Bloody gas bill! - Anybody else had a revised dd?

[Dave_L]

I pay my British Gas service on a monthly direct debit.....and have paid £27/mth since we moved here 5 years ago. During the summer, my account would move into credit as the gas (used for hob cooking, hot water and central heating) wasn't used so much - and the colder winter months took more as we heated the house.

I've had a letter this morning from British Gas asking to increase my monthly payments from £27 to £58!

Anybody else had such a letter demanding more??

[yourgardenworks.co.uk]

My dd has been revised from £48 p/p month to £54 if that makes you feel better Dave, mind you thats Gas and Electric.

[seanandruby]

Cheer up dave it could be worse like this bloke.....A vicar was having a w*** in the bedroom when he saw the window cleaner watching He ran downstairs and opened the door redfaced. The window cleaner was standing there and said ( with a nod and a wink ) "that will be £100." the wife overheard this and said to the vicar "£100 for four small windows, he must of seen you coming :laugh:

[Dave_L]

My dd has been revised from £48 p/p month to £54 if that makes you feel better Dave, mind you thats Gas and Electric.

Oh well, perhaps I was paying far too little in the first place then? But it's been no more than £34/mth beforehand!

[lutonlagerlout]

just shut up and pay dave,no amount of talking will alter their stance
the working man has no rights in this country
its absolute bollox that the suits will get 1-2 million bonus when they have you over a barrell like this,all you can do is decline their gas,which will be a toughie in the winter.
i had a demand from a debt collection agency the other week,apparently a tenant had a dispute over his electric bill,so npower sold it to this agency who promptly added £200 to the bill
making it £830
when i tried explaining that i didnt live there it cut no mustard,pay up or we will send bailiffs round to your house, nice
its seems to be the done thing now for all big companies to treat their customers like dogs.

best big company i have dealt with lately was monarch airlines,cheaper than easycrap and scum air and a much more civilised experience

anyone else able to recommend a big company?

cheers LLL
good luck dave

[acechadwick]

Your problem is a mere trifle Dave. I had a bill for £330 from British gas for a house I am refurbishing. Seeing as there was no pipe work in the house and Transco had verified that the gas meter had been removed before I purchased it I found this somewhat odd. Several letters lately they had got somewhat forceful and threatened to cut me off.
"Er....cut me off? I queried
They actually only relented when I said that they should feel free, as I would be hiring the services of a very well known solicitor (charges circa £300 per hr) who would at no great cost to myself prove that it is impossible to recieve gas without pipe work or a meter and that I would eagerly await their cheque reimbursing me for his fees.
Surprise surprise I got an amended zero bill. Dammit! I was SO looking forward to that day in court!!
But don't get me started on TALK TALK!!!!!
I nearly started a military coup in the African state where their call centres are!!

[Dave_L]

MY god, I think I'll shut up!!!!!!

Thanks for the 'advice' guys, I'll just live with it - and turn the thermostats etc down!

[Tony McC]

I switched the gas and lecky to EDF a couple of years back after the shameless greed of British Gas saw them award a 22% divi to shareholders at the same time as hiking their prices upward by a purely coincidental 22%.

I never paid much attention to the DDs until a month or so ago when my missus commented that we seemed to have much less in the bank than she'd estimated and did I know where the latest statement was.

And there it was: without a word of warning, the DD has gone up from 35 quid pcm to a shocking 100 quid. Why? Despite three days of trying, Extraordinarily Dubious Figures have failed to furnish a sensible explanation, other than I should have received a letter back in March.

Straight on to Uswitch!

[Dave_L]

Love your EDF analogy Tony!!!!!!!

[acechadwick]

Sorry Dave! I'm female. Why use ten words when you can explain yourself succinctly with 10.000!

[Dave_L]

It appears the supermarkets are taking the lead and lowering pump prices!


Supermarkets reduce pump prices....

[danensis]

I switched the gas and lecky to EDF a couple of years back after the shameless greed of British Gas saw them award a 22% divi to shareholders at the same time as hiking their prices upward by a purely coincidental 22%.

I never paid much attention to the DDs until a month or so ago when my missus commented that we seemed to have much less in the bank than she'd estimated and did I know where the latest statement was.

And there it was: without a word of warning, the DD has gone up from 35 quid pcm to a shocking 100 quid. Why? Despite three days of trying, Extraordinarily Dubious Figures have failed to furnish a sensible explanation, other than I should have received a letter back in March.

Straight on to Uswitch!

The futility companies see the direct debit system as a form of interest free loan. At times I've ended up hundreds of quid in credit. Then it dawned on me - in the good old days of high inflation, you always overestimated your meter readings, then when the price went up you had lots of units that you'd already bought, and if the first meter reading after the price increase was a bit on the low side, well, that was just down to you being careful.

But now they keep the cash in their sock, so when the price goes up they can start charging you the higher rate immediately, even if you've been, erm, "hedging", the meter readings.

John

[Iain]

I think this increase is the first of many folks!!!!. See link below. The advice from this bloke (I would sign up for his emails they can save you a fortune) is to change your supplier now to one that will cap their price to the end of 2009 as prices are expected to go up anything from 20 - 60% in the next year and starting pretty soon. It may cost more initially but you'll be glad you've taken the time to sort it.

www.moneysavingexpert.com