Bord Gais - Harrassment phonecalls

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ED E

You claim to budget, yet you clearly don't. Treat the problem, not the symptom.

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pl4ichjgy17zwd

In general you don't set your due by date, the company does.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

All debt collectors, including private individuals and debt collection agencies, are covered by Section 11 of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997. This provides that a person is guilty of an offence if he/she makes any demand for payment of a debt and if:
The demands are so frequent as to be calculated to subject you or a member of your family to alarm, distress or humiliation, or
The person falsely represents that criminal proceedings lie for non-payment of the debt, or
The person falsely represents that he or she is authorised in some official capacity to enforce payment, or
The person utters a document falsely represented to have an official character

Depends on what you refer to as 'numerous times'.

You are certainly not budgeting. Only managing bills sitting in front of you is not budgeting by any variation on the definition. You are obviously constantly in arrears, based on their payment terms, and they have a right to pursue the debt within the confines of the law.

If you think its harassment then log all the calls and report the results to the Gardaí.

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LeinsterDub

Set up a fixed price agreement?

punisher5112

You may work better on the pay as you go or smart meter where you top up the card and get gas from that.

Lux23

I always pay a bit off my energy bills when I get paid as I used to always get behind on them. I've been doing it years so my bills are generally in credit or I might just owe a few quid. You could just block the number but if you're behind on your bills they are well within their rights to call.

punisher5112

Your services will be shut off if you don't work with them.

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XsApollo

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Finally someone who is answering the question asked!

Are they though? Could they not write to me?

I suppose I could see about changing the date the bill falls due with them, ie, get them to bring it forward.

I genuinely dont even know why its not an issue every second month but sometimes the bills seem to arrive before I get paid and sometimes after.

Move on to level pay.
Pay a flat amount every month.
I’ve done it with my gas and electricity.
Works brilliant.
Haven’t worried about an electric bill or gas bill in 2 to 3 years.

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whoopsadoodles

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Finally someone who is answering the question asked!

Are they though? Could they not write to me?
.

They do write to you. When they send you the bill with the due date on it. That doesn't work, so they ring you which they're entitled to do since you now owe them money.

If you don't want to receive calls, pay the bill on time.

Taxburden carrier

Watch out that it doesn’t effect your credit rating.

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Dial Hard

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Why are you being such an obtuse and difficult customer? Just pay the bloody bills on time and save yourself all this unwarranted (and entirely self-inflicted) hassle.

whoopsadoodles

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No - I think you are misunderstanding the difference between receiving the bill itself and then later, phonecalls asking to pay it.

Im wondering if the later part can also be handled by letter.

I think you're misunderstanding what a bill is. It's a request to pay. In this case, a written request. The calls are because you have failed to do so.

If they ever do catch me by phone I just hang up - but itd be easier to toss a letter.

And that's why they don't write to you after the initial request to pay.

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whoopsadoodles

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What about the calls that keep coming after Ive paid?

How are you paying the bills?

yes - then I think the solution is to tell them to remove my phone number from the database.

Good luck with that. Not going to happen!

whoopsadoodles

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Edited to add - I would not object to a phonecall. Its numerous daily phonecalls for days on end that I am objecting to. There are laws to protect people from this type of harassment you know.

In that case, answer the first call and tell them the date you're paying. Simple.

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whoopsadoodles

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Bank transfer. Instantaneous.

Can take 3 working days to be credited to your account.

GDPR is coming - they wont have a choice.

You don't understand GDPR. I hope you're not a data protection officer.

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BrokenArrows

OP stop complaining.
You are not paying your bills on time so the problem is solely with you.
You know the bill is coming every two months, its not a surprise so just use common sense and set aside a some money every month which will cover the bill when it arrives.

What are you expecting Bord Gais to do? Put a special note on your account saying thats out of all the customers you are allowed to pay your bills late?

whoopsadoodles

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Same bank - its instantaneous.

You think credit controll admin have access to the bord gais online banking?

Fcuking lol.

It takes 3 working days to credit your bord gais account.

I certainly do. Plenty of training!

You need more.

server down

Hang on. When I get a bill from utility providers it’s generally taken 3 weeks later. Unless the bills come exactly in the first week just after you are paid that would push to the next wage packet.

You are living hand to mouth though. Maybe look at generating some savings.

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whoopsadoodles

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Not my problem.

Well yes, yes it is. Clearly

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BrokenArrows

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Clearly you seem to miss paying every single bord gais bill, hence the thread you created.

melekalikimaka

If you read the bills, you will see the time you have to pay it, you pass that they are within their rights to call you until it is paid. You are ignoring facts to suit your on agenda

davo2001

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This is where you are wrong, it's pretty simple, if you don't want to receive calls from them then pay your bill on time.

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Absolutely.

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Mongfinder General

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Do you think its ok for a company to call someone multiple times daily for weeks on end about a 40 or 50 euro bill?

Bord Gais have leads. Good leads. They paid good money to get them. They are just trying to close. There's only one thing that matters on this line. Get the customer to sign on the line which is dotted.

flaneur

Most utility companies and even credit card providers, have a few billing cycles and may be able to move you to one that suits your cash flow situation better.

A payment plan like Level Pay would also result maybe more manageable bills split across the whole year rather than huge ones in winter.

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It’s the same. You decide how much to pay by direct debit every month depending on your useage.

davo2001

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I'd love to see the look on the Garda face when he sees this, hopefully they will quickly and swiftly tell you to toddle on home and stop wasting their time.

jackboy

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Loads of savings. The first thing I pay each month is my savings account, followed by mortgage, followed by bills. This is irrelevant.

Very relevant. You have money at hand but are waiting three weeks to pay the bill. Why do you think they are chasing you? Most people that wait three weeks do not intend to pay the bill at all.

You have the money. Fix your budget.

davo10

This is one of those really stupid "I'll pay when it suits me" threads.

The op knows the bill will arrive on the same date bimonthly, yet every second month it seems a "surprise" when it arrives, every bill is therefore late so a pattern of late payment is forming, but the op is unhappy when they keep phoning about late payment.

Here's a tip op, when you know a bill is going to arrive every second month, keep some money aside to pay it, that is managing your budget.

XsApollo

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And does it cost more? Or does it work out the same?

It’s actually cheaper.
You will get a discount for using level pay.
I got a 10% or 7% for using level pay on my gas and electricity and 50 euro credit on one of the bills.
They will average out your last years usage and you will pay that monthly regardless of what your bill is.
So basically i am paying 55 euro for gas a month and 50 for electricity.

Edit: another 2 % off for going paperless billing.

L1011

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You will be told to leave the station or have the call terminated - there is no harrassment occuring. If you answer the call they are extremely unlikely to call again same day - you are ignoring calls hence the re-dials

Move to level pay or pre pay (if you really have to) if you have trouble paying bills on time

L1011

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You have vastly more than one credit rating. They do not affect ICB ratings but they will, if reported, affect the private ratings agencies. These are used for hire purchase, post-pay utility contracts, even monthly installments on insurance in some cases.

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Your phone number would be allowed information for as long as you have a contract with them so no, GDPR won't affect it at all.