I guess he means that they cant disconnect the meter if we dont pay as they dont own it...its an independent meter and i found that out when i tried to have a pre payment meter fitted and they told me they couldnt change it because of this...although they didnt bother to tell me untill we'd actually switched suppliers to them after one of their operatives said it wouuld be fine but thats another story. So ill have to look into this late billing as ive not heard of it before ! Thanks

Hi guys, Has anyone ever experianced a problem regarding the serial number on your gas meter not matching your account ? I have just found out that after 5 YEARS !! we have had the meter belonging to the house two doors down ! It was only after us getting behind with some of the payments that a British gas engineer came to look at the meter and told my husband that the serial number didnt match my account and in his words 'it didnt come from me but' if we dont pay it theres nothing they can do as they dont own the meter plus its not actually ours. So i phoned British gas who confirm yes we have the wrong meter and it belongs to the house next door but one, he asked how long weve lived there and i say since it was built 5yrs ago to which he replys 'oh dear that could cause some big problems, ill have to freeze the account and pass it on to someone that can deal with it'. So what im really asking you guys is if anyone knows if i have any rights to withold payments or refuse to pay what we already owe according to the bills theve sent us which are actually our neighbours !...even the British gas guy said theres nothing they can do if i dont pay as theve left this unnoticed for so long ??? thank you in advance for any help

hi, im still recieving letters from the financial ombudsman informing me that they are still looking into the matter so sofar not much progress

congrats !!! another scarborough winner !!

hi simon, no i dont know of any other succsess with DJ Hill but if you gave it a go you could be another !! whats stopping you ? i really think you should apply for the lift and add your own letter explaining your personel situation and any letters which show you financial position.....it worked for me. I knew as long as that stay was on my claim then abbey wernt going to budge. but thats just a view on my case what you do is your choice but good luck dont give up

hi simon, have you actually had an 'application for stay removal' rejected by DJ hill ?

yeah thats right, just give them your case number then they should be able to find all the details of your claim. its so much quicker to do it through e-mail than writing and your dealing straight with the person you need rather than through abbey who then pass it onto ashurst ect...not sure where i got the e-mail address its been going on for that long! when my stay was lifted i emailed Inga to let them know that it would definately be going to court and i was prepared for it,she e-mailed back asking me to send a copy of the court order so that she could ask for instructions from abbey and it all progressed from there i think you should def try and get them to pay out before the date.

Inga is a solicitor at Ashurst solicitors which is who are working on behalf of abbey. you can cntact her on inga.kirkman@ashurst .com, think i heard somwhere that she's on leave but she was very cooperative with me

cant believe theve actually let it get as far as a court hearing, as soon as abbey knew my stay had been lifted they agreed to discuss settlement figures. on what terms did the judge agree to lift the stay ? good luck anyway....cant offer any advice as luckily i didnt have to go that far !

Thank you all, and ill donate as soon as the funds clear

Well its finally all over for me, after 7 long months ive finally got my payout....hurray. the money is now showing in my account as available next wednesday, and lucky me its my week off work so im gonna go have some fun . Thanks to everyone who's a member of this site for helping me along the way, and good luck to everyone still in the process of claiming pinkbabez x

thanks guys

Hi all,thought id update and try and uplift everyone, ive had my offer accepted!! my claim was for £4'285 abbey offered £3'750 i emailed them bac,said id only accept £4'000 as final settlement a week later (today) Inga email's me to say..... "offer accepted,will email you shortly with more details on how it will proceed from here"

Hi abg, no i didnt get anything like that. After i sent in my request for the stay to be lifted it took about 3 weeks to deal with all i recieved was a letter saying .... at the request of the claiment the stay be lifted and fast tracked to the small claims court, after i received this that is when i started to contact abbeys solicitors again and they were very shocked at this,they asked me to send a copy of the new order then 2 weeks later they offer to settle out of court

Hi simon, no i did'nt contact abbey or their solicitors i just got on with as in my last attempt to settle the claim with Inga they refused so i told Inga that i would have no further contact with them and it will all be dealt with the official way.I did'nt even have to have a hearing regarding the lift of the stay the just sent me a court date

Hi all, quick update....... Inga emailed me today to give me an offer from abbey,its £400 less than my claim for £4'285 so im thinking thats pretty reasonable? though ive actually emailed har back to say that my final settlement amount would be £4'000 after all if i had taken it all the way i could have claimed intrest, but to be honest this is all wearing me out and i would like to see an end to it what with xmas on the way and all

Hi, do you meen that she didnt have the funds to pay whatever she was charged for or that they took charges for no know reason ? i ask because a month or so ago 4 charges appeared on my account with were not due amounting to around £140, but i didnt even have to ask for them refunding as they refunded them on the same day! computing error i wonder?

hi simon, yes i sent one of the template letters and a covering letter written by myself explain my situation and how it came about

thanks hedgey, its Scarborough.

Thanks simon,he is also my judge, it was lifted on hardship grounds which i think is maybe the only grounds that are working.Abbey have proberly realised that this case was gonna go all the way so thought they might as well end it now seen as though their in a better position at the moment not having to deal with as many case's. I think you shoud try to have it lifted,theres always hope my case prove's it !!

Hi all, well it does'nt seem that they can re-apply for a second stay once the judge has agreed to lift the original stay, because i received an e-mail from Inga informing me that Abbey are prepared to come to a settlement agreement ! . my court date was for the 26th november so im lucky they havent dragged it out till then. I have e-mailed Inga back and informed them that for me to aggree to settlement out of court then the full original claim is what i would agree to settle on,this dosent include any intrest which would have amounted to around £500 so i think thats a fair settlement offer on my behalf!!

Hi, im also claimimg from them,its been about 2 months since i stated the claim. did the standard first letter-please refund these charges ect but their not gonna give in that easy!! Anyway the financial ombusdman are dealing with it for now

hi Simon, who is your judge? mine is district judge hall, he agreed to lift my stay and has given me a court date in november

Hi Rayne, well so far so good, my appeal for the stay to be lifted was granted so i now have a court date for the 26th november, long time i know but better than a stay and would be nice for xmas.

Thanks for that, did'nt relise they could try get another stay ! thought the judge's decision was final. any way got plenty of time to prepare