British Gas - Awful company

shroty606

Hi all!.
I'm a long time reader, first time poster. I have noticed many of you have fantastic knowledge about many matters and was hoping you could put that to use and maybe give me a little help .
I received a bill for approximately £600 about 5 days ago, I was a little shocked to say the least! I have delved into it a little bit and found it it was because our gas had been estimated since last year! We are billed online and what wasn't made apparent is that you have to delve a little bit deeper when viewing your bill to see if it was estimated or not, this changed recently I believed and now it's quite apparent if it's estimated or not. I am not disputing the amount as we have used the gas, the error on their part was that in the last year I have let two people in to read the meter and also submitted 2 readings. I don't have a record of the meter readings I submitted unfortunately (my fault there). So where have the readings their staff took gone? Disappeared into thin air!
To top it off, I asked what could be done about paying it and was told they could split it and I would end up paying more, bit odd really, so I asked for an information pack, got a letter stating the enclosed leaflet about spreading payments would help to find that the leaflet was about boiler maintanence!
How shoddy is this company ran?!
Can anyone shine some light if the company should be offering anything for their awful practices?

KimYeovil

What awful practices?

gemstars

Hi OP

What are you hoping to get exactly?

Can you please clarify -
what period this bill covers?
whether there is an actual reading at the start, or on a previous bill?
whether you have provided an actual reading now and if this has had any affect on the balance?

I would guess that your next step should be to provide an actual reading and then work with the provider to calculate how much of the usage should be allocated to which period and which price (assuming the rates have gone up over the period you're looking at).

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

The practice of which you are complaining is common with all Utility companies.

The bottom line is that everyone should check their bills to see if they were based on estimated meter readings - and(understandably) many people don't bother.

The disregarded meter readings could be due to a number of reasons. However the most common is the computer program.

The bills we get are 'untouched by human hand' and therein lies the problem. If the computer 'thinks' the meter is incorrect(mistake by the person reading it) it ignores the reading and substitutes an estimated reading.

If the customer doesn't challenge that estimated reading and gets it corrected, the computer will 'think' the next reading is incorrect as well.; and so the discrepancy builds.

The company might offer a 'goodwill' payment if you make a fuss, however their conditions state that you should check your bill, so you are to blame I am afraid.

shroty606

The main problem is that we were recieving online bills for estimated usage which were for good amounts, about £180 every 3 months, now at the time, from Oct 08 to Nov 09, the website didn't have if the bill was estimated or not on the first page when you click through to view how much you owe. We have also had 2 people round to read the gas meter as I have let them in to view the meter myself and checked both their IDs when doing so. The main issue is that the company took these readings but did nothing with them, for the entire year we were being estimated, I thought the bills were more or less accurate for our usage as they were for a good amount and we had had 2 gas readings within the year. I was very surprised to learn that the entire year had been estimated and only upon the 3rd meter reading was it picked up and a huge bill arrived.

Premier_2

When the call centres pay peanuts, they get...;)

Are BG still using some Indian based call centres?

greenbee

Premier wrote: »

When the call centres pay peanuts, they get...;)

Are BG still using some Indian based call centres?

BG don't use call centres in India, they have only ever had back office operations there. Call centres are in Leeds, Glasgow, Leicester, Southampton, Cardiff (I've probably missed one...)

Meter reading is carried out by third parties and is provided to the utility companies through a complex system of technology (which hopefully will be simplified over the next few years). These systems are designed to reject incorrect data, so meter readings can go astray. Online meter readings generally go through... but you do have to remember to click the submit button and wait for it to be processed.

Maybe the government should concentrate on trying to get people to read their bills carefully before worrying about smart metering :rolleyes:

Premier_2

greenbee wrote: »

BG don't use call centres in India, they have only ever had back office operations there. Call centres are in Leeds, Glasgow, Leicester, Southampton, Cardiff (I've probably missed one...):rolleyes:...

2 infact, Bombay and Poona

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article3507483.ece

(although I always thought it was spelt Pune)

Edit:
And isn't Bombay now called Mumbai?

smjxm09

If you bothered to send in a monthly meter reading like I do then you wouldn't have this issue.

greenbee

Premier wrote: »

2 infact, Bombay and Poona

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article3507483.ece

(although I always thought it was spelt Pune)

Edit:
And isn't Bombay now called Mumbai?

As far as I'm aware, it didn't last long. It was outbound calls only (they could call you, you couldn't call them), but mostly they deal with paperwork and email queries.

As for the spelling, that's the Times style. Alterantive spellings are still used in a lot of places.

shroty606

smjxm09 wrote: »

If you bothered to send in a monthly meter reading like I do then you wouldn't have this issue.

I have noticed people are so quick to point out others mistakes on this board, it does come over a little bit ... arrogant. If you had read my first post as well as you read your bills, you would see that I did also send 2 online meter readings, which I have managed to find the references in my e-mail back ups, and these were ignored. I'm glad you have so much time on your hands to do it every month, I work 7 days near enough as my work requires me to be on call nearly 24/7 to deal with technical issues and most of the week I am away around the country. I wanted some advice on the present situation, not some wonderfully crafted hindsight put down disguised as some worldly advice.