Clan Jessica vs British Gas electricity dept

[jessica'smum]

Here is a letter I plan to send sometime this week it pretty much eplains my situation. Any advice would be welcome!



In the last 12 months I have paid spproximately £600 (£50 pcm) in direct debits, plus £900 in additional payment for the electricity portion of my dual fuel bill with British Gas, and I have contacted you by phone several times asking if this is a fair amount to be charged.

On each occasion I contacted you, I was told to check the meter and met with an assumption that the charges were correct, and I was at fault for using too much electricity.

On Friday, May 4, after receiving an estimated online bill for almost £250 for electricity for the 47 days from February 11 to March 30, I called customer services once again and this time I spoke to a very helpful assistant, who discovered, via her computer screen, that I was on an Economy 7 tarrif – effectively I have been paying for electric heating I do not have for the last year.

The young lady I spoke to was as amazed as I was to discover my bill should HALVE, to about £33 a month, when my meter is changed to a more appropriate tarrif, which is being done within a fortnight and free of charge.

I believe this mistake should have been noticed by one of your customer services team on one of the several other times I have called in the last year to explain that I thought my electricity bills were excessive for an average-sized house with gas central heating and two occupants who work all day. I do not understand how British Gas could charge me an Economy 7 rate when you knew I had gas heating.

Therefore I am writing to ask you to repay £750 which I believe I overpayed to you in the last year. I am asking for half of what I paid in the year as this is what I was told will happen to my bill once I am put on to the correct tarrif.

I would appreciate a response to this letter within 14 days – if none is forthcoming in that time, or I do not consider your answers adequate, I will take up this matter with EnergyWatch and if necessary, take steps to reclaim this overpayment through the courts.


Jessica'smum

[CAGisforME]

Great Letter.

Given the carp these guys have come up with me, and the fact that they have not responded to a single letter I have written to them in the past 3 months, I would advise you send your letter Recorded Delivery!

I have been told in the past 2 weeks:

"We have 28 days to respond to any letters"
"We often lose letters"
"We don't have to respond to letters"


So, whilst I support you wholeheartedly, I hope you get a better response than I did.

I only ended up getting somewhere when I called BG and insisted on speaking with the Customer Escalation Department.

Good Luck.

Really hope you see your refund soon.

[missm]

search for threads i have started. i went thru a long saga with BG electricity last year and the only thing that sorted it was a letter to the centrica CEO... his address should be in the thread