Tired of British Gas incompetence... the latest!

frivolous_fay

I switched to British Gas for my electricity after Martin suggested it was time to switch... some time in the Spring. (yes, I know there's been a 'Switch now!' recently too... read on!)

I must have applied to switch some time in March.

28th March - letter from British Gas thanking me for switching to them

3rd April - letter from BG thanking me again for switching to them, and telling me my supply could start on 6th May, and that I should get my final bill from my old supplier in 'the next few weeks'

Not sure of date - BG ask for meter reading. I'm confused by my 2-rate meter and telephone the readings in. I ask if I will need to send in the meter reading form and am told no.

20th April - my supplier wrote to me to ask me to confirm the switch

10th May - Uswitch paid me my £12.50 gift

6th June - BG start taking direct debits of £30 from my account

Not sure of date - I enquire when I will receive a bill. I am receiving (doubled up) mailings by post. BG tell me they don't have a record of a meter reading. I check the meter reading and give it to them over the phone.

31st July - I receive an email giving me my log-in details for 'Click Energy'. I log in and am none the wiser as to what my bill is.

7th August - Ecotricity send me my final bill, apologising for the delay. It's about 3 months late, going by BG's advised estimate of date of receipt. What could have delayed it? Hmm... I have a vague idea it might have been the idiots at BG.

23rd September - I'm going through a load of old emails and find my Click Energy log in details. Just for the hell of it I log in. 'current balance: £0.00' (No sign of the £120 I've paid them so far, then.) There is a link to click on that says 'My bill is unavailable - what should I do?' Just for the hell of it I click on it. A window pops up with the following extremely helpful advice, under 'more information': 'Your bill is currently unavailable, please check back at a later date.'

I'm delighted to see that there is a Dedicated Click Energy Line. Not so pleased to see that it is 75p per minute. I dig around and find an old letter from BG with an 0845 no. on it. I ring it... and no-one answers (despite the fact that the letter tells me the number is open on Saturdays until 6pm)

I'm feeling... amused... bemused... irritated... tired. I'm suddenly starting to remember why I switched FROM BG a few years ago.

Does anyone have any tips, perhaps picked up through similar experiences of the frankly appalling service BG spend so much money advertising? I have no earthly clue what my bill is. I have a strong suspicion that if by some miracle I was able to reach someone at BG over the phone... they would tell me they have no record of my TWO meter readings. Help me.....

/sigh

frivolous_fay

Well... finally reached a human being via a phone number supplied by tomstickland.

Guess what... they have no record of a meter reading, despite me supplying them with two... one of which they managed to send to my old supplier before destroying all traces of it.

A monkey is due to telephone me in the next five days.

JonathanA

I've been here for electricity supplied by BG. We moved house in March - wanted to transfer both Gas & Elec to BG from NPower (don't ask me why, it seemed like a good idea at the time). The gas transfer took place within the 6 weeks they stated with no problems at all - it was a very efficient process.

Electricity was a different matter. First they tried to take over someone else's meter account - who obviously objected to this. We resolved what they were doing wrong (or should I say, I did all the legwork, found out why they kept cancelling our switch and phoned them multiple times to get it corrected). This happened on a further two occasions by which time I was tearing out what little hair I have left.

Eventually in August I lost all patience with the main customer services staff, their customer complaints people and everyone else I came into contact with. I finally got someone to take me seriously - luck of the draw when you phone up - and they promised to sort things out. They too, lost my meter reading and then never supplied it to NPower to produce a final bill. When they did, they got it totally wrong!

I involved energywatch in the end to try and gain resolution to the problem. NPower responded quickly and accurately, British Gas wrote back and said they couldn't see what the problem was as they didn't supply me for electricity (even though I had it in writing from them that they did!). Spoke to someone at British Gas who took the time and trouble to really look into why they had got it so wrong and he seemed to resolve everything properly!

I have finally got things resolved, but it was pure chance that I spoke to someone who seemed to care.

If it carries on, involve energywatch, I found them to be very helpful. Don't expect anyone to phone you back - the number of people from BG who promise to do so and then never do is staggering.

Good luck - sorry I can't offer any solid advice, but you have my sympathies. Needless to say, we will be changing supplier - again - in the very near future. I found a customer satisfaction rating on the energywatch website and we will be going with a company that offers good customer service rather than cheapest price!!

anitap

What a releif to know that I am not the only person who has been battling with the monkeys at british gas.........Since March !!!!!!!!!

I am so exhausted with the whole situation that I will keep it brief - had supply with npower for elec and bgas for gas, decided to change in march 06 to all with npower. By August had dd for elec with npower still but no sign of gas, phoned and was told bgas hadn't provided the readings and then received a £100 bill from bgas. September told that still no readings and to make it worse couldn't find anyone in npower who could string a sentance together let alone offered to help they just kept saying to phone Bgas. Spoke to chap in leeds who seemed quite helpful so out of sheer despair and because he could string a sentance together told him i would just move everything to Bgas, he said they would refund the £100 to my bill and would make sure the DD for both was sorted within the next 4 weeks - yeah right !!!

Its now November (obviously) and guess what.........I have dd for elec running smoothly (thats the new business they gained !!!) but the gas .................is now with Npower who hadn't had the readings in august but yet it now transpires that they have been supplying me since march.......i know, i know don't ask me !?!?!?!

I spent my day yesterday having another telephone fight with British Gas, in the end and after many different "customer services" ops I managed to be put through to the customer services manager she was helpful and explained to me that the £100 was never refunded as it never existed because yes the supply for my gas has been with Npower since March !!!! She assured me she will sort the mess out and set the direct debit up and even change the DD mandate from £53.00 (as received the day before) and set it to £21.00 as it should have been. I then said I wanted compo and managed to squeeze £70 from her which to be honest doesn't go anywhere near to the 9 months I have spent sorting this out.

On top of that and even if she does sort this out I still have to go back to Npower and try to tidy up the account there before I will be able to sleep soundly in my bed.

Thanks for the tip off about energywatch will def bear that in mind incase it all goes pear shaped again but for the moment fingers are firmly crossed and I will never ever change suppliers again - not through loyalty to Bgas obviously but through sheer fear of what the knock on might be !!!!!:eek: :eek: :mad:

pfpf

frivolous_fay wrote:

A monkey is due to telephone me in the next five days.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< and here he is.


good luck, i had a stinking time with npower with my Gas bill. it can be a nightmare.

frivolous_fay

Well... a month ago BG promised me a letter of apology, and my bill. Neither has materialised.

I telephoned today - was passed around the houses for a while, and eventually called back.

Their excuse was a new one to me; they blame the Industry Regulator! They say my meter reading was submitted to them for approval (they say they are legally bound to do this) and that the regulator has been sitting on it ever since!

(Yet apparently they can legally take my direct debits... or can they?)

Without the approval, they can't legally open an account for me. I was told they have put the specialised 'regulator-chasing' department on the case. (For the second time)

Interested to hear any comments on this :rotfl:

anitap

OMG it just gets worse - will keep you posted frivolous_fay as to if I receive the cheque they have promised or indeed get the problem resolved.

I am now dealing with a customer services manager and have a direct number for her but only after much complaining - am hoping I am on the last hurdle, she said she will be keeping an eye on the change over personally for me but how much faith I have in that is questionable !!!!

mishkanorman

Im in the process of trying to get rid of BG, and totally un-related to that this morning i was sent two letters, one was red and said "you owe us £110 pay immediately" ( please ?? ) , the other dated one day later said "you owe us £61 pay immediately" :mad:


There isnt a single thing to tell me why i must pay these amounts or what they are for (no not even in the small print ) after ringing them im still none the wiser as all the operator said was "ooops":rolleyes:


Im sure the other companies arent all perfect but BG are just beyond bad,


mishka

Hana

Advice needed please folks.

I switched to BG Click energy way back in May. Well, I say switched, I mean tried to. There was problem after problem and Powergen refused to let me go for this reason and that. However, I was written to and notified very regularly, so I stuck with it. Finally, everything happened. Received and paid my final bill from my previous supplier at the end of August, but heard nowt from BG since Mid August.

Have called a few times to say 'you're supplying my electricity, please bill me. Or at least give me my Click energy log on details'. But nothing. Last spoke to a lady on the 18th, who said basically 'we have you listed as a customer, but you don't have an account set up'. First question - what does this mean in blonde-speak?!??

Secondly, I'm paying my DD amount into another bank account so that if and when I'm stung for the backpay, it won't hurt. As I'm doing this, do I really care how long they take to sort me out? (I'm also being a good girl and taking my meter readings each month). I realise I can't switch until I'm set up, but with all the problems I negotiated a very nice compensation package which I have to wait a year for, so I'm not thinking about switching again yet.
I've been lurking around for a while and see that lots of people are having problems, and just want some reassurance really that I'm not going to come home from work one day to find they've cut me off for not paying.

anitap

I think even the monkeys at british gas would get a couple of red letters to you before they looked at disconnection - although why I am giving them credit for doing that i'm not sure !!!!

I am in exactly the same boat - can't get them to take the DD and after 9 months told that account isn't set up. You are well infront of me with the meter readings have got ones from march and august but have spent so much time on the phone to BG since then, I havn't been able to leave the house to take any further ones !!!!!!!

All joking to one side, feel a bit thick for not having kept a monthly record myself - will do from now on thanks for that.

sikejsudjek

I switched to British Gas Click online at the end of May and left third week in June. Gave them the leaving meter reading in June. I've only now in November got a 'sorry you're leaving us please give us a meter reading request' !

As it happens their estimate leaves me in credit so they can sit and swivel. The online account never was set up properly, and I never managed to log into it. I never managed to get out of them what tariff I was supposed to be on either.

Absolutely shambolic.

Do the right thing - don't touch them with a barge pole !:rotfl: