I switched from Evolve but now owe British Gas £550

N.C. writes: I have been with British Gas Evolve on a 12-month fix, paying £79 a month. Recently it announced it was being amalgamated with British Gas, but the systems could not cope. I was underpaying, but it was impossible to increase the payments.

YOU told me problems began in April, when you switched to the British Gas variable tariff and found you had a debit balance of about £250. You wanted to pay more, but you were told there was a ‘technical issue’ that needed to be fixed. In May, British Gas seemed to have solved this, and you were warned that your monthly payments would increase from £79 to £175. You were happy to pay, but instead of collecting £175, British Gas stopped collecting anything at all. And now it has held you responsible, saying you owe £550.

I asked British Gas to look into this and it quickly managed to restart your direct debits. It also called you to apologise and offer £90 as a goodwill gesture for the worry caused. Other British Gas Evolve customers should check immediately as the same fault may have affected them, and they may innocently be running up big debts.