Parent with dementia & deplorable behaviour by British Gas

[tuliptoes]

My mother, from whom I've been estranged for many years, was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2015 and has been in a secure home ever since. When dealing with the various bills that she had allowed to pile up (as a result of mental impairment rather than lack of funds) most of the bank card and utility companies, were sympathetic and helpful. The exception was British Gas, whose conduct I can only describe as vile – and that is not a word that I use lightly. I phoned at the end of November 2016 to explain my mother's dementia and to pay the bill – even though I am not legally obliged to do so and no-one in my family has Power of Attorney for my mother – and to ask for the gas supply to be cut off because of safety concerns. I explained tha the house was uninhabitable with an ancient boiler & could not be sold until my mother's death (v complicated situation). The person I spoke to seemed largely disinterested in the safety issue, citing 'data protection' as the reason she couldn't help further. No constructive suggestions – such as providing a letter from my mother's GP – were offered to get around this issue. With regards to the estimated bill, this was originally £70 but increased several times over because of late payment charges. I said I would visit in three weeks time (just before Christmas) and take a meter reading and phone back to discuss the final bill. Mea culpa: I did not make it back to my mother's house to take the reading in December – I live 6 hours drive away and in fact forgot all about it – and in January 2017 (2 months later) British Gas applied for a warrant to break into my mother's house with a locksmith, which they subsequently did in February. A neighbour came out to explain the situation; but still they insisted on gaining entry – no attempt to ask for a relative's phone number – to fit a pay as you go meter, which no one had asked for & despite the fact I'd raised safety concerns and asked for the supply to be cut off. Meanwhile, her outstanding bill has been farmed out to a debt collection agency and from an original estimate of £70 is now closer to £600. When I phoned British Gas to ask why they took such extreme steps, they were extremely hardline about it and the customer services manager – lacking any power to do anything and reading from a script – simply repeated, robot-fashion, 'Yes, but your mother hadn't paid her bill since December 2015' to which I kept replying 'Yes, that's because she has dementia and is in a home and you were fully aware of that'. I know from past experience that they are a vile company to deal with even when they know they're in the wrong. (My previous run in was because, they missold me a boiler that was more suited to a five-bedroomed house than a one-bedroom flat & were eventually, on pain of legal proceedings, forced to give me a refund.) The one thing that they kept saying during the boiler debacle was that they had to think of their shareholders – in other words, f* the customers who are being fleeced to provide their dividends – and I imagine that is exactly what they are thinking of now. So I'm posting this for two reasons: to warn others of what you can expect from this company if you have elderly parents suffering from mental impairment; and also to ask if anyone has any advice. My offer to pay the bill still stands – and on that note they won't tell me the final meter reading when they forced access to the house and they seem very reluctant to provide a breakdown of how the bill accumulated from £70 to nearly £600 – but I am not prepared to pay the charges they have racked up by applying for a warrant and employing a locksmith to force entry, as I believe this to be excessive in the circumstances. My guess, incidentally, is that they did this because I'd asked for the gas to be cut off and they wanted to at least keep billing the daily standing charge (and at an increased rate). Hate, hate, hate this company. If anyone knows the legal situation with regards to bills racking up in this way I'd be v grateful. (I've phoned around several charities that deal with the elderly and dementia, but apart from describing British Gas's conduct as 'extreme' they do not seem to know what to suggest.) Thanks in advance.

I'd complain to the ombudsman that they're regulated by. They've been far too hardline with this.
Having worked for a large banking corporation for many, many years, when customers took us to the Ombudsman, we often settled on amounts such as this (referring to the current total or £600) irrespective of who was right/wrong to save the hassle of the work/costs involved as that's levied on the provider by the Ombudsman- even if the customer loses the case.

www.ombudsman-services.org/energy

Thank you so much – that will be my next step.

So sorry you're going through this. British Gas were appalling with my old neighbour who had dementia, and broke into her house to for a meter. She was utterly terrified as she thought the Nazis were there to take her away. Her son did complain and eventually got an apology, like you he'd tried to speak to them before but they'd refused to discuss her account with him . Shocking behaviour.

Awful situation. I work for a company that deals mainly with elderly customers and while we need to be careful about accepting instructions from family if no power of attorney is in place, we do use common sense to try and help. I assume that your mother no longer has capacity - who is therefore responsible for her financial affairs - has the local authority applied for a deputyship order - if not you can do this?
Agree re complaint to the Ombudsman - and if no satisfaction get in contact with the Daily Mail, the money section is very good at dealing with companies like this (even if the rest of the paper is a pile of poo)

That sounds awful too. British Gas showed a complete lack of compassion and common sense, unlike the water and electricity companies (and M&S chargecard) who were all magnificent and seemed to be well-trained in handling such situations.

I have POA, but utility companies can be a pain, and I have no desire to send original POA docs to all sorts of places. Instead I routinely claim, over the phone to be my mother. Or Phone from where she is, hand the phone to her for her to agree I can continue the conversation.

But would agree that something has gone very badly wrong with British Gas customer service.

Thank you Lokisglowstickofdestiny – I think you've nailed the problem: no common sense and no helpful suggestions as to how to progress the situation; just exploiting the situation for their shareholders' financial gain. Yes, my mother is detained under the Mental Health Act because of her dementia and because we haven't got POA the alternative is to apply to the court of protection for guardianship of her affairs which is a lengthy process. I thought it would be much simpler to pay off the bills but I'm not prepared to pay the charges – warrant application, breaking into the house etc – incurred by British Gas's unreasonable behaviour. I understand they need to be paid and I had phoned to say I was prepared to do that, but I deplore the way they have tried to exploit the situation for financial gain.The customer services manager had the nerve to suggest that they couldn't take my call on face value as some customers might pretend their parent has dementia to get out of paying the bill!! Good job she was at the end of a phone and not in the same room as me. I ended up yelling down the phone at her, she was so patronising & robotic. Good suggestion re the Daily Mail but I was actually thinking of contacting the Sunday Times consumer advice journalist about it. I'm sure I can't be the only one that has come up against the hardline, inflexible, money-grasping customer service that is British Gas.

The telegraph on Saturday has an amazing lady who does these sorts of things. She's called Jessica, think it's "Jessica investigates". Good luck

Atrocious- do complain.

It's the last thing you need on top of dealing with dementia.

All our utility bills used to be in my husband's name, and when he became very frail, we were advised that he write to them to give his permission for the companies to discuss any business with me as well as himself. This really smoothed the path for putting the bills on my name after he passed away.

Hi NeedMoreSleep,

When I initially phoned I pretended to be my mother anticipating problems with data protection; but unfortunately they asked for a passcode so I had to fess up that I was her daughter. Awful to be made to feel like a criminal when you are doing the right thing and they have since used this against me, claiming that I 'refused' to give them my name and address. In fact, I wanted to give them my name and address as I wanted to solve the problem but they didn't ask for it and didn't seem to want to talk to me at all once I'd hit the wall of 'data protection'. The customer services manager twisted this, claiming I'd given a false name (yup, my mother's & for obvious & justifiable reasons – to facilitate the call) and was utterly sanctimonious. 'We've got you on tape giving a false name,' she said, almost shaking with excitement and unable to get her head around the fact that a) It was my mother's name I gave b) if I was planning on fraudulent behaviour I wouldn't have bothered contacting them in the first place. Just awful behaviour on every level. But to other's thinking this is the way to go: be careful as if you pretend to be your parent British Gas will seize on this technicality and use it against you.

Hi NeedmoreSleep, thanks for your post. I replied to it below, rather than directly to you (early dementia for me too by the looks of it!)

HI Walkingthedog – really good idea, but it was too late for that. My mother's dementia went undiagnosed for three years, during which time she alienated just about everyone around her, so there was no opportunity to set things in order beforehand, which is obviously the way to go. Doing it afterward – the Court of Protection – is a very cumbersome, lengthy and costly process, which can take up to nine months.

Hi Roomba,

Just read your post again and that truly is appalling that her son had called, like me, to make them aware of the situation. I realise now that there is a pattern to British Gas behaviour and they need to be called out for it. I definitely will complain and am going to seek to publicise this to stop them doing it to other elderly customers and to force them to get some common sense protocols (and compassion) in place

I'm really sorry you are struggling.

However without you going through the proper channels it will be very difficult for British gas to help you.

The people on the end of the phone could be fired for breach of data protection if they don't follow procedures. The manager was correct to that people do phone up and lie to try and get out of paying bill. She probably didn't intend it to be offensive but was trying to explain that some people areally are that awful and they have to consider the possibility.

I really don't think the situation was helped by you pretending to be her as they have no way of knowing you are her daughter and you have basically tried to in their eyes gain access to an account that contains confidential information. They have no way of knowing your intentions are good and have to behave accordingly.

I'm sure their manner could be better but without power of attorney there isn't a lot they can do unless she gave permission before she became incapacitated.

I used to work in a bank. Under the circumstances you've described there is no way I would have been able to give you any information other than to go through the proper channels either.

It's not always nice but the rules are there to protect everyone - elderly people are often victims of fraud sadly.

British Gas are shameful. They fitted my parents' house with a new boiler. Which went wrong 11 times in the first year.
We also had terrible problems with them just trying to do a basic house move. We had provided all readings on all relevant days and followed all their procedures but they still took more money when the new people moved into our old house! We did eventually get it refunded but again iirc we had to take it to the regulator. Have nothing to do with them now fortunately.

Your mother was taken into care in 2015, did no one then raise the issue of POA? If no family member didn't want to take on the role, then surely a family solicitor could have done so? BG have handled this situation badly, but as others have said they are supposed to follow guidelines.

I wonder what you'd be saying if someone had phoned up M&S and cancelled your account staying you had dementia?

British has called plus people that's have told the OP what she needed to do to sort it though rather than just mug her off. They'll have dealt with it before or at least have guidelines, chances are OP will only have to deal with it once.

Have some humanity.

Oh god. Keyboard.

British gas could have told the OP...

Hi, thanks for your message but I wasn't trying to cancel the account – just pay the bill.

You can't get POA after someone has been diagnosed with dementia. You have to apply to the Court of Protection which takes up to a year and is a very cumbersome procedure.

Yes, but when they showed up to break in the neighbour opposite also informed them of the situation – i.e. mother with dementia, house not lived in for a long time, pile of mail visible behind the front door that should have given them some further clues. I understand about 'procedures' but there has to be a little nuance/scope for common sense.

Why don you need to do anything?

You're not liable for the bill, there's nothing they can do in relation to your mother. Just leave BG to it.