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Parcel delivery insurance is prohibited under section 57 – Consumer Rights Act – Read about It Here and in The Times. ×


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      By The Phantom · Posted

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      Good idea Kyosanto, will give it a try.

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      The judge's reasoning is very useful and will certainly be helpful in any other cases relating to third-party rights where the customer has contracted with the courier company by using a broker.
      This is generally speaking the problem with using PackLink who are domiciled in Spain and very conveniently out of reach of the British justice system.

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      This is good ethical practice.

      It would be very nice if the parcel delivery companies – including EVRi – practised this kind of thing as well.

       

      OT APPROVED, 365MC637, FAROOQ, EVRi, 12.07.23 (BRENT) - J v4.pdf
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Parcel delivery insurance is prohibited under section 57 – Consumer Rights Act – Read about It Here and in The Times.

British Gas Business/BizzEnergy erroneous transfer

CongaMan
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CongaMan

CongaMan

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hi!

 

I was a happy Scottish Power domestic gas/electric customer for many years. All payments by monthly DD and up to date. Then in Sept 08 I was erroneously switched (both supplies ) to BizzEnergy (a business supplier)

I immediately contacted Scottish Power, they investigated and their Erroneous Re-Registrations Team eventually wrote back saying "Bizzenergy have transferred your gas and electricity by mistake. Your supplies will be transferred back to Scottish Power"

A couple of months later, my gas was back with Scottish Power but not my electricity. Many phone calls ensued, "these things can sometimes take a long time", etc, and the thing was duly forgotten about for many months. To confuse matters even more, shortly after that our gas bill estimate was erroneously doubled by SP for 12 months, which led us to believe we were back paying for both services -- but this then was refunded to us in Nov 2010, which set the alarm bells ringing that we'd not actually been paying for any electricity.

 

So now it is 3 yrs 11 mths after the erroneous switch, and out of the blue I get hit with a solicitor letter demanding £3,500 on behalf of British Gas Business. It turns out that Bizzenergy went into receivership and got taken over by British Gas Business shortly after I was erroneously switched to them in Nov 08. So in all this time, BGB had been "billing" me as a business customer. ( As a domestic user my bill for that period should have been about half of what they were asking for.)

 

During this almost 4 year period

 

- I never received a single bill from BizzEnergy or BG Business, nor did I receive any other correspondence from them (I wasn't expecting any)

- I never made any agreements with BizzEnergy or BGB about tariffs or indeed anything else. Why would I ever agree to their business rates?

- My meter was never read by BizzEnergy or BGB. All of their calculations in their unseen bills were based on estimated readings. My last actual meter reading was in February 2008 by SP, which was 6 months before I got hijacked

 

I have now just switched back my electricity to Scottish Power, who were very happy to have me back with as a "new customer".

 

So I'd like some advice please on how to deal with the demands of British Gas Business for money on bills I've never seen, on a tariff I never agreed to, for a period going back 4 years in time?

 

Thanks for any advice!

Edited by CongaMan
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CongaMan

CongaMan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I forgot to say that the letter from BGB solicitor, quoted the address they were supplying electricity to as some industrial unit on a trading estate at the opposite end of the country. The address is one I've never heard of, and is totally unconnected with me. This would explain why I've never received any mail or bill from them.

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Surfer01

Surfer01

Posted
Posted

I am not sure if I can help, but I worked for Bizzenergy in their erroneous transfer department. Obviously I do not have access to records and cannot remember individual customers. I think a third party broker would have done the transfer hence the incorrect MPAN.

Bizzenergy only dealt with electric and not gas and only dealt with business customers, not residential. However I was a residential customer with Bizzenergy to get preferential rates and was transferred to BGAS as a business customer. I supplied proof that I was a residential customer and was able to transfer away from BGAS who I hate with a passion! I also know for a fact that ET's were done by Bizzenergy the same day we were notified about it so it seems that Scottish Power may have slipped up on this one by not doing the transfer or following it up.

As a domestic customer you have NO contract with BGAS and it would be up to them to prove it. Secondly you should have been contacted ages ago and a bill sent. Thirdly your MPAN probably started with either an "01" or "02" indicating it is a domestic supply. This is followed by an Advise and prove to BGAS that you are a domestic customer, i.e. council tax bill and inform them that you are an ET and should have been transferred back to Scottish Power a long time ago but they blocked the transfer as they thought you were in contract. They would have done this automatically and will have a record of the objection on their system if Scottish Power tried to re-register your MPAN.

Due to the amount of time that has passed, tell them that you are willing to pay for electric consumed at the rate you were charge by Scottish power prior to the ET. You cannot have free electric. However state that as they have not contacted yourself with a bill for the past year, as per regulations you are only willing to pay for the past 12 months supply.

Try it and see how you get on.

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CongaMan

CongaMan

Posted
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Bizzenergy only dealt with electric and not gas and only dealt with business customers, not residential.

 

You are right -- On closer examination, my gas went to "Business Energy Ltd" while my electricity went to "BizzEnergy Ltd".

I had been getting the two names confused (as if it's not confusing enough already)

So thanks for pointing that out!

 

If a 3rd party broker did the transfer, would there be a record of who that 3rd party was?

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Surfer01

Surfer01

Posted
Posted
You are right -- On closer examination, my gas went to "Business Energy Ltd" while my electricity went to "BizzEnergy Ltd".

I had been getting the two names confused (as if it's not confusing enough already)

So thanks for pointing that out!

 

If a 3rd party broker did the transfer, would there be a record of who that 3rd party was?

 

I strongly suspect it was BES that was acting as the third party. Have you checked your MPAN number which is a long number somewhere on your bill or approached BGAS as per my earlier post?

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CongaMan

CongaMan

Posted
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Posted

My MPAN number does begin "01"

I'd already fired off a complaint letter to British Gas Business by the time I saw your suggestion. I was going to wait for their reply (within 3 days, they promise me), then make them an offer.

At the time of the switch, I was paying £42.50 per month for electric, so I guess I'll be offering £510 (being 12 months usage)

You say in your post "as per regulations" - presumably you are referring to the Energy Retail Association guidelines? Do they *have* to abide by this code, or can they legally do whatever they please? What would be the consequences to them, if they break the code?

Thanks again for the advice:)

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Surfer01

Surfer01

Posted
Posted
My MPAN number does begin "01"

I'd already fired off a complaint letter to British Gas Business by the time I saw your suggestion. I was going to wait for their reply (within 3 days, they promise me), then make them an offer.

At the time of the switch, I was paying £42.50 per month for electric, so I guess I'll be offering £510 (being 12 months usage)

You say in your post "as per regulations" - presumably you are referring to the Energy Retail Association guidelines? Do they *have* to abide by this code, or can they legally do whatever they please? What would be the consequences to them, if they break the code?

Thanks again for the advice:)

 

Definitely domestic and one rate. It it was "02" it would be Economy 7. It would be better to contact the Energy Ombudsman for clarification as things have changed in the past 3 years. State you are making an inquiry at this point rather than a complaint.

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  • 4 weeks later...
CongaMan

CongaMan

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

BGB are refusing to comment on whether my offer of £510 is accepted or rejected.

They say that they are "not sure if the ERA guidelines on backbilling" that I quoted at them apply in this particular case, because they say it is not fully their fault. When BizzEnergy went bust, BGB acquired my account from them but with all the wrong billing details - wrong address, name everything. They say it's not their fault they had the wrong details, so they are not to blame, therefore the guidelines don't apply. (??)

 

Now they want to re-bill me for the four years using a retrospective rate, and have requested a current meter reading !!!

 

Also, they blocked my move back to SP a few weeks agio, despite BGB sending me an apologetic letter before that saying "if you want to move your supply back to SP, we guarantee it will leave us". They blocked it anyway, but now tell me again that it will definitely leave if I try again.

 

Are they just trying to pull a fast one?

Edited by CongaMan
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CongaMan

CongaMan

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Posted

I just received an updated bill from them. They now "rebilled the account to my firm reading" (of last week) and say I owe them £1500 and they would give 50% discount on this -- so they want £750 to settle.

The bill has a "balance carried forward from previous bill" of about £1000 --- but as I never received a previous billl, I have no idea what that is made up of. Also they have no meter readings at all (!) other than one in May this year and one from last week - so all of this is all based on estimated readings.

What should I do? Should I stick to my original offer of £500? Or lower it?

If they estimate 4 years usage was £1500, then 12 months is £375. which is LOWER than my original offer of £500

Thanks in advance!

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Surfer01

Surfer01

Posted
Posted

Offer them £400 on a take it for leave it basis as they can only bill you for two years usage as you are a domestic customer! Remind them AGAIN that you are a domestic customer and you are covered by those rules.

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CongaMan

CongaMan

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Thanks for the advice! You say "they can only bill for two years usage" but I thought the ERA regulations limited this to one year... (please correct me if I am wrong, (which is highly likely)) Thanks

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CongaMan

CongaMan

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So I offered them £400 - cross your fingers.

But today, a credit note arrived, crediting me with £490 for negative electricity usagefor the last 12 months! This reduces the balance outstanding to £1040, the amount originally "carried forward" from the invoice I never actually received....

What a complete and utter omnishambles!

I'll keep you posted.

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  • 4 weeks later...
CongaMan

CongaMan

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They have not responded one way or another to my offer and it's almost been a month. When that month has passed I am considering emailing them again telling them if they don't respond within 7 days then I shall consider the matter closed. Can I legally do that if they don't respond again?

 

Oddly, they also emailed me an Exel spreadsheet for the account along with the bill. It is obviously meant for BGB internal use only and must have been sent to me by mistake. It is full of wild random charges and credit notes (147 of them) all based on four years of estimates with a fictitious start readingt. It makes quite hilarious reading, at one point the outstanding balance was estimated at £7000! Ridiculous! And more useful evidence of their sheer incompetence in the matter, perhaps.

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  • 4 weeks later...
CongaMan

CongaMan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I may still need that baseball bat yet. Despite them having accepted my offer and saying (on 5 october, in an email) that account balance was now zero, I today received another bill for £102 for usage (charged at business rates, using estimated readings of course) for the month of September. Cheeky gits! Well, they can go and **** themselves because as far as I am concerned the matter is fully settled and any further correspondence from them is going to be dealt with by me as "harassment"...

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
CongaMan

CongaMan

Posted
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Update: After speaking to BG on the phone just before Xmas, they assure me it was an error on their part and apologised profusely! The account balance is now zero. Again.

 

In the meantime I find today (boxing day) that Scottish Power has mixed my email address with another customer's, so when I log in I have all of his details! Additionally, SP website now say "we're sory you're leaving us", and I never requested to leave (this is the gas being eroneously transferred this time)

 

Boy oh boy oh boy. I am speechless at the sheer stupidity of all of these mistakes, right left and centre.

The processes that these people ""follow"" are obviously seriously flawed. This is going to give me a coronary before the year is out....

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CongaMan

CongaMan

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Posted (edited)

Thanks David

I sent an email on 27/12/12.

When trying to access my account today, I am now told my account is closed. WTF ?

I also received an email today from SP addressed to the other customer saying his direct debit has increased.

As SP are now letting me access his account, maybe I should phone this customer directly, and tell him of the security breach also?

That might get the ball moving a little faster.

 

I think this is a serious breach of security and confidentiality !!

Edited by CongaMan
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