direct debit with Bord Gais

soreal

so we've decided to terminate our direct debit payment arrangement with bord gais in favor of paying directly.
the next thing i know, our bill this month came with an extra 400 euro as a "deposit adjustment".
does that make any sense to any one?
why should I pay 400 euro for not paying via direct debit?
the only response i got from bord gais's customer service so far is that if i dont want to pay i have to go back to direct debit . :rolleyes:

Sizzler

:eek:

Have you spoken to them about it? That sounds ridiculous, to say the least.

Do you rent by any chance? Perhaps they had an issue with the previous tenant, thats the only logical explanation I can come up with.

soreal

we are renting actually. but we've been in the house for years now without problems , so i guess being an ex-tenant related issue is unlikely.. although am not sure about that!

my house mate - the account holder - was the one who talked to them directly, i only have been told the outcome of the call and asked for help.

i spent the whole day going through the bord gais's website , there is no mention for any thing related to deposits

cycling is fun

The 400 euro is a refundable deposit oviously tenants can leave address without paying bills this is bord gais security against this its refunded when tenant moves out of address or reverts to direct debit if a/c holder has lived at address for some time it might be worth speaking with the credit control team as they may waive deposit

Electric

That €400 is a security deposit. I was in a similar situation the last house I lived in I had the gas bill in my name as I didn't want the hassle that comes with trying to get direct debits turned off.

They informed me that we would have to pay the security deposit. Anyway we kinda forgot about it so they attached it to our bill. There were 4 of us living in the house so we each paid €100.

I have to say though that when I was moving out (and this was only last August) there was no problem about getting the deposit back. They asked for my new address and posted the cheque out to me within a week.

Long story short you'll either have to pay the €400 or resume dd. You should opt for whichever suits you best. If you go with the €400 deposit then see if you can split it between you and your housemates.

soreal

the account holder has been in the house for more than 7 year, so i guess there is no harm in giving the waive a go.

thanks everybody for clarifying the issue to me.

gryphonent

Is it legal by a public company to ask for a deposit that is almost double the average of my quarterly bill? Also, I believe that they are required to repay the deposit with interest if the deposit is not used. Why should they accumulate interest in my name? They can have the deposit and fulfill their security requirements but I’d expect them to pay at least interest at the standard banking rate. Anybody has any experience with this? Are there any proceedings against Bord Gais ongoing?

Fnergg

gryphonent wrote: »

Is it legal by a public company to ask for a deposit that is almost double the average of my quarterly bill? Also, I believe that they are required to repay the deposit with interest if the deposit is not used. Why should they accumulate interest in my name? They can have the deposit and fulfill their security requirements but I’d expect them to pay at least interest at the standard banking rate. Anybody has any experience with this? Are there any proceedings against Bord Gais ongoing?

The €400 doesn't seem inordinately high to me - it's probably equivalent to twice the average winter bill. They are not required to pay any interest on the deposit. In any case, with interest rates the way they are I don't think it matters a whole hill of beans one way or another.

Remember that gas and electricity utilities provide their service on credit i.e. you have consumed two months of their product before you are billed for it. Given the relatively high rates of bad debt write offs caused by people scarpering and leaving debts unpaid I think it is only prudent business practice to charge new customers deposits or else have them pay by direct debit. And if the direct debit is cancelled within a few months of becoming a customer of course the customer must appreciate that the deposit will be charged instead.

Regards,

Fnergg

foggy_lad

i thought once you were paying by direct debit for a while you could change without penalty and what security does direct debit payments afford bord gais or any company?

Fnergg

foggy_lad wrote: »

i thought once you were paying by direct debit for a while you could change without penalty and what security does direct debit payments afford bord gais or any company?

You should be able to cancel without being levied with a security deposit once you have been paying the bills on time for 14 months or so. By that time you should have built up a good payment history rendering the need for a security deposit redundant.

Most direct debits are honoured by customers' banks and the advantage for the utility is that it gets its payment on time every time.

If a direct debit bounces because of lack of funds in the customer's account it sends an early warning signal to the utility that the customer needs to be subjected to early collection activity - possibly resulting in withdrawal of supply - and his/her (internal) credit rating will be affected accordingly.

On balance, given that the vast majority of direct debits are honoured, it's better for the utility if a customer pays by that method. Better cash flow and low cost of collection is what it's all about, utility wise.

Regards,

Fnergg

dellas1979

Ahhh good old Bord Gais.

We were living in a house for 2 years and had gas (no deposit) bills paid regularly etc.

We then moved house but kept the same account. The first bill €400 was added on. Rang Bord Gais. Same old story as yours. Want deposit. Now, I dont really have a problem with paying a deposit for anything (as long as it is refunded) but it was the manner in which it was dealt with. I didnt know a deposit had to be paid. Again there was no literature or anything. Just a bill for €470.

In the end I paid the deposit of €200 and DD'ed the bill. I fought with them about the fact they threathened to cut us off mid winter due to an unpaid deposit we never knew about. But shur they didnt care.

We moved out of the place recently and I am waiting for them to refund the deposit. They say they will send a cheque so am waiting for this.

discostu1

Sorry are you guys saying that your Bord Gais acc was in YOUR name for a long period, and you were paying to terms and when you ditched your DD they stung you for €400 squid!!!!!!!!!
If thats the case I'm not switching my leccy if thats there idea of customer service they dont deserve any support.
Correct me if I'm wrong on the details

Nody

discostu1 wrote: »

Sorry are you guys saying that your Bord Gais acc was in YOUR name for a long period, and you were paying to terms and when you ditched your DD they stung you for €400 squid!!!!!!!!!
If thats the case I'm not switching my leccy if thats there idea of customer service they dont deserve any support.
Correct me if I'm wrong on the details

They where not paying by DD before they moved.

discostu1

"They where not paying by DD before they moved."

But am I correct in saying they were paying on time, if the account is in the same name surely they have established a credit rating with BGE which should mean that there is some level of committment from the customer

JJ

I just recently got charged a €400 deposit by Bord Gáis for the house we just moved into and my wife and I own the house. As soon as I saw that I was onto BG straight away. I've had no end of trouble with them since we requested for the gas connection to be unlocked and this latest development took the biscuit.

I had already set up an account with them and set up a DD but they set up a new account for me (presumably because of some error they made in their records with the gas meter number) and assumed I was renting (it seems) and charged me a €400 deposit. I was able to get them to transfer my DD from my original BG account to the new BG account and (apparently) it's all fixed now but I don't think I can be too sure.

Ns82

I'm renting in an appt, and had to pay €200 as a deposit in order to pay my bills by DD. We moved in Apr 08. We get billed every 2nd month and assumed the money would be credited on to our account/refunded after a yr.

I rang up in May to be told we would get the €200 back after we had made 14 direct debit PAYMENTS .. so our deposit would be returned after 2 YEARS and 4 months!!:eek: (or if we close the account) .. Seems a bit much. Surely after a year of paying on time we can be trusted!?

dudara

That should have been outlined in the T&Cs you accepted when signing up to Bord Gais.

You're purchasing gas on credit from B.G. and they run the risk that you won't pay. So far, you haven't made many payments (6 a year), so you can't blame them for having a long deposit period.

Ns82

dudara wrote: »

That should have been outlined in the T&Cs you accepted when signing up to Bord Gais.

You're purchasing gas on credit from B.G. and they run the risk that you won't pay. So far, you haven't made many payments (6 a year), so you can't blame them for having a long deposit period.

From your response, maybe I have come across wrong - I'm not complaining about it.. simply adding my own experience to the discussion. If it's nearly 2 and a half yrs before I get the deposit back, so be it.. it was just surprising.

daithisean

I just moved house and in addition to the €200 deposit I paid when we switched originally from ESB at the old address they added on another €100 at the end of our latest bill just for bloody moving house! So I'm up to €300 now. Does anybody what airtricity charge deposit-wise?

daithisean

daithisean wrote: »

I just moved house and in addition to the €200 deposit I paid when we switched originally from ESB at the old address they added on another €100 at the end of our latest bill just for bloody moving house! So I'm up to €300 now. Does anybody what airtricity charge deposit-wise?

Following up this post, I emailed them telling them I was moving to Airtricity and the extra €100 magically disappeared! They claimed it was a mistake (yeah, right). My advice... threaten to move. Works every time.

laobhaise

daithisean wrote: »

Following up this post, I emailed them telling them I was moving to Airtricity and the extra €100 magically disappeared! They claimed it was a mistake (yeah, right). My advice... threaten to move. Works every time.

Recently moved in to rented house and am having same debacle with BGE and deposit. In last house I paid into gas account (in owners name) for three years but BGE said they still require deposit because 'we have no account history or record of payments made by you'.

I am going to battle a little bit more with them on this and threaten to move. I rang airtricity and the sales girl told me they don't require a deposit but when I found their terms and conditions on their website it said they had the right to ask for a deposit .... so it is as clear as mud.
i do think BGE are using their recent monopoly to gain very high deposits and i wonder how legal it is, considering i have not found it in written in any agreements, in fact i have not received any t&C from them..

dudara

laobhaise wrote: »

Recently moved in to rented house and am having same debacle with BGE and deposit. In last house I paid into gas account (in owners name) for three years but BGE said they still require deposit because 'we have no account history or record of payments made by you'.

You admit yourself that you paid into someone else's account. As far as BGE as concerned, they've never dealt with you, and you have no credit rating with them.

I am going to battle a little bit more with them on this and threaten to move. I rang airtricity and the sales girl told me they don't require a deposit but when I found their terms and conditions on their website it said they had the right to ask for a deposit .... so it is as clear as mud.
i do think BGE are using their recent monopoly to gain very high deposits and i wonder how legal it is, considering i have not found it in written in any agreements, in fact i have not received any t&C from them..

Every utility provider looks for a deposit from people renting. It's nothing personal and nothing to do with having a monopoly. It's to cover potential bad debt.

M three

received a bord gais bill for 700+ euro recently, every other bill was less than 100 euro, checked the meter myself and rang them with the reading, received correct bill for 95 euro. girl in bord gais said the meter guy must have inputted a wrong digit. from what i could make out he inputted several.
i dont pay dd and never paid a security deposit but the gas account is in the landlords name.
if you are getting huge bills from bord gais check meter yourself.
if you think they are being unfair requesting large deposits etc shop around and see if you can get a better deal.

chanelleb

I recently moved out of the family home (which I jointly own) to rent, and ESB waived the deposit as although the bills to my previous address was in my husband's name, the bills were coming out of our joint account.

Bord Gais however, were an entirely different story. Despite providing evidence of no defaults, and monies paid from OUR account, they were adamant I pay a 200EUR deposit.

As they wouldn't budge, I went with another provider at 9% less than Bord Gais, with NO DD deposit.

Happy Days!

Max Power1

chanelleb wrote: »

I recently moved out of the family home (which I jointly own) to rent, and ESB waived the deposit as although the bills to my previous address was in my husband's name, the bills were coming out of our joint account.

Bord Gais however, were an entirely different story. Despite providing evidence of no defaults, and monies paid from OUR account, they were adamant I pay a 200EUR deposit.

As they wouldn't budge, I went with another provider at 9% less than Bord Gais, with NO DD deposit.

Happy Days!

Ah flogas! They really should advertise more IMO