British Gas double charges customers: what to do if you're affected

Household money

Updated on 07 December 2016 | 1 Comment

A billing error by British Gas may have left thousands of customers out of pocket. Customers are advised to check their accounts.

An IT glitch at British Gas has seen many people have their direct debits taken twice this month.

Twitter has been full of angry customers complaining that the energy firm double charged them, leaving them out of pocket at a time of year when many of us are short of cash.

One customer complained that the firm has taken his quarterly payment twice amounting to more than £300 taken by mistake.

British Gas has said that less than 1% of customers have been affected by the computer glitch, but the firm supplies gas and electricity to 14 million homes meaning 140,000 households could have been hit.

“We are sorry that a technical problem resulted in us billing a small number of direct debit customers’ accounts twice,” said a spokesperson for British Gas. “We have resolved the issue, and have already refunded most customers.”

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What you need to do

British Gas has said it is identifying and contacting affected customers but you should still  check your bank account to see if your direct debit was taken twice.

If you believe you have been overcharged you can contact British Gas customer services on 0800 038 0202 or the company has a good response rate on Twitter via @BritishGasHelp.

Also, make sure you inform British Gas if the double-charge resulted in you being charged other fees – such as an unauthorised overdraft fee – gather proof of these costs and show them to British Gas in order to claim a refund.

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