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OUTRAGED: Andrew Morphet received a gas bill for £32,000 from British Gas and they are not even his supplier
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£32k gas bill? It’s a load of hot air!
Eve Dugdale30/ 4/2008
EVERYONE knows that energy prices are soaring, but when Andrew Morphet received a bill for nearly £32,000 from British Gas he knew something was amiss.
Especially because British Gas don’t supply his gas OR electricity!
Mr Morphet, 54, who is himself a domestic energy assessor advising residents how to save energy in the home, moved into Hawthorn Street, Audenshaw two years ago.
He immediately switched from British Gas to nPower and paid a final bill addressed to the previous owner.
Thinking that would be the end of it, he was stunned to receive a final reminder notice for £31,977.50 from British Gas through his door.
"I was extremely annoyed," he said.
"They phone up once a week asking if I would like to go back to them. I keep saying I’m not interested, please stop ringing. This has been going on since Christmas."
When he received the final reminder, Mr Morphet phoned British Gas.
"They said it must be a mistake, but it took me half-an-hour on call-waiting to get through to speak to them. Suppose this had been an elderly person who got this through the door, they would have had a heart attack.
"They told me just to ignore it, but I said there must be something wrong somewhere and I said I wanted some answers as to how this happened.
"They were really dismissive and said one of their managers may call me back later, but they didn’t."
A spokeswoman from British Gas said the large bill related to energy consumption by the previous homeowner from September 2003 to July 2006 and was automatically created by its billing system because an incorrect meter reading was used to open the account in 2003.
She said: "We apologise to Mr Morphet for the worry caused.
"The bill received was raised in error and will be cancelled immediately and our records amended."
Most recent 2 of 3 user comments
I am on a pre payment metre and have been sent bills for over 100 pounds, you contact them and they come out with a load of bull about price increases etc! I am still trying to sort this out them the company but they wont be getting any money from me no way!
6/05/2008 at 12:55
Got an opinion you want to share?Should less emphasis be placed on the results of tests and more emphasis on general education for children?
| Card | Typical APR |
| Virgin Credit Card | 15.9% |
| Egg Card | 16.9% |
| Barclaycard Platinum | 14.9% |
| Barclaycard OnePulse For London | 14.9% |
| Capital One BT Exclusive | 13.9% |
| Company | Typical APR |
| FirstPlus Exclusive Rate | 6.6% |
| Moneyback Bank | 7.2% |
| Barclaycard Personal Loan | 7.3% |
| Alliance & Leicester | 7.7% |
| Halifax (Semi-exclusive) | 7.8% |
| Bank of Scotland (Semi-exclusive) | 7.8% |
| Barclays | 7.9% |
| Provider | AER* |
|
ICESAVE Easy Access ISA |
6.10% |
|
ALLIANCE & LEICESTER Direct ISA Issue 4 |
6.00% |
|
YORKSHIRE BS e-ISA |
5.55% |
Just what was the previous home owner doing?
6/05/2008 at 13:21