BG Cancellation Charges

DMCCANN

Hi,

I moved from Npower to British Gas as I was offered a better deal on the tarrifs. All went smoothly until I had a final bill from Npower - £600 as it is the winter bill, so I decided to stay with Npower as over the summer, this will even out and I will be straight by the Autumn (otherwise I would need to find £600 fast as I was getting red letters).

Aparently I had just missed the transfer date by days, so I had to open a new account again with Npower.

Not a problem I thought, until I have just received my final bill from BG now, not so bad because they slightly owe me money, but they are making a £35 cancellation fee on each fuel (I have Gas and Electric with them).

So in short, I have paid a fee of £70 for being with BG for a month - has anyone else had this or even better been able to claim the charge back? BG state they will only reimburse it if we are moving house.

Any advise would be much appreciated!!! x

Joyful

If you signed for a fixed tariff you would have been advised of a cancellation fee for the products so you will have to pay this.






I work for British Gas

KimYeovil

You made two mistakes - you did not check how much money you owed your supplier to see how much you would have to pay to clear the balance. And you signed up to a tariff with an exit fee. Neither of these are British Gas' or nPower's fault.

1carminestocky

Whilst I agree that the OP should have checked more thoroughly, the fact remains that exit fees are anti-competitive and would be outlawed by a 'proper' regulator.

Joyful

These are fees for a customer getting piece of mind and knowing their cost will not go up. Compare this to mortgages- people know what they are taking on- no difference. I cannot see Mortgage tie ins being outlawed. Why should Energy?

1carminestocky

Joyful wrote: »

These are fees for a customer getting piece of mind and knowing their cost will not go up. Compare this to mortgages- people know what they are taking on- no difference. I cannot see Mortgage tie ins being outlawed. Why should Energy?

So Websaver3 is guaranteed not to go up in cost?

Cardew

1carminestocky wrote: »

Whilst I agree that the OP should have checked more thoroughly, the fact remains that exit fees are anti-competitive and would be outlawed by a 'proper' regulator.

Nonsense.

If by design or not, it stops people like yourself switching from company to company purely for the cashback. A cost that is eventually borne by all other customers.

That is not intended as a criticism of yourself or other people who exploited this loophole.

However it is disingenous to argue that it is 'anti-competitive' merely because it stops people exploiting this loophole.

1carminestocky

Cardew wrote: »

Nonsense.

If by design or not, it stops people like yourself switching from company to company purely for the cashback. A cost that is eventually borne by all other customers.

That is not intended as a criticism of yourself or other people who exploited this loophole.

However it is disingenous to argue that it is 'anti-competitive' merely because it stops people exploiting this loophole.

I'll take your 'nonsense' and raise you an 'utter nonsense' If a tariff increases more than the average, leaving the punter paying more than they could be elsewhere, but they are precluded from changing to a cheaper tariff due to an exit penalty, explain how that encourages competition?

And if the energy companies don't want serial switchers to take advantage, here's a radical idea; don't offer cashback for switching in the first place. Hardly rocket science, is it?

Joyful

But the Web 3 will always be 6% cheaper so if the tariffs go up the customer is still winning. When I signed up for the original 2010 package I knew that I was paying more in the first instance for 1 energy but was willing to pay this to protect me from any increases till 2010. It was well worth it but there was no guarantee as we are not mind readers. No one forces people to fix or cap their prices. You should always read paperwork supplied. If you don't like penalties for leaving the tariff then don't sign up. Simple.

DMCCANN

Thank you all for your responses, couple of points:

If these ultility companies are having to charge an exit fee due to the number of customer's switching via this loophole, why are they constantly encouraging us to switch this way by door-knocking and telesales to get new business?!!! Bit contrandictory that this is then charged on to the consumer in an exit fee or higher tariff - or some form of another.

I did not sign anything as I was contacted by British Gas via the telephone. Obviously I will have to put this down to an expensive experience, but I will be cancelling my boiler cover now (I have always had this with BG), so they need to think of the bigger picture with this exit fee.

1carminestocky

Joyful wrote: »

But the Web 3 will always be 6% cheaper so if the tariffs go up the customer is still winning. When I signed up for the original 2010 package I knew that I was paying more in the first instance for 1 energy but was willing to pay this to protect me from any increases till 2010. It was well worth it but there was no guarantee as we are not mind readers. No one forces people to fix or cap their prices. You should always read paperwork supplied. If you don't like penalties for leaving the tariff then don't sign up. Simple.

6% cheaper than BGs own standard tariff - there are other energy suppliers you know. These company's online tariffs are also cheaper than their standard tariffs. Your original post seemed to suggest that all the BG tariffs that had exit fees were guaranteed not to increase, which is entirely wrong. All I'm saying is it's entirely possible that Websaver3 won't always be the cheapest on the market - and the exit fee stops/discourages people switching to the cheapest. And that IMO is anti-competitive.