British Gas 1.5 year epic prepayment overpaid

[lil_munchkins_mum]

Well, this is going to be an epic.
September 2005 we tried to change supplier after being with BG for about a year and a half-previously with powergen. We then received a letter from BG saying that we were unable to move as there was an outstanding debt on the ac. We disputed the debt for a while, all whilst still on BG and they agreed that there was no way that we could owe them money. a few months later we realise our bills are high and dont know how long theyve been charging for this debt that isnt ours. they then said that it was an error and theyd send someone round to reset the metre back to normal. lady came round and reset the meter, and the meter then read as taking £4 a week (i think) for debt and about £150 debt remaining! rang and complained and they told us they wouldnt have sent someone to reset the meter as they couldnt do that, so we let someone into our house under false pretences. dont know what the original debt was but weve eventually had to pay debt as we had to have gas and it took for debt before giving us remainder as gas. after it had finished, we rang again and said that we wanted it refunded and they said they would look into it. rang a while later and was told no enquirey was ever raised, and they would do it then. rang a while later and was told the same thing AGAIN! rang a while later and was told the enquiry was ongoing but there was an indefinate timescale for resolution!!!!
left it until this year as i was pregnant and when i phoned-guess what?? NO ENQUIREY ON ACCOUNT!!!! although the only change we have is that our account is showing on their screens as having £620 in credit. I said i want it back and was told that it would be up to 30 days but theyd try and get it done sooner as id been waiting so long-that was the 18th may. rang on 23rd and was told that it was going to take up to 28 days and that id have to wait for it to complete. rang again this week to be told that it would take up to 30 WORKING days and that she would get a manager to ring me back later that day. still havent had a call. just got off the phone now to be told that the timescale is 30-90 days!!!!! i asked to speak to the superviser to be told the supervisors dont take calls theyre only there to supervise the workers. i asked to speak to the manager that was meant to ring me back to be told that he couldnt ring them and they were in offices and hed lose his job if he went down there and disturbed them-he said he could leave another memo and harrass them into calling me-i told him that a bit of paper handed to them to throw away every now and them was hardly harrassing them! he gave me the address for BG complaints-i said i wanted a number to be told that there was no number only an address. i said would it be resolved quicker if i went to the gas ombudsman and was told maybe-i then said do you think it would be solved quicker if i took the route of sending a LBA-he asked what it was and i told him-he then said youre going to take bg to court??!! i said if i have to i will take the same route to recover losses as they would to recover debts.
ive now got to decide my next move-im tempted to ring again and hasstle someone else to put me through to a manager, or send a letter to the ombudsmen and bg complaints team.
the saga continues.......

[lil_munchkins_mum]

hmm well i rang again to ask the advisor to make a note in the callback form for manager that this issue has now been reported to energywatch to see if it makes a difference, but just before i did that she said bear with me im just going to talk to the manager and ask what they advise-i thought they werent allowed to speak to managers??! she came back and said that she'd been told to put another callback form through for a manager to call me back probably early next week. i asked her if she could just put me through to the manager she has just been speaking to and she said that she couldnt as there are only 2 on??!! hmm so it goes on......
still i have emailed details over to energywatch so will see if that yields any answers quicker.

[emmaf01]

Energywatch seem to be the best option- they can be very helpful.

Try to keep a record of who you speak to and when, as, if it is in their interest, BG might, perhaps, not be able to find a record of your enquiries.

Keep going at them!

[davethorp]

I waited a couple of months for BG to return £90 I'd overpaid with no results. E-mailed energy watch and got my money in 2 weeks!

[lil_munchkins_mum]

well, i've just recently checked my emails as i was out with the kids during the day and i have one already from energy watch-apparently theres a number for escallated complaints and the department deals with complaints alot quicker there and they've told me to email again if i havent got any or the result i want in 10 days time! i am so pleased! although i was constantly told that there was no such number in existence every time i spoke to customer advisors-but apparently its specifically for customers that have had long ongoing queries, so will ring tomorrow and update when i have some step forward!