Can i sue british gas?
the facts are as follows:
1. I was on a prepayment gas meter and therefore did not receive bills.
2. I moved to a new address
3. i was sent a letter at my new address from a credit reference agency saying they would take me to court within 14 days if i did not pay british gas £38
4. i called british gas to ask what the £38 was for. they didn't know. they told me they would write back to me within 28 days.
5. one year, 20 phonecalls and 2 letters of complaint later, nothing has been done.
6. i checked my credit reference and british gas have reported me as defaulting on my 'debt', adversely affecting my credit rating.
i want to know if i can take british gas to court and get the money i have spent on telephone bills etc back and get any money previously taken in error back (i suspect i have been paying off some of the debt of the previous tenant through the meter, as it was costing me £5 a day for gas) and if any other options are available to me?
Answers:
it would be pointless to sue, as it would cost more and drag the matter out longer than necessary. Call Energywatch, the energy ombudsman, and they will advise and help you.
Brutish Gas not only charged me £768 for one months gas during the summer, they actually went to the trouble of taking it from my account without notifying me. I hit a brick wall trying to deal with British gas, but as soon as I spoke to Energywatch, BG couldn't compensate me enough.
Alison (below) mentions Ofwat, but that is the old ombudsman. You need to go to Energywatch
Good luck
You can take them to the small claims court for a few £s. I really hope you win as these companies think hey can 5hit all over everybody.
I had this problem with Npower who charged me £128 even though I was on the prepayment metre. I complained to energy watch and they got the bill cancelled. They done all the work on my behalf and it was dealt with really quickly.
Register your complaint at www.energywatch.co.uk
This sounds so familiar, similar thing happened to us when we moved house and to cut a long story short we got compensation out of them.
We moved into a new house (rented) with a pre pay meter. We wanted to go on a normal meter and pay by direct debit, but because the previous tenants had messed British Gas around and there was a mix up with our account they said no at first. Then we had problems with them coming to fit the meter so all in all I complained to British Gas and Ofwat (the supervisory body) and Ofwat said British Gas had to respond to me within 14 days, which they did, admitted it was their fault and paid us compensation.
If I were you gather up all your correspondence etc. write to both British Gas and Ofwat and take it from there, Ofwat are very helpful
I think you should go to the citizens advice bureau and ask there advice, they are very good and may even phone british gas and fight your cause.
did you notify B/Gas that you left the property. I have heard that if you dont, then there is like a standing charge for the meter or something. maybe it was for this.
i doubt your claim will be successful. maybe worth finding out how to appeal against the default on debt and have it removed.
James m has answered this correctly - follow his advice
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