@britishgashelp British gas broke in to my home!!!

[Violet1937]

Hello Everyone,

 

On completion of my house purchase I arranged to change gas and electric supply from British Gas to Eon.

 

 

When I moved in I called BG to advise of meter readings and that I didnt need the tarriff info etc as I had already instructed Eon to arrange transfer.

BG advised they hadnt received the transfer notification so I contacted Eon.

 

 

They advised that they had no record of transfer but I could set it up again online- which I of course did.

A month or so later I received a letter from Eon stating BG had refused my transfer.

 

 

A call to BG was made and they stated this was because I had a debit on the account for the first month

- I set up a dd to cover this and any time in between transfer.

I then set up a supplier transfer for a third time.

I didnt receive any letters from either supplier and BG cancelled my DD so I presumed I was in the midst of the transfer process.

 

 

Move forward several months later (today) and I come home to what I initially thought was a burglary.

My dogs had been let loose and my internal doors were open.

 

 

There was a letter placed on my sofa with an incorrect date 08/01/2015

stating BG had entered my property after obtaining a warrant

and fitted a prepayment meter to recover non payment.

 

 

The electric supply was in the room that my four small dogs were in

and they decided to let my dogs roam free to get access

and my sofa and kitchen were subsequently damaged severely by my very upset dogs.

 

 

We had not received any letters from BG or given the opportunity to contest the warrant

.I can not believe that this has happened.

 

 

Can you please advise if this is legal and offer any advice how to proceed with a complaint.

 

 

Your advice would be hugely appreciated.

 

 

Thanks

[BazzaS]

Hello Everyone,

 

On completion of my house purchase I arranged to change gas and electric supply from British Gas to Eon.

 

 

When I moved in I called BG to advise of meter readings and that I didnt need the tarriff info etc as I had already instructed Eon to arrange transfer.

BG advised they hadnt received the transfer notification so I contacted Eon.

 

 

They advised that they had no record of transfer but I could set it up again online- which I of course did.

A month or so later I received a letter from Eon stating BG had refused my transfer.

 

 

A call to BG was made and they stated this was because I had a debit on the account for the first month

- I set up a dd to cover this and any time in between transfer.

I then set up a supplier transfer for a third time.

I didnt receive any letters from either supplier and BG cancelled my DD so I presumed I was in the midst of the transfer process.

 

 

Move forward several months later (today) and I come home to what I initially thought was a burglary.

My dogs had been let loose and my internal doors were open.

 

 

There was a letter placed on my sofa with an incorrect date 08/01/2015

stating BG had entered my property after obtaining a warrant

and fitted a prepayment meter to recover non payment.

 

 

The electric supply was in the room that my four small dogs were in

and they decided to let my dogs roam free to get access

and my sofa and kitchen were subsequently damaged severely by my very upset dogs.

 

 

We had not received any letters from BG or given the opportunity to contest the warrant

.I can not believe that this has happened.

 

 

Can you please advise if this is legal and offer any advice how to proceed with a complaint.

 

 

Your advice would be hugely appreciated.

 

 

Thanks

 

"We had not received any letters from BG or given the opportunity to contest the warrant"

 

You don't get an easy opportunity to contest the warrant, but BG likely won't have gone for a warrant without following their debt management process.

 

Contact BG. SAR them for details. Don't be surprised if they claim they have sent you numerous letters.

If they have, and they were addressed correctly: little you can do as they haven't done anything wrong (what else would you have them do?).

If they haven't sent you letters warning of the risk of a warrant being sought, or they've sent them to the wrong address : Have at them!.

 

Have you made any payments for gas during the "several months"?

If so, to BG or to Eon?

[benjibutton]

Hi

Firstly I would contact the Police as this is clearly breaking and entering, because you received no notice of Court proceedings.

Secondly get 3 estimates for any repairs/ replacement of damaged items.This if applicable any medication costs for your animals.

Copies of all of these to be sent to the C.E.O of British Gas for payment.

It will be worth checking your Credit file - Experian etc to see what is listed against you by BG.

If there has been no prior debt there is no reason for BG to insist on a prepayment meter. I would think Eon would be worth contacting to see the state of play with your transfer.

This should provide enough information to proceed to the next stage

Good luck

Benjibutton

[benjibutton]

Sorry should have stated-if a Warrant is executed they need Police in attendance, so there should have been Police details - shoulder board numbers, station etc.

forgot to add locksmith bill if appropriate

Regards Benjibutton

[BazzaS]

Hi

Firstly I would contact the Police as this is clearly breaking and entering, because you received no notice of Court proceedings.

 

 

Benjibutton

 

1) if there was a warrant, the entry wasn't unlawful

2) You don't always know the precise day when BG's application for a warrant is being heard. BG will have to inform the court of the steps they have taken prior that mean a warrant is appropriate, including warning that a warrant could be sought - this is an area worth pursuing

3) "breaking and entering" ; are you claiming this is a crime in England & Wales??? Care to highlight what offence you feel would actually feature on any resulting summons?

BG may have broken in, and may have entered, but that isn't an offence in E&W (except in the imagination of a few "keyboard lawyers").

You'd need to look at other potential offences (ones that are actually on / still on the statute book) and see then which (if any!) were made out

Criminal damage? Nope.

Burglary? Nope. (Not under S9(1) nor (2) of the Theft Act 1968 ....

Aggravated trespass? Nope.

 

The OP could call the police. The police will likely state it is a civil matter (either before, or after, attending).

If the OP wants the police to act they'd need better grounds than citing a non-existent (in E&W) offence. If they want the police to act for "breaking and entering" they may have to get a new property - in the USA where the offence does exist.

[BazzaS]

Sorry should have stated-if a Warrant is executed they need Police in attendance, so there should have been Police details - shoulder board numbers, station etc.

forgot to add locksmith bill if appropriate

Regards Benjibutton

 

Right. So you say the OP should contact the police due to "breaking and entering" (see your previous post & my reply!), but now also that the police would have been in attendance.

If the police were there, even if they didn't aid/abet it, wouldn't they have said "hang on, I can't let you do that", unless they were thinking

 

"Hey, they have a warrant! That makes it lawful!!"

 

BTW ; if BG have a warrant they don't HAVE to have the police present unless other features intercede such as:

risk of breach of the peace

Non-daylight hours

Where presence of the police may be advisable or mandated.

 

We don't know if the police were present or not.

If they were : why is the OP calling them now?

If they weren't : what crime is the OP reporting?

[benjibutton]

I didn't state the Police would have been in attendance I stated they were needed to attend,recommendation because of it being an empty but occupied dwelling.

[BazzaS]

I didn't state the Police would have been in attendance I stated they were needed to attend,recommendation because of it being an empty but occupied dwelling.

 

I still don't see why the police would have been "Needed".

 

You still haven't answered :

"If they were : why is the OP calling them now?

If they weren't : what crime is the OP reporting?", nor

"What offence you feel would actually feature on any resulting summons"

I still can't see why (your advice for /) the OP calling the police isn't a waste of time / effort.

[unclebulgaria67]

Best course of action is contact the Newspapers with details of what happened. They love to feature these big companies doing this type of thing.

 

But i have a feeling that there is more to this story, as the energy companies don't normally rush into breaking in to install prepayment meters. Or they have made a major mistake.

[benjibutton]

Not here to answer your questions Bazza just trying to help OP, not concerned with my ego - or yours

[BazzaS]

Not here to answer your questions Bazza just trying to help OP, not concerned with my ego - or yours

 

Poor advice doesn't help the OP though.

 

Not ego, just saying why I think it is poor advice (no crime committed), backing it up with why (the "potential offences" one can disregard).

If you really think it will help the OP rather than it being you posting "off the cuff" irrelevancies (and since you mention ego, why would you do that if they are posts you can't back up with reasoned argument?) : you can always explain where you have it right, and my points are wrong.

 

Debate to assist the OP doesn't have to imply ego, just getting them best advice, that actually helps them (like SAR'ing BG) instead of the OP wasting effort (eg on calling the police : what will that actually add?)

[BazzaS]

Best course of action is contact the Newspapers with details of what happened. They love to feature these big companies doing this type of thing.

 

But i have a feeling that there is more to this story, as the energy companies don't normally rush into breaking in to install prepayment meters. Or they have made a major mistake.

 

Absolutely. Which is why the OP should SAR BG.

 

Have BG dropped a clanger? Not sent the chain of letters? Sent them to the wrong address or got 2 files "crossed over"?

 

Has someone else at the OP's address been intercepting / hiding post?

 

All the above are possibles / have been seen on CAG where this has happened to others : more info is needed.

 

Has the OP made payments for gas in the "several months", and if so where has that money been going?

 

As ever, getting the information will allow better advice.

[chiefmegawatty]

Hi Violet, well compared to what happened to me you have no problem at all.

Back in Oct 2011 a drunk Polish man broke into my house and caused loads of damage.

He was subsequently arrested by the Police and charged.

The CPS dropped the case because the offender stated that he broke in to prevent me from killing myself !

I have never tried to kill myself and have no intention of doing so at any time in the future.

I have had to repair all the damage myself out of my small private pension.

I therefore have no faith in the Police or the legal system.

Realising that the Police will not protect myself or my property, I have taken steps to protect myself and my

property should a similar incident happen in the future.

[BazzaS]

Hi Violet, well compared to what happened to me you have no problem at all.

Back in Oct 2011 a drunk Polish man broke into my house and caused loads of damage.

He was subsequently arrested by the Police and charged.

The CPS dropped the case because the offender stated that he broke in to prevent me from killing myself !

I have never tried to kill myself and have no intention of doing so at any time in the future.

I have had to repair all the damage myself out of my small private pension.

I therefore have no faith in the Police or the legal system.

Realising that the Police will not protect myself or my property, I have taken steps to protect myself and my

property should a similar incident happen in the future.

 

Sounds rotten for you, but ........

How does your post help the OP?.

 

If it doesn't help the OP should it be on its own thread?

[E.ON Company Rep: Malc]

Hello Everyone,

 

On completion of my house purchase I arranged to change gas and electric supply from British Gas to Eon.

 

 

When I moved in I called BG to advise of meter readings and that I didnt need the tarriff info etc as I had already instructed Eon to arrange transfer.

BG advised they hadnt received the transfer notification so I contacted Eon.

 

 

They advised that they had no record of transfer but I could set it up again online- which I of course did.

A month or so later I received a letter from Eon stating BG had refused my transfer.

 

 

A call to BG was made and they stated this was because I had a debit on the account for the first month

- I set up a dd to cover this and any time in between transfer.

I then set up a supplier transfer for a third time.

I didnt receive any letters from either supplier and BG cancelled my DD so I presumed I was in the midst of the transfer process.

 

 

Move forward several months later (today) and I come home to what I initially thought was a burglary.

My dogs had been let loose and my internal doors were open.

 

 

There was a letter placed on my sofa with an incorrect date 08/01/2015

stating BG had entered my property after obtaining a warrant

and fitted a prepayment meter to recover non payment.

 

 

The electric supply was in the room that my four small dogs were in

and they decided to let my dogs roam free to get access

and my sofa and kitchen were subsequently damaged severely by my very upset dogs.

 

 

We had not received any letters from BG or given the opportunity to contest the warrant

.I can not believe that this has happened.

 

 

Can you please advise if this is legal and offer any advice how to proceed with a complaint.

 

 

Your advice would be hugely appreciated.

 

 

Thanks

 

Hi Violet and sorry for the late reply.

 

I've just noticed you tried to switch to us but were blocked. I'm not sure where you're at with this or the exact reason for the objection but it might help your cause if you ask us for a Subject Access Request (SAR) as well. I know it'll cost an extra 10 quid but there'll be a skeleton account with details of your request to switch to us and any subsequent discussions/interactions. Could help you build up a complete picture of what happened. If you would like to do this, please contact us and we'll send you a form to complete. Once this and the payment has been received, we'll let you have the information within 40 days.

 

Sorry again for missing our involvement and the late reply.

 

Malc