£1500 of gas in 5 weeks!

123budget · 1 February 2011 at 10:05AM

sideshow_matt wrote: »

Not long off the phone with BG. The serial number of the meter they had was different to my parents, and they were being billed in Imperial.

They have told my father that someone will contact him within 28 days to confirm how much they owe him.

He has told them that he is very unhappy, but I think I will try and persuade him to put it in writing, as they have been living in fear since the bill came in at the end of December, and have been taking hot water bottles to bed.

Just found out from my mother as well, that she rang the homecare line just after new year to fix a problem, and they told her that the closest date they had was over 20 days away! after a week she called a plumber to fix it.

Very annoyed at BG at the moment, but love my fellow money savers more than ever.

Thanks again, 2 pensioners can now start defrosting.

Hi
had to reply as I have had exactly the same problem and it was someone on this forum that helped me out then. However I think 28 days is a long time to wait for a refund. British Gas dealt with mine and refunded backdated to last July within a week:j. However all they have done is put my gas account £1,215 in credit so am now chasing for it to be put in my bank account! I did stop my DD with them and until I am sure they are charging me correctly will pay with a Debit Card each month.

sideshow_matt · 2 February 2011 at 12:34PM

Thanks for the comments everyone, will keep you all updated with what BG do

Spirit666 · 2 February 2011 at 12:57PM

Glad you are getting it sorted.

On the Homecare front, if your parents are over the age of 60 then they have priority over any other customer because of their age. Also if they have any underlying health issues then again they have priority to get a same day or next day appointment.

That is a shocking amount of time to wait to get a problem fixed and I would be asking for them to refund the charge from the plumbers visit aswhat is the point of your contract if you have to get others to deal with it when it matters.

Equaliser123 · 2 February 2011 at 1:06PM

Outrageous that BG is taking so long to resolve this.

Wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.

sideshow_matt · 2 February 2011 at 1:48PM

To be fair to BG Homecare, I have used them in the past and they have always been very good. I think the problem is that as my parents are not very forceful, the call centre staff take advantage of them to take the pressure off their booking schedules.

Where as my mother will say she is without heating but not push the issue with them.

I am trying to teach them to be a little more direct with people over the phone

sideshow_matt · 14 February 2011 at 3:45PM

Just a quick update on this. BG sent someone out from Siemens to look at the meter. The Siemens man didn't know what he was there for, and had just been out to look at the meter and record all the details off it.

Still waiting on the confirmation that the money is a credit or is coming back.

sideshow_matt · 4 March 2011 at 5:45PM

Update to this thread.....

Another gas bill has hit the mat, £1100 and it's been taken from their bank account. Phoned up again, and was told that the meter can't be wrong. After much complaining and explaining they found out that there is a flag on the account, that the meter may be incorrect as it is under investigation. We know we have a metric meter now thanks to the posters on here because of the symbol.

Apparently there is a backlog in BG, hence why it is taking so long. I am very angry as they are taking advantage of my parents, and taking money from their bank accounts they are not entitled to.

BallandChain · 4 March 2011 at 9:06PM

This is why I refuse to pay my bills by direct debit. I always check the bills are actual readings and then pay. If they are estimated I give the correct readings online and pay online. I've been messed about with utility companies in the past just helping themselves to money in my bank account and refuse to be part of their direct debit scams, I mean schemes.

Also, just to add I never bother to ring the utility companies anymore. Always write or e-mail so you have come back. The hours I wasted trying to sort out billing over the phone is unbelievable.

LittleMissAspie · 4 March 2011 at 9:14PM

Maybe you could try writing to a newspaper help column to get it sorted out properly? Like in a finance section, they can get good results.

Valli · 4 March 2011 at 9:21PM

If this were me I would be haranguing my MP - not least because they are always banging on about old people and heating and saying they should not be frightened to have their heating on.