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[Money Grabber]

Morning All, my mum had a door to door representative for British Gas asking if she wanted to change with them. After many Noooooooooos the guy said ok but if you cange your mind ring this number.......

She put the number in the bin and thought no more of it until she got a letter from Npower say sorry your leaving us!!!!

She called NP and they said BG had informed them that she was changing.

1: Does anyone know if can they do this without authorisation? My mum signed noting, didnt even give her name, or agreed to anything.

2: What if this is happening to elderly people and they end up with massive bills. Or not just elderly but anyone?????

3: has this happend to you and what did you do????

Let me know as i'm going to write a letter of compaliant to BG but just want to check has anyone else had this?

Cheers
Kelly x

[PPMAN159]

Not with BG but had similar thing happen with Sky and BT.

Had a conversation with a guy from Sky on the phone dnd asked for them to send detials of the phone service that were offerring.

Nothing was ever received from Sky but I did get a letter from BT saying that they had received notification that I was transferring my phone service to a new provider.

Complained ed to Sky,BT and OFCOM and in the end kept the phone service with BT and got £20 from Sky

[demon_x_slash]

I'd get in touch with energywatch (the regulatory body) immediately. Have you managed to stop the changeover (after speaking to Npower)? This is not an uncommon problem; I believe many of these doorstep agents are on commission.

[Money Grabber]

I just hope if this is happening with other providers people realise b4 getting big bills etc... I dont understand how they can do this!

Thank you

[Money Grabber]

Hi yes my mum have re-opened the account with NP. Cheers

[welshcakes]

I've had similar things happen with EDF, British Gas and NPower ... and they had had put my neighbour down as being the owner/occupier of my home. He knew nothing of it and it all transpired that it was 'a mistake' on their records. Utility suppliers are even more useless than the banks for customer service idiots manning their very expensive telephone numbers

[lindsay22]

this happens all the time with these companies, they can apply for ur account up to 3 times from ur currant supplier so keep an eye on the account to make sure they are not taking it.
it is very difficult for ur supplier to stop the change over once account has been applied for.

[youmustbejoking]

hi just tried to cancel with british gas after cold caller said i could not go thru with it until the meter reading or letter , have tried to call them before 7 days but could not get thru and tried a few times but just on hold. got thru tonite but even tho they do not have the take over yet(energy) and it is not on my present suppliers system they refuse to end the contract and the sales person does not answer the phone he left me to dial, they said it expired on the 18 april and have sent me numerous letters ! which turned out to be 1 on 7 april and 2 today (i bet there printing them now).what a sham just re inforces my decision not to go ahead.
My present supplier cant even take it back until they (bg )have got it ,only then can apply for it back .

any advice? signed on 28 march

[RichardM]

Simple way to stop this is never reveal who your current supplier is. I've had British Gas often call and the first thing they ask is who my current supplier is.

They get a straight answer, "None of your business", closely followed by, "I don't deal with people who knock on doors looking for business." Any further conversation is held with a closed door.

An N' Power rep even made the mistake of telling me that his records showed I was paying too much for my gas. N'Power got a very prompt email concerning their failure to comply with the data protection act as they didn't have my permission to have my details on file. They have now flagged my address as no doorstep calls so that's one less annoyance.

I still think it would be a good idea to be able to register an address as one to be excluded from doorstep calling in the same manner as TPS and MPS. That would stop a hell of a lot of this fraud.

[gondukin]

youmustbejoking - while BG are a pain to get through to, at the end of the day you didn't cancel in the cool off period so if the contract was done properly you haven't got a leg to stand on I'm afraid.

Richard - they don't need to know who your current supplier is to switch you. They are asking who your current supplier is to decide their sales pitch.

[RichardM]

Originally Posted by gondukin

Richard - they don't need to know who your current supplier is to switch you. They are asking who your current supplier is to decide their sales pitch.

For a genuine switch, the new supplier is supposed to inform the old supplier about the forthcoming change in supplier. How is this done if the "fraudulent new supplier" isn't provided with the details of who your current supplier is.