Hi,
This is my issue I hope someone can help me with as i am having so many problems getting answers from both BOI and BordGais.
Problem: I set up dual system in Sep where by I pay a set amount each month for gas and electricity with Bord Gais, meaning I would not get large bills every 2 months as they take an average over the year. I got first bill in Nov for 85 (gas)but was never billed for the other one of 65(electr), so since then I have been on to them many times and since then the mandate for 65 was never set up. They are blaiming the bank, however I think that the second manade was never sent and so they are not taking ownership for the problem either. At the end of the day it has accumulated to nearly 500 euro and I am very stressed about this.
Please see some emails below.
I am just very upset, it is not much money to some people but in the scheme of things it all adds up. I only working part-time and have family, my partner was made redundant few years ago so setting this up was a relief to me.
I will wait and see what their reaction is but meanwhile I thought I would write to you to see what advice you can give me.
Latest update from bank visit today::
BOI states that the reason why they did not take direct debit for my electricity a/c is that my bank account is overdrawn for too long and needs to be + for a period of 30 days and then offered me a structured loan to either pay off the 500 euros elec. bill or my o/d .I am more confused .
Thanks,
G
EMAILS:
Writing in regards to why the second direct mandate was never set up, I set up both at the same time in October, for some reason only one was put through by your department at the time. I set the dual account up over the phone and one would imagine that both direct debit mandate forms managed by you would have gone at the same time to the bank in October.
I rang on number of occassions to ask what the problem was as I was really worried by Jan or Feb that I still was not being billed (bill I get now is for 85 when I should also be getting one for 65 ), and I was told that it was all sorted, however direct debit was never set up in the first place and was rejected few times by the bank. Surely this should have showed up on your system when I rang in 2014 ***
The bank now 3 times has assured me that having too many direct debits is not the reason, perhaps the reason is that I have an over draft but would be good to get both parties to look into this deeper.
I would just like to find out what the problem is and so perhaps the team can learn from this as I am the one that is paying for the mistake. There is obviously an issue in the system, or the team managing these accounts as noone followed up sooner with me to say that the dual account was not set up and that there was a problem, I was the proactive one to call B Gais many times to point out this fact. There was a mistake in the system somewhere.
It was only in May, more than 6 months after I set up the accounts that I got something in writing to say that there was a problem ( between Feb and May I did not check my bank statements to see if I was being billed properly which was pity as I would have called up again) - REf number of the letter - CE82. FOr your information I never cancelled the direct debit and that was what was in the letter from B Gais - again this is not a valid reason.
When I rang B Gais up about 2 weeks ago to ask about this issue, they said that the direct debit mandate has been rejected by the bank since January. THIS then suggests perhaps that the mandate was never set up in October. I still do not know what was the problem since October has been. When I rang up before Christmas and after Christmas I was never informed that the reason why there was a problem was to do with me and my bank, if mandate had been sent in Oct then surely staff would have given this as a reason, to me it suggests that the mandate was never sent by your office for both gas and electricity when I set it up orginally ( I think it was Sep or Oct I set this up ) **
I spoke to the bank again this week and they advised that I should get the following from you as I really want something in writing to say why the second DD mandate was never set up.
- mandate number for electricity and the gas account
- plus need unique reference number for gas and electricity also
- I want to see a copy of both mandates and paper trail to show when they were sent to the bank
WIth this information then I can go back to the bank and they will look deeper into this for me.
Meanwhile I want to pay the bill, original amount was 65 per month but the girl on phone said i would have pay almost 100 per month back to cover bill since October. That means I will have to pay almost 200 per month when this is what I wanted to avoid in the first place.
I just think it is very unfair that I now have massive bill to pay off when entire purpose of dual fuel is so that people like me who are really struggling can manage accounts better and not have this extra stress.
I really would like to hear from you as I am keen to take this further, I hope you can come to arrangement where I can pay bill off over 2 years, which is fair, means I will stay loyal and sign up again. I also would like to know why I did not get the points for Tesco (perhaps they have been allocates since), this was one of the main reasons I went with your company also.
Best regards,
EMAIL2
In Nov last I signed up for Dual billing system,I got estimate average of what I was to pay each month for gas and electricity but since then I am only paying for one service.
At time I gave all bank details and arranged that both bills would come out of my account each month so that I was able to manage my money and not have large bills every 2 months, also I was keen get points from Tesco, never got points even though I complained many times.
I rang Dec and January I think it was discuss problem of not being billed for both gas and electricity.
I was told it was sorted as I was worried that I would get very large bill.
However I was posted out bill back dated to Oct for over400 euro, two weeks ago, I rang your office again as was upset,I had not checked my bank statements and had assumed that by now the mistake was resolved and that I would be billed for both gas and electricity. I was shocked to get such large bill plus not being aware that problem still not solved.
reason I was given was that bank said I had too many direct debits, I have 5 only, rang bank twice since call and no this is not an issue they said.
Person on phone promided call me back and have details to hand to set bill upnagain, but bill will go up from 65 to nearly 1oo per month, this is very fair as I had tried many times to point out fact that I wsd being billed only for one service. Been 2 weeks and no one has rung back, bank say problen is not with me having too many d debits.
I assume I will also be charged banking fees every time direct debit failed.
Entire Reason i signed with you was avoid this very same issue of being billed for large amount.
I am not happy and plan take this further. I feel I am being put in very difficult situation when your systems do not work os staff did not look deeper into issue when I called first few times.
look forward to situation that is favourable to me.
Thanks
This is my issue I hope someone can help me with as i am having so many problems getting answers from both BOI and BordGais.
Problem: I set up dual system in Sep where by I pay a set amount each month for gas and electricity with Bord Gais, meaning I would not get large bills every 2 months as they take an average over the year. I got first bill in Nov for 85 (gas)but was never billed for the other one of 65(electr), so since then I have been on to them many times and since then the mandate for 65 was never set up. They are blaiming the bank, however I think that the second manade was never sent and so they are not taking ownership for the problem either. At the end of the day it has accumulated to nearly 500 euro and I am very stressed about this.
Please see some emails below.
I am just very upset, it is not much money to some people but in the scheme of things it all adds up. I only working part-time and have family, my partner was made redundant few years ago so setting this up was a relief to me.
I will wait and see what their reaction is but meanwhile I thought I would write to you to see what advice you can give me.
Latest update from bank visit today::
BOI states that the reason why they did not take direct debit for my electricity a/c is that my bank account is overdrawn for too long and needs to be + for a period of 30 days and then offered me a structured loan to either pay off the 500 euros elec. bill or my o/d .I am more confused .
Thanks,
G
EMAILS:
Writing in regards to why the second direct mandate was never set up, I set up both at the same time in October, for some reason only one was put through by your department at the time. I set the dual account up over the phone and one would imagine that both direct debit mandate forms managed by you would have gone at the same time to the bank in October.
I rang on number of occassions to ask what the problem was as I was really worried by Jan or Feb that I still was not being billed (bill I get now is for 85 when I should also be getting one for 65 ), and I was told that it was all sorted, however direct debit was never set up in the first place and was rejected few times by the bank. Surely this should have showed up on your system when I rang in 2014 ***
The bank now 3 times has assured me that having too many direct debits is not the reason, perhaps the reason is that I have an over draft but would be good to get both parties to look into this deeper.
I would just like to find out what the problem is and so perhaps the team can learn from this as I am the one that is paying for the mistake. There is obviously an issue in the system, or the team managing these accounts as noone followed up sooner with me to say that the dual account was not set up and that there was a problem, I was the proactive one to call B Gais many times to point out this fact. There was a mistake in the system somewhere.
It was only in May, more than 6 months after I set up the accounts that I got something in writing to say that there was a problem ( between Feb and May I did not check my bank statements to see if I was being billed properly which was pity as I would have called up again) - REf number of the letter - CE82. FOr your information I never cancelled the direct debit and that was what was in the letter from B Gais - again this is not a valid reason.
When I rang B Gais up about 2 weeks ago to ask about this issue, they said that the direct debit mandate has been rejected by the bank since January. THIS then suggests perhaps that the mandate was never set up in October. I still do not know what was the problem since October has been. When I rang up before Christmas and after Christmas I was never informed that the reason why there was a problem was to do with me and my bank, if mandate had been sent in Oct then surely staff would have given this as a reason, to me it suggests that the mandate was never sent by your office for both gas and electricity when I set it up orginally ( I think it was Sep or Oct I set this up ) **
I spoke to the bank again this week and they advised that I should get the following from you as I really want something in writing to say why the second DD mandate was never set up.
- mandate number for electricity and the gas account
- plus need unique reference number for gas and electricity also
- I want to see a copy of both mandates and paper trail to show when they were sent to the bank
WIth this information then I can go back to the bank and they will look deeper into this for me.
Meanwhile I want to pay the bill, original amount was 65 per month but the girl on phone said i would have pay almost 100 per month back to cover bill since October. That means I will have to pay almost 200 per month when this is what I wanted to avoid in the first place.
I just think it is very unfair that I now have massive bill to pay off when entire purpose of dual fuel is so that people like me who are really struggling can manage accounts better and not have this extra stress.
I really would like to hear from you as I am keen to take this further, I hope you can come to arrangement where I can pay bill off over 2 years, which is fair, means I will stay loyal and sign up again. I also would like to know why I did not get the points for Tesco (perhaps they have been allocates since), this was one of the main reasons I went with your company also.
Best regards,
EMAIL2
In Nov last I signed up for Dual billing system,I got estimate average of what I was to pay each month for gas and electricity but since then I am only paying for one service.
At time I gave all bank details and arranged that both bills would come out of my account each month so that I was able to manage my money and not have large bills every 2 months, also I was keen get points from Tesco, never got points even though I complained many times.
I rang Dec and January I think it was discuss problem of not being billed for both gas and electricity.
I was told it was sorted as I was worried that I would get very large bill.
However I was posted out bill back dated to Oct for over400 euro, two weeks ago, I rang your office again as was upset,I had not checked my bank statements and had assumed that by now the mistake was resolved and that I would be billed for both gas and electricity. I was shocked to get such large bill plus not being aware that problem still not solved.
reason I was given was that bank said I had too many direct debits, I have 5 only, rang bank twice since call and no this is not an issue they said.
Person on phone promided call me back and have details to hand to set bill upnagain, but bill will go up from 65 to nearly 1oo per month, this is very fair as I had tried many times to point out fact that I wsd being billed only for one service. Been 2 weeks and no one has rung back, bank say problen is not with me having too many d debits.
I assume I will also be charged banking fees every time direct debit failed.
Entire Reason i signed with you was avoid this very same issue of being billed for large amount.
I am not happy and plan take this further. I feel I am being put in very difficult situation when your systems do not work os staff did not look deeper into issue when I called first few times.
look forward to situation that is favourable to me.
Thanks