British Gas have been slammed by a pair of grieving sisters after revealing the “appalling” treatment they have received since the death of their mother.
Catherine and Jo Montgomery’s mum Eileen died aged 89 last summer and since then the pair have been enduring all sorts of problems with the energy and home services provider as they attempt to pay the final bill for her Morpeth home.
Older sibling Catherine, 60, had been trying to settle her mum’s account, but has since passed the job on to Jo, 49, to try her luck after becoming increasingly fed up with British Gas’ barrage of mistakes for eight months, reports the Newcastle Chronicle.
And Catherine and Jo say their mother, who had never been in debt to them, has been treated shockingly bad even in death.
The sisters say the catalogue of errors included:
- 11 bills, ranging from £1,600 to £310, some with late payment charges applied
- Four copies of a solicitor’s letter accusing them of being in dereliction of their duties as executors of Mrs Montgomery’s estate and asking for a different amount of money from the bills
- Five letters threatening debt collection, all quoting different amounts outstanding
- A separate letter asking for £249.27 from the independent debt collection agency Arvato, as well as some letters not specifying an amount
- Two letters threatening entry to Mrs Montgomery’s house to install a pre-payment meter
- One further letter saying that British Gas had decided not to install a prepay meter
- A refund cheque made out to Catherine for £42.03
- Four text messages threatening various types of action
“The whole thing has just been utterly ridiculous,” admitted Catherine. “British Gas have a bereavement support line manned by the most unsympathetic and rude people I’ve ever spoken to and I feel that overall the way they have dealt with me, a bereaved person, has amounted to harassment.
“I’ve received more than 20 letters and bills from them and every single bill was wrong so it was impossible to pay it.
“Our mother paid her bills religiously by direct debit for 18 years and was never in debt to them. I am sickened by the announcement of their profits.
“Every single bill they have sent me has been wrong, despite sending them three meter readings, and it has been impossible to pay it.
“We just want the bill sorted and paid so we can move on.
“Our mum was a loyal British Gas customer for years and she was never in debt to anyone.
“She would have been in such a state if she had to face threats of debt collection and legal letters. I know she would have just paid the bill for £1,600 when it came in as she would be too frightened to do anything else.
“We feel harassed by British Gas and have no intention of ignoring the bill, which is why we have been trying to sort it.
“To make things worse, some of the letters are written to our mother as if she was still alive and is refusing to pay, which is extremely upsetting.
“The final straw came when we started to receive solicitors’ letters accusing us of being in dereliction of our duties as executors of our mother’s estate. These came after we had been in touch with British Gas’s bereavement team.
“I am still struggling to understand why we couldn’t have a final bill for my mother’s account and to have paid this straight away.
“Receiving correspondence such as this would have terrified our mother and would have been impossible for her to resolve – it’s proving very difficult for us.”
A British Gas Spokesperson: “Our Bereavement Team were there for Ms Montgomery when we were informed that her mother had sadly passed away. However, multiple bills based on estimated readings were sent by mistake.
“We’ve reached out to Ms Montgomery to say sorry for any upset caused during this difficult time and we’ve sent a new bill that has been adjusted to accurate meter readings.”
