Can they do this...?

I have just received a letter from British Gas saying that at the 19/12/2014 my account shows I owe them £234.51.

They say they have written to me and as I haven't paid it  the account is passed to something called PRA Group. Debt collectors I guess.

I haven't been a British gas customer since 2007 when I left the property the bill is for.

I paid a final account at the time but all these years later I cant prove it

Can they do this?

Bastards!

Nems wrote:I have just received a letter from British Gas saying that at the 19/12/2014 my account shows I owe them £234.51.

They say they have written to me and as I haven't paid it  the account is passed to something called PRA Group. Debt collectors I guess.

I haven't been a British gas customer since 2007 when I left the property the bill is for.

I paid a final account at the time but all these years later I cant prove it

Can they do this?

Bastards!

Are you sure you can't prove it?

Go in to your bank - not sure if they could provide statements.

Even if you don't bank there any more - not sure?

Also, post this question on moneysavingexpert.

BigAndy9 wrote:


Are you sure you can't prove it?

Go in to your bank - not sure if they could provide statements.

Even if you don't bank there any more - not sure?

Also, post this question on moneysavingexpert.

That's a good idea thanks Andy

Ask them to prove it!

7 years of them not chasing you up??

sounds fishy

id get on this very quickly if i were you demand proof from British gas, because if you do owe them, and the bailiffs come round you have to pay the bailiffs fees as well so £200 quid starts ramping up drastically when bailiffs get involved

nicko wrote:Ask them to prove it!

It really annoys me when they do things like this. they know the letter will arrive Saturday when you cant do anything.

I have phoned PRA but surprise surprise they haven't had anything from BG yet. All done deliberately to make you stress on it all weekend

Nems wrote:

It really annoys me when they do things like this. they know the letter will arrive Saturday when you cant do anything.

I have phoned PRA but surprise surprise they haven't had anything from BG yet. All done deliberately to make you stress on it all weekend

DO NOT IGNORE THIS NEMS

is this the first contact you have had? regarding an unpaid bill from 2007

Nems wrote:

It really annoys me when they do things like this. they know the letter will arrive Saturday when you cant do anything.

I have phoned PRA but surprise surprise they haven't had anything from BG yet. All done deliberately to make you stress on it all weekend

 What will have happened more than likely is that the people who moved in after you left have not informed BG that they are now responsible for payment and a bill will have been sent out in your name, at some point they will have notified BG that they are libel for future bills , BG will still be sending a bill to YOU  at that address , but the new tents will throw it away with any other mail for you, BG will have sold the debit to a company who will have been sending letters to your old address , they inturn will have sold all the debits they could not retrieve to another company and it goes on from one debt company to another . you might be surprised to know that this new debt company might have paid  £10 for your debt in the hope they will get a return on it.

This might be worth a try, Nems.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1585631/This-Money-Contact-thisismoney-uk-email-phone.html


The Mail on Sunday has a columnist who is a consumers' champion on this sort of thing. Can't remember his name, but I know he gets results. If I can find it I''ll let you know.

Smelly_bandit wrote:7 years of them not chasing you up??

sounds fishy

id get on this very quickly if i were you demand proof from British gas, because if you do owe them, and the bailiffs come round you have to pay the bailiffs fees as well so £200 quid starts ramping up drastically when bailiffs get involved

That's what Im really worried about Smelly. This is the first I heard and when I phoned the debt agency they didn't even have the file and when I phoned BG they said the count was closed.

gelico wrote:



DO NOT IGNORE THIS NEMS

is this the first contact you have had?  regarding an unpaid bill from 2007

Since 2007 I have heard nothing from them until this letter.

ALLAKAKA wrote:




 What will have happened more than likely is that the people who moved in after you left have not informed BG that they are now responsible for payment and a bill will have been sent out in your name, at some point they will have notified BG that they are libel for future bills , BG will still be sending a bill to YOU  at that address , but the new tents will throw it away with any other mail for you, BG will have sold the debit to a company who will have been sending letters to your old address , they inturn will have sold all the debits they could not retrieve to another company and it goes on from one debt company to another . you might be surprised to know that this new debt company might have paid  £10 for your debt in the hope they will get a return on it.

Bloody hell I didn't know that went on?!

Lord Edmund Moletrousers wrote:This might be worth a try, Nems.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1585631/This-Money-Contact-thisismoney-uk-email-phone.html


The Mail on Sunday has a columnist who is a consumers' champion on this sort of thing. Can't remember his name, but I know he gets results. If I can find it I''ll let you know.

Thank you Lord M
Its appreciated x

Nems wrote:

Bloody hell I didn't know that went on?!

 Where i live there are meters downstairs for the flats , i was with EON for my Electric , i received a letter one day from them saying they were sorry to loose me as a customer , at the time i worked away alot and when i had time i phoned them up asking what were they on about, they said i had changed suppliers ,to which i replied that i had not , yet they insisted i had, so i asked them who i was with now, to which they replied '' we cannot tell you as that comes under data protection ''
 As you can see i was getting nowhere . the following weekend i phoned ALL the energy companies asking was i a customer of theirs and got '' We cannot tell you as that is against the data protection act '' so i waited for a bill from this mysterious energy company and none came that quarter or the next quarter or indeed the next quarter. at this point i realised i had forgotten British Gas do electric , so i phoned them as they are afterall my Gas supplier and guess what ?
They quoted the Data protection act , but the girl i spoke to was helpfull and said it was likely that someone had gained entry downstairs to read the meters and changed all the suppliers to get the £25 per meter commission.

 Having not had a bill for nearly a year i got back on to BG and changed my supply to them and asked could i have £25 for changing over , the result was next quarter i go a bill off them less my £25 commission and i had got free electric for a year.

ALLAKAKA wrote:



 Where i live there are meters downstairs for the flats , i was with EON for my Electric , i received a letter one day from them saying they were sorry to loose me as a customer , at the time i worked away alot and when i had time i phoned them up asking what were they on about, they said i had changed suppliers ,to which i replied that i had not , yet they insisted i had, so i asked them who i was with now, to which they replied '' we cannot tell you as that comes under data protection ''
 As you can see i was getting nowhere . the following weekend i phoned ALL the energy companies asking was i a customer of theirs and got '' We cannot tell you as that is against the data protection act '' so i waited for a bill from this mysterious energy company and none came that quarter or the next quarter or indeed the next quarter. at this point i realised i had forgotten British Gas do electric , so i phoned them as they are afterall my Gas supplier and guess what ?
They quoted the Data protection act , but the girl i spoke to was helpfull and said it was likely that someone had gained entry downstairs to read the meters and changed all the suppliers to get the £25 per meter commission.

 Having not had a bill for nearly a year i got back on to BG and changed my supply to them and asked could i have £25 for changing over , the result was next quarter i go a bill off them less my £25 commission and i had got free electric for a year.

Well done I love it when someone gets one over them!

Was this the property you left when I first knew you.....?

If so, perhaps the tenant that took over has done this on purpose???

Nems wrote:


Well done I love it when someone gets one over them!

  Another thing you should know , If a company gets a Debt recovery company to act on their behalf  they are acting as their agent .but in most cases  they have bought a list of job lot debts and they will often state that any payments should be paid to them and not to the original company you owe the money to and that tells you they have bought the debt.

ALLAKAKA wrote:

  Another thing you should know , If a company gets a Debt recovery company to act on their behalf  they are acting as their agent .but in most cases  they have bought a list of job lot debts and they will often state that any payments should be paid to them and not to the original company you owe the money to and that tells you they have bought the debt.

Ah right ok
Thanks for that. I will be getting another letter apparently so I shall check who they say to pay

Nems wrote:

Ah right ok
Thanks for that. I will be getting another letter apparently so I shall check who they say to pay

 Tell them you will get on to British Gas  and get  full details of any outstanding debt if any and deal with them directly. see what their reaction is.

ALLAKAKA wrote:




 Tell them you will get on to British Gas  and get  full details of any outstanding debt if any and deal with them directly. see what their reaction is.

Will do

I love karma.

Phil Didge wrote:I love karma.

I love the fact that you would rather be on here talking about me than spending "quality" time with wifey!

Nems wrote:


I love the fact that you would rather be on here talking about me than spending "quality" time with wifey!

Reel them in ha ha


So easy


Night hun


x

Hope you remembered the puncture repair kit