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Topic: British Gas name change on account  (Read 19444 times)

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British Gas name change on account
« on: August 07, 2010, 01:51:32 PM »
We have a gas account with British Gas and an electricity account with another supplier.

I wanted to move the electricity over to BG so our rates would be cheaper.

However, the gas account is in DH's name and the electricity account is in my name.

The only other utility that I have in my name is the water, and I want to have at least two utility bills in my name in case I need proof of address for something.

So I called BG and asked if they could put both names on our account.

They said they could, but they would have to close the old BG account and open a new one.

We have a protected tariff from British Gas so if we closed the old account our rates would go up.

When I moved to the UK and wanted to get utility bills in my name for ILR, I called BT and asked them if they would change the name on th account from DH's to mine, they also said that they would have to close down the whole BT account and then open a new one for us. So I left it in DH's name.

Why do you have to shut down a whole account just to change a name on a bill?



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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2010, 02:43:03 PM »
British Gas do some truly stupid stuff.

I work in social housing.  I'm trying to get a gas meter removed from a property that doesn't use gas and hasn't done since the tenant moved in there.  British Gas was the last supplier.  They openly acknowledge that they haven't supplied gas there in five years, but refuse to remove the meter because there is no account attached to the property.

If I want the meter gone, then I have to open an account in our company's name and then they'll go remove the meter and close the account.  Bit silly, eh?
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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2010, 03:28:03 PM »
  They openly acknowledge that they haven't supplied gas there in five years, but refuse to remove the meter because there is no account attached to the property.



Maybe there is no account because they haven't supplied gas there in 5 years. Duh.


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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2010, 04:11:48 PM »
The whole point of the requirement is to get you off of the old (and better) rates.  When I used to work for a phone company, we had the same requirements and the sole purpose was to get people off of "grandfathered" contracts.  We also had the same requirements (cancel the old account and start a new one) if someone moved...for the same purpose.

They did the same thing for us when we changed our BG gas and electric bills from 'The Occupier' to our actual names.


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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #4 on: August 07, 2010, 06:30:48 PM »
Interesting. Although British Gas didn't change our rates when we moved last year.

This sounds like a story for Watchdog.


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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2010, 11:47:12 PM »
Sweetpeach that really sucks!

Have you tried threatening to switch to a different supplier altogether? They usually get more accommodating then.
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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #6 on: August 08, 2010, 12:21:58 AM »
Why don't you just add your name to the accounts? We did this with both our electric and BT bills. It wasn't a big deal.


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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #7 on: August 08, 2010, 09:34:40 AM »
Why don't you just add your name to the accounts? We did this with both our electric and BT bills. It wasn't a big deal.

Have you read my original post?


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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #8 on: August 08, 2010, 04:09:18 PM »
Forgive me for missing the part where British Gas said you had to close and open a new account.

However, as I said it was no problem to add my name to our BT account after it had been opened in only my husband's name.


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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #9 on: August 08, 2010, 05:00:52 PM »
Gretel44: That's what she's trying to do, but they told her that, in order to add her name, they'd have to close the account in just his name and open a new one in both names. That's what happened when my BF added me to his account - but we didn't have a better rate locked in so it wasn't an issue for us.


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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #10 on: August 08, 2010, 05:10:09 PM »
I understand that British Gas told her she had to close the account and reopen it to change her the name on the account. 


When I moved to the UK and wanted to get utility bills in my name for ILR, I called BT and asked them if they would change the name on th account from DH's to mine, they also said that they would have to close down the whole BT account and then open a new one for us. So I left it in DH's name.


But, she said that she wanted to change the name on the BT account and I'm saying that we simply added my name with no need to close and reopen an account and in fact we used the BT bill as evidence for ILR.



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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #11 on: August 08, 2010, 05:27:48 PM »
But, she said that she wanted to change the name on the BT account and I'm saying that we simply added my name with no need to close and reopen an account and in fact we used the BT bill as evidence for ILR.

sweetpeach also said that she did try to add both names to the account and they told her they could do it, but would have to close down the account and open a new one:

So I called BG and asked if they could put both names on our account.

They said they could, but they would have to close the old BG account and open a new one.


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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #12 on: August 08, 2010, 05:44:06 PM »
In sweetpeach's post she refers to BOTH BG and BT.

BG=British Gas:

So I called BG and asked if they could put both names on our account.

They said they could, but they would have to close the old BG account and open a new one.


I understand that she tried to change the name on British Gas (BG) and they said that she would have to close and reopen the account.


BT=British Telecom:


When I moved to the UK and wanted to get utility bills in my name for ILR, I called BT and asked them if they would change the name on th account from DH's to mine, they also said that they would have to close down the whole BT account and then open a new one for us. So I left it in DH's name.


Separately, she said that she tried to change the name on British Telecom (BT) and they said she would have to close and reopen the account.  I am suggesting on the BT account, NOT the BG account that we were able to simply ADD my name.


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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #13 on: August 08, 2010, 09:13:05 PM »
Sweetpeach, your story reminded me of when I first moved to New York City in 2004 or so.  I called up ConEd to get my electricity account set up, expecting to have to jump through a lot of hoops proving my trustworthiness at all my previous addresses, etc, etc.

I was surprised to find that all it took was one 2-minute phone call to tell them my name and where I lived.  When I told the guy I was surprised I didn't have to give account numbers from my previous electricity suppliers, the guy said (in a perfect New York City accent):

"We used to do all that, but it cost a ton of money to check the information we got, so we scrapped it.  These days we hook up everybody, and if you don't pay, we just turn the electricity off."

 :)

Hope you're able to get it worked out with BG.


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Re: British Gas name change on account
« Reply #14 on: August 09, 2010, 11:51:32 AM »
Don't get me started on British Gas. Recently moved back to them and since have had at least 3 calls asking us to move to them "as an ex-customer", "Errr...we've already moved back". They've still not set up my direct debit and now send a letter accusing me of not paying my bills!
I recall them screwing up my direct debit a few years ago when I switched to them.
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