£63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

[Superchris]

Hi guys. I really hope someone on here has some advice as im not sure what to do.

When I was a student I shared a flat with a couple of friends and we had our gas supplied from British gas. This was from 17/02/2007 to 01/07/2008 when I moved house and closed the account.

I moved a few times since then and was a customer with British gas for gas and electric in a couple of other places I rented.

Then in May 2012 I signed up to Experian and noticed I had 6 missed payments from British gas? I phoned them up and it turned out it was from the account from 2007-2008 for £63, being such a small amount I immediately paid it and assumed that the delinquent account would be removed after 6 years of closing the account.

However it seems that British gas hadn't register a default notice on the account and had simply been registering a '6 months unpaid status' every month. So the delinquent account will now only clear 6 years from the date I found out I owed them any money and paid them in full which will be in May 2018! Almost 10 years after the account was closed - all for £63!

If they had at any point informed me of the outstanding amount then I would have paid it, they knew where I was! (Remember I was a customer of theirs at multiple other properties so I didn’t just move away and disappear!).

So what I'm asking is where do I stand? I know that a gas account isn't covered by the CCA, and they didn’t Default me anyway so I can't pull them up for failure to provide a Notice of Default.

Any advice on what to do would be greatly appreciated as I feel a 10 year black mark on my credit file far outweighs the crime of not paying them the £63 I didn’t know I owed them.

Thanks again!

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: £63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

Hi Superchris and welcome to AAD
Our Admin Never-in-Doubt is the man for this, no doubt he'll take a look as soon as he can

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: £63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

I'd be complaining to the CEO by raising a dispute against BG direct - they're a nightmare by the way - see this letter which eventually sorted the complaint for the guy: --> http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/s...l=1#post360878

If you need specific help then I will help but it'll need to wait a few days as I am snowed under right now.

Read the following similar threads that show how difficult BG are to deal with - hence email the CEO for best results

--> http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/s...itish-gas-help

--> http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/s...erate-for-help

--> http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/s...sh-Gas-Default

In essence search AAD for Chris Weston or British Gas and you'll see a few results......

[Superchris]

Re: £63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

Just to provide an update,

I called BG again to get some details (exact end dates, dates of meter readings etc) regarding the account in order to write directly to the CEO with a complete picture.

According to them the account is too old now and much of the detail has been archived.

However the guy I spoke to was actually quite helpful this time and seemed to genuinely understand my issue so looked into it a bit more and called back a couple of hours later.

It seems that the info they have is i called to close the account on 01/07/2008, then the next day I called back to pay the bill - I paid them £169.19.

But they are saying the bill generated was for £232.20- now this seems very confusing to me as I cant see why I would pay them such an exact random amount and not the whole lot. Even if it was the exact amount in my bank account at the time I wouldn't clear it out down to the last penny? also for the sake of £63.01 I would have just borrowed it from someone...

Anyway I have now been passed to the complaints team who agreed it all seems a bit odd and are investigating further. They have said that if they can find any discrepancy on their part then they will remove the late payment info.

I will update again when I hear from them.

[Superchris]

Re: £63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

Just got a call from the customer complaints guy and it sounds like good news.

He said that it there does appear to have been an error in the system and has had to escalate it further due to most of the details being archived.

But, he seems pretty convinced that it should get sorted - and even get my £63.01 back!

I will update once I have final confirmation.

Just goes to show what can happen when you eventually speak to someone competent that actually cares about their job and the customers they are supposed to be there to help. I wonder how many issues posted on this site are simply down to incompetence and lack of compassion from customer service staff!

[Pixie]

Re: £63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

That seems like it's good news.

It really annoys me when I have to spend ages sorting things out because of someone's incompetence (take note Scottish Power!)

[Superchris]

Re: £63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

Sorted!

Just got a got a call from BG and the cheque is on its way. I have also checked with the CRAs and the account has been removed!

And to think i was getting ready for a long drawn out fight with them and all it needed was to speak to someone that actually gives a s**t!

All I've got to do now is deal with Three mobile about a dodgy account they defaulted me on and I'm clear! although I'm sceptical about finding anyone competent working for them :-s

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: £63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

well done - result!

[IF]

Re: £63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

Well done from me too Chris

[TibetanMonk]

Re: £63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

Really good news! Happy days.

[Pixie]

Re: £63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

Sorted!

Just got a got a call from BG and the cheque is on its way. I have also checked with the CRAs and the account has been removed!

And to think i was getting ready for a long drawn out fight with them and all it needed was to speak to someone that actually gives a s**t!

Well done

All I've got to do now is deal with Three mobile about a dodgy account they defaulted me on and I'm clear! although I'm sceptical about finding anyone competent working for them :-s

I know what you mean about Three mobile...they're dreadful. I lost count of the number of times I phoned their "Customer Services"...thank goodness I was on a 30 day rolling contract and could change providers!

[TibetanMonk]

Re: £63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

Well done



I know what you mean about Three mobile...they're dreadful. I lost count of the number of times I phoned their "Customer Services"...thank goodness I was on a 30 day rolling contract and could change providers!

I've got a default with them for £53 because of a 30 day contract, I asked them to cancel it, they agreed but never did. I have no proof that I did either. :/ I would pay it, but now it's the principle. Luckily my credit file is that bad that a default for £53 doesn't really make much of an impact.

[nightwatch]

Re: £63 British gas Delinquent account following me for nearly 10 years!

well done Chris xx