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Switching energy supplier: British Gas being deliberately obstructive?
I've just switched my gas and electricity from BG to Npower.
It was worth me making the switch because of a cashback deal from NPower.
But, in the process of switching both the gas and the electricity, BG raised some kind of objection which meant it couldn't go through. I've got a feeling they did this 2 or 3 times, even after I'd settled my latest bills (or whatever it was that they were initially blaming it on). The 2nd/3rd times they did it, they could offer no explanation for why they had blocked it.
The result of this was that NPower cancelled my original orders and started the process over (I've got a feeling they said they had to do this if BG were still objecting after a certain amount of time, or a certain number of attempts, or something).
Anyway, the upshot of this (apart from all the wasted time making phone calls etc) is that because Npower re-started the order process, the tracking didn't work and I've lost my cashback deal (which was a significant enough amount to mean that I probably won't now make much of a saving over what I would have paid if I'd just stuck with BG).
Now, I am getting phonecalls from BG trying to persuade me to come back to them (and offering their own cashback-type deal).
This all seems a bit fishy to me... almost as if they deliberately cause these problems so that I am now in the position that I've lost my cashback advantage of changing, and therefore potentially likely to go back to them?
A couple of questions:
1) Has this happened to anyone else?
2) Is it worth me complaining to BG, or anyone else?
3) What are my chances of trying to claim my cashback from Npower (via Topcashback claims process) on the basis that I have signed up for the same tariffs as the original deal related to, and it's only a technicality that the order was re-started?
Oh, and BG have sent me a final bill with a falsified reading (it's 20 units higher than my meter currently reads, several weeks after their supposed reading date, on which day I know that no-one came to read my meter)....but that's another story.
It was worth me making the switch because of a cashback deal from NPower.
But, in the process of switching both the gas and the electricity, BG raised some kind of objection which meant it couldn't go through. I've got a feeling they did this 2 or 3 times, even after I'd settled my latest bills (or whatever it was that they were initially blaming it on). The 2nd/3rd times they did it, they could offer no explanation for why they had blocked it.
The result of this was that NPower cancelled my original orders and started the process over (I've got a feeling they said they had to do this if BG were still objecting after a certain amount of time, or a certain number of attempts, or something).
Anyway, the upshot of this (apart from all the wasted time making phone calls etc) is that because Npower re-started the order process, the tracking didn't work and I've lost my cashback deal (which was a significant enough amount to mean that I probably won't now make much of a saving over what I would have paid if I'd just stuck with BG).
Now, I am getting phonecalls from BG trying to persuade me to come back to them (and offering their own cashback-type deal).
This all seems a bit fishy to me... almost as if they deliberately cause these problems so that I am now in the position that I've lost my cashback advantage of changing, and therefore potentially likely to go back to them?
A couple of questions:
1) Has this happened to anyone else?
2) Is it worth me complaining to BG, or anyone else?
3) What are my chances of trying to claim my cashback from Npower (via Topcashback claims process) on the basis that I have signed up for the same tariffs as the original deal related to, and it's only a technicality that the order was re-started?
Oh, and BG have sent me a final bill with a falsified reading (it's 20 units higher than my meter currently reads, several weeks after their supposed reading date, on which day I know that no-one came to read my meter)....but that's another story.
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