Hi All, Need some advice on behalf of my partners Dad. There was a gas explosion recently in Blackpool and the street that he lived on story here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-41374322 19 - X's House 21 - House that explosion originated from 23 - Partner's Dad's house Some bullet points outlining what has happened so far; Explosion occurred Damage assessed 21 is found to be un-safe and needs pulling down 19,21 and 23 have scaffolding erected Cause is found (21mm pipe from house owners side of the meter was connected to a 15mm pipe with a connector and over the years this came lose to the point where gas was escaping, electric kettle then ignited it) 21 is then pulled down The damage to 19; Dividing wall damaged The rear half of the property collapsed Front brick work has been pushed out in certain places Council have decided the structure may now be to unsafe to save Damage to 23; Dividing wall damaged Crack in wall from lower floor to the 1st floor Windows and frames have been pushed back into the property Chimney collapsed Some windows smashed Back Garden wall has collapsed The council have come in and removed the remains of 21 and are going to be double bricking the wall of 23 and it will be the new outer wall, they have also sorted all the scaffolding, security, clear up and other parts of the whole operation. 19 and 21 both had private renters, 19 was just tenants and 21 was tenants and owners living there. 19 and 23 didn't have any form of insurance but 21 did. Council has gone to 21's insurance with the bill and they have rejected it saying that they will only pay for work done on their customer (21) as he hasn't admitted liability nor been negligible, this means that the bill for repair work to 19 and 23 could go to their respective owners to either pay or have put on their property with interest of 8% per year. We just need to know if this is the case I would have thought the repair for all 3 buildings would be covered by 21, like car insurance X crashes into Y and X's insurance pays for X and Y's car etc. I would assume if 21 has been renting out rooms in his ex guest house he would need to have gas safety and boiler certificates every year to prove the lodgings where safe and these haven't been done and therefor this would be considered negligible. I guess what I am asking is how can we get this sorted and what sort of legal action we can take to get this repair work covered by either 21 or their insurance. Sorry for the long post but if there is more information needed that I have missed just ask and I will do my best to provide it. Thanks in advance

We rent retail premises which has a totally separate flat above it. A box on the wall at the rear of the property contains the electricity meters. British Gas were 'kind' enough to update the meters to digital style meters a couple of years ago, leaving the old meters in place but in the process they connected BOTH properties to one new meter. This means that British Gas are now billing the tenants of the flat at a domestic rate and ourselves in the shop on a business rate for the same electricity. We have it in writing from British Gas that this is the case, despite this, they were unable/unwilling to do anything about it, so we took our case to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman agreed BG should rectify the problem, but it did not happen, BG ignored the request and the Ombudsman tells us they have no power to force BG to carry out their recommendations. British gas have promised numerous times to come to meet us at the premises, so we can show them what has been done but never turn up, obviously BOTH bills are incorrect, since each bill is for the electricity used by whole building since there is now only one meter. Does anyone at all have any suggestions as to how we can get British Gas to take some action?

Hello fellow CAGers, I'm trying to help my Uncle here. He received a notice to apply for a warrant with a £300 debt. However, he paid the debt in full 2 days before the hearing. EON went ahead with the hearing and got a warrant. Two days later they (or their agents) created huge panic with my Aunt and Nieces when they used a locksmith to break into the house to fit a prepayment meter. The meter is on the outside of the house and easily accessible so there was no reason to break in. (I understand they may want to inspect appliances). My question is what can be done? The warrant was obtained illegally/immorally and the representative must have confirmed to the bench that the debt was outstanding and cannot have exercised due diligence to confirm that the debt was outstanding or they lied. A complaint was made to Eon a few weeks ago and they have not responded despite saying they will reply within 5 working days. I'm thinking a lot of wrongs here. No debt, warrant obtained illegally/dishonestly/negligently, tort, alarm and trespass. Thoughts on next course of action?

Say they haven't increased their prices since 2013 and have lost nearly 400,000 customers which meant they posted a loss on their consumer business this last quarter ! I wonder why !! Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/personalfinance/british-gas-announces-major-hike-in-energy-prices-leaving-millions-of-customers-paying-more/ar-AAperr7?li=AA54rU&ocid=ientp

Hello! I'm new to this forum so please be gentle! my partner and I moved into a flat almost three years ago. For the first few months we had no boiler, gas, radiators etc as the building is very old. Only electric. The landlord finally got gas installed, so we had heating. Great! Only thing is, the men who installed the gas meter seemingly did not hook us up to the supplier I had requested. ..in fact no supplier at all. Having not had a bill for several months, I contacted who I 'believed' was our supplier, to be told that we weren't on their records. And we weren't on anybody's records. She told me that essentially the gas is coming direct from the grid, it's free, and if I keep quiet, I'm not doing anything wrong. Unfortunately at the time I didn't think to record that conversation. here we are, nearly three years without paying gas, and we are planning on moving out in a few months. We're panicking that our letting agent will find out we don't pay gas and will forward us a giant bill, or that if we try and start a gas account that they might back date the bill? Please does anybody have any advice or know how this stuff works? I put my hands up to the fact that we've been aware of this situation for a long time, and usually we're very play-it-safe types, but we threw caution to the wind for once and now I'm wondering if we'll be punished by the utility gods for eternity for this tiny thrill of free gas... HELP! Thanks for reading!

I changed address at the end of March 2013. The energy supplier at the new address was British Gas. Amid ongoing PDL/council tax/bailiff hell I received the first gas/elec bill at the end of November 2013, in excess of £900. A DD was set up to pay for usage plus arrears. It was the first of several as I would agree the DD amount/date with Bgas who would then increase the amount and/or change the date - making if effectively impossible to budget. The DD ranged from £261 to £593. My partner's son took his own life at the end of August 2014. A friend offered to rent out a spare house to us in a different area to give us a welcome change of scene. We could stay for 5 years, which would give us a chance to heal our wounds. I paid the final gas/elec bill on 19th Dec 2014. The elec was nearly £600. Having just moved house, and just before xmas, it bounced. I set up a new DD for the energy supplies to the new house totalling £321, the first to be paid on 19th Jan 2015. One (elec £220) bounced. Bgas also attempted to take out the previously unpaid amount (nearly £600) the following day (bank account balance £21.78). It bounced. And so it continued, the bills being paid by a combination of wobbly DD's and ad-hoc debit card payments. I gradually extricated myself from PDL hell by a)giving up on paying them off and b)not taking out any more... I lost my contract at the end of October 2015 and, with no savings or any other form of contingency, had to bridge a month long wage gap with - you guessed it - a £1500 loan from myjar (£3000 by the time I paid it off). It barely covered the bills. In 2016 our friend/landlord announced the house was being put up for sale and evicted us. We moved again at the end of July 2016. I received final bills from the previous address (gas £323.30, elec £535.78) and paid in full on 18th Aug 2016. I retained Bgas as energy supplier due to the debit balance (859.08) at the time of the house move. Bgas demanded a security deposit of £90 & £215, which I paid. Their email explains: "What happens to your deposit If you've paid all your bills on time, we'll refund it after your first year with us. But if you haven't, we'll use your deposit to pay any debt you might have. Even if it's a different gas or electricity contract." Bgas also supplied me with 2 "sales order numbers" pending setup of my new accounts. Over the next few weeks I signed into my accounts to check progress (they'd advised me it could take "up to" two weeks or thereabouts). Thinking the delay might have something to do with the old elec account, I contacted them and asked them. They had no record of the account or the arrears. Okay... 8 months later (not unusual for bgas, given my previous experience) I had still heard nothing from them but received a letter from Scottish Power giving notice of gas/elec arrears of several hundred pounds and application for a warrant to enter, noting that - as our dog had woofed when they came to the house - they would also be charging us for the attendance of a dog handler, advising that this was "likely" to be distressing. A quick phonecall confirmed that Bgas had never supplied energy to us, the arrears related to a former tenant, not us, and new gas and electricity accounts were duly set up. I contacted Bgas requesting the return of my security deposits, which they have repaid by cheque. Meanwhile, my 74 year old mum fell ill and was admitted to hospital at the end of March 2017. Cancer tore through her like wildfire, so much so that a formal diagnosis had not been reached by the time she was discharged into our care 3 weeks later. She died at home 3 days later. I am the sole beneficiary of my mum's will, and the executor of her estate. She left me a modest house with about £20k outstanding on the mortgage. My intention was to obtain a new mortgage on the house to pay off the existing - a loan to value of less than 25%. I have approached mortgage advisers and have been told I COULD obtain a mortgage but for one thing: the outstanding Bgas account from December 2014 is showing as "status 6" on my credit report and has done for the last 22 months. If they had defaulted it within 3-6 months of the original late payment (i.e. March-April 2015), it wouldn't trouble the lender, and I would qualify for the mortgage. However, it had taken them until August 2016 (when I contacted them and was told they had no record of it) to mark it as a late payment at all! I feel a complaint to Bgas is in order for their persistent late billing, excessive variation of DD amounts and dates, gross inefficiency, lack of communication, and tardy, incompetent and inaccurate processing of my data. Would appreciate advice as to how to structure and target my complaint. Email to mark.hodges@britishgas.co.uk ?? Thanks in advance!

Hello, The landlords had started court proceedings for rent arrears, £3,500 although they have submitted incorrect amount to court I put in a defence providing as much info as I could & telling the court I was getting further legal advice. In the meantime I've sought legal advice from Which Legal who confirm that the landlords were in breach of Gas Safe Regs. I've then spoken to Gas Safe Register, I luckily got to speak to an Incident Investigator who said I must definitely report the landlords to HSE. We were in grave danger the entire time we lived at the property & the landlords failed to meet even the very basics of their legal obligations. The only reason there are rent arrears is because I became so ill I couldn't work for a year, still struggling now. Not sure what to do about this claim for rent arrears as I've been sent a Notice of Proposed Allocation to the Small Claims Track to be returned before 7th July. Which Legal can;t help as it's already at court, they told me to contact Shelter, Shelter say thay can't help any further because it's already at court?! Is there anything I can do? Get it delayed in any way? Should I update the court with the info that the landlords were in breach of Gas Safe Regs & further action is starting against them? What do you think would be the best way forward? Will I have to pay the arrears when the landlords were the cause of the arrears? I'd really appreciate any help or advice. Thank you reading my post

Hello My business, a pub company, had been a customer of British Gas for 8 years for both electricity and gas. As both these contracts were due to end in January 2017 I agreed terms and rates to renew with British Gas once again through my broker. For reasons that are unclear to me British Gas declined to honour the agreed terms at the last minute and forced me to find an alternative supplier. My broker suggested it was because my business had no trading history, which is absurd as I have been trading since 2009 and have been with BG for the entire time. I then started to receive a series of 'final' bills from BG. The first set of bills, for both electricity and gas, were for the period up to 30th January 2017 - my contract end date. The rates applied to these bills were as expected and the consumption was inline with previous years and were duly paid. I then received a second set of 'final' bills, with new account numbers, up to the 28th Feb 2017 for electricity and up to 9th March 2017 for gas. My rates had changed to 'out of contract' rates and my consumption had supposedly more than tripled compared to previous years. As a pub our electricity consumption barely changes from one month to the next, it powers the lights, fridges and freezers, and is pretty consistent. The gas powers the ovens in the kitchen, the central heating and hot water and can go up in the winter months. But considering February and March weren't particularly cold this year the increase in consumption that BG are claiming is hard to believe. The upshot of it all is that I now have outstanding 'final' invoices from BG for approx. £7,000, instead of the £2,500 that I might have expected. Added to which, the rates I was able to negotiate with my new supplier at the last minute are significantly worse than I had agreed with BG. I have refused to pay these invoices and believe that the consumption BG are claiming is wrong. I also think that they should honour the rates we had agreed for the new contract on these last bills rather than apply 'out of contract' rates. They have chosen to pass the accounts to Debt Collection companies, claiming I have made no attempt to resolve the issue, which is not true. Instead BG are choosing to ignore my complaints. Should I continue to fight this and if so, how ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Afternoon All! I was hoping someone would be kind enough to advise on how I should proceed with the following problem with British Gas. I'll try and keep it brief as, with everything concerning BG this has been anything but! A few years back a bill was ran up at one of my previous address' and not paid. I admit the debt is mine so no problem there. I have nothing from BG or any DCA in over 2 years. Recently, have come into better times I have decided to try and get my credit score back. I checked my credit file and basically BG has marked my file, every month for the last couple of years with a "missed payment". I called BG regarding the account and was passed to their "offshore" debt team who didn't have a clue. It took 45 mins for them to find any info. I made a payment of £100 and asked if I could set up a monthly DD for the remainder but was told I can't as the debt was so old and must call each time to make a payment. I explained this is impossible as I am out of the country 10 months a year and will not spend 45 mins each time on the phone from abroad to give them money. I was advised by another adviser the following day that I could actually set up a DD so tried again. Again, no body could find any record of the account. Just an address and the balance. The guy who took the £100 payment had not even put that in the file. Luckily this was rectified. Long story short it turns out that the debt has been passed to a DCA. BG said as this was the case they couldn't do anything. When asked how come they took a payment then they had no answer? I told them that I will deal direct with the DCA but was informed they don't know who that is?? No record. I told them, if the DCA has bought the account then they should refund my £100 but was informed this would come off the DCA bill which I think is BS. They are supposed to be calling me back today with the DCA details (I won't hold my breath!). What would you advise on this one? I'm guessing BG don't even own the debt now so I shouldn't really be dealing with them. I was thinking just offer the DCA a full and final and claim back the £100 off BG. They can't take payment on an account they don't own right? The other thing is, should they still be marking my credit file every month? If they don't own the debt I'm not missing any payments? Any help will be greatly appreciated

Hi folks, looking for any advice/info. Apologies in advance - this is all a bit long winded !! We switched suppliers from BG last year. Supplied meter readings when we did etc. We were paying BG by monthly direct debit. We switched November last year and the supplies were swooped around the 18th and 20 th Dec last year. (we were getting gas and electricity from them). Earlier this year I got a mail from BG saying we owed them £430. Next day another email saying we owe £260. Later that day another saying £589. I contacted them via email/message and asked what was going on and asked if they could explain how we could owe so much when we are paying with a monthly direct debit. When I submitted the query I also supplied more meter readings as the website asked. First reply gave me dates they stopped supplying gas/electricity and asked me to confirm meter readings. Same email said that they would re-issue a final bill. Replied to this and explained I gave readings when I made the enquiry as requested. Next email apologised for the delay, said a final bill had been issued but that the meter readings didn't match up correctly They also said something about sending the readings to the new supplier. To be honest it wasnt clear at all what they were saying. I replied and asked for clarification. (Never got a reply to this) The same day I get a mail from my bank saying I was going to go overdrawn. When I checked it turns out BG were trying to take money using the direct debit setup. They had already taken 2 payments (around £60 and around £150) and now they were trying to take a further £330. These were all taken in separate payments. I contacted the bank and stopped the final £330 one and contacted replied to the BG email again. Couple of days went by and still no replies - so I started another complaint explaining the whole chain of events and suggested they were in breach of the DD guarantee because they had not notified me of the change in payment amount. I further complained that I thought it was out of order for them to let the account get so far out of whack re payments and that they should have advised me sooner and adjusted the monthly payments accordingly. They say they did advise me of the DD amount so because they sent me a bill via email. They also sent me a breakdown of units used and payments made. They also said that this left a further outstanding £36 or so but they would waive this and the account was now at 0.00 This of course didn't take into account the fact that I had stopped the £330 payment. (Which was showing in the payment breakdown) I replied to this and said that their suggestion that I was told about the change in DD amount was not valid since I had no less than 3 bills from them before the monies were taken. I then received another 2 after that. How was I ever going to know which was the "real" bill !? I've now had a couple of mails telling me they are looking into it and some follow ups saying the person dealing with the case is out of office currently and other such wibble. Also they have tried to ring me a couple of times but I really don't want to discuss this over the phone with them. At the same time I also have another dept from BG harassing me (via email AND telephone) because I have cancelled the DD and they say that I owe around £330. Both of these seem to ring when im not in and refuse to speak to my partner ! I'm not trying to get out of paying what I owe but at the same time them taking that cash w/o warning has screwed me up a bit. (Though fortunately the bank didn't charge for this). And i'm less than content with phone calls from 2 different depts. and general poor handling of this whole situation. Anyone offer any advice or anything for all of this ? Thanks in advance

Hi I wondered if anyone can help me please I want to take British Gas to court I had a small outstanding bill which I contested for quite a long time In the end I agreed to settle this bill and did so via a standing order of £10 a month the bill was for £150 and has only about £50 left on it in the time I was paying it British Gas have put missed payment markers on my Experian account and as a result decimated my credit score from 995 to 210 they said direct debit was the only payment they recognized even though one fo their staff gave me the standing order details over the phone which I have on a recorded call EVEN after I agreed to pay in full they would not remove the markers even though I am still one of their customers !!! the Ombudsman said they cant help ( I think they ran over their allotted time and if so washed their hands of it) British Gas not removing markers is just downright malicious to me especially as I have offered to settle the debt in full and I was making payment at the time the markers were applied to my Experian score These marker were even applied whilst I was making payment to them ! Just really unfair as I have been with them for 10 years and am still with them Can anyone help and tell me how I can fight this ? they have destroyed my credit rating completely and from having 999 I couldn't even get a credit card when I went to Disneyland with the family because of them I think this is absolutely criminal and I would gladly employ a solicitor to help me with this in court I have told OS services I don't accept their ruling and I am ready to go to court against British Gas How can I start this process to fight this and bring a court case against British Gas ? can anyone help me please ....? Why should these fat cat criminals win and destroy my credit score !!

My Landlord, a housing association, is threatening legal action for access to examine a gas boiler in my rooms. I think that the application would go before a magistrates court. My question is do I get notice so I can defend the case? There is no gas boiler in my rooms. The landlord knows this. I have reminded them several times and they don't seem to believe me. It is a case of administrative chaos rather than deliberate harassment. Any ideas, please?

GAS SUPERSTORE LEICESTER GOES BUST TAKING EVERYONE'S MONEY THEN THE SAME (MD) DIRECTOR THEN SETS UP NEW COMPANY! It would appear the Director of Gas Superstore knew the company was about to go bust so he set up a New Limited company on the 21st March 2017 called The Fireplace (Leicester) Limited registered number 10682373 which can be found on Companies House website to the same address as the Gas Superstore which then went bust on the 25th April 2017. it would appear that the company was trading insolvently taking peoples hard earned money knowing they were about to go bust leaving everyone out of pocket while the Director sets up a New company behind the scenes to carry on trading washing his hands of any responsibility of the old company. Surely he can't be allowed to get away with this?

Hello I wonder if someone can clear a query up for me please I collected the keys for my HA property on March 14 2017 meter readings of gas and Electric were taken from Housing Officer and I was given a copy. I rang British Gas on March 18 and gave the meter readings Started getting bills addressed to the Occupier for £78 dates were from January 7th until March 17th I rang British Gas several times to be told, ignore anything that comes addressed to the occupier its nothing to do with you. I kept the bills gut instinct Yesterday I received a letter from LCS Credit Management Debt Recovery in my name stating I own £78 Of course I went mad, phoned British gas straight away, I wont bore you with all the details but apparently they passed the debt onto LCS in the name of "the Occupier" I rang LCS and asked them why have they sent me this letter and how did they find me at this address. They told me that they did a Equifax search and because I am registered at this address since March then I was liable. Cut another long story short. Are LCS allowed to just do a random search on an address to see who is registered at that address? What gives LCS the right to assume I am liable and to write to me? The account that the money is owned has meter readings less than the ones I gave and further more the bill is for dates prior to me even having the keys. I am absolutely fuming

Hello, On Dec. 21st, our washer died. I went to Which and found a clothes washing machine. From among the listed dealers, I chose Gas SuperStore. I bought the machine from them on line. In the list of delivery dates that came up, I chose Dec. 24th and thought all was well. We had a housefull of family coming for the holidays. and I was relieved. A few days later, I received an email telling me that they weren't delivering on the 24th and assigned me a new delivery date, Dec. 28th. OK I thought, I can live with that although guests were going to have to hand wash smaller items. A day later they phoned and said they were out of stock. I was and still am furious, Next I checked as to whether they had charged my card; they had. I wrote them several emails asking them when the machine would be delivered. I t is now Jan 2nd and I haven't heard back. I also wrote and complained to 'which', from whom I have heard nothing. I would like to either have my machine delivered immediately, or my card reimbursed immediately. In closing, I would appreciate it if someone would point me in the right direction to warn others about this company. All my holiday guests have gone home and I am still hand washing my household laundry. Thank you, angster

Here is one for the Consumer Action Group and for the mods. Can you provide a proper link to the following legal case for all future reference just like a SARS request, or is that too difficult? Its the well known case of Lisa Ferguson v British Gas Trading Ltd, a must read for all. http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2009/46.html

Hi I moved in to my flat on the 28/12/12 as a British Gas energy only customer paying £90.00 per month seems rather a lot for electric only and a single occupant , eventually it became too much I put myself on to prepayment and negotiated a repayment of £5.00 per week , 2 months prior to debt ending and monies added would be mine then out of the blue added an extra £300 apparently they forgot to add this and the meter didn't update with the outstanding amount !!! Now in the mean time I had been complaining I have night storage heaters. Ill health and usage is to high , pretty much the answer was tough if we send an engineer we will charge you , despite engineer who put the prepaid meter in walked around my property and said you have night storage heating and your heating is cheaper between midnight and 7 am and stated I had a two rate meter January 27 th 2017 I had a call from EDF to move my energy so much cheaper now fed up with BGAS decide to leave , weeks later call to find out what's going on guy who rang me took my address down wrong and I would have to start process all over again I said forget it , plus having given them the serial meter number told me I was on the wrong meter !! Contacted BG passed from pillar to post eventually 27 th of February install two rate meter , finally now the refund after my stress , frustration , anxiety and almost asthma attack I end up emailing BG CEO before I killed advisors I spoke to was laughed at lied to and past around to every department of BG , finally were getting some where , 9 weeks later after 4 and half years admitted they are in the wrong and will advise how much I have over paid , wait for it today I got a call despite I DO NOT trust or believe them I over paid £125 I'm still stunned , shocked it's never going to sink in either and the compensation I asked for will be no where near even lady dealing with it said no it's not a lot and has asked they recalculate it so if she doesn't believe it then how can I buy sad thing is where's the interest but with out informing me cheques in post , seriously want to scream they have made me so ill I need help please people x

British gas have informed me that they no longer do standing orders to make payments, has any one else had this told to them ?.

Hi Guys, I have a default placed on my account but did not receive a default notice for. I am currently paying back the outstanding amount to British gas, however the problem is that I didn't receive a default notice from British Gas and I have been told two different reasons for the account defaulting. One was for late payment in 2014 and the other was for leaving an outstanding balance on my account when moving last year. I asked British Gas to send me the original default notice that was sent to me however they said that a letter was sent out in August 2014 indicating that a default may be placed on the account and cannot send this too me, but when I look on my Experian Report the default was registered in June 2014 which would be before any letter was received. Please could you help me out Thanks in Advance

Hi, Just received an update to my credit file, a default registered this month for an account with a start of 2006. Its British Gas from a really old address. Since moving i have always been on the electoral role and stayed at addresses for 2-3 years. I have been at my current address for 3 years. I have not received a default notice to my current address. Does statute barred work for getting this default removed? Or maybe if i pay this old bill i can negotiate with British Gas given that I've not had a default notice through to my current address? or Something? Its been very damaging to what was a recovering credit rating ~D

Hi All, Thank you in advance for reading my story. Back in February we had the meter reading guy taking the reading. For some reason he spent more than 10 min in the storage under the stairs. He left and after 2h we got a revenue protection investigator knocking on our door. He said a report has been received for meter tampering. After checking the meter he confirmed that a plastic protective cover is missing and this allows for the meter to be fiddled with. This was the first time that we were made aware of the issue and the investigator said it was not unusual with these type of old gas meters for the cover to get loose. The gas meter was changed in a few hours and a few weeks later we received a demand to pay £1400 for change of gas meter and gas used but not recorded by the meter. We had a couple of gas leaks when National Grid replaced the main gas pipes a year ago. We had many engineers coming and going trying to resolve the issue. We have no idea when this protective cover has disappeared and what has happened. We are being wrongly accused of tampering and the payment demands keep coming. I am speaking to a manager from SSE to try and resolve the issue but not sure where this will lead to. I have reading and bills from last 2 years and our gas consumption seems normal and in line with national average. Can anyone advise what further action we can take as last letter is a Statutory Demand and threatening with bailiffs and Rights of Entry Warrant, as this is really distressing especially when we have not done anything wrong. Thank you. Nick

Hi, first time poster. We pay a monthly service contract with a large maintenance Company to service and repair our central heating system and gas fire as necessary. On 9th January we had a problem with the gas fire. We contacted them and they agreed to come out and look at it. Their Engineer, while inspecting the fire, lifted the 2 part cast iron grate out and dropped one piece on the marble hearth, chipping it. I pointed out what he had done, he admitted he had done it. I spoke to his Supervisor who came out to inspect the damage. Taking photos etc, and agreed that their Company was liable. He said that they were liable for all costs in putting the situation right to our satisfaction, including complete replacement of the marble fireplace if necessary as the damage is on the edge and he did not think it a repair would be viable. He said to give him a week to get back to us with a plan of action. I rang him as he hadn't rung us. He said he had found a stonemason who would repair the chip a week Saturday afternoon. Which sounded to me as though this wasn't going to be done by a Company but maybe just by someone he knew. So, Are we obliged to accept the repair? Can we insist that they go through their public liability insurance? Does the person doing the repair have to be a qualified stonemason, and give a guarantee? How long a guarantee would be appropriate? Is our contract then still with the Company or with the subcontractor if we are not satisfied with the quality of the repair, or the repair doesn't last? Thank you in advance for any help

My father who is in his 70's has always been with British Gas and a few years back took out a boiler policy with them. I have just noticed they have billed him £275 for a years basic boiler policy with a service yet a lot of other company's charge less than £200 for the exact same policy. They have insisted he needs a new boiler on his last service which he's now worried about and they have applied their high pressure sales tactics and bamboozled him with all sorts of jargon and guarantees which quite frankly he doesn't understand but is too embarrassed to say no. Anyone else come across these problems with British Gas. Hopefully I can have this policy cancelled and get local tradesman in to change the boiler IF it needs done at all.

Hi, I've found this after browsing another forum and thought I'd see if anyone here could offer some help or advice: Apologies for the lengthy story, I'll try to condense as much as possible, but any help here would be massively appreciated. Back in Feb this year I left british gas and was given a final bill that I disputed. BG told me to check my meter reads with my other supplier and that my account would be on hold while it was looked into. While I was doing this I got a letter from a debt collection agency chasing the debt. I called BG and was told they couldn't look at the account as it was with Moorcroft, I called Moorcroft and explained I was disputing the bill with BG. On April 23rd, I got a letter from Moorcroft telling me they would investigate with BG, and to be patient as this could take some time and to do nothing until they contacted me. I followed this instruction until on May 20th I got an email from Equifax telling me my credit file had changed. When I logged in I was faced with late payment notices from British Gas. I called and raised to the high level complaints team explaining that I had not paid as I was told to do nothing. their response to me was to ask when I go the letter telling me to do nothing, why I didn't call british gas?! I then escalated to the Energy Ombudsman and given that I had simply followed instructions that I was given I could see no other outcome other than the ombudsman telling BG to remove the late payment markers, however this week the Ombudsman have told me that since the letter telling me to do nothing came from Moorcroft, they could see that BG had done nothing wrong and couldn't tell them to remove the marker When I argued that moorcroft were employed by BG and working on their behalf, they said there was still nothing they could do and that I should contact the financial ombudsman. I did this and they said what the energy ombudsman said was rubbish and it was their responsibility to resolve. I am now at a loss as to where to go with this. I have paid the debt in full as it was never about trying to not pay, what started as a simple query escalated into playing with my life as I have now had a mortgage declined and been told that to keep my house chain alive, the mortgage I would get accepted for will cost me £500 more per month. I've also spoken to the ICO who have said that technically the information that the payments were late is correct so they cant do anything, it's the reasons surrounding why the payments were made late (i.e. being told to do nothing) that is relevant. As far as I'm concerned the important info here is that on April 23rd I was told to do nothing, which I did, and then on may 20th (with no further communication from BG or Moorcroft) I got the email from equifax with the late payment notifications. If anyone has any idea how I can take this forwards now, I'd be extremely grateful. Thanks

Hi all, After many long years, I am finally free from most of my problem debts and had expected my rating to improve dramatically. However despite this, it is still showing very poor on Noddle, Checkmyfile et al. I spoken with Checkmyfile for their view and think i know what the issue is. I lived in flat from Dec 2007 to April 2012 where most of my issues racked up - lost job, British Gas meant i stopped paying certain things to keep them off my back - stupid i know, but when backed into a corner not knowing the way out, i just acted. i finally moved from that address, provided a forwarding address and settled final bills. Fast forward to now, and i have found the following: - British Gas are still reporting two accounts at my old address with a late payment marker - These have been reported as late payment since 2012 - no default - According to the CRA, they are reported like active accounts - The gas account was settled at the time. These are two electricity accounts! - The late payment markers are the main reason for my very poor rating - all other accounts are in good shape! I've tried to contact BG four times in the past week with no joy. Only once did i speak with someone who said the accounts were so old, they didn't store any information on them. They did however show two electricity accounts that were in arrears to the tune of £243 and £262!! I was adamant that i had paid to which he said, there is no record of this and i would need to prove it. I've changed banks twice since 2012!! They have never called, emailed or sent a bill out to either the old address (which incidentally i still own but rent out, and has been leased since i left. The new tenant even changed to E-On) or the forwarding address i provided (my in-laws). I am confused by the fact that they have never added a default notice to my file or made contact. What is most worrying however is that I paid and settled the accounts but they have no record! BG made my life a misery and despite being away from them for years, they are still affecting me. My wife and I have tried to remortgage only to be refused - this is the reason!! The remortgage is critical as she is now on maternity leave with no income - I am supporting all three of us and the mortgage payments will go up from January. It gets better - I have a role in financial services and have worked hard to get into a senior position - a poor rating is not compatible with this role and means that my job is in jeopardy! We're now sick with worry at the worst possible time of year... Actions taken so far are: - I have sent a Section 10 DPA notice telling them they cannot share my personal information. Don't know if this will stop further damage. I have noted in this letter that their actions are unwarranted and are affecting not only myself but my wife, who was never linked to that address or these accounts. - Have also sent a complaint letter by email and post demanding they close accounts, clear balances and remove adverse credit file information. Has anyone else come across something like this themselves? Any advice as to how i can finally rid myself of these HELP! Thanks, Matt