British Gas are stopping me from being able to re mortgage

[fclarke123]

Hoping for some advice on this extremely frustrating situation I am in. British Gas were my supplier of Gas & Electricity from November 2015 until May 2017. All my monthly Direct Debits were paid on time until May 2017, when they kept estimating my usage at £300.00 when I had previously been paying £50.00. I immediately raised a complaint with them and asked for an explanation of how they had calculated my bill. I had a smart meter which was working and showing that my average daily usage was 0.50p. I explained to them that I would make payment once they had sent me a correct bill that reflected my actual usage. I have been going back and forth with them for the last three months as their customer service is TERRIBLE.

Last week we went to our mortgage adviser to submit our application to re mortgage, and found that we had failed credit check as British Gas have put FIVE late payment marks against my credit rating. I was completely shocked, as they have never notified me of this and they are aware that I have a complaint open.

We have been advised that until this has been resolved with British Gas and the marks removed, it is unlikely that we will be able to re mortgage as no lender will accept us. I am absolutely devastated.

I immediately contacted British Gas and spoke to a lady in the complaints department, who acknowledged that the complaint should never have been closed (by closing it, they automatically put late payments against my credit report), and that she would submit a case to have these removed. I have since called back to find out what is happening and have been told that the person I spoke with (my complaint handler) is not available until Saturday and that no one else can deal with this other than her !?!?

Mean while I am completely stressing out and each day that passes I am getting more concerned about my situation. I have also contacted Experian who have contact British Gas directly to dispute this on my behalf.

Is there any other action I can take?

[Kati]

Re: British Gas are stopping me from being able to re mortgage

[MENTION=99495]slainte caragh[/MENTION] ... sound familiar at all??

[slainte caragh]

Re: British Gas are stopping me from being able to re mortgage

this is so frustrating when this happens!

I am in a similar situation with First Utility, they have also been refusing to correctly bill me and I am in the process of submitting an invoice for my time so far!

if this has been more that 8 weeks I would suggest contacting the Ombudsman and asking for them to interviene as the very snotty advisor I got for F1 told me all companies are fined £450,000 for a customer going to the Ombudsman. They may say you need a deadlock letter, if this has been ongoing for 8weeks or more you do not need this!

Keep piling on the pressure and keep demanding compensation, these companies need to be made to sit up and listen!

[fclarke123]

Re: British Gas are stopping me from being able to re mortgage

this is so frustrating when this happens!

I am in a similar situation with First Utility, they have also been refusing to correctly bill me and I am in the process of submitting an invoice for my time so far!

if this has been more that 8 weeks I would suggest contacting the Ombudsman and asking for them to interviene as the very snotty advisor I got for F1 told me all companies are fined £450,000 for a customer going to the Ombudsman. They may say you need a deadlock letter, if this has been ongoing for 8weeks or more you do not need this!

Keep piling on the pressure and keep demanding compensation, these companies need to be made to sit up and listen!

I will definitely be going down the compensation route! I have read a few other forum posts and it seems the only way these companies actually take any notice is if you start threatening legal action. Which I will do if it comes to it!

All I really want is for them to rectify my credit report - I think it is outragous that these companies can have such an impact on our lives. Shame there is no platform for us to put red marks against their company !!!!

[beaconsman]

Re: British Gas are stopping me from being able to re mortgage

Well, we moved in 2006. Mortgage was approved etc, then I tried to get a better car as we lived in the middle of nowhere so had to be AWD for the winter. Got turned down. Obviously they would not tell me who or why etc. British Gas had issued a CCJ against me for ...£36! I called to ask why this had come about, considering we were still with British Gas at our new address, their reply, "we couldn't find you sir".. The new owner of our old house failed to pass on any correspondence or return letters to British Gas. Knowing what I now know, I would definitely take it up with them. Water under the bridge, have managed to finance a new car and a newish motorcycle which I cannot ride much at the moment. (Another story!)

[jaguarsuk]

Re: British Gas are stopping me from being able to re mortgage

I will definitely be going down the compensation route! I have read a few other forum posts and it seems the only way these companies actually take any notice is if you start threatening legal action. Which I will do if it comes to it!

All I really want is for them to rectify my credit report - I think it is outragous that these companies can have such an impact on our lives. Shame there is no platform for us to put red marks against their company !!!!

You can review them on TrustPilot...

[fclarke123]

Re: British Gas are stopping me from being able to re mortgage

UPDATE : I received a phone call from British Gas on Saturday and was told that they had made an ERROR and that the late payments should never have been placed against my account and that I was in fact due a CREDIT! They have finally acknowledged what they did wrong and have apologised. The late payments have been removed from my account and I know have a "good" score, as opposed to the "very poor" one I had last week.

I cannot tell you how relieved I am !!!!!!!!