more rant about BG - not surprised about them having highest number of complaints

elektra · 31 October 2006 at 12:00PM

QUOTE=elektra]question for BritishGasWorker (sorry if this is in wrong place)

Would you think 7 weeks is a reasonable time for BG to get a report from meter people ?

Situation is this :- Parents house has 2 elec meters. British Gas said they were sending someone to change meter. Meters less than 2 years old.
Tried phoning to tell them no need but was told they have contracted out meter services to Onstream. Phoned Onstream - they had no record of appointment ( this was about 4-5 days before). But they did say they had the contract from BG so were just basically carrying out what BG wanted.

Then I think I decided happened to phone Onstream again on morning of apt - they found the appointment. At that point I should have told them to cancel but let them go ahead as I thought well they'll probably only try and make another apt. Onstream came and changed one meter only - they never realised there were 2. He also left no record of meter change.

Surprise surprise - next bill came and it was large and complete nonsense - totally wrong meter reading, not taking into account meter change against the right meter.

Spoke to BG and asked for it to be escalated as exact same problem had happened 2 years before and frontline staff passed it on then. They said that dept was busy but someone would get back to me in a week. 3 weeks later ( no call) I phone them again and they said the were waiting for report from meter people and it could take 7 weeks. 9 weeks later and nothing has happened. I'd like to get the bill sorted as I want to switch and I guess BG could refuse the switch if amount outstanding( although account is frozen at moment - they are not chasing payment).

So how long should it take to get report from meter people. When I spoke to Onstream they were very helpful but they could not access the details of the meter change.[/QUOTE]

Above was my original post about 3 weeks ago. No news from them. Just logged onto house.co.uk to find that they have issued another incorrect bill on top of the last one. Will wait a few days to see if it arrives in the post as they always seem to show a little different detail to the online ones.

Seem they have made no effort to sort it out. Tried ringing them several times but got fed up of holding.

I think they are to be mentioned on Watchdog tonight - highest number of complaints for an energy company

tripled · 1 November 2006 at 1:25AM

Give them a call back, explain the situation and ask to speak to a manager. You should get passed to their customer liason team who will investigate it for you. They may also need the serial number of the new meter and the date it was installed, also the meter reading on it (presumably zero).

elektra · 1 November 2006 at 5:09PM

I will try ringing in a few days. I was just waiting to see if they actually send the bill out or if their is still a hold on it.

I gave all the details before - dates, meter serial numbers, readings etc. When I last rang to find out what was happening as they promised to ring back in a week and didnt, they said ( quite tersely) that they had all the info from me and were waiting for a report from meter people. This was in July !

All this because of an unnecessary meter change! If the bill does not arrive I'm quite tempted to let it build up and then pay by instalments if and when they do work out correct bill, as I'm fed up of chasing them. Had exactly the same problem less than 2 years ago.

elektra · 29 November 2006 at 1:12PM

update :

Mum received a reminder for a bill issued 31st Oct. She never received that bill.

So phoned BG last night - although it said could be waiting 25 mins I hung on and it was answered quite quickly but it seemed wrong number so they put me through straight away to right dept.

Spoke to very helpful chap who was very surprised bill had not been sorted out. Explained that 'hold' on bill only lasts 90 days. Told me he would escalate and ring back in 10 mins. He did ring back to say other dept had finished for the day but that he would ring me today at lunchtime. He also was happy to give me his extension number.

He did phone today and said bill has now cancelled and put on hold and someone should ring within 5 days. Also apologised that it has taken so long to sort out. So BG as a whole get a thumbs down from me but this particular operative was good.

elektra · 10 January 2007 at 3:26PM

Well they never phoned me back in 5 days.

Logged on to house.co.uk a few days ago and noticed they have generated another £700 nonsense bill.

Got through to someone last night and she said that bill has been generated as meter exchange details have been updated, and they just needed an updated meter reading. Started giving meter readings and it soon became apparent that they did not have correct meter details. Managed to get a promise of £30 from them for the hassle. She said it would be passed to a manager and someone should call me within four hours ( ie. sometime this morning). No calls received this morning !

It just seems that they have done absolutlely nothing about sorting it (since July) - just passing/blaming other depts - billing dept, meter exchange people.

All this for a meter change that wasn't even necessary !

elektra · 25 January 2007 at 11:37AM

update :

they never phoned back in 4 hours. Someone did phone on 12th but I was out, they said they would call later. No more calls.

Today received a reminder for £700 bill. Phoned them up and said this is not acceptable sending a reminder for bill which I keep telling them is incorrect and nobody phoning back and could I speak to a manager. He said he could sort out just as easily as manager. After a few discussions he took my number and said he would call back. Received a call at 20:10 ( from his manager I think) and he said it was sorted and would receive a new bill ina few days that was £120 in credit or something. I just said thanks and said I would look at bill when it comes.

Just logged onto house.co.uk and found bill £222 in credit but details still incorrect (meter numbers and readings) and they have replaced bills back to June 2005, whereas they only need to go back to readings taken Jan 2006.

Not sure what to do now, I'm not sure I have the energy( no pun intended) to go through it with them again at the moment. I have already explained and given meter details and readings. As they are now not chasing us for money I think I'll leave it until the next meter reading and see what they do with those readings. It will catch up with us eventually.

I think I'll just document events up till now so I have the details to pass to energywatch when I'm ready.

tripled · 25 January 2007 at 1:54PM

Yeah, at this stage it'll have to be energywatch the amount of problems you've had.

Good luck getting it all sorted!

elektra · 1 February 2007 at 2:54PM

Will be calling Energywatch sooner than I expected.

Logged onto house.co.uk today to find a new bill has been generated and a current balance of £794.62 and a bill of £ 645.82. Not even sure how the balance is higher than the bill.

still wrong meter details, estimated nonsense readings, bill taken back too far, no signs of £30 discount, no sign of winter fuel payment, no sign of duel fuel discount.
Also, in attempting to go back to earlier readings, they replace all the previous bills online (even with new meter ref that was not in property at time) and so the paper copies I have don't bear any resemblance to what is online. If I didn't have paper copies it would be impossible to work out what has gone on.

Will wait for paper bill to arrive so I can send photocopies of all bills to Energywatch.

ampersand · 1 February 2007 at 4:25PM

Dear elektra - please go to EBICO.co.uk and speak to a real person, then apply to change to equigas and equipower. Have at last dpne so this morning and will save money.I so sympathise with you - I think the feeling of paralysis re:changing is part of the effect of feeling ground down by the BG system and expensive 'phoning etc. You have found alternative no's on the SayNoTo0870 thread here I hope?

elektra · 1 February 2007 at 5:25PM

Thanks for your reply.

I have already switched my BG accounts to Ebico (gas) and Scottish Power(elec).

Have not switched parents account yet as a) gas - once winter benefit rebate (£60) applied the difference not that great. b) elec - can't switch until the meter readings/bills get sorted (i,e BG won't allow switch if we owe them), although in hindsight I should have involved Energywatch sooner. It's just that you think each time that it is not rocket science why can't they just listen to what I'm telling them and sort it out.

re phone numbers - it is only 0845 numbers and BG have promised £30 credit for time and hassle I have spent so far so I shall make sure that is included.

elektra · 22 June 2007 at 5:04PM

Update

Late Feb - phoned Energywatch which prompted a call from BG. She (BG) seemed to understand problem and took bill a long way back and generated a much more reasonable bill. Never received paper bill which I wanted to see as it was now a very complex bill and online version of bill doesn't show same info as paper version.

Late May - phoned again - could not locate person I last spoke to so had another long conversation with someone new. Asked hom to send me copy of the last bill and apply £30 winter rebate. During that conversation he said only one meter was listed, and the other had been 'discharged'. I told him it had not.

Phoned MPAS who confirmed only one meter listed.

Meter reader came round and only read one meter.

Now - received new bill which is only for one meter ( the one with small usage) and only £15 of winter rebate applied.

Very tempting to just pay bill and let BG think we only have one meter

more rant about BG - not surprised about them having highest number of complaints

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free