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A sorry saga of tariff-switching
Man_Overboard_2
Posts: 282 Forumite
My British Gas two-tier WebSaver12 tariff was nearing its end, so I checked out the website and found that BG no longer offer any two-tier tariffs. I called the call centre 3 times and received the same answer each time - at the end of Websaver12, I will be switched onto 'Clear and Simple', which is now BG's standard tariff, and is a Daily Standing Charge tariff.
I switched to nPower because they were offering the best two-tier tariff at the time.
But, at the end of WebSaver12, I was not switched onto 'Clear and Simple' - I was switched onto the obsolete 'Standard Tariff', which is a two-tier tariff.
ps - even after their imminent price increase, I should still be paying less to nPower than I paid to British Gas last year
The switch was completed during the first week in October (about a week after the end of WebSaver12).
Yesterday, I called BG to make sure that the surplus on my account was about to be refunded, and started to hear a hardsell from a guy on BG's 'retention team' who told me that I had been misled by nPower, and that he was in a position to offer me £120 to switch back to BG. I told him that if I had not been so grossly misled by his own company's call centre, I probably wouldn't have switched to nPower in the first place.
Today, I received a letter from nPower telling me about their upcoming price increases. The letter told me that I am on a Daily Standing Charge tariff with a name very similar to the two-tier tariff which I signed up to.
I called nPower immediately, and was told that I might have to wait in the queue for an hour. But after no more than about 7-8 minutes I made contact with a human being who has assured me that the letter was wrong, and I do not have to pay daily standing charges.
I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't read the letter properly. I suspect I would have been surreptitiously moved onto a daily standing charge tariff, and my gas bill would have increased by a factor of 4 to 6 (I am a very low user of gas)
The guy I spoke to gave me a name, and assured me that my call was logged, and that he had registered an 'expression of dissatisfaction' on my account. He then asked me if I was satisfied with the service I had received during my phone call. I replied that there is no way I can answer that question until I receive my next bill.
I switched to nPower because they were offering the best two-tier tariff at the time.
But, at the end of WebSaver12, I was not switched onto 'Clear and Simple' - I was switched onto the obsolete 'Standard Tariff', which is a two-tier tariff.
ps - even after their imminent price increase, I should still be paying less to nPower than I paid to British Gas last year
The switch was completed during the first week in October (about a week after the end of WebSaver12).
Yesterday, I called BG to make sure that the surplus on my account was about to be refunded, and started to hear a hardsell from a guy on BG's 'retention team' who told me that I had been misled by nPower, and that he was in a position to offer me £120 to switch back to BG. I told him that if I had not been so grossly misled by his own company's call centre, I probably wouldn't have switched to nPower in the first place.
Today, I received a letter from nPower telling me about their upcoming price increases. The letter told me that I am on a Daily Standing Charge tariff with a name very similar to the two-tier tariff which I signed up to.
I called nPower immediately, and was told that I might have to wait in the queue for an hour. But after no more than about 7-8 minutes I made contact with a human being who has assured me that the letter was wrong, and I do not have to pay daily standing charges.
I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't read the letter properly. I suspect I would have been surreptitiously moved onto a daily standing charge tariff, and my gas bill would have increased by a factor of 4 to 6 (I am a very low user of gas)
The guy I spoke to gave me a name, and assured me that my call was logged, and that he had registered an 'expression of dissatisfaction' on my account. He then asked me if I was satisfied with the service I had received during my phone call. I replied that there is no way I can answer that question until I receive my next bill.
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Comments
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Why couldn't you answer? He was asking you a standard question regarding the phone call, not how your service with them has been thus far.0
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Why couldn't you answer? He was asking you a standard question regarding the phone call, not how your service with them has been thus far.
My service with them so far has been non-existent - my gas arrives upon demand, but I have received a letter full of errors.
I told the guy that, however good his intentions, his employer's computer systems make the final decisions (check back to the bit in my post about the misinformation I recieved from BG's call centre staff).0 -
ps - I forget to mention that even after I have logged into 'My nPower', there is no way I can find out the prices of the tariff which I am committed to0
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Man_Overboard wrote: »ps - I forget to mention that even after I have logged into 'My nPower', there is no way I can find out the prices of the tariff which I am committed to
If you've only just switched that could be a reason, the whole transfer process takes about 5 weeks so it may be you have to wait til then0 -
If you've only just switched that could be a reason, the whole transfer process takes about 5 weeks so it may be you have to wait til then
The transfer is complete. The call centre guy agreed that tariff prices are not available on the nPower website, and apologised. He did however tell me what the new prices would be.
Why is it not possible for a customer to find out (from their nattily-named 'My nPower' web-page) the prices of their 'My nPower' energy supplies?0
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