ScottishPower aren't so bad

[pablissimo]

Right, I’d like some advice if you will from people with experience of this kind of thing.

Last year I lived in a flat with four people which was supplied by British Gas. We’d receive bills every couple of months in the order of tens of pounds, I think the most we were ever billed in one go was about £28. This worked out reasonably well, I didn’t know how often the boiler was on but the only other gas appliance was the hob so I thought nothing of it and paid up to my flatmate who sorted the gas out when required.

We moved out to this new place last June, when the letting agents took meter readings and sent the details of our new addresses to the utility companies concerned so they could finalise the accounts. ScottishPower managed this without issue; we got a bill around July for the old property, I paid it and started a new account for the new flat. We didn’t even think about British Gas.

About 10 days ago, I get a letter from Central Recoveries demanding the sum of a little over £260 from British Gas for the account at the old flat. Odd, I thought, considering how this was the first correspondence I’d had from anyone related to BG. We phone up British Gas, and Central Recoveries, and their stories check out; they’d been underbilling us for the year. They had also been sending bills and reminders, and final reminders, and ‘seriously we’ll kneecap you’ reminders to the old address.

"How strange," I thought, "ScottishPower are morons and managed it just fine".

Turns out that over the course of the year, my old letting agents had tried no less than three times to get in touch with British Gas about our new address and the meter reading, which was kindly followed up by British Gas with a more threatening letter than last time on the off chance that we were hiding something.

I phoned the collection agency on Thursday and paid up with my credit card, treated I might add like I was a goddamn deadbeat by the up-herself £6/hr call-centre operative on the other end of the line. They said to “check that we’ve actually taken the amount in a few days, because if it’s not paid by the 31st you’ll be considered to have defaulted”.

I phone Barclaycard today to check if any attempt at all had yet been made to take the amount, to which the reply was “no, nothing’s even been rejected”. It’s a bank-holiday on Monday in England, so they probably aren’t going to get round to this until at least Tuesday, which means the transaction won’t be finished until some time later in the week.

So my questions are this:

• From a credit-rating point of view, what is likely to have been recorded so far?
• If this ends up going to court, will any of that be recorded (assuming I kick their ass in front of the magistrate)
• Does it seem strange to anyone that for a year British Gas couldn’t find me even though they’d been given my address now four times, but the recovery agency managed it in three days?

I guess what I want to know is what is, and how strong is, my position. My old letting agents have said they’ll write to British Gas whenever I want confirming that they’d tried to get in touch with them no less than three times and we have the dates that the demands were sent (and I believe that the letting agent sent letters to British Gas) so it’s not like I’ve nothing backing me up here.

And here was me thinking ScottishPower was bad.

[MrL_JaKiri]

Your credit rating will be screwed, for a start.

[Cannon_Fodder]

Credit rating affects what and by how much?

[pablissimo]

I was rather hoping my credit rating wouldn't take a hit beyond a late-payment entry on an otherwise spotless record as long as I didn't end up with a CCJ

[MrL_JaKiri]

Originally Posted by sniborp

Credit rating affects what and by how much?

Any kind of loan, from renting a house to getting a credit card.

[The_Tyrant]

If you phone up the credit rating people you can get yours sent out to you. I've had similar problems and after a whole lot of messing about (I moved in and was billed for the last tennants gas) managed to get the thing wiped.

My credit history is shite though and I've still got a big overdraft, a credit card and a loan or two.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by pablissimo

So my questions are this:
From a credit-rating point of view, what is likely to have been recorded so far?

I doubt it would. As someone has already said - order your credit file from Experian or whomever, it's only £2. From what I can recall on utility type accounts it merely stated how long you've had the account, what the amount is outstanding (if any) and what the status of the account is (active, defaulted, whatever). Unlike on Credit Card / Loan entries (which list your payment history over the last 18 months) the payment history on utilities will be unlisted. I think. It's obviously different if they eventually got a CCJ.

Does it seem strange to anyone that for a year British Gas couldn’t find me even though they’d been given my address now four times, but the recovery agency managed it in three days?

As someone who has to deal with the energy companies on a regular basis because of my work, no it doesn't. British Gas are notoriously bad at trying to find what they've done, what they manage and so on. We've had properties with a gas supply for over 3 years which have never received a bill for but which British Gas refuse to do anything about because we don't have an account number. The whole energy market seems a bit of a shambles in this regard.

[JamMak]

Originally Posted by pablissimo

• Does it seem strange to anyone that for a year British Gas couldn’t find me even though they’d been given my address now four times, but the recovery agency managed it in three days?

Not really. I'd guess that it's the recovery agency's job to track down people. If they were that rubbish at it no one would use them.
When giving big companies something they haven't explicitly requested, I always have this image of it arriving on the desk of someone with no idea what it's about, and that perosn just 'filing' it in the bin.

[pablissimo]

That they knew where to find me suggests that at least one of the four letters from the estate agents managed to get through.

Still no money been taken off my card. Go go gadget summons.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by pablissimo

Still no money been taken off my card. Go go gadget summons.

They were probably lying with regards the date. For one they always allow extra time for payments to reach them and secondly most of the dates they put on their letters are for effect anyway. I've owed British Gas £500 for about 16 months now and every letter has a "We will definitely be applying to court on X date if you don't pay" and they haven't done so yet.

Of course, this doesn't mean they won't have your family shot, but I wouldn't automatically assume the worst.

edit : Debt recovery agents sometimes will use the address you are registered at on the electoral roll. My British Gas account was registered elsewhere but recently I've started getting letters to my new address (despite the fact I've never given them the address).

[pig]

My step mum is a doctor, she also dabbles in property for a laugh. She gave me some interesting advice. Businesses and myself never ever ever ever pay bills on time. No one pays until they get the angry letters.

Now im not the best with money and piss it up the wall. But ive noticed a few things, shes kinda right. I dont want to tempt fate here but im not sure how much your credit rating will be effected.

A prime example was I "forgot" to pay a phone bill. The fact of the matter is it was only for something like £120 ie 4 months line rental, but I had moved out of the house. The phone was no longer in use. No direct debits were leaving my account etc. Then one day I received a load of letters from my old landlord.

First of all it was orange asking for £30

Then £60 and we have cut you off

Then £90 and we are passing this on to the debt collection agency this will affect your credit rating and that bullshit if you dont pay in the next god knows how many days.

Then £120 from the debt collection agency saying we want the money by 6pm 31st of September or you are coming to court which could result in blah blah blah. Funnily enough I got these letters on the 31st and promptly paid up. But apparently that was my final final final final warning.

I got a credit check thing and my credit rating seems ok.

Another example is council tax. I was comically being threatenned to be taken to court for council tax. Even though I was a student and had handed in my exemption. The fact is the council kept sending threatening letters, time and time and time again. Eventually one day the council man came round. I think we are talking may time, months after council tax etc. After a quick chat and phone call they realised it was there mistake and they werent going to take me to prison. However the thing is it took them months for them to get someone round to even talk about sending me to court, even after the threats.

Another example is some dvds i rented off the interent. I forgot to send them back. At this point I had changed my bank details and card (Accidentally of course) And I received some threatening letters saying you owe us we are going to take you to court yadda yadda yadda. Then one day the most comic letter came through.

"Hi there, if you send us the dvds back we will call it quits" Those werent the exact words but thats how it was sounded. I couldnt be arsed though but they caught up with me about 15 months down the line with a phone call (ironically they had failed to try that in the first place) So I apologised and paid them £30 or whatnot (I still kept the dvds) and that was that finished.

Finally I move onto British Gas.

By the time I moved out of my old student digs we had bills totallng just over £600 with bg (they did gas and electric) Once again the great threatenging letters, time and time again saying you will die, we will take you to court. The fact of the matter is we didnt have the money. When I got the money I phoned them up, paid it and that was that.

I checked my credit rating and once again it seemed ok.

My moral of the story is that while credit rating is important and mine may or may not be shot to pieces, companies are just as incompetent as you are when it comes to paying bills. They have so much administrative failures that it often takes them months to get money out of you. The first "we will take you to court letter" was scary not I dont even blink when I get them. Dont be too worried. Pay and thats all you can do.