British Gas

[ginger'smum]

Is it normal practice for British Gas to phone customers informing them that they owe money for gas? I'm asking for a family member who recently told me that is what happened to them. The debt is a so called an underpayment after a meter change in 2006 and at their previous address. Because of serious health issues they haven't been able to check things out and thought they had to pay up, even though they are struggling. Surely they should have been sent a bill so they could check against their previous bills? I don't know how much was involved but they have already received letters from a debt collector and have paid off some of the arrears the BG say they owe. What if anything can they do now?

[zazen.warrior]

Is it normal practice for British Gas to phone customers informing them that they owe money for gas?

 

Utility companies employ whole teams of people who do nothing else...

 

To me this sounds like it may be covered by the billing code under which they could only be back billed for a year, assuming they are domestic customers?

Edited September 1, 2009 by zazen.warrior

[summer30]

we had this for an old property, no letter nothing, just started harrassing calls, it was only £20 we paid it but to this day Im sure it wasnt owed as we had settled our bill before leaving and the property was empty for the time they were claiming for

[ginger'smum]

So British Gas can get people to pay for gas by just telephoning that you've been undercharged or whatever at a previous address? Surely that's illegal? Can they actually ask for payment for that long ago? If they accepted your final meter reading and you paid that in full how can they prove that you owe them anything? The only thing would be a wrongly calibrated meter or wrongly worked billing after a meter change. Who can help my daughter and her OH get this sorted.