Cheapest supplier v good customer service

thriftychick

After only 9 months with British Gas and 2 months of irrate phone calls trying to get them to reduce my monthly direct debit and refund a £400 credit balance (still waiting) I am at my wits end with them.

If I switch supplier it will cost me more each month but I won't have to put up with the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

Is it a case of you get what you pay for?

A_Nice_Englishman

A lot of money is being used to pay sales people, comparison websites and adminstrators who make their living from people switching suppliers. This obviously leaves less to spend on 'real' administration and customer service. I guess things which cost the company money things like refunding credit balances will be put to the bottom of the pile.

tripled

Usually a refund should be issued by BG within 10-14 days. Have they given you a reaon why they aren't refundning it?

anniecave

I would try one last time for the refund, they should tell you if there is a reason why they are not giving it you (if your account is not billed up to date for example)
after that complain to energywatch. That's often the most efficient way of getting things sorted.
Do you have a discount by paying by direct debit? Is it much? If not I would just cancel the direct debit with your bank and contact them to start paying it again once the £400 has been used up........

thriftychick

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I am given a different reason for the delay each time I phone! I have received a part refund today £192, but they have increased my direct debit from £33 to £65! My heating is oil so my bill should be fairly constant. This time I was told the minimum direct debit amount is now £50.

I keep going on uswitch etc to see if they are still the cheapest and unfortunately they are by far.

A_Nice_Englishman

See the following thread for some interesting posts about uSwitch

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=312634