British Gas Websaver 4 Tariff

NEH

Can anyone clarify how long the contract should be?


We signed up last September through i believe moneysupermarket believing it was a 12 month contract as that was what was advertised and the blurb read....So we thought great we can now switch as it's not the cheapest anymore as we though we were out of contract.....

However after speaking to British Gas we're stuck until 30th November which makes it a 14 and a half month contract and apparently that is what we signed up for....I did say it seems weird that the standard contract length is 14 and a half months but she said that's the way they do it....

Can anyone clarify if they are on this tariff how long their contract is? I can't find the terms and conditions anywhere unfortunately...

Joyful

You need to know what tariff you signed up to. All fixed tariffs have an end date in the contracts no matter when you take it on.

If you had only signed for a standard tariff you could leave at any time with no penalty.

NEH

Joyful wrote: »

You need to know what tariff you signed up to. All fixed tariffs have an end date in the contracts no matter when you take it on.

If you had only signed for a standard tariff you could leave at any time with no penalty.

We signed up to the websaver 4 tarrif and it said in the blurb 12 month contract not 14 and a half month contraact...

davidgmmafan

In that case it might be worth pursuing it a little further. What sort of fee or tie in are we talking about? If its a monetary sum then they might waive it if its not that much and you complain. Most residential tariffs don't say you absolutely cannot change until X date, but fee for coming off the tariff before the end date are not uncommon.

Although 14 and a half months sounds like an unusualy timescale I doubt that's what has actually happened. In practice what happens is they have a tariff which runs until x date, and its the sign up date which is important. If I signed up in July and you signed up in September my tie-in would be longer than yours if you want to look at it that way.

If you have something in writing saying 12 months then it should just be a matter of quoting that or sending it in. Actually send a copy in case they claim to have not recieved it.

KimYeovil

If you are a domestic customer then you are not tied to your contract - you can leave anytime with 28 days notice. But if you leave before the fixed end date of a special deal then you may pay a penalty - either a fixed penalty of from £50 to £100 or a pro rata recharging of your entire historical useage (though this latter option is not common). The end dates of most deals would be between nine and fifteen months away.

NEH

davidgmmafan wrote: »

In that case it might be worth pursuing it a little further. What sort of fee or tie in are we talking about? If its a monetary sum then they might waive it if its not that much and you complain. Most residential tariffs don't say you absolutely cannot change until X date, but fee for coming off the tariff before the end date are not uncommon.

Although 14 and a half months sounds like an unusualy timescale I doubt that's what has actually happened. In practice what happens is they have a tariff which runs until x date, and its the sign up date which is important. If I signed up in July and you signed up in September my tie-in would be longer than yours if you want to look at it that way.

If you have something in writing saying 12 months then it should just be a matter of quoting that or sending it in. Actually send a copy in case they claim to have not recieved it.

KimYeovil wrote: »

If you are a domestic customer then you are not tied to your contract - you can leave anytime with 28 days notice. But if you leave before the fixed end date of a special deal then you may pay a penalty - either a fixed penalty of from £50 to £100 or a pro rata recharging of your entire historical useage (though this latter option is not common). The end dates of most deals would be between nine and fifteen months away.

It's £35 to come out before the end of November....

Unfortunately they insist they sent the terms and conditions but i can't find them, we just read the policy details when we switched.....I'm hoping i can find a letter somewhere but as the account is an online based one i don't think i will.

Swipe

You should be able to switch now with no cancellation fee. I am currently on BG electric websaver 5 and the tie in period was only until June 30th 2010. The date websaver 5 converts back to Standard Tariff is 28th Feb 2011.

NEH

Swipe wrote: »

You should be able to switch now with no cancellation fee. I am currently on BG electric websaver 5 and the tie in period was only until June 30th 2010. The date websaver 5 converts back to Standard Tariff is 28th Feb 2011.

Nope they're still saying £35 to come out of contract and change to someone else...

SwanJon

NEH wrote: »

We signed up to the websaver 4 tarrif and it said in the blurb 12 month contract not 14 and a half month contraact...

I'm fairly sure these tariffs weren't "12 months" or "14.5 months". They specified a date before which an exit fee would apply, and a second date until which the discount would apply.
Your contract was only for 28 days, but the exit fee would apply before date 1.

How long until date 1 from when you signed up depends entirely on when you signed up.

NEH

SwanJon wrote: »

I'm fairly sure these tariffs weren't "12 months" or "14.5 months". They specified a date before which an exit fee would apply, and a second date until which the discount would apply.
Your contract was only for 28 days, but the exit fee would apply before date 1.

How long until date 1 from when you signed up depends entirely on when you signed up.

Well it said if you leave within 12 months i believe becuase we were concerned as we were going into rented whether we could commit for that long, trying to remember the exact wording...British Gas just said it was a 14 and a half month tie in and that it wasn't weird at all to have a contract that length....

Not sure i understand your last bit?

SwanJon

Sorry,

Each of the Websavers has been set up with a single end date for exit fees (e.g. 30 Nov 2010). However, the time that you can sign up for each tariff is greater than one day (e.g. 1 August through to 30 Nov 2009).

As such, the length of time from when you signed up to the end of the 'exit fee period' varies dependent on when you signed up. Customers who signed up 1 Aug had 16 months, Mid Sept was 14.5 months, end Nov 12 months.