Gas board threat

A friend recently bought a repossessed property and re-connected his gas supply through British Gas; he has paid all his bills and has several times made the company aware that he is the new owner and has been told to ignore any communication concerning the previous owners.
He has now received a letter addressed to "The Occupier" from British Gas demanding over £900 and threatening to cut off his gas if it's not paid within seven days. He phoned the number given to query this bill and was told by the automaton that he was in a queue waiting for over 70 minutes (all on a premium rate number of course), so he didn't hang on. He seems fairly happy that nobody will come and break into his house while he's at work to cut off his gas...but I'm not so sure that this is the case as I believe that they might have a statutory right of entry to his property.
Any advice about this situation, please?

 

Is there a date on the bill addressed to 'the occupier', and is it for a gas supply previous to when your friend moved in?

I would ring the customer service help-line on the back of the bill, see what they have to say, rather than ringing the number on the letter, he may get through a bit quicker.

I would also look to a solicitor or the CAB, to get some advice, perhaps the solicitor that dealt with the house sale. Last resort.....Watchdog!

Let us know how he gets on!

 

This happens all the time to some of my tenants-your friend does not NEED to if he doesn't want to-but it will save trouble and aggravation in the long run if he write to the gas board disputing the bill enclosing photocopies of any evidence-copy of mortgage, solicitors letter of completion of sale letter etc that shows when his residence began, along with the meter reading when he took possession.


Make sure within the letter your friend disputes the debt and refuses entry to the property. Only those with a proven right to seize goods from the debtor-or cut off your supply after they have proven the debtor is in residence will be accompanied by the police should they choose to ask them.


This absolutely does not apply to HM Customes and Excise or HM Inland Revenue who can break in at any time-OR the police if they believe a crime is being committed, or there is risk to safety, and in some circumstances bailiffs who have been given permission to enter the property previously to collect or seize goods to cover the same debt.



All the utility companies now have email contact details on their website, he could scan the letters needed and send them as JPEG attachments so help save time, make sure he ticks the box that says he will get a receipt of opening of email and that will cover him.

 

Many thanks for these replies. I think I shall advise my friend to visit this site and read them for himself.
How people are expected to fit in visits to solicitors, advice bureaus etc., when they have a full-time job which they cannot take time off from is beyond me...and all this trouble is caused by faceless incompetence. The days when you could pop into the gas board showrooms and pay a bill or query it are, of course long gone. And they call it progress?!

 

This makes me so mad. I was going to post a 'quick' reply' but had to 'go advanced'!

They (the utilities etc) make me so cross - like you say, you have a week to pay but how are you supposed to get all that has been recommended within a week

Nobody wants to take the blame any more, the minute you raise your voice you are abusive and denied any communication. If you try to do the old fashioned way,, by writing, I think it sits in a pile for a week, gets looked at (for a week), put in another pile and then by the time you get a reply, if ever, it is just to say it's beng looked at!!!

It's ok to say 'oh do it by e-mail or whatever, but why should we? Unless you print it out (and that doesn't mean anything unless you get a computer analyst or whatever -:D) whose to prove it's real. I'm sick of all this too. Bring back the days when people knew what they were doing, were responsible and concientious (sp?). That includes the top bosses too!

I really hope your friend gets sorted. I would like to say that a magistrate will laugh it out of court but I've had one experience where it wasn't! Hopefully common sense will prevail and your friend will not be out of pocket, except emotionally & time-wise - maybe he/she could ask for compensation for that!

cheers

 

Thanks for that, borrowers. At the moment he's visiting a mutual friend in the Lake District so I hope he still finds his gas connected when he gets back after his short break !

Having just moved, with all the worry that it involves, the last thing you want is this sort of hassle when you know that you're not in the wrong.

Sometimes I feel that we're in the middle of a nightmare these days and, wherever you try to turn for help all you get is a "service menu" inviting you to press number after number! Even if you manage to get to the final destination without being cut-off at the last minute you can never be sure that the person you speak to will sort things out for you correctly. The gas board business is not an isolated incident, even though it's potentially the most worrying. He has also had trouble, as a result of moving, with his AOL account, who continued to debit his bank account in spite of his requests for it to be stopped and then, as a result of having to close his Abbey National account in order to prevent AOL from taking money from it, he now has a problem where Abbey National is charging him interest on loan re-payments which they say are not being paid...even though they are regularly from his new bank...and are refusing to acknowledge that they have received recorded delivery mail about the situation from him.

I thought that computerising records was meant to make things more efficient but this seems to be far from the case. As you say, "Oh for the days when people did their jobs properly!"