Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

[SaltnVinegar]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

It is worth checking out. As far as I know the utilities companies MUST read physically once a year with an accredited member of their own staff. It lies somewhere in the bowels of the Statutes which allowed publicly owned utilities boards to be sold and privatised, in the vain hope of course that most of us would not know its there. However British Gas are a nightmare of ineptitude and incompetence. We have always had a quarterly bill regardless of what incentives they have offered to go DD.

Almost G - Gas suppliers have to make 'every reasonable effort' to take a manual reading every two years.

However they have to send a bill at least annually otherwise they are only allowed to backcharge for 12 months usage.

Its a little known regulation (that obviously they don't want to be common knowledge even though its in the public domain).

I have first hand experience of using this to good effect against British Gas who didn't send me a bill after I had phoned (and recorded) them to tell them when I had moved into a property. Naturally they denied all knowledge of the phone call until I hold told them I record all phone conversations for my own records and could prove it had taken place, but thats another story......

When my aged mother (in her nineties) died we discovered that she had been paying British Gas for her electricity (no gas supply to the sheltered accommodation she was in) as well as paying for her electricity to the electricity company. This was because there was a communal entrance and a "meter" room for all the units. They just read the lot and billed everyone in the units whether they had a contract or not. My mother had been paying this all on DD for about five years when we examined her papers. We put up a load of flak and brouhaha. BG's answer was that the "Banks get away with it why shouldn't we?" It was only under the direst of threats of legal Armageddon and exposure in the tabloid press that they capitulated in the end and they repaid the estate based on the figures we provided from her bills.

BG are pretty dreadful people and we monitor our own meter on a monthly basis, do the calculations and then tell them a week before the bill arrives what we are going to pay. This then forces them to justify any increase they may want to make to the bill enabling a challenge if necessary.

Totally agree - they are one of the worst and most arrogant companies I have ever encountered. They treat customers with absolute contempt and will ONLY adhere to the rules when you demonstrate you know your rights. Even then I have had poorly trained staff try to argue a position which is incorrect. When they do finally back down there is no apology - just a statement confirming the 'misunderstanding'.

They are also one of the worst companies for abuse of the use of CRA's and harassment should you ever fall into arrears, not to mention altering direct debits several times a year when the whole point of them is you pay a consistent amount each month.

Best thing you can do if at all possible is leave and go to another supplier.

Best
SnV

[SA Gold]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

Fair play, BG really are a fuk!ng shower. They did this to me although fortunately i spotted no Direct Debit going out. They blamed it on their wonderful system which because the property was empty during the last billing cycle decided not to charge me anything. I asked them to start taking money from me each month which was a ball-park figure for the size of the property.

Whilst on the subject of these clowns, i know of someone who has been living somewhere "Gas free" for almost 10 months. There was some kind of balls up when the property was converted in to Flats. Although the meters all have serial numbers on them, one is supposed to be for the "house number" which is actually a Flat within it and one of the serials is for a middle flat where in actual fact its for a ground floor. To top it off, BG have one of the serials as "Flat 6" - there is no Flat 6.

[SXGuy]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

I spoke with my friend today, and hes decided to allow them to enter and change the meter, they told him the extra charges would amount to £6 per week to cover the arrears.

But he also told me, that since day 1, they have been billing him using someone elses name. He's informed them a number of times that its not correct but continued to receive bills in the wrong name.

I joked with him and said perhaps the warrant is also in this other persons name.

[billypre]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

If they have been billing in the wrong name could it be that they have been billing the previous owner or tenant ? If this is the case AND he alerted them that he was the new tenant then........ as SaltnVinegar says........ they can only backdate 12 months.

That's the exact scenario I was in a few years ago.

As SnV says they tried to say I hadn't called and notified etc etc but I proved that I had........ (or rather they slipped up in a conversation and I jumped on their comment which proved I did)

[Enforcer]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

a pre-payment meter will take 10-15 pounds a week on top of the gas he is using to pay off the arrears, they want the meter in as they know the arrears will get paid no matter what happens, because you have to top up the gas card . I know this because when we were only bringing 40 quid a week from the business we were behind in our payments and they fitted a meter and were paying back 15 quid a week, its a lot of money to pay out and we often went cold during the winter just because we were paying back the gas debt .

If they have been billing in the wrong name could it be that they have been billing the previous owner or tenant ? If this is the case AND he alerted them that he was the new tenant then........ as SaltnVinegar says........ they can only backdate 12 months.

That's the exact scenario I was in a few years ago.

As SnV says they tried to say I hadn't called and notified etc etc but I proved that I had........ (or rather they slipped up in a conversation and I jumped on their comment which proved I did)

I was paying £60.00 a month on my gas payment card, have now had to increase payment to £80.00 to cover bills.
5 years ago when I was paying £40.00 they reduced mine to £30.00 and a year later left me in debt. Don't know why they do this!

[helmsman]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

I was paying £60.00 a month on my gas payment card, have now had to increase payment to £80.00 to cover bills.
5 years ago when I was paying £40.00 they reduced mine to £30.00 and a year later left me in debt. Don't know why they do this!

So you cant move to another supplier, probably.

[garlok]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

Has anyone given the devious thought to why they are changing the direct debit payments downwards?

Being the cynical and untrusting B*****D that I am, it is probable due to the ease with which people may switch suppliers under the regulations that they are by deliberate policy getting the most vulnerable into debt so that they cannot switch to another supplier.

Just a thought

regards
G

[MrsD]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

Just a thought but if he's being paying £120 a month and has managed to run up £2k in arrears I'd be looking at where this has all come from, does he live in a big drafty castle?

[SXGuy]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

All hes told me is that he has a heating system where it stores heat during the night ready to use the following morning, but he says he has to turn it on in the morning anyway so it doesn't seem to work.

Hes a tenant, and you know what landlords are like, could be a dodgy heating system using to much gas, who knows.

Personally, I feel he isn't really giving me the whole story, theres prob more to it if im honest.

In regards to being billed with the wrong name, I don't think its a previous tenant, its more so to do with an indian call centre not understanding how his last name is spelt.

His name is Stokes and they have billed him with the name Stubbs.

I don't think any previous tenant was called Stubbs.

Not sure if he could prove the numerous calls to tell them the names wrong, I know they may record convo's but they prob "accidently" lose them if you need it to back up your own story.

[EvilChris]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

Some things stand out from this, it sounds like your friend has electricity storage heaters, meaning that he likely has no gas and a 2 rate (or Economy 7) meter as they are known.
The usage does seem on the high side for a flat with the average consumption for a 3 bed house coming in at £1300 per year (£110 pcm) or near as dammit.
People have quoted the billing code and i dont think it applies in this case as there appears to have been continuous billing, has the billing been accurate or have there been a large number of estimates leading to a catch-up?
Lots of people have been caught out by the tough winters where they have had to keep their heating on higher and longer which has caused their dd's to jump. Contrary to popular belief though the aim of the dd scheme is that it should describe a sine wave with a £0 balance in spring and autumn... unfortunately the system is only as good as the readings it gets, GIGO principle applies

[billypre]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

In regards to being billed with the wrong name, I don't think its a previous tenant, its more so to do with an indian call centre not understanding how his last name is spelt.

His name is Stokes and they have billed him with the name Stubbs.

I don't think any previous tenant was called Stubbs.

Not sure if he could prove the numerous calls to tell them the names wrong, I know they may record convo's but they prob "accidently" lose them if you need it to back up your own story.

It's a big enough difference in name to swing it in his favour I reckon. That's not justa simple misspelling its a totally different name. I'd be trying down the 12 months payment only route.