Are BG really that bad????

catford

Every comparison site I've used comes up with BG giving me a considerable saving for my electicity.- BUT-they get such lousy reports I just dont know what to do?? Are they really as bad as I read?:eek:
We used about 6200 units last year and i expect it to rise a little this year cos of the extra PC use by the kids I should save about£100ish

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but what to do
Any advice from you expert moneysavers?-Please.;)

Cardew

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that BG’s Customer Service is pretty poor.

However they are still by far the largest company with millions of customers and it is not newsworthy for anyone like myself to say I have no problems – you will only hear of complaints; some justified and some not.

If you change to BG as they are the cheapest and keep tracks of what is happening, and only pay what you agree, I can’t see any difficulty.

Most of the problems appear to be correcting errors.

hopingforahouse

Yes they have had problems, but they are getting over them, its to do with the intoduction of a new system (know someone who works there). I would say that they prob get more publicity if things are bad as they are so big, and pretty much the market leader (in the same way as BT).

Would advise to always go with the cheapest, but to keep your wits about you, always check meter readings, ESPECIALLY the first one they ask you to give when you change. They have some decent offers on at the moments I believe - free one month of ele or something where they put your prices down after a year.

belleabi0405

I signed up to their click energy tariff despite reservations about customer service but have not had to call once and love the savings. Just be aware of the service issues but isn't it true that complaints always make the headlines even if it is the minority. Go for the saving, I don't regret it and have taken 25% off my bill!!

immoral_angeluk

Honest answer? YES. They charged us £75 for 3 days worth of gas when we first moved in and then when we disputed it they passed it on to a DCA. :mad:

mishkanorman

Ive been using them and im now gonna try n power,

they arent the worst Ive ever used but i got really fed up of them taking increasing amounts on my direct debit with out any notification, I started off at £19.50 they advised to up it to £26 ish then it increased to £36 then £42 without telling us. When I called to ask why it kept going up she came out with some non-sense about it being based on estimated figures. I asked why they didnt notify me and she said they must have and i dont remember ??? She all but called me an idiot.

mishka

Cardew

mishkanorman wrote:

Ive been using them and im now gonna try n power,

they arent the worst Ive ever used but i got really fed up of them taking increasing amounts on my direct debit with out any notification, I started off at £19.50 they advised to up it to £26 ish then it increased to £36 then £42 without telling us. When I called to ask why it kept going up she came out with some non-sense about it being based on estimated figures. I asked why they didnt notify me and she said they must have and i dont remember ??? She all but called me an idiot.

mishka

They cannot increase DD amounts without informing you in advance, although they do not need your agreement to the increase.* To do so is a breach of the Direct Debit agreements with the Banks and you can take it up with them.

That said the notification of an increase is in small print at the bottom of a quarterly bill(on line bill or printed bill) and easy to miss.

*You can of course call them and dispute the increased DD if you feel it is not justified.

JohalaReewi

At 6200 units a year, have you checked out EquiPower (not all comparison sites show them but energyhelpline does).

My experience of BG click from June to August was that nothing worked (except the direct debit). I was unable to register or login via the website and so was unable to check bills, provide meter readings, etc. Gave up after 3 months and switched to Scottish Power Online and they are a million times better than BG and almost the same price (for me).

LizEstelle

Has anyone here tried speaking to a human operator at BG of late..? One could die before getting through...

jackieb

I work for a couple who haven't had a bill since July. I phoned yesterday to give a meter reading and request a bill. I got to speak to an operator straight away. This is Scottish Gas, not British Gas but i guess they're the same. They've already had problems this year with bills not getting sent out. Their meter had to be replaced and since we queried the lack of bills they were inundated with bills for various amounts - some of them were for over £500.

This couple never missed a bill payment either.

My gas and electric are both with hydro-electric but I have boiler and central heating cover with Scottish Gas. I must say that i've never had any problems if anything has broken down. Scottish Gas are first class in that area. Well, in my experience anyway, and i've been with them for about 6 years.

mishkanorman

Cardew wrote:

They cannot increase DD amounts without informing you in advance, although they do not need your agreement to the increase.* To do so is a breach of the Direct Debit agreements with the Banks and you can take it up with them.

That said the notification of an increase is in small print at the bottom of a quarterly bill(on line bill or printed bill) and easy to miss.

*You can of course call them and dispute the increased DD if you feel it is not justified.

The customer service advisor also said I must have missed it on the bill, yet i had it in front of me when i called and there was nothing stating a change, it was also upped twice and in that period and we had only had one gas bill.

I did dispute it but couldnt make her see the logic that as it was based on an estimated amount why did they keep increasing it and not leave it as it was. Also the last meter reading was given in August and come septembers payment it had gone up, it then went up again in October which is when i called them. Thanks to all these increases we are now £40 in credit with them, which is money i needed much more than them !!


Just because a company shouldnt do something doesnt mean they dont,



mishka