British Gas - Terrible Customer Service - Have been messed about - PLEASE HELP!!

Bettyboop

:mad:

Hi All,

I moved into my house in November 2006. I phoned British Gas and gave them the readings for the electricity and gas. I then phoned them in January querying the whereabouts of my bill and they said I had to wait until the end of February. I asked the CS person I was speaking to, to please confirm that all my details were there and that they had opened accounts in my name. He assured me this was definitely the case.

Well on Friday I telephoned them and guess what my DETAILS were nowhere to be found...I don't even exist as a customer. So once again the lady opened accounts for me HOWEVER, the problem is now they are going to estimate to November and this worrying because they want to charge me:

£45.00 per month for gas (I would like to add that the heating is off during the day as I'm at work)
£24.00 per month for electricity (I have made changes in the house for eg. energy saving bulbs, switching the power off at the sockets etc)

I feel this is so expensive as we are only in a two bedroom terraced house! I lived in a three bedroom detached house before and the gas bill per month there was £25.00 so how is this justified. I tried to sort it out over the phone and this girl said I had to wait for the 28 days (to set up my account) to be up)!!!!!!!!!!! before I can take the matter further.

Who do I go to or what can I do....because I know that they are trying to overcharge me! I will also like to add that where I lived before is not even 5 minutes from here so once again I don't understand there pricing structure. I emailed them last week and I'm still waiting for a reply! I doubt I will get one though.

tripled

The dd figure they have given you is not based on previous usage at that property, so is not indicative of how much you will actually be charged since November. The computer will actually calculate the opening reading when the account is set up.

Bettyboop

They lost the readings I gave them for both the electricity and gas. They are estimating my usage. It's just me and the little one here...

djohn2002uk

Don't you still have the readings you gave them on moving in?
If you do then take new ones now and take a midway point between the two and give those to them and tell them that is what you are paying from and no more. You gain a bit for your hassle and they pay a bit for their incompetance. They wont know if theyve lost your readings.

djohn2002uk

If you don't have the original readings then take new ones and again in 7 days time and you can multiply the difference by the number of weeks you've been there. That will give you a "reasonably" accurate total of what you've used. When the bill arrives you can subtract your calculated usage from their new figures (Don't accept estimated either) and if yours are best give them to BG, and if theirs are better take it and pay.
Also, from your readings you should be able to work out a DD amount of slightly less than you're using because you have the summer to look forward to.

tripled

I appreciate you have lost your readings. What I was tring to explain was the agent you spoke to is not saying they will charge you £45.00 per month for gas and £24.00 for electricity backdated to November. The computer will number crunch and estimate a reading based on previous consumption at that property when the account is set up.

djohn2002uk wrote:

Don't you still have the readings you gave them on moving in?
If you do then take new ones now and take a midway point between the two and give those to them and tell them that is what you are paying from and no more. You gain a bit for your hassle and they pay a bit for their incompetance. They wont know if theyve lost your readings.

Of course, you do realise what you are advising Bettyboop to do is fraudulant. Also have you considered that the previous occupiers may have provided a reading a few days before she moved in? If this is the case do you think BG's billing systems aren't going to notice 6 weeks worth of power has apparently been used in one week? Or if the meter has been read since Bettyboop moved in the readings she gives could be proved wrong?

Not just that, BG won't write off six weeks worth of power, they will pass it to a debt tracing department who will contact her and the previous occupiers and the bill would be sent to one of them eventually - probably with a few late payment fees thrown in for good measure.

djohn2002uk

tripled wrote:

I appreciate you have lost your readings. What I was tring to explain was the agent you spoke to is not saying they will charge you £45.00 per month for gas and £24.00 for electricity backdated to November. The computer will number crunch and estimate a reading based on previous consumption at that property when the account is set up.



Of course, you do realise what you are advising Bettyboop to do is fraudulant. Also have you considered that the previous occupiers may have provided a reading a few days before she moved in? If this is the case do you think BG's billing systems aren't going to notice 6 weeks worth of power has apparently been used in one week? Or if the meter has been read since Bettyboop moved in the readings she gives could be proved wrong?

Not just that, BG won't write off six weeks worth of power, they will pass it to a debt tracing department who will contact her and the previous occupiers and the bill would be sent to one of them eventually - probably with a few late payment fees thrown in for good measure.

Of course, I have been on here long enough to know the people who would be waiting to jump on a post like that.
Also if they have the readings from the previous occupier, why would they be estimating the original reading???
And why would they be "losing" six weeks gas??? BG do not work on weeks but on readings and if they don't know the readings they rely on customers supplying them.
And I suppose from your reply that it is ok for BG to "number crunch" as you put it, and come up with a figure based on someone elses usage???
BG have screwed up here but you appear to be sympathising with them and not the OP.

tripled

djohn2002uk wrote:

Also if they have the readings from the previous occupier, why would they be estimating the original reading???

Perhaps the agent never looked to see if there was a recent reading on the system?

djohn2002uk wrote:

And why would they be "losing" six weeks gas???

djohn2002uk wrote:

Don't you still have the readings you gave them on moving in?
If you do then take new ones now and take a midway point between the two and give those to them and tell them that is what you are paying from and no more. You gain a bit for your hassle and they pay a bit for their incompetance. They wont know if theyve lost your readings.

Midpoint means halfway. So that would mean the op would only be paying for half the power used since they've been in the property. Which based on average usage would be approximately 6-8 weeks gas and electric.

djohn2002uk wrote:

BG do not work on weeks but on readings and if they don't know the readings they rely on customers supplying them.

True. But that doesn't mean they won't notice discrepancies.

djohn2002uk wrote:

And I suppose from your reply that it is ok for BG to "number crunch" as you put it, and come up with a figure based on someone elses usage???

I don't remember saying that was 'ok' or an ideal outcome, I was was simply saying that is what they will do.

djohn2002uk wrote:

BG have screwed up here but you appear to be sympathising with them and not the OP.

All I have done is point out the figures the agent recommended she pay won't necessarily reflect what they will actually be charging her since she moved in.

I also observed that only declaring half your usage is not a sensible way to resolve this. BG would bill the difference and eventually either the last occupier, the landlord or the op would have to pay it.

djohn2002uk

And you've conveniently not mentioned my second post.

tripled

Not sure what's covenient about it. The only reason I brought up your first post is becausee, in my opinion, it wouldn't be a good idea to follow that advice. As far as I can see there's nothing I can see wrong with your second post.

Bettyboop

I'm sorry if I missed something important here....before I moved in, in November the landlord did work here for about 8 weeks. He bought this property from a very sick elderly lady who I believe is in a home. I managed to find the guy's name that I spoke with now I have the dreaded problem of trying to get through to the right person in British Gas who can find him and my call so this can all be sorted out.