Problem with AGL!

[Frankie41]

Yesterday I went out the front to check the mail, and on the way back in I found a card from AGL on our front door saying that our gas had been disconnected because we hadn't paid the bill. I went inside and checked, and sure enough no gas.

I went through all the bills from the past few months and there was nothing from AGL. I rang DP at work and told him what had happened, and he called AGL to see what was going on. The woman wouldn't tell him anything because he's not on the bill or authorised for them to give him information on the account. My mother used to live with us, and at one point the account was in her name, so he knew that the account was in either mine or my mothers name, and the woman would only give him information if he picked the right name. She then said that she would call me or my mother to see if DP had permission to access account information. Neither of us got a phone call.
After speaking to DP I called AGL and gave him permission to access account information. He called them again, and apparently we have received a bill, a reminder and a disconnection notice, PLUS according to their records, DP received a call from them in which he was unwilling to speak and hung up.
DP DID NOT get a phone call from them at all.

DP checked his transactions last night, because he's the one who pays the bills, and we discovered that we paid the bill twice. He called AGL again today, and they've said that although we've paid it, the Billercode was right but we were using an old customer reference number. According to them the money has gone into an old account, it was our fault and we can't get our money back.
So we now have to pay $140 for the outstanding gas bill as well as the reconnection fee.

Surely there's a way for us to get the two payments back!? The reason there was two payments made is because we got the bill, paid it, got the reminder and paid it again.

[waterlily]

I'd be calling the ombudsmen asap.

[lealea79]

Oh I new I did the right thing when I decided to use my 10 day cooling of period with agl and go back to energex..
Goodluck, I assume they are trying to rip you off, they obviously see it had been paid why not just transfer the money over and that be your warning..

[Frankie41]

Thanks for your replies.
I just called DP again to get the old reference number so I could call them again, and it turns out that the money that had been transferred into the old account to pay the gas bill has now been transferred into the other account to pay the outstanding bill, but DP thinks we shouldn't have to pay the $114 to get reconnected because technically we paid the bill, they got our money, it just went into the old account.
But I think technically it's our fault, so we're in the wrong.

I don't know What do you guys think?

[bundmum]

did you pay using an old bill or a recent one?

[Frankie41]

We paid using a recent bill but DP used the details that were saved in his online banking, which he's been using for ages, so I don't know why its a problem now..

[mishh]

Nah stuff that you shouldn't have to pay the reconnection fee. Keep talking to them and explaining it and if they won't budge threaten to call the obudsmen and they should do something for you, especially if you have a good record of paying your bills. Also why did they change the reference number? Did u get notified of this?

I used to work for a company that connects/disconnects electricity/gas/water etc and they can waiver off fees, it's just a matter of finding the right angle and getting what you want.

Good luck!

[Fox in Sox]

I have had a client who had similar experience with AGL, and they were able to just transfer the credit on the old bill over to the current bill.

But absolutely, if they won't do it, write down all the details, of who you spoke to, when, what they said etc, and ring the Electricity Ombudsman 1800 665 565 for further advice

[Frankie41]

I have had a client who had similar experience with AGL, and they were able to just transfer the credit on the old bill over to the current bill.

They've done that for us, but still want us to pay the reconnection fee.

Thanks for your help everyone

[TripleTime]

I'd ring the onbudsman & ask their opinion. We had a similar issue with optus but I've never paid a reconnection fee.