Southern Electric tell lies....tut tut

annexa

I came home today at 4.30 pm from some lovely xmas shopping, i walked into my house and thought wow its cold, shouldnt the heating be on?
I checked the thermo, it was on, checked the boiler it was off, next was the prepayment meter, the screen said "battery fail"
Now i have had this happen to me before when i was with british gas, i phoned them at 9pm explained the situation and had an engineer changing the battery at 11pm at night, a very friendly chap indeed and super service.
I thought to myself this will be a doddle to sort out how wrong was i. I phoned southern electric at 4.35pm and didnt get to speak to a human until 5.20pm. she then proceeded to tell me that they dont own my meter national grid do and as they are shut no one could come out until monday, i said that was not good enough, she said she could maybe get someone out tomorrow between 8am and 8pm.
I told her that it was a rubbish service and at the earliest oppotunity i would be switching supplier.
I phoned national grid to see if what she said is true, not only are they open but they offer a 24 hour service and southern electric were lying to me. she told me to phone them back and expain i had a vulnerable child in the house and to phone them and they would get someone out straightaway. southern electrics view on this....i dont know as an hour later i am still on hold waiting to talk to a human!!!!!!!!

jalexa

annexa wrote: »

Follow this procedure scrupulously.

http://www.southern-electric.co.uk/GasAndElectricity/PayAsYouGo/Faulty/

If you did and Southern Electric have failed as a result of adviser incompetence, raise a Complaint in writing or by email, citing adviser incompetence.

stephga23

It depends on the situation-

If national grid own your meter (you can check this it will say property of national grid plc or something on the front sticker) they will endeavour to call out within 4 hours and change your battery on a Saturday (it used to be after 5pm) when force manure is in place or they are extremely busy they will roll a job over for a Sunday (this I know isn't ideal) regardless of vulnerability. They are open 24 hours but this in the most is for gas emergencies (gas leaks etc)

Also whoever you spoke to at national grid can take the job over the phone from you, you don't always need to go through your supplier ( I'm not sure if this is for the instance when your supplier is closed though)

If its another company it totally depends on who and their guidelines

It's not ideal and this is certainly not me saying it directly but (don't shoot the messenger) gas is not considered a necessicity it is can be classed as a luxury which is why they can roll the job over, it would be a different scenerio if it was elec

Hope this helps

Southern_Electric_company_representative

Hello annexa.

I’m really sorry to read of the issues you’ve had over the weekend and hope your gas meter is now working properly. It does sound as if we have failed you with the advice given by our customer service advisor. I would like to check that everything has now been done correctly for you and to personally feed this back to the correct department ensuring the same mistake can’t happen again.

We operate to a number of “Guaranteed Standards” regarding such metering appointments. I would like also to check if we have breached these in your case and if you are eligible for a guaranteed standard payment. You can find our email details on our profile and I would be grateful if you could make contact with me so I may carry out the above actions for you.

Thank you, Holly.

annexa

hello thankyou for your replies and advice i will follow these through and you have been very helpful.
just to update you all my meter was repaired sunday morning, the nice gentleman took my card and i told him there was money on it and no need to put emergency credit on, he finished the job, knocked on the door and gave me my card back saying "you're money is on your meter and work is done.
Upon checking my meter today what do i find i owe southern electric £7 74p ummm hello i have a few quid on my meter and 4 or 5 quid on my card where has it gone????
I phone up southern electric and they tell me that when my battery was changed the workman would of HAD to put the emergency credit on and i would of had to have topped up again.
Errr no SE i had my own money. Well i have an offer of an £8 pound refund of my lost gas money. Never mind the fact i had to scrape together £10 to cover the cost of the money owed and it says i still owe it a pound odd....FLIPPING ANNOYED GRRRR

annexa

Southern_Electric_company_representative wrote: »

Hello annexa.

I’m really sorry to read of the issues you’ve had over the weekend and hope your gas meter is now working properly. It does sound as if we have failed you with the advice given by our customer service advisor. I would like to check that everything has now been done correctly for you and to personally feed this back to the correct department ensuring the same mistake can’t happen again.

We operate to a number of “Guaranteed Standards” regarding such metering appointments. I would like also to check if we have breached these in your case and if you are eligible for a guaranteed standard payment. You can find our email details on our profile and I would be grateful if you could make contact with me so I may carry out the above actions for you.

Thank you, Holly.

email on the way, thankyou for replying holly. As you will see from my further post it does seem like one problem after the other.

gentlebloke

Responsibility:
Up to main fuse/ECV: DNO/GT
Main fuse/ECV to, and including, meter: supplier
Meter to property: householder

shaunmiller

im haveing the same trouble with these jerks. finding it impossible to get hold of them and im paying to be on hold. i live in a really cold flat that leaks heat at the best of times my daughter is crying that she's cold sitting under a duvet. when this is finally resolved if the egineer charges me for a new battery I WILL ATTACK HIM, just for wearing there logo, i need to spleen. please someone from that joke of a company reply, please im begging you. :money::money::money:

jalexa

shaunmiller wrote: »

im paying to be on hold.

Yes, paperwork seems to quote 0845 numbers but if you can find them some 0800 numbers still work, try 0800 052 2080.

Many more on saynoto0870.

shaunmiller

jalexa wrote: »

Yes, paperwork seems to quote 0845 numbers but if you can find them some 0800 numbers still work, try 0800 052 2080.

Many more on saynoto0870.

thanks i'll give that a go.