Removed From Level Pay Bord Gais

How did you communicate that you were availing of the cooling off provisions and going back to them?
 
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We had no conversation with BG. We simply instructed the other provider that we no longer wanted to move. We didn't call BG and ask to go back. They automatically took us back. Tell me what's to stop them applying whatever they wanted at that point?

We are certainly out of pocket. The 2% level pay discount hasn't been applied for months.
 
Sweet Mother of Divine God…

I take back my comment about you being partially to blame.

You’re 100% to blame!
 
@Gordon Gekko Get out of town. Are you telling me that they have the ability to automatically resign us to a contract without informing us of changes ?

Edit: added automatically
 
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@Gordon Gekko
Another thought that has occurred to me. Whats to stop them adding a boiler services or a Hive or anything else for that matter?

If there was a clean break of contract how can they possibly assume I am a customer of theirs or that I wanted both gas and electricity? Why was I not just cut off? It indicates to me that, it wasn't a clean break as it was within the cool off period.

If they can determine I wanted the same as the week before, its it not reasonable, that I expect the the same?

I'm not sure what 500 euros means to you, but to us, its a substantial amount and drastically changes plans.
 
I'm not sure what 500 euros means to you, but to us, its a substantial amount and drastically changes plans.
But you were going to have to pay the €500 at some stage. All that has happened is that you paid it immediately rather than spread over several fixed level payments. You haven't actually lost out at all as far as I can see.
 
@ClubMan
Thanks for that. The level pay would have spaced it out over a period time which is obviously better. But I agree it would have been paid either way.

We did though lose a level pay discount for half a year which, again, might not be much to everyone, but to us it's enough.
 
We did though lose a level pay discount for half a year which, again, might not be much to everyone, but to us it's enough.

But, again, there is no discount associated with level pay. You just under/overpay at different stages in the year.

I seem to remember being automatically included on level pay when I previously signed up with BG but if it was automatic it no longer is. I returned to them just under a year ago and was never enrolled. It would seem to be an option now you have to sign up separately for.

While I appreciate it might have been a shock to receive a large bill you surely acknowledge your role in the whole process. The non-switch effectively reset your account.

Given you contacted BG to (re)instate level pay you'll have seen in the T&C's point 11:
"If a bill is issued prior to you registering for the Level Pay payment facility, you are required to pay this bill by the date specified in your bill before the Level Pay payment facility can be set up."

By the time any complaint is dealt with by the CRU you probably won't be any worse off than if you had your level pay from the start. The main point for you and all of us is to double check what we go back to in the event of a non-switch.
 
Thanks for that.

There is a level pay discount which was applied on both electric and gas up until the date. I have the bills.

We have settled the bill so that why we have had level pay reinstated.

Of course I accept that the non move was the source, but I don't accept that BG can automatically pick me up as a customer and apply whatever they feel like, that's a crux of it.

If they assume that I am a customer again, why can't I assume that the status remains?
 
They applied their standard contract. That contract may be indeed be different from 2011 but times change (level pay being an option rather than being automatic). You are entitled to all the same options as any other costumer but it does require you to sign up for them. Thats all.
 
I don't seem to be winning the argument so I'll leave it there.

Thanks all for your comments.

I'll report back incase its of use to anyone else.

Thanks all.
 
We are on DD. I wonder if the DD discount is the same thing?

To be honest they could call it whatever they like !!
 
It is quite easy to keep track of your usage on a weekly or monthly basis and estimate what your future bills will be

Most users have a fairly consistent energy use pattern and if you track it regularly, you will get a pretty good idea of the monthly or two-monthly use. You can look back at your history using old bills - these are available online from most suppliers.

Using simple arithmetic, you can then estimate what each bill is likely to be and thus be prepared for larger or smaller bills than usual

Also, it is a good idea to send in customer readings at the appropraite time so that bills are based on actual use rather estimated use