British Gas Business - don't you just hate utility Companies

Below is a copy of a letter I sent by email to both British Gas Business and their Debt Recovery Company: I think it is self explanatory.  Question does any one else out there have these kind of problems with utility companies, do please let me know by way of comments at the end of the post,  Thanks - Tom 


Dear Sirs,

I am going to type as clearly and as carefully as I can in the hope that I am able to make my self as clear as humanly possible to both of you in the following written discourse in the faint hope that I will receive only one more communication from each of you informing me that the matter is closed.

I realise that it must be terribly difficult whether you are an employee working for a Utility Company or a Contractor/ Debt Collector working on their behalf, as they, the Utility companies, and BGB/ Centrica in particular, seem incapable of actual and simple elucidation to either the customer, or I suspect, you who work for them.

Having said that I must congratulate BGB for spelling my name correctly in the last communication, well done to you. But, Experto Credite must do detention for being unable to spell SECURITIES in their letter of 26/08/11.

BGB: You, Mr xxxxxx contacted me by way of a telephone call on Friday 26th August.  This was in response to my 'Dunderheads' email sent to  xxxxxxxx also of BGB on 25th August.

During the course of that conversation we established that the letter from BGB dated 19th August, and which prompted my email to Ms xxxxxxx, that had been addressed to me and xxxxxxx, was in fact nothing to do with a property that was previously occupied by xxxxxxxx and therefore the letter was in fact a red herring and wrong in that respect!

We established, that is you and I, that the reference number on the letter from BGB was in actual fact referring to a property that has a meter with the serial number  LxxE xxxxxx!

We also established that the letter of 19th August 2011, was to inform and give me a COMPLAINT REFERENCE NUMBER to a letter that I wrote to your organisation in SEPTEMBER 2010.

In my letter of SEPTEMBER 2010 I pointed out to BGB that I had received a bill for some £1400.00 for energy supplied to the property with the meter LxxE xxxxx.  I pointed out in my letter of SEPTEMBER 2010 that this was not an xxx account as I, I as in me Tom Stronach, Centre Manager since 1999, transferred that meter and supply to another tenant in 2001.

We further established in our call, according to you, that BGB had received a call from a Mr xxxxxx    xxxxxxx of xxx in January 2008 transferring a number of properties to BGB for billing purposes including the one in xxxxxx, under my purview, containing meter No LxxE xxxxx.

I pointed out to you, during our conversation, that this could not have been the case as neither Messrs xxxxx in the company would have transferred any meter on any property that they did not have a direct input into, and that neither gentleman had any involvement with xxx xxxxxx.  We then established that you say BGB received the transfer request in January 2008 but no invoice bill was raised until 2010, somehow I don't even find that strange.  BGB taking an an account and then not billing on it for two and a half years, why would any customer find that strange?

Since your call, and in the interests of fairness I have contacted both of the x xxxxxx in the company asking for confirmation that they transferred any meters to you at the time you allege that it took place, January 2008. Both have acknowledge that they did not at any time request British Gas Business to take on board any meter linked to any property at xxx xxxxxx.  And as I pointed out in my letter of 2010, WE DID NOT AND DO NOT CONTROL THIS METER, IT IS WITH A TENANT and has been since 2001!

So, in conclusion I hope that all of the above clears up this little matter once and for all and that you Mr xxxxx will write two letters.  The first to me with BGB's apology again for making a complete and utter cock up, whereby you have again seemingly hi-jacked another meter, issued a bill (two years after doing so) and expect the customer to roll over and pay without quibble, and the second to the attack dogs at Experto Credite putting them back into their kennel with a muzzle.

If I get one more demand from either party on this matter I will refer it to the Ombudsman to investigate on our behalf, AGAIN.

Yours sincerely

Tom Stronach


Utility Companies - they make you want to kill!

Update to My day in the office

received a phone call today from British Gas Business in response to my e mail yesterday where I called them a bunch of dunderheads.
my-day-in-office-thursday-25th-august.html

Dear Ms xxxxx,

You have sent me a letter with the above reference No on it. Addressed to me, with sub name of xxxx (see attached).

You really are a bunch of dunderheads in that organisation. Maybe you would like to give me a little more of a clue as to what this is actually referring to, so that I may file it in the appropriate file.

If it is in fact to do with a unit of a previous tenant called xxxxxx, I last wrote to your company on that matter, I believe, in JUNE 2008, but then the expectation of an early response has long since evaporated.

If it is on another matter and the addressing of the attached letter is just another 'mistake' then that is alright then, as the Great British Public have come to expect no less of such an august body.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course, although I am due to retire in 10 years!

The phone call went a bit like this;

Caller, "Mr Stronach"

Me, "Yes"

Caller, " You contacted us yesterday via email and I just thought I would call to see if we can sort things out"

Me, "Okay, give it your best shot"

Well he went on at length and as it transpired the letter that they sent me giving me a complaint reference number that I thought referred to a previous tenants unit, did not in fact refer to that unit at all.  No, I'll bet you will never guess in a million years what it was about.

No. give in. O.K.

I wrote to British Gas Business in SEPTEMBER 2010, yes that is correct  SEPTEMBER 2010 about another property that they had sent me a bill for for £1400.00.

I wrote to them in SEPTEMBER 2010  and told them that they must be mistaken as the meter and property they were billing for was transferred by me in 2001.

The guy then went on to argue that it did not matter as they had received a telephone call in January 2008 from a named person in the Property Company I work for asking British Gas Business to take on the meter!  I responded that that couldn't have been the case because we have had no control over the meter since 2001.........

And anyway I asked,  if you had supposedly received a call in 2008, why did you wait until 2010 to produce a bill for energy?  He couldn't give a response to that.

I then asked, if I wrote to them in SEPTEMBER 2010 why are they only issuing me a complaint reference number in AUGUST 2011?

I gave up at this point and told him I would get back to him next week.  I am going to enjoy my bank holiday and then tell him, again, what I think of him and British Gas Business, AGAIN!

Utility companies you really do have to despise them......................................