Calor delivered 400 litres of gas I didn't want, now it's chasing a £437 payment: CRANE ON THE CASE
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I heat my home using liquefied petroleum gas. It is contained in a cylinder outside and I receive deliveries when the tank runs low.
My supplier was Calor until November 2022, when I switched to another provider called Avanti which was significantly cheaper.
So I was surprised when in late 2024, I received a bill for £354 from Calor for a delivery of 437 litres of gas which I didn't order or request.
The delivery, Calor says, happened in November 2024 - two years after I cancelled my contract.
The gas is normally put straight into the tank, so I can't confirm whether the delivery did or didn't happen. I didn't see it, but I might have been out.
I didn't get a delivery note through the door, which I usually do, and the gas tank readings have been normal with no abnormalities.
Fuelling the fire: Liquefied petroleum gas is an off-grid heat source used as an alternative to being on the mains gas grid, and is commonly found in rural areas
When I complained to Calor it offered to reduce the bill to my cheaper contract rate with Avanti, reducing it from 81p per litre to 51p. This would mean paying £223.
But I then received a letter asking me to pay £437 within seven days or Calor would start legal proceedings against me.
I don't think I should pay as I didn't order the gas. Do I have to? S.K.H, Norfolk
Helen Crane, This is Money's consumer champion, replies: This mistaken gas delivery rightly has you all fired up.
Having a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tank at home means a household can fuel their boiler, cooker and other gas appliances without being connected to the gas grid.
It is common in rural areas and about 193,000 households use it, according to Liquid Gas UK. Propane and butane are types of LPG.
It is also greener than a standard natural gas set-up - but must be handled and stored with care.
To pay for their LPG, the user enters a contract with a gas supplier, paying both a standing charge and the cost of the gas they receive, as well as potentially delivery costs.
They submit regular tank readings to the supplier, either manually or through a device inside the tank which sends them automatically.
Users can then set up auto deliveries, so that when the litres of gas remaining fall to a certain level, the supplier will arrange for more to be delivered.
This is put directly in to the tank, and the person who delivers it leaves a note confirming their details, how much gas they delivered and the before-and-after tank readings.
In your case, though, you didn't ask for the delivery, weren't in a contract with Calor to supply it, and are not even sure whether it was delivered at all.
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And yet you received various threats from the company, which said at different times that it would come and remove the gas from your tank, and even start legal action if you didn't pay within seven days.
I contacted Calor to ask how this could have happened, two years after you switched supplier.
It said that it made an error during the switching process, which meant your account was not closed and that the automatic deliveries were left switched on.
The device within your tank then recorded that your levels of LPG were running low, triggering an alert to Calor.
It could be this level hadn't been met for some time as Avanti was delivering regularly.
As this wasn't your mistake, Calor has now agreed to cancel the debt of £437.
A spokesman for Calor said: 'Due to an error during the switching process, S.K.H's account was not closed and left on auto-delivery by mistake.
'We apologise for this inconvenience and have now closed her account with no charge for the mistaken delivery.
'We are reviewing our processes to avoid this happening again.'
Earlier this month, I wrote about a reader who was struggling to get hold of a £25,000 endowment tied to a mortgage with Santander.
The mortgage had been repaid more than two decades ago, but the bank couldn't provide the right documents to the insurer which blocked the payment from being made for nine months.
After my involvement, the payout was finally made - but conversations were still ongoing about what compensation the bank might offer.
This week, the reader has informed me that he received a total of £575 in interest, and £975 in compensation - a total of £1,550 and bringing the total amount received to £26,700.
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