I moved house. I am a tenant. By definition tenants move. I called British Gas to say "hey, lucky you, you supply the energy to my new rented house. WOO! Please register me as the account holder."
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| Well, according to their advertising they have heard the term "landlord" before. |
This happened AFTER the landlady had called them to request a final bill.* The property had been empty for a while and so she'd taken on the bill. That is fairly normal behaviour in my vast experience.**
Over the course of the next couple of months the following happened over and over again.
1 British Gas write to my landlord at my address with a bill for the energy used since I moved in
2 I call/email/tweet British Gas to pay
3 I can't pay as I am not the account holder
4 I call/email/tweet British Gas to complain
And so, again, and again.
At one point, British Gas - post offering me verbal and empty apologies for their admin error - very kindly and generously passed on my landlords debt (actually mine) to a debt collection agency. Nice people. Only the "debt" had my mobile phone number, my email address and my landlords name attached to it. They couldn't talk to me due to the Data Protection Act. Great.
Eventually I was allowed - after too many phone calls and emails on my part - to pay my bill. I am honest like that and only ever want to pay what I owe.
At this point I switched to EDF Energy. And looked forward to the day when British Gas would leave my life forever.
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| He is so cute, and all warm in front of clever advertising fire. Who wouldn't want to be green *and* warm? |
EDF did everything and I happily set up the Direct Debit and got on with being busy.
Last week I got a bill from British Gas. The maths didn't add up and so I called the complaints team. Again. Just to check. I no longer trusted them to get the admin right and the £51 bill seemed too much energy from August 17th when EDF took over on the 23rd!
I spoke to a lovely man at British Gas. Oh, by the way, everyone I spoke to at British Gas was lovely. It isn't their fault that they don't work for EDF.
EDF did request that British Gas cancel the account and stop supplying energy to my property. British Gas took this request and failed to process it. Sorry? Is there anything that you do do right?
I have requested a full investigation into ALL communication between us and want a full explanation. I doubt that will ever happen. But why should I pay for energy twice?
How much money do British Gas make from unsuspecting customers who aren't going to question them?
*That bill arrived. She paid it. I know this as I actually happen to know her rather well.
**I am 28 and have had 13 addresses. 7 of those as a "bill payer" and tenant responsible for choosing energy suppliers. Therefore, I feel qualified to use 'vast' as my experience status in the land of bill paying and tenanted properties.
