britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct debit

[halsaps]

britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made a mistake with our direct debit we had arrears of over £1000 each for gas and electricity
we set up a direct debit around april time for £250 to be split equally between the two but they made a mistake and set it up to only pay the gas
so in the beginning of august we started getting disconnection letters again and I thought it was an error so I left it until this week when we
got another from a utility management company and when we phoned them we thought it would be a case of them rectifying there mistake and
doing it the way were expecting them to but no british gas are making us have a pre payment meter and they don't seem to want to rectify there mistake i Have contacted ofgem and lodged a complaint that I wasn't happy with british gas as well is there anying else I can do I was with cab saxon in 2010 but I don't think british gas were helpful then either I got into this trouble as I was out of work after being unfairly made redundant in 2009 and out of work for nearly 3 years helf v v much appreciated

[Inca]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

Sorry..Im missing the point,,,have you been paying the DD?

[enaid]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

Do you have any of the arrears details in writing and if so any details in writing of the agreement with BG to repay your arrears?
It just seems a bit odd they would accept £250 to be split between the the two arrears amounts.

[halsaps]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

yes i have the statements they sent me but I never really looked at them we were paying the dd but they didn't split it between gas an electricity just the gas
to answer the question before.

[labman]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

So gas is at a zero balance (there or there abouts) and electricity still has £1000 owing.

If both are supplied by British Gas, I would email the Managing Director (email below). I assume there was a written agreement for the repayment plan, if only offer and acceptance by email. Enclose this with your case story and see what happens when it hits the Executives Office.

chris.weston@centrica.co.uk

[Inca]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

Sorry to be obtuse ,halsap,but I'm muddled up completely,,hope you don't mind clarifying things for me.

!) Have you been paying £250 a month by DD (doesn't matter at this stage for which bill)
2) How many £250's have you paid?
3) Your electric bill is now in credit I presume?
4) Can they not offset the credit on to your gas bill (same company I presume)
5) Wouldn't a PAYG meter be a good option for you?

Sorry to ask so many questions but there is a reason...

[ploddertom]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

One thing I learned a long time ago is that large companies do not do joined up thinking - British Gas being one of the worst. Despite leaving them 6 years or more ago they still send letters about my account giving me the new rates they will charge each year. They can never see beyond what the computer says despite being told the results are only as good as the information put into it, there is no such such thing as computer error.

[TUTTSI]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

The computers are only as good as the person inputting the information. Now a complaint needs to be raised and they need to go back to where the payment plan was agreed and then take it from there and the poster may have to go to the CEO's office presuming that both gas and electricity were from the same provider.

One thing I learned a long time ago is that large companies do not do joined up thinking - British Gas being one of the worst. Despite leaving them 6 years or more ago they still send letters about my account giving me the new rates they will charge each year. They can never see beyond what the computer says despite being told the results are only as good as the information put into it, there is no such such thing as computer error.

[enaid]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

I agree it needs stripping back to the beginning and sorting out from there. If the arrears were £1000 for both accounts and £250 was being paid since April/May then the debt should be cleared. What is not mentioned is how much is being paid towards the ongoing bills.

[ploddertom]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

The computers are only as good as the person inputting the information.

The technical term for this is GIGO - garbage in, garbage out.

[enquirer]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

One thing I learned a long time ago is that large companies do not do joined up thinking - British Gas being one of the worst. Despite leaving them 6 years or more ago they still send letters about my account giving me the new rates they will charge each year.

As many companies are guilty of this, this is an interesting point, as it demonstrates that they are committing offences under the Data Protection Act 1998. They are running multiple databases, one or more of which contain erroneous information. Their data control procedures are obviously extremely lax.

[labman]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

The computers are only as good as the person inputting the information. Now a complaint needs to be raised and they need to go back to where the payment plan was agreed and then take it from there and the poster may have to go to the CEO's office presuming that both gas and electricity were from the same provider.

See post 5!

[halsaps]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

Sorry..Im missing the point,,,have you been paying the DD?

yes although they set up the direct debit so only the gas account was paid and the eletricity accont not they blaming us for there mistake so now they are making us have a pre payment meter which as we are planning to sell our house shortly we don't wont

[halsaps]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

See post 5!

yes I emailed the ceo but no response and contacted ofgem are they likely to do anything about this. thanks for your replies

[labman]

Re: britiish gas are threatening to cut us off as they made mistake with our direct d

yes I emailed the ceo but no response and contacted ofgem are they likely to do anything about this. thanks for your replies

That is highly unusual. I've emailed loads of CEO's, and not once have they failed to respond. I'd suggest resending the email, as once it hits the Executive's Office, something nearly always gets done. They may not resolve it entirely to your satisfaction, but they usually act.

Try re-sending it, and if they don't respond again, post back up. :beagle: