they are available. As you are extremely concerned that your bill did show no money owing when an employee looked into your account So you wish to investigating the matter.

As if you had left the country traveling under the belief all was well with your bills, you could have returned to a massive Debit collecting Bill and default on your CRA.

Or this is the way i would go, just keep beating them till they reach rock bottom.

Sorry Wizz posted same time, and yeah i would settle at 50% unless of course they offer to write it off. "OOpps flying pig there."

[Fishmilk]

Thanks all for your replies, i think i will offer to pay half of the bill although reluctantly i dont think they would ever go any lower. i am of the understanding that i have the right to pay the bill over the same period of time it took to produce it. pretty much a standard with all bills.
Any more advice is gratefully recieved, thanks again all

[Sandy483]

If you want to send it in instalments i would do £5 a month.
They havent had it for 18 months what difference would it make now, and as long as they are recieving money agianst the bill i can't see much happening as you are making an attempt to repay a debit.

Try it, take it to the edge if it gets heavy then pay it off.

[ozzywizard]

Fish, Blue is right on his posts. My post was in a rush due to my shift finishing . Anyway in your post you said you opened a complaint ansd they need to close it down, this tells me that an official complaint is open on your account and they need to shut it down before it goes to a deadlock letter. This letter is expensive as it involves the ombudsman etc. They will more than likely settle on half hence my post.

Once the deadlock letter is issued (This is the point at which the supplier and the customer fail to agree on a resolution, having explored all possible alternatives and approaches to dealing with a particular problem.)

Once issued, you can then approach the Energy Supply Ombudsman to examine the complaint and ask them to make a ruling.

Anyway see how you go and let us know.

With the energy supply market letters are not really the prefered option of getting good service unless it is a legal letter. Just a letter asking them to look at the account usually goes to correspondance who's only job is to open letters and read them, they then pass it to the relevent team who are the people who would answer your call anyway and they deal with it in a manner of unimpersonel note. You cant ask to speak to a manager etc in letter. If you do write ask for a call back with resolution then you can excalate it if not satisfied. Hope this makes sense.

On a call it really does depend on who you get through too.



If the supplier will not agree to deadlock, then 12 weeks after the complaint was first raised with the Energy Supply Ombudsman can accept a complaint without a deadlock letter

[Sandy483]

IM thinking Bristish Gas Deserve thier own section like the banks have as the amount of complaints here:o

Would be great to get them all together, let British Gas have a view of the compilation

We could give them thier own user name so they can browse and post apoligies.

OK thats a bit extreme

[ozzywizard]

Have you ever tried to get them (or any supplier) to apologise, to do this they need to admit they are at fault lol.

[Sandy483]

I do think to have all the Bristish Gas problems in one file would make for some brilliant reading.

[Fishmilk]

Powergen spoke to me again today and i made the offer of £5 a month, they said no way they can offer me that but rang me back after 2 hours saying if i pay over the phone they will accept £75 im still not happy with this so shall i stick to my guns for £5 a month? oh i have spoken to a manager right from word go i know some of the reps in call centres can be awful lol!
thanks for replys so far cheers all

[ozzywizard]

Ok, they have made an offer of 75 pound so they have to stick to it. The "deal" of you only get this reduction if you pay in one is not within guidelines of not causing hardship. I do not know your curcumstances but if your on benifit they have to accept a payment plan. Maybe offer 5 a week as this is minimum. Anything less can be sent to DCA.

[Fishmilk]

Powergen tried to call me 2 weeks ago last friday but i wasnt in so my wife took the call, they said they would send a letter but that was 2 weeks ago. Should i wait or contact them again?

[ozzywizard]

I would contact them again, no letter takes over 2 weeks.