Is it worth sending this complaint to British Gas?

LDR_2

Is it worth sending this complaint to British Gas or am I just wasting my time?

I welcome any advice. Thanks in advance - LDR

I currently receive my Gas, Electric and HomeCare 2000 service from you.

I have had a continuing problem with our boiler which had a slow leak. I was also told an overflow pipe was missing and this needed addressed before they would complete any other work on the boiler and as this was an installation problem I would be charged £150 despite having the HomeCare 200 service for quite a number of years. This installation issue was only brought to our attention recently and had somehow been missed by a number of previous engineer visits along with actual cause of the leak. The last engineer who attended a call out a couple of weeks ago was the first person to identify the leak which was due to a leaky valve on the boiler. I was told that I would need to agree to pay this £150 before work would be completed on my boiler which I reluctantly agreed to as otherwise I would have had no heating or hot water. I received the invoice a couple of days ago.

I currently have a credit amount of £331.35 with my Gas account and £46.04 with my Electricity account. I rang British Gas today to enquire about transferring payment from the accounts in credit to pay the invoice for my boiler repairs.

I was told that to do this I would need to send a final meter reading for the accounts and then cancel my direct debits. I would then need to set up a new billing account which would be on a quarterly basis and I would lose the ability to pay by direct debit along with the discount. I would then need to wait for a cheque to be sent to me refunding the credit amount of the accounts. I was told that British Gas was unable to take the money from my Gas & electricity accounts to pay my outstanding invoice which I find ridiculous. One reason for keeping all my energy needs with one company was the convenience of only having to deal with one company but this appears not to be the case.

I wish to register a complaint that service I am being offered is fairly poor. From my originally problem with the leaking boiler right through to trying to pay the invoice has been nothing but problematic. I will be looking elsewhere for all my energy needs if I need to set up a new billing account and lose my direct debit discount. I feel like I am being penalised through no fault of my own and I believe I am a good customer. Are you able to help at all?

espresso

LDR wrote: »

Is it worth sending this complaint to British Gas or am I just wasting my time?

I welcome any advice. Thanks in advance - LDR

No, simply cancel your Homecare 2000 and find a better energy supplier. Your gas DD payment is obviously incorrect if you are over £300 in credit.

Cardew

Personally I would have thought that the £150 could have been waived as a goodwill gesture for a long term customer - especially as they had missed it in earlier years.

I can understand with their computer system it might be impossible to transfer credit from one account to a the Homecare account as the latter are a different branch. To set up a computer system for such a rare occurance would not be cost effective.

In any case £331 credit for gas at this time of the year is not that large.

I would certainly write and 'make a fuss' about the £150.

LDR_2

Thanks for your replies. I think it is time for me to change suppliers.

Gerrard_8_lfc

Your overflow is covered under homecare 300 not 200 you were talking about installation did BG do the installation ?.

I fail to see why people are saying a goodwill gesture should be made. If we don the installation and caused the problem yes by all mean do write to them and ask for comp.

However I wouldnt complain if the overflow pipe was damaged by the installer as BG have never been taking care of it as stated in T&Cs.

BGS and BGE use different systems so the credit cannot be transferred.

smidgey

I have no idea who you spoke to but it certainly doesn't sound like anyone in energy. Maybe you spoke to someone in services who doesn't know?

There is no way to easily transfer the money but the simplist way would be for us to cancel your DD for the gas (this is required to issue a refund) and issue you with a refund for the £150. It would be back in your bank account within 3 working days.

You could then send a cheque to pay for your invoice. Not ideal but not the chore that someone has told you it is. Your DD would resume for the same payment date and amount after the refund has been issued.