British Gas cause two-month nightmare for Angus pensioner after wife's death

The electric company acknowledged that "mistakes made by people" caused several weeks of anxiety for Jim Smith from Arbroath, who was mourning the passing of his spouse.

British Gas has confessed that a mistake made by an individual led to a troublesome two-month period for an elderly Arbroath resident who was mourning the loss of his wife.

Jim Smith, who lives in Arbroath, experienced several weeks of difficulty when attempting to transfer the energy bill into his own name after his wife Margo passed away in January.

After mistakenly assuming that the long-term customer would be terminating his account, the company ultimately dispatched him a final invoice.

The company added more pressure on the elderly man who is 73 years old by attempting to demand payment for a house in Aberdeen that he has never owned or been involved with in any way.

The situation concluded when an elderly individual received a letter from a company responsible for collecting debts, causing them distress.

The organization has now made amends with Mr. Smith and expressed remorse for the "human mistake" that caused the debacle.

However, only after The Courier reached out to British Gas to look into his complaint were the numerous mistakes corrected.

According to the son of the couple, the situation that has caused his father additional pain after the family's tragedy could have easily been prevented.

Arbroath Pensioner's 2-month Nightmare Caused By British Gas

On the 13th of January, Mrs Smith passed away at the age of 83.

The man she married was keen to inform the relevant authorities and service providers, along with eliminating her name from the accounts.

Mark, the son of Mr. Smith, mentioned that his father contacted British Gas in January to inform them about a change in their account name. The direct debit information was meant to remain unchanged, just that the mother's name would be modified to Mr. Smith's.

During the initial 14 days of February, he was sent a minimum of two correspondences that expressed regret over his departure and demanded payment of £44.

He rang them once more to communicate that he had no intention of departing, but merely wished to modify the name associated with the account.

Finally, it was verified that there was a modification, yet he claims that he was transferred to different people during around nine telephone conversations.

Mark stated that towards the end of February, he also got a letter from British Gas about a bill amounting to £85 for a residence located in Kittybrewster Square, Aberdeen.

He tried to explain to them that he never had another address in Aberdeen, but they didn't listen or believe him.

He was granted until March 13th to settle the invoice, however, he afterwards obtained a correspondence from a collection agency located in Stockport asking for a sum of £113.47.

We've been going through a lot of stress as a family lately due to the loss of a loved one, and it's been particularly tough on dad. He's been having a really hard time.

Has British Gas Taken Action?

The Courier got in touch with British Gas to ask about Mr Smith's situation and the next day, the company said sorry and gave him some money as compensation.

"His son added that they gave him a call and stated that the mistake was due to a fault by a person."

He was given a payment of 300 pounds as reparation and agreed to it. All he desired was to move on from the incident and forget about it.

The situation escalated rapidly and there were multiple unfavorable incidents in succession.

He made numerous phone calls in an attempt to resolve this issue, which was apparent to them through their observations.

"I find it hard to believe that it took until now for this issue to be resolved."

Mr Smith’s issue was brought up to British Gas for their response, but they haven’t given any feedback yet.