Should I be worried? - British Gas

pimento

Took a sales call from a very eager beaver tonight on behalf of British Gas trying to persuade me to come back to them.

Only trouble is, I've been their customer since 1984 (dual fuel, boiler cover and drains cover). I had an email from them yesterday asking for my latest meter reading.

When I told Mr. Beaver this, he muttered something about having their database amended so I didn't receive any more sales calls, but why would their database be so wrong in the first place? Could the nice young man who knocked at my door a few weeks ago hoping to make me switch suppliers have signed me up for a rival without my knowledge?

Hm.

Mr_Man_Full_of_Love

If you're with British Gas you should certainly be worried.:)
I joined five months ago and they're easily the most imcompetent company I've come across in any walk of life. The initial process of switching was an abortion, they set up my direct debit incorrectly, I've been unable to enter my meter readings online on two occasions (which out of five is ****), I have a string of emails from support that failed to answer a simple question and they me a letter saying sorry that they hadn't resolved my problem and gave me advice on how to contact the Ombudsman. That problem had been one of the few problems that they had solved and had been closed for weeks. I had a new single rate meter put in 10 days ago and despite numerous phone calls and assurances that my account would be updated online it still hasn't been.
If someone's switched your supplier without your knowledge you should crack open the bubbly.:)

pimento

I can't think of a bad word to say about British Gas. I've been with them for 27 years and over that time have used just about every facet if their organisation from having them install a full central heating system in my old house, to having to call them on a boiler breakdown on Christmas Eve, to having Dyno Rod clear a blocked drain a few weeks ago, all completely trouble free. Our local BG repairman lives in the next street, so usually arrives within half an hour of any call out.

In our four bed house, I am paying £37 a month for our electricity and £37 for our gas and am in credit on both accounts.

I'm a great believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" so I was surprised to have the sales call tonight.

I'll call them in the morning, just to make sure I'm still theirs.

TIMMY85

Mr_Man_Full_of_Love wrote: »

I had a new single rate meter put in 10 days ago and despite numerous phone calls and assurances that my account would be updated online it still hasn't been.

It takes up to 28 working days for the details to update but it can go wrong so keep the details which were left after the exchange so it can be manually updated.
Just wonder why you had the meter changed as you can be charged at single rate with a 2 rate meter with a click of the mouse - I would expect you had to pay for this exchange as it is non-essential!

Mr_Man_Full_of_Love

TIMMY85 wrote: »

It takes up to 28 working days for the details to update but it can go wrong so keep the details which were left after the exchange so it can be manually updated.
Just wonder why you had the meter changed as you can be charged at single rate with a 2 rate meter with a click of the mouse - I would expect you had to pay for this exchange as it is non-essential!

They assured me it would be done within 24 hours.

I had the meter changed because the seal on the E7 meter was tampered with and it would have cost the same amount to re-seal it as it would to replace the meter for a single rate.

pimento

A very, very, very nice man at British Gas assures me that I am still theirs. Phew!

bengasman

Simple answer to the question: "should I be worried with BG".
Do a search on this forum, or any other forum about houses, plumbing, heating, householders, homemakers, and type in "British gas problems".
Read the stories, and make up your mind.

pimento

I can only go by my own experiences and they have been great.