British Gas Business bill sent two years late and for too much!

[TheV5]

Hi all,

 

I’m having a few issues with British Gas Business. I moved into a 1 bed flat in March 2006 and I am still here. Before I moved in, the property was an office or business of some sort.

 

When I moved in the Letting Agents made arrangements with all the various utility companies. After I was here for a month, I got a bill from BG Business. I called them and stated this was a residential property. They said they would correct this and remove the standing charge. It took them until January 2008 to do this despite my repeated requests to switch it to Residential.

 

However, for the period I was with BG Business (March 2006 – January 2008 ), I have paid them over £630. Of the 22 months in this period I was away in Spain for 5 months where everything was turned off.

 

Since February 2008 I have been with British Gas Residential and have paid them a total of £968 up to January 2010. This is based on actual readings.

 

About three weeks ago I got a bill from BG Business stating that I owe them £1920 as their closing reading on 31/01/08 was 16737 and BG Residential opening reading on the 06/02/08 was 29988. I have disputed this bill with them on the phone and last week sent them a letter stating I was disputing this amount. However, today, I received a letter from EAGR (In-House Debt Collectors) saying I need to pay them in 10 days or they will issue legal proceedings.

 

Since February 2008 I have used just over 4000 units per year. The amount of usage I was billed for from March 2006 to January 2008 (bearing in mind nothing was used for 5 months) was 4753 units.

 

The problem seems to be the meter reading as BG Business are saying that all my bills from them were estimated and that my opening meter reading was 11500. I did not supply this reading (I’m trying to find out who did). I feel that the reading must have been taking incorrectly as they are saying I owe them for 13251 units, which with my average usage is about 3 – 3 ½ years worth of electricity on top of my 4753 units already paid for. Therefore they are saying that I used almost 18,000 units in two years!

 

I have spoken to EAGR today and they just keep telling to pay the money. I’m unsure of what to do next. As said, I have written to BG Business, who have not replied to me, but just referred my account to their debt collectors!

 

Many thanks in advance…

Edited February 6, 2019 by dx100uk
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[TheV5]

I've written another letter to BG Business and have also reported the problem to Consumer Direct. Also going to raise a complaint with BG Business.

[TheV5]

Blimey. BGB are really going for it. They send a bill (the first one) 5 weeks ago, I dspute it. They send another bill 3 weeks ago, I dispute it in writing. EAGR send me a letter saying they own the debt & to pay by the 26th Feb (dated the 23rd which was when I got the letter from EAGR). I dispute it, they say their manager will call back (never has). Now on the 26th I have another letter from another debt collector (Experto Credite) saying pay in full or else they'll send someone round, issue a CCJ and then enforce with a warrant of execution.

[pelham9]

See British Gas to sue Accenture over customer service hell | This is Money

 

Obviously they are not sorted yet.

 

You are a residential customer and have been since March 2006. It is not your fault that the commercial arm of BG took ages to sort this. The billing code applies.

 

The bill that BG commercial have sent you relates to gas they claim was used up to 31/01/08 and they have not billed you for this previously. They can only bill you for gas used in the past one year (billing code) so whatever they say about meter readings you owe them nothing.

 

The use of their spurious inhouse DCA and then a genuine external DCA is totally unfair and is intended to panic you into paying when no money is owed -unless they are totally incompetent!!!

 

You should dispute the bill in writing. In addition you should complain to OFT and Trading Standards.

 

You can either ignore the DCA or write a short note telling them that the account is in dispute, that they should return the account to BG and that you will report them to OFT if they continue their collection activities.

 

British Gas are so incompetent that it is a waste of time phoning them. Write to them only and by recorded delivery. If as often happens you get no reply then write to the managing director of Centrica. I did this after a 9 months agony with BG and my problem was sorted to my satisfaction in 10 days.

[MARTIN3030]

Agree with Pelham.

The DCA is likely to continue their demands,so as a matter of course I would send them a letter as suggested,and ask them for a copy of their complaints procedure.

[TheV5]

Hi All,

 

It’s been a long time but it’s all started again! After having nothing since February, I have now had two letters from Paladin wanting payment within 14 days and then the second letter dated a day later wanting payment within 7 days!

 

I’ve got the standard letter printed out to send out to them. But this is the thing, the dates that Paladin are claiming for, are before I even moved in. This was previously a business address and was converted into a residential property. I moved in at the end of March 2005. But the dates they are claiming for are from July 2004 to March 20005! This is contrary to what they were claiming for before.

 

Anyhow, thought I’d keep you all up-to-date. Aside from the standard letter that I’m sending them, is there anything else I should do?

[TheV5]

Well, nothing more from Paladin, but they have sent the account off to a solicitors requesting payment within 7 days! The dates they are claiming for has yet again changed. I have written the same letter to the solicitor that I sent to Paladin, but also stated that I have written to Paladin stating that the account is in dispute.

 

Does anybody know what I can do about this to put a stop to it. I'm getting sick and tired of these letters coming through every other month demanding money for electricity that I have not used. Also the fact that British Gas sent me one bill in January and then sent the account off to a DCA within 2 weeks and have not contacted me in any way what so ever.

[MARTIN3030]

You should now be reconciling all the paperwork and create a log of whats happened -from the begining to date.

Include any evidence you have to show the change of useage Buiness/Residential.

Time to be making a complaint to the regulators,and possibly looking at the harrasment angle.

[TheV5]

Hello everybody. I complained to the regulators about this and heard nothing from BG Business or their debt collectors until a month before Christmas. Great timing! A new company has joined the battle called Past Due.

 

Gave them the usual letter, but got one back saying they will put their account on hold for 14 days whilst they investigate with BG Business.

 

The response I got was to get in touch with BG Business about the dispute.

I did this via a letter and heard nothing until the week between Christmas and New Year.

 

Again from Past Due (Nothing from BG Business), asking me to make payment.

Again standard letter sent back along with a statement saying this has now been going on for 2 years and is claimed for electricity used over 4 years ago in one letter and 6 years ago in another! Nothing yet, but I suspect its only a matter of time.

 

On another angle. I have moved house but have not informed BG Business of the move.

Am I under any obligation to do this?

 

Many thanks.

[MARTIN3030]

Can you confirm as to whether you are still in business ?

You should not have had any obligation to inform BG of a change of your private address except for the purpose of them having your contact details if they needed them in the course of business between you and them.

This has been going on for a long time now.

British Gas are equally liable and responsible for the actions of any third parties engaged by them,or acting as agents for them.

There was a high profile case a couple of years ago when a businessman sued them in the small claims court for harrasment and compensation for all the time he had devoted to trying to sort out their error billings.

BG settled before any hearing.

From what seems to have happened with you,it looks like you would have a very good case to be doing the same.

[Surfer01]

Very dangerous moving house and not informing the supplier of the closing reading as they can then make one up and you get charged squillions. I am guessing that when you moved into the property no opening read was supplied to BGB and they only had an estimate to work on which has led to the billing confusion. Best way around this to average out our monthly consumption less the 5 months abroad using actual reads and then work backwards from your closing read.

If you have no closing read get one ASAP for your last supplier and also ensure you have an opening read for your current supplier as you may have all the hassle again at some future date but with a different supplier.

[TheV5]

Hi, I was never registered as a business. The letting agents set everything up with the new suppliers (BGB) when I moved in. I informed BGB that it was not a business and they said they would transfer it to residential. But this took them two years and a lot of phone calls from me to them to do this. So everything is private addressed.

 

I have worked out my useage over the last two years of living at the old address with BGR (actual readings) and averaged them out over the period I was with BGB. At best, it looks like I may owe them £150 - £200. However, as the bill came through two years late and they mucked up so badly, I would ask them to cancel it out.

 

I closed down my BGR account when I moved and gave them a final reading and paid up-to-date in August 2011. I am with a new supplier and have opening readings of both gas and electric. Odd thing is I'm paying less now for both gas and electric and live in a much bigger place with two of us rather than just me beforehand!

[gfoxsteve]

How have you got on with this.

 

I have a similar situation. I am a consumer and appear to be billed by British Gas business. They were taking the money via direct debit for 6 months and appear to have stopped. i only realised when I moved supplier and got a closing bill.

 

The first closing bill was £45000!!!! which came as a bit of a shock. I have had over 35 revised bills from them in 2 months and they seem to have decided I owe them £2400 now.

 

They are insisting this is paid immediately.

 

How can they do this, I am a consumer, how do I end up getting hounded by a supplier who thinks I am a company.

 

Any ideas.

[TheV5]

Hi gfoxsteve. The last letter I had was from another debt collector which I sent back a standard letter telling them it was unlawful to chase me when the account is in dispute. That was almost a year ago and I haven't heard anything since then. If I go by one of the letters they sent me, they are trying to re-coop costs that built up 7 years ago. If I go by the others it is 4 years ago. They have no clue what they are doing. If you have disputed the account and they go to a debt collection agency, they are unlawful in doing this. So you will have a run of debt collection agencies after you, but they all go away with a letter, then six months later another one will try it. On and on it goes!

[TheV5]

Hello,

 

Well, I didn’t think I’d be looking at this thread again after all this time!

 

I have not heard anything from anyone with regard to this dispute until today! This is the first correspondence in over 7.5 years.

 

The letter has come from PRA group. It is a statement of account with the original amount as the outstanding amount.

 

I am wondering if I need to do anything about this, ignore it or take some form of legal action.

 

Image of letter attached below.

[dx100uk]

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