British Gas GRRRRRR

[mspig]

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[KimYeovil]

Why do you think an engineer should come whenever you snap your fingers? How much money did you pay for the engineer? Are you happy to pay even higher prices for better coverage? I would not expect an engineer to arrive for a day or three. Why do you think it should be an hour or three?

[happychappy74]

Hi mspig.

I can understand your frustration. All you are expecting is a basic level of customer service i.e. for BG to do as they say. Sounds simple enough to me.

Unfortunately that seems to be too much to ask for so many companies nowadays and it is sad that there are people out there who want to excuse the companies behaviour and lack of service, whilst questioning your quite realistic expectations.

I think you will find that every reasonably minded person will agree with you. And as for the others......never mind. I only hope that KimYeovil has nothing like this happen to her, her family or her friends. But if it does I hope that people are a little more undrstanding than she has shown herself to be.

[C_Mababejive]

I'm assuming that you have a large square card meter with a vertical slot on the right.
The meter may be either yucky yellow or grey.

Card fail 35 or 38 errors are almost always down to one of the following..

1)The gold coloured chip contacts on the meter are dirty or oxidised..try cleaning gently with a zim pad (plastic mildly abrasive dish scrubber type thing) Wipe it gently until contacts are shiny bright again. Make sure the pad isnt wet when you do it !

2) The internal card slot contacts on the meter are dirty/worn/fooked

3) The card is fooked

I would suggest you try no 1

Most card meter maintenance in your area is handled by National Grid metering if the meter is owned by them.

They in turn use National Grid Emergency Operations to carry out the work.

Thier priority is Gas Emergency. Faulty card meters are not Emergencies to them and so have a lower priority.

The window for attendance/standard of service is 4 hours (or should be)

In adverse weather, the standard can slip due to high workload/insufficient manpower or a combination of both.

What area RU in?

[tbw]

British Gas are the Pitts - and you are unlikely to get any useful help from their so called HelpLine! I had ongoing enormous problems over a 4 month period and their Helpline staff had me in tears more than once. They won't let you speak to a Manager and you are basically at their mercy. One prat even sent the emergency staff out and told him to cut off ALL my gas supply - when there was certainly no suggestion of a leak!

They shut all their Showrooms cos they didn't want the hassle of coping with customer problems face to face. My problem only got sorted out when I bypassed British Gas and went straight to Baxi.

I hope you get it sorted.

[Gerrard_8_lfc]

Originally Posted by tbw

British Gas are the Pitts - and you are unlikely to get any useful help from their so called HelpLine! I had ongoing enormous problems over a 4 month period and their Helpline staff had me in tears more than once. They won't let you speak to a Manager and you are basically at their mercy. One prat even sent the emergency staff out and told him to cut off ALL my gas supply - when there was certainly no suggestion of a leak!

They shut all their Showrooms cos they didn't want the hassle of coping with customer problems face to face. My problem only got sorted out when I bypassed British Gas and went straight to Baxi.

I hope you get it sorted.

National grid would have shut your gas off and would not do this on the instruction of an agent. The agent for safety reasons has to report any Possible gas leaks or they would find themselfs out a job.

National Grid would not of shut your gas off if he or she did not find a high reading of carbon monoxide in your house.

[KimYeovil]

Originally Posted by mspig

Because we have NO HEATING, NO HOT WATER AND NO COOKER as it is gas.

And i do expect an engineer to come out within 4 hours when they tell me.
God some people.

Has your electricity meter also developed a fault? If not then you do not have no heating and no hot water. Gas cookers also occasionally breakdown. What do you plan to eat when it fails and you are waiting for a repair?

[KimYeovil]

Originally Posted by happychappy74

I think you will find that every reasonably minded person will agree with you. And as for the others......never mind. I only hope that KimYeovil has nothing like this happen to her, her family or her friends. But if it does I hope that people are a little more undrstanding than she has shown herself to be.

Being poor I have experienced not having access to day-to-day conveniences. Strangely, neither as a child nor as an adult did I suddenly drop dead from starvation or hypothermia on any of those occasions.

And if I did have children living with me I do know one thing - I would never use a prepayment meter.

[happychappy74]

I am glad to hear it.
However it does not justify companies cutting back on their ability to facilitate reasonable customer services, thus leaving customers without the basic ability to heat and cook. We are a developed country (alledgedly) with a sound existing infrastructure. Such failures are basic flaws to the detriment of customers.
I do have children living me.........and I do have a prepayment meter. It was fitted when we moved into the house. I can offer a large deposit, but all i need is the money for it. U speak as though it is an issue surrounding merely choice. U r right it is a choice, so long as u can PAY for that choice. That is the issue surrounding prepayment meters and the very reason why the matter had to be stepped into to prevent the companies OVERCHARGING prepayment customers on the basis that they can.

[nomoneytoday]

I personally would call them when the gas has nearly run out, in order they will turn up when it has (if that makes sense)

[sop1974]

I have used prepayment meters for both my gas and electric and find they are very good as they help you to budget, But that does not mean that they are suitable for everybody.
When you got your new gas card did you put it in the meter a few seconds before you charged it hun?

[C_Mababejive]

Originally Posted by Gerrard_8_lfc

National grid would have shut your gas off and would not do this on the instruction of an agent. The agent for safety reasons has to report any Possible gas leaks or they would find themselfs out a job.

National Grid would not of shut your gas off if he or she did not find a high reading of carbon monoxide in your house.

Slight correction- National Grid do not carry any apparatus for atmospheric sampling/detection of CO or any other gases other than CH4.

[tbw]

Originally Posted by Gerrard_8_lfc

National grid would have shut your gas off and would not do this on the instruction of an agent. The agent for safety reasons has to report any Possible gas leaks or they would find themselfs out a job.

National Grid would not of shut your gas off if he or she did not find a high reading of carbon monoxide in your house.

I'm sorry but you are wrong! The British Gas Helpline told me that they were going to get ALL of my gas supply shut off. This was because I was having ongoing problems with my gas fire which kept turning itself off(it was only a few months old). British Gas engineers were visiting me on a weekly basis, changing a bit here and a bit there, scratching their heads and admitting that they didn't know what the problem was. At least 5 engineers had confirmed that there was no safety risk at all becuase the fire had several safety features which shut the whole thing down - there was NO chance of a leak on the appliance.

The Helpline staff chose to get my supply shut off (twice in 2 weeks) simply because they were being unpleasant t**** ! They knew darn well that there was no safety problem but just didn't want to send an engineer out yet again. They even told me to throw a bucket of water over my Rayburn, open all the doors and windows and stand in the garden until the engineers arrived (9.30 pm, January night, -2 C.

I understand that safety is paramount but they really did know that there was no leak - enough of their own engineers had reported back. When the Emergency people came, they laughed and said BG were always doing this, they confirmed that there was no risk at all, left the supply on, had a cup of coffee and went !

A month later (and 5 more engineer visits which solved nothing) I lost my rag and phoned Baxi. Baxi fixed the problem in 7 minutes (and that included writing the report ticket!

British Gas are FAR from perfect.

[sop1974]

Hi mspig

I'm glad you were able to sort it out hun, I have my gas meter outside how odd however it is in shelter. Don't you just hate it when the gas runs out and now one tells you, seems in my house i'm the only one that checks it lol.
Have a great christmas