British Gas - HELP REQUIRED!!!!!!!!!!!! (long story)

[craiga20uk]

Me and my girlfriend have been tennants in our house since October 2011,

soon after we moved in we had a debt collector from British Gas knock on our door chasing money from the previous occupants.

We informed them that we had only just moved in, and then proceeded to set up an account with them.

 

On our first bill we were told there was a debt against the property,

and that we'd have to pay it otherwise our gas and electric would be disconnected,

 

so we had incorporated this debt into our monthly payments.

 

We chased this up, and eventually got the debt removed from our account.

 

We were still receiving bills addressed to the previous occupant, as well as our own bills,

so once again I rang British Gas to inform them that the old tennants name needed removing from the property as they no longer lived here.

 

I later received an email saying that my account, and the account for the previous occupant had been deleted

(they said they had to remove my account in order to remove the previous tennants account??),

and that I would have to set up a new account with them.

 

Today I have come home from work to two bills from British Gas, one addressed to myself, and one addressed to "The occupant".

 

The one addressed to the occupant is demanding over £1200, and the one addressed to myself is in credit by £1000

and details all the payments that we have made over the past year.

 

I really do not understand what is going on,

we have spend numerous amounts of money on the phone to British Gas,

and they can never get anything right,

 

I really am sick to the back teeth of them.

 

Does anyone know where I stand in regards to this letter demanding £1200?

and the letter that claims I am £1000 in credit?

 

Any help would be really appreciated.

[i hate bailiffs]

You need to write to them as a formal complaint send it recorded delivery or proof

you wont get far with them on the phone

British gas customer services doesn't get any better

 

once you get it sorted probably best to change suppler

[BankFodder]

Have you got the letter which says that the debt was on the property please. This sounds extremely dubious and in any case there would be no basis for threatening you with it.

 

Be very careful about the so-called credit. You will end up not paying any bills and then later on they will come back to you for the whole back-payment. Play it very straight and make sure that you find a way to pay your bills.

 

British Gas are mainly idiots. They still have a Nationalised industry mentality. They are also bullies.

You need to protect yourself and so I would suggest that you do nothing on the phone with them unless you record the calls. I have had my own experience with them in the past. They denied calls and it was only when I produced recordings that they then put their hands up. They then became more angry that I had recorded their calls than with the fact that they had made serious mistakes with my account.

 

They are obviously mismanaging your account. If you wanted to settle it once and for all and have a little fun on the way, I would consider suing them in the small claims court for a small sum for inconvenience caused by their breach of contract.

Their breach is that they are failing to run your account correctly and it is an implied contractual term that they do run it correctly.

I think that a claim for £50 plus any expenses of time and phone calls would be very reasonable. British Gas will cave in rather than go to court and they will probably sort themselves out on the way.

A small claim is very easy and very cheap and your chances of success in this case are better than 95%.

The chances that BG will cave in and settle are better than 95% as well.

[BankFodder]

By the way, if they do settle and then still make these mistakes - you simply sure them again - but fr £100 next time.

 

If you don't take some serious action such as I have suggested, the chances are that they will lead you around by the nose for a long time with a risk of debt collection, damaged credit file etc. You can't imagine the damage these people can do simply out of stupidity and because by and large they don't care very much.

[craiga20uk]

Thanks for the advice, I also forgot to include the fact that they upped our direct debit without prior notice. When we rang them and questioned this, they said that they had sent us a letter to us, we never received this letter. But low and behold, after having a conversation with them, a letter arrived a couple of days later informing us of the direct debit change. They just think they can do what they want!!!!!

[joesoap]

NPower upped my DD but not within the 10 days notice. I got my payment back from the bank under the DD guarantee and I asked for the same as an incovenience payment; mission accomplished and not a whimper

[Climate]

I think their is a lot of poor information in this thread, including from the 'Site Admin' who although some of what he says is true, some isn't.

 

Part of my problem lies with wanting to help genuine people against issues from my previous experience in the industry but then part of me views threads like this where everyone wants financial compensation for minor issues and I just can't help but think that it means the information ends up in the public eye for less genuine people to take the p**s.

 

£50 compo for time? As the guys post says, he didn't register with the provider until someone knocked on his door. It's the first thing I do, even for rental properties. Yes, companies DO get things wrong every day but so do individuals. Did he think fuel was free?

[i hate bailiffs]

I think their is a lot of poor information in this thread, including from the 'Site Admin' who although some of what he says is true, some isn't.

 

Part of my problem lies with wanting to help genuine people against issues from my previous experience in the industry but then part of me views threads like this where everyone wants financial compensation for minor issues and I just can't help but think that it means the information ends up in the public eye for less genuine people to take the p**s.

 

£50 compo for time? As the guys post says, he didn't register with the provider until someone knocked on his door. It's the first thing I do, even for rental properties. Yes, companies DO get things wrong every day but so do individuals. Did he think fuel was free?

 

so you know the answers then tell us where we are going wrong

[Climate]

so you know the answers then tell us where we are going wrong

 

Taking a guess here...(could be many reasons)

 

The read when the original poster 'moved in' differs from a read of the former tenant in that it is lower, so the account has 'locked' hence a credit of £1000 as the account isn't releasing bills/invoices so any payments made are stacking up a nice balance but the account isn't recognising usage.

 

He/Her isn't responsible for usage of a prior tenant, a quick proof of tenancy/proof of indentity will solve that.

[raydetinu]

Always best to contact them by email not phone.

cheaper and you have a record of the discussion and agreements. etc.