British Gas Surprise Debt Collection Action.

[Elaine Musk]

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone can advise on a wierd thing British Gas have done. Apologies for the long, rambling question...

6 years ago I switched to Sainsburys Energy for my electricity and gas supply. I was with them for a year before switching to another supplier. I paid by direct debit and, on switching away, I was sent a final bill, which I duly paid. As you might expect I then heard no more from them, that-is until a couple of months ago, when I got a letter from a debt collection agency (Lowell). They claimed I owed British Gas (the company behind Sainsburys Energy) £90 and that Lowell had bought this "debt" and would now commence collecting it.

I phoned Lowell to tell them that they must be mistaken and they agreed that their records showed that all the money they had asked for had been paid. They agreed that they could see the final bill had been settled and said they would get more info from British Gas.

A couple of days ago, I got another letter with a spreadsheet apparently showing the £90 deficit, mentioning a £90 security deposit and that there had been a "mistake on the Sainsburys order". They go on to say "we consider the amount to be valid and owing".

Obviously, I'm inclined not to pay. I paid everything asked of me 5 years ago. It seems ridiculous that they think they can demand money now because of a mistake they made 5 years ago.

What would be the likely course of events if I refuse to pay? Do they need to take me to court before taking further action, or do they already have the "right" to do some kind of enforcement? Any insights anyone might have on this would be gratefully received.

Cheers,

Elaine.

[MIKE770]

After 12 months
If you haven't received an accurate gas or electricity bill for over a year, you might not have to pay for all the energy you've used. Under 'back billing' rules, your supplier cannot send you a bill for energy you used more than 12 months ago.v

Back-billing explained | Ofgem

[Elaine Musk]

Thanks for the info. That's good to know. They seem to be trying to suggest that the "outstanding" money is for a security deposit (first I've heard about any security deposit!), so they might use that to try to get around the "back billing" rules, arguing that the money wasn't for energy.

Still, to my very untrained eye, their case would seem to be extremely weak at best. I paid by direct debit for the whole time they supplied me and I paid the final bill immediately. They never asked for any other money, or even contacted me at-all before suddenly "remembering" an extra charge after 5 years...

[R0b]

I checked Sainsbury's Energy's website and it says it is a trading name of E.On Limited, were they part of British Gas prior to that?

I would be inclined to make a subject access request and see if they hold any information on about the account. It seems odd that the £70 relates to a security deposit as I would have imagined that this security deposit would have been required upfront before any account would have been set up or the energy supplied to the property - taking the deposit after the account is set up and energy being supplied would defeat the object of having a security deposit.

Something doesn't quite add up and it could be that Lowell have just made it up on the spot or they have spoken to British Gas and they don't have a clue and made it up also, or maybe a guess at best. Either way, surely you would have had had reminder letters about payment of this security deposit that should have been made to BG?

At the moment and without any evidence I think Lowell are on a fishing expedition and clutching at straws. If they claim that they have been told it is a security deposit then BG must have the account retained on their system and have accessed it recently to confirm the mysterious £70. This is where the SAR comes into play and if BG tell you they have nothing on that account or it has been purged according to their retention policies then you know Lowell are telling porkies. Either way, it should flush out the issue.

[Elaine Musk]

I checked Sainsbury's Energy's website and it says it is a trading name of E.On Limited, were they part of British Gas prior to that?

I would be inclined to make a subject access request and see if they hold any information on about the account. It seems odd that the £70 relates to a security deposit as I would have imagined that this security deposit would have been required upfront before any account would have been set up or the energy supplied to the property - taking the deposit after the account is set up and energy being supplied would defeat the object of having a security deposit.

Something doesn't quite add up and it could be that Lowell have just made it up on the spot or they have spoken to British Gas and they don't have a clue and made it up also, or maybe a guess at best. Either way, surely you would have had had reminder letters about payment of this security deposit that should have been made to BG?

At the moment and without any evidence I think Lowell are on a fishing expedition and clutching at straws. If they claim that they have been told it is a security deposit then BG must have the account retained on their system and have accessed it recently to confirm the mysterious £70. This is where the SAR comes into play and if BG tell you they have nothing on that account or it has been purged according to their retention policies then you know Lowell are telling porkies. Either way, it should flush out the issue.

Many thanks for the reply. An SAR sounds like a good idea. From the letter Lowell sent, details of the security deposit and the mysterious "error with the Sainsburys order" seem very sketchy. I would love to be getting my information from the same place Lowell are, rather than having them filter it before drip-feeding it to me.

The feeling I get is that Lowell got a load of stuff from British Gas and can't be bothered trying to undestand it for the sake of 90 quid, so they just picked out a couple of items, slapped them in an email and topped it off with "we consider the amount to be valid and owing", hpoing I would cave in and pay.

As you say, the security deposit thing is just wierd. They never asked for one and They certainly had no reason to beleive that I was a bad risk. Also, security deposits are supposed to get repaid at the end of the contract, so it should cancel itself out apart from some interest which they should owe me!

I'll send off the SAR and see what I can get...

Cheers,

Elaine.

[Elaine Musk]

Quick update...

I emailed my response back to Lowell on Sunday and I got a reply from them today, saying:-

"Having reviewed the information you’ve supplied, we’ve decided that to resolve this matter we will close the account and clear any outstanding balance."

Hah - a result! I almost feel disppointed that my fox has been shot, but I think I'll get over it.

Many thanks for the replies. It'll still be interesting to see what British Gas send in response to the SAR...

Cheers,

Elaine.

[MIKE770]

well done