Direct debit cancelled for no reason

[BritishGasNightmare]

Oh Mumsnet, Mumsnet, Mumsnet, I don't know what to say but I need a rant!

1. We moved to our home in August and set up direct debits for gas and electricity with British Gas at £60 per month
2. In October British Gas stopped collecting the direct debit. We had no notice of this and it wasn't until the middle of March that we were aware when a letter advising us of £350 of arrears arrived (I acknowledge that we were sloppy not noticing that the payments had stopped, before anyone points that out. We accept responsibility for that!)
3. My husband called British Gas to find out why we had been billed, they were unable to provide an explanation for why the direct debit had been stopped. He told them that they were under no circumstances to debit us the full bill, rather they were to reinstate the direct debit and increase the amount so we could repay it over the summer months.
4. Today I find that British Gas have taken a direct debit for £60 out, as well as the £350 for the arrears.

The moral of the story is 'always check your direct debits have come out each month'

Now, can anyone recommend an energy supplier that knows their arse from their elbow and gets things right first time?

nPower did exactly same to us 😥 Scottish Power seem ok so far...

If they did not notify you about the arrears amount that was going to be taken then you could claim it back from the bank under the direct debit guarantee

We've not had issues with edf

They did tell us though, by way of a letter that said 'you owe us £350 and we will be taking it in seven days' which is what led to my husband calling them and having the direct debit reinstated at a higher amount rather than have the whole lot (i.e. the rest of this month's bills money) taken out of the bills account in one go. That's what is frustrating - it was agreed over the phone that we would repay via a higher direct debit but the person who DH spoke to has fluffed it right up, reinstated at the original amount and debited us the full arrears

They have still gone against what was agreed though so you could still claim it back. Not everyone has a spare £350 lying about.

We had a similar issue with BG years ago when they didn't collect a direct debit we had set up, they then wanted to collect a massive payment. We refused to allow them to do this as we had set up a direct debit and had proof of this. After much back and forth, they halved the amount of money we had to pay and added it to our direct debit. I would contact your bank if they have taken more than they had permission to as well as BG.

Thanks both - looks like there is some comeback to be had after all then, you've given me a little hope!

If we don't get anywhere with British Gas we will look into a DD chargeback as - like you said - we don't have a spare £350 laying around...currently waiting for a call back about it, as British Gas don't have me down as an approved person to speak to them as the account is in DHs name

You'd be faster contacting your bank:

www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/howtoclaim.aspx

I think you could take it to the energy ombudsmen - they are not supposed to take a lump sum like that for arrears without trying to arrange a payment plan.

You couldn't go direct to them without going through the complaints procedure first