Surrender... at hands of British Gas gibberish
Incomprehensible letter to war heroine
WARTIME HEROINE Dorothy Edwards is not afraid of a battle – but officialdom at British Gas almost made her admit defeat after sending her a letter of “complete gobbledegook” riddled with spelling mistakes and incomprehensible sentences.
Dorothy, 92, from Stannington near Sheffield, survived German bullets in the Second World War in an incident when her airfield was strafed by a raiding German fighter. Her prompt action in urging her Women’s Auxiliary Air Force comrades to shelter under a nearby tree probably saved lives. Since then she has come through cancer, a heart attack, major heart surgery, a broken leg and breaks in both hips.
But she was nearly beaten by a baffling letter from British Gas after her son Philip queried an unexpected bill of around £1,300 on her behalf.
A letter from British Gas attempting to explain their actions has been described by Philip as ‘a triumph of Pidgin English’. The company finally apologised today after being contacted by The Yorkshire Post.
One sentence, which has 10 mistakes alone, reads: “looked [sic] into your account furtheer [sic] regarding your complaint, and have found theat [sic] when thee [sic] account was billed on thee [sic] 17the [sic] august [sic] 2016 for £899.15 thee [sic] payment amounts had already been scheduled to decrease on thee [sic] 19the [sic] August.”
Another sentence in the letter reads: “We continued to take £71.13 for gas and electricity as theis [sic] was enough to cover thee [sic] usage and outstanding balance, theis [sic] payment amount ran from 04.04.2016 03.03.2017, When [sic] thee [sic] amount changed to £171.13 due to a large bill we produced of £1,007.82 on thee [sic] 09.02.2017.”
Another adds: “Withe [sic] theis [sic] been [sic] said and thee [sic] correct actions we have taken to inform you and staying withein [sic] thee [sic] direct debit guarantee guidelines, Unfortunately [sic] at theis [sic] time we wouldn’t be compensating £250.00 to thee [sic] account which you confirmed to myself.”
Her family say Dorothy set up a direct debit in 2014 to pay her bills. At first British Gas took £93.50 per month, then later decreased this to £37.13 in line with her usage. But the family say that suddenly the charge shot up and she was shocked to receive a bill for nearly £900. This later mounted up to almost £1,300 – leading to the family querying what was happening.
Dorothy, whose eyesight and hearing is poor, ended up paying the bill out of her life savings rather than continue with the stress of the situation.
Philip, aged 68, said when he first saw the letter he could not believe it had actually come from the company.
“I thought it was a scam from the Third World. I thought ‘There is no reason why they would send this’.”
He said when he rang up to check the letter was real with British Gas, one of their employees confirmed it was and then started laughing.
“She said ‘I guess it doesn’t spell very well, haha’.”
He added: “To be presented with a large and unexpected bill is to someone of my mother’s age deeply troubling. It was something she was losing sleep over and she became increasingly more concerned, to the extent that she relented and paid the bill out of her life savings rather than undergo further stress.
“It’s hard to believe a major national company would behave in this way then send a letter which is supposed to set the record straight but is just gibberish. I challenge the chairman of British Gas to see if he can make sense of it.”
British Gas apologised for the letter and admitted it incorrectly asked Mrs Edwards to pay back too much at once. The company says it will now pay back “a large proportion of the bill”.
I challenge the chairman of British Gas to see if he can make sense of it Philip Edwards, son of Dorothy Edwards