British Gas smart meter mix up left my bowling club with £2,500 bill

I AM the treasurer of our local bowling club. In September, we changed our electricity supplier from Scottish Power to British Gas.

At the end of August, we furnished British Gas with the final meter readings that we had agreed with Scottish Power.

However, British Gas will not accept these figures and has sent us a September bill for £2,493.13, having used a random initial meter reading.

It says it will take this from our bank account by direct debit.

We have provided British Gas with a copy of the final bill from Scottish Power, but it has now asked for a photograph of our current reading and a further photograph of the reading five days later.

I can’t understand why it needs this, as we have a smart meter which it used for our September reading. We do not dispute this reading, it is the start reading which is incorrect.

In addition, we are a small, nonprofit-making organisation and have submitted the form which reduces our VAT from 20 pc to 5 pc, but instead it has charged 20 pc VAT along with a Climate Change Levy. A. W., Essex. British Gas has offered excuses and apologies, but i think this incident shows its processes need addressing.

British Gas admits the problem centred on an incorrect start reading, which was far too low. hence, it was charging for electricity that you had already paid for with scottish Power.

it admits these were estimates — so why on earth didn’t it accept your readings together with the final bill you provided from scottish Power?

instead, it sent its estimates to scottish Power and asked you for photographic evidence with readings taken five days apart.

surely if it wanted evidence of consumption, British Gas could have used the smart meter.

But it says it has a generic process that ‘hasn’t evolved at the same speed as our smart offering’.

Well, if you ask me, that’s plain daft. What’s the point of smart meters if even the biggest power companies don’t use them in such obvious circumstances, and instead ask customers to photograph them. i’m surprised they didn’t ask you to sketch a picture, too.

the good news is that British Gas has corrected your bill and amended the industry database so that the error does not recur.

it has arranged a revised bill and a refund of £2,314.57. it has also written off the £148 september bill as compensation. the Vat problem has been sorted out. and it is providing a hamper which your club will use as a prize.

a British Gas spokesman says: ‘We’re very sorry that the club has been billed incorrectly. there are a lot of processes to follow before we can change a bill amount, and unfortunately we weren’t able to do this as quickly as we’d like.

‘We’re continuing to liaise to ensure the customer is happy with the outcome and our service.’ I CANCELLED my Sky Sports subscription at the end of last season, and intended to rely on 24-hour passes from Now TV when I wanted to watch my team, Manchester United.

I purchased the first pass on August 13 and £6.99 was charged to my credit card, but there was a problem connecting. I used Now TV’s ‘live chat’ but after a number of failed attempts to connect to the channel I was advised to upgrade to Sky Sports.

The adviser said charges would be refunded. On August 31, Sky took £ 58.71 from my bank account. I contacted Now TV, and was told that any refunds are issued by Sky, not Now TV. I asked for the matter to be raised at a higher level and was told that a manager would contact me urgently. No one did.

I contacted Sky, which cancelled the package, but told me that it could not process refunds on behalf of Now TV.

Now TV has disowned the problem. Sky does not want to know about refunds. And I have only watched one match! A. H., via email. noW tV offers tV via the internet, including a package of sky tV channels. sports-wise, you can sign up for a day, a week or a month, so it’s flexible and can be cheaper than a subscription.

it seems the now tV adviser misunderstood your problem and instead of helping you activate your sports pass advised you to upgrade to sky sports.

another error at now tV meant your refund was not processed as it should have been.

When you contacted sky on september 4, your subscription was immediately cancelled, but yet another error meant your refund was not processed as quickly as it should have been.

you tell me you have now received a full refund of the £58.71 you paid sky and have had ‘the most amazing service from now tV’. they have offered a now tV box and five 24- hour sports passes. a now tV spokesman says: ‘We’re really sorry Mr h had a frustrating experience. We have spoken to him to apologise.’