Sorry to disagree with some people but BG dont supply run around putting people on SO or D/D, if you haven't done this online or over the telephone or sent a letter to the admail address there is no way they would have put you onto SO. Like the agent said all it takes is 10seconds to revert you back onto quarterly billing and the problem is solved, and yes i do understand how annoying it is to receive this sort of letter but i asure you its not something that would happen on purpose.

 
Also D/D and SO have decent discounts but D/D is horrible with BG as they tend to ramp it up no matter what your using a month

 

Thanks for your replies. Just to clarify a couple of points, the letters said 'standing order', not DD. BGas have sent me letters before trying to get me onto standing order, because it means less admin therefore less costs for them. They say getting rid of paper bills is better for the environment, BUT, they say they send a quarterly statement to those on SO, which seams daft because that is still paper through the post.

It's not that I don't trust SO or DD, it's just that I want to keep them to a minimum because it is easy to forget how much money you have going out if it just disappears. If get a bill and physically write a cheque and pay it over the counter, I know when that money will leave my account. A lot of people get into money difficulties because they lose sight of actually paying for things, it doesnt seem real when transactions only happen on paper.

 Also, I only want to pay for the gas and electricity that I actually use, no more, no less, as near the time as I use it. I don't want BGas to guess how much I might use, and then help themselves every month to an amount of money they decide on. I am very organised at paying my bills, everything gets paid on time. I have my mother to thank for that.

best wishes

Ilona

I am quite happy to pay by DD - plus you often get a discount.  but then, having worked for a Bank, I know that the DD indemnity does work and must work and that, thus, I can easily get back any inappropriately claimed amounts.  Plus, I am just plain scary and not many organisations ahve ever been able to thwart me!!

 

I'm just aware that not everyone trusts the DD system.

 

Cat

Ah, I see, thanks Cat. I pay my utility bills by DD, should I be paying over the counter quarterly? I'd be afraid of not having the money at the billing date, I'm rubbish at putting money aside for things like that.

More frequent payments and cheaper admin, for starters. Plus, I think Ilona means DD which can also be altered to claim higher amounts - not a good power to give to someone you don't trust.

 

Cat

Why would they want to force you into standing order? What's in it for them?

Ilona,

This is very concerning and I hope is an isolated incident.

Please make sure that your request is followed through and that you continue to pay your bills by quarterly cash or cheque.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Hi, Has anyone else had a letter like this from B Gas? They sent me 2 letters, I have my gas and electric from them. Dear Miss R, Thank you for choosing to pay for your gas/electricity by standing order, they then go on to tell me how much I will be paying per month. They included a standing order mandate for a regular payment scheme, to send to my bank. I was furious, I have never asked to go onto standing order, preferring to pay quarterly either at my post office, or send a cheque in the post.

I rang BGas to ask why they have sent me these letters, I have not chosen this. The woman said I might have agreed to this and forgotten about it, I said no way, I am not going senile yet, I keep my standing orders to a minimum and don't want any more. Then she said I may have accidentally clicked the button on their web site, I said I have never been on their web site. Then she said the request came from my bank and I should ring them. Now I know that's bunkum, so I rang my bank who confirmed they would not start anything like this without confirmation from myself.

 I rang BGas back and got a guy this time, I was still furious. He looked at my records and said he will get it reversed from standing order back to quarterly payments. I said how can you reverse it when it has always been quarterly payments. He eventually apologised when he realised how furious I was. 

I think they are using bully boy tactics to try and get more people onto standing order. I am still furious.

Ilona