The Times - UK (2020-10-17)

the times | Saturday October 17 2020 1GM 65

Money

Have your say

Surely, the real problem is that

people can’t afford to buy houses

without a subsidy (First-time buy-

er repayment trap, September 10).

The government needs to increase

the supply of cheaper houses. They

could do this by increasing the

supply of public housing to rent.

This would release buy-to-let prop-

erties and provide decent accom-

modation for those who are never

going to have the income to buy.

Georgia Itchell

The best help would be the removal

of all government intervention in

the housing market, which only

ever serves to prop up prices.

Jonathan Wood

I bought under Gordon Brown’s

predecessor scheme in 2009. Paid

back less than I borrowed thanks to

builder inflated price and the lender

surprisingly ported the mortgage

over when moving home, keeping a

low rate. Just a reminder that it isn’t

always doom and gloom.

Capriz

How lucky people are who have

been helped into owning property

with this generous taxpayer funded

scheme. We certainly never had

any state help when trying to buy

our first home in the Nineties.

Clarke Griswold

Help to Buy in London has created

numerous substandard, overpriced

flats that owners will struggle to

remortgage or sell. They are very

small and often use a communal

heating system which works out

ridiculously expensive. I looked at

Help to Buy but realised it was a

scam so waited until I could get a

traditional mortgage. Many people

that have rushed into Help to Buy

will regret it in the long run.

Jay Shore

Recently I had a change of postcode

(Namecheck: why a typo on my

bank card spelt disaster, Septem-

ber 10). Just the code, the house

and garden remained in situ. They

somehow knew what would

happen. The DVLA seems to

work online exclusively. The form

wouldn’t accept my old PA address

and thus I was never allowed to

enter the new FU address. It did

eventually get sorted on the phone.

I think both sides enjoyed the

conversation, and FU won.

Tom Hollway

My wife doesn’t exist — well, not

according to the estate agent as she

could not prove who she is — no

driving licence or passport. She had

to get a special ID certificate from

the Post Office. Even the mortgage

lender would not port the old loan

that is in both our names. We also

found it funny at first.

Nick Griffiths

“I read with interest your article

(Silver splitters’ missing out on

£3,000 a year, October 10). I have

felt, for some time, that I fall into

this category and tried to argue my

case with my local DWP office

some years ago. They were most

unhelpful and rejected my argu-

ments then, despite promising to

send me their reasoning in writing,

failed to do so. I gave up in despair.”

Shelagh Hampton, via email

All comments made at thetimes.co.uk

unless stated otherwise

Write to Troubleshooter,

Times Money, 1 London Bridge

Street, London SE1 9GF or

[email protected],

including your phone number

A

fter closing her British Gas

account seven months ago

Gillian Bridge, 69, says she

has had various final bills

for amounts ranging from

£42.50 to £327.78. She has been chased

by debt collectors, her credit rating has

been ruined and she now can’t get a

new credit card.

The retired writer moved into a two-

bedroom flat in Tadworth, Surrey, on

January 24. On March 5 she decided to

move energy supplier from British Gas

to Bristol Energy. Gillian admits she in-

itially misread the meter when trying to

give British Gas a final reading and so

on March 19 she was sent a closing bill

of £231.28 for the five weeks from when

she moved in up to March 5.

Gillian said that, after being unable to

get through on the phone at the start of

the pandemic, she wrote to customer

services on March 20 and gave a cor-

rect reading. She had a letter back on

April 7 saying that the company was

“putting emergencies and the needs of

our most vulnerable customers first

right now”. It added: “We’re sorry, but

your letter will not be read or actioned.”

She rang the emergency number on

the bottom of the letter on April 15, and

says she was told that a bill would be

sent for the correct amount, which

would be £93.37. On May 13 she had a

bill for £70.50. Gillian rang customer

services to query the amount and on

May 26 she got a bill for £42.50.

After ringing again, on June 12 she

was billed £327.78, which included a £28

administration fee that British Gas said

had been passed on by a debt collection

agency. “I simply couldn’t understand

what was going on and rang customer

services who said it was a mistake and I

either company. Bristol Energy said it

did not give British Gas this reading.

A British Gas spokeswoman said:

“Our team is happy to speak to Mrs

Bridge again if she can provide the

correct meter reading and confirm with

Bristol Energy that it is the one they will

use for consistency. We have been in

touch to ask. However, we can’t pro-

mise the credit score will be amended

due to the lack of contact from her and

also because we have followed all in-

dustry processes correctly.”

We also contacted Bristol Energy,

which was acquired by Together

Energy on September 9. It said that it

had been unable to send Gillian her first

bill until September 5 because of the

ongoing dispute with British Gas. “Re-

grettably, the dispute between Ms

Bridge and British Gas over the open-

ing meter readings and subsequent

conflicting data between the two par-

ties has taken an exceptionally long

time to resolve,” it said. “This affected

our ability to open a new account and

generate a bill as quickly as we normal-

ly would.” The company said it would

still send her a £45 goodwill payment

“in recognition of her experience”

because of its lateness.

British Gas said it considers the

matter closed, having issued what is

known as a deadlock letter and referred

Gillian’s complaint to the energy

ombudsman. An energy customer can

complain to the ombudsman if they

are not happy with their supplier’s

response to a complaint, and it will

arbitrate between the two parties. A

customer has 12 months from receipt of

a deadlock letter to take it to the

ombudsman, which can get the suppl-

ier to correct the problem, apologise,

respond with a full explanation and, in

some cases, issue a financial reward. It

does not have a strict time limit in

which it needs to respond, however.

Gillian said that when she asked for

recordings of the calls she made to Brit-

ish Gas in April and May, she was told

that they had been deleted after three

months. “I have done everything I can

to get readings for both parties. Their

incompetence is preventing me from

getting a resolution,” she said.

She says she will wait for the

ombudsman’s findings and, in the

meantime, has no choice but to accept

a black mark on her credit rating.

ILLUSTRATION BY JAMES COLTMAN

Still hoping for a refund despite the collapse of Tonik

On March 11 Joanna Toye, 63, a landlord

from Birmingham, chose Tonik Energy

to supply electricity to a vacant rental

property. Tenants moved in on

March 30, so she closed her account,

and they took on their own account

with Tonik. Joanna had prepaid £103 for

the three weeks when the flat was

empty but was refunded only £11.60.

“I logged on to my account to find

that they had disregarded my meter

readings and used readings bearing no

relation to mine,” she said. “I spoke

three times to customer services and

wrote countless emails, sending

photographs of the meter readings for

March 10 and March 30 at least three

times, but I have received no refund.”

On October 6 Tonik Energy went

bust, and Scottish Power was appointed

by Ofgem, the energy regulator, to take

on its 130,000 customers. Joanna

wants to know what she should do now.

Troubleshooter says

Tonik Energy’s liquidation will not be a

cause of grief for readers who have

complained about its customer service

before. Sarah Thomas, 37, told us last

month that it had sent late-payment

demands and legal threats to her

mother’s house for 16 months after she

had died of cancer, even though she

wrote 12 emails and made four calls to

the company urging it to stop.

When a company goes bust its

customers are passed on to what is

known as a supplier of last resort,

which is responsible for settling bills

using money from a central pot paid

into by all energy suppliers.

Ofgem told us that Scottish Power

would be in touch with customers

who were owed money, but that

it would take several weeks to

resolve complaints.

Ofgem eased its rules in 2014 to

make it easier to set up small energy

companies, but 17 suppliers have gone

bust since November 2016. This spate

of collapses prompted Ofgem to bring

in tougher tests last year for suppliers

wanting to enter the market.

Will Owen, from the comparison site

Uswitch, said that there has been

warning signs about Tonik because

Ofgem was pursuing it for £8.8 million

in unpaid green tariffs. “Many energy

companies, particularly the smaller

challenger brands, operate on thin

profit margins,” he said. “The Covid-19

lockdown also resulted in many

customers delaying or missing

payments, leaving some suppliers

without the cashflow to keep going.”

Scottish Power said: “We are

committed to honouring all

outstanding credit balances. We are

working closely with Tonik and its

administrators to ensure all energy

accounts are closed in a timely manner.

We will be in touch with our new

customers soon to ensure everything

runs smoothly over the coming few

weeks and would like to reassure them

that they do not need to worry.”

David

Byers

Troubleshooter

I have been

trying to pay

my final bill

since March

would be sent another final bill.” Mean-

while she received her bill from Bristol

Energy, for £182.33 covering March 5 to

September 5.

Last month Gillian contacted her

bank in order to change credit cards,

but was told this would not be possible.

“I was told that British Gas had placed

a black mark against my credit rating

for non-payment of bills, so I couldn’t

apply for any more credit, which leaves

me furious and worried,” she said.

Gillian wants to pay her British Gas

bill, but still has no idea how much she

actually owes.

Troubleshooter says

When we asked British Gas what had

happened here, its version differed

drastically from Gillian’s.

The company said that it sent Gillian

a bill for £231.28 on March 19, based on

her meter reading. After that it said it

had “no record of any contact from Mrs

Bridge on our systems” until May 4. It

said it sent her two payment reminders

on April 3 and April 22.

Gillian said she has a copy of the writ-

ten reply from British Gas telling her

that it would not respond to her and

asking her to ring its emergency num-

ber if she needed to, which she did.

The company said it has a record of a

call from Gillian on May 4 with a new

meter reading and said: “We amended

the final bill issued for £70.50.” How-

ever, on June 12, British Gas said that

Bristol Energy had got in touch in order

to register a third meter reading from

Gillian, which led it to send out a new

bill on June 12 for £327.78.

Gillian said she does not recognise

this third reading and did not give it to

I was told British Gas

had put a black mark

against my credit rating