British Gas Nightmare

Monk82

Well here is a long complaint i have about British Gas.

First of all before moving premises i contacted British Gas and informed them that we was moving a month before we actually moved in to the new property and i said i would like our accounts Gas & Electric taken over at the new address and supposedly that wasn't a problem but each time they contacted us they mentioned the Electric being changed over but not the Gas and this went on for a while each time i emailed i kept saying can we make sure its the gas and electric and not just the electric because you keep missing the Gas out when contacting us.

But again even though i kept stating the above this got blanked and they answered other parts of the email instead.
Anyway when we moved in surprise surprise British Gas hadn't taken the accounts over from EDF so this really messed things up because now we was going to have to pay EDF for Electric and Gas and Electric also to British Gas which isn't what we wanted to do as we was going to have bills all over to pay and this isn't what we wanted after just moving.

I contacted the CEO Phil Bentley about this and all he could say is it takes four week to change an account over so as you can see he couldn't get it into his head that we had started the process 4 weeks before we moved in and he went on to defend British Gas.

I continued to contact him and he past the complaint over to someone named as (Text removed by MSE Forum Team) who was from the HQ Customer Relations Managing Directors Office Department but they told me exactly what (Text removed by MSE Forum Team) had told me so i couldn't be bothered going on and on being repeated the same stuff too when they couldn't see what i wasn't happy about when it was there staff who didn't process the move properly.

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In the mean time we had letters from EDF after us contacting them informing us that British Gas was now in the process of taking the Electric over but not the Gas... mmm interesting i will come to this later in this message.
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We then waited for the change over to take place and it took a long time but in that time we received a final bill informing us we was in debt from our old property and to pay right away or they will add £5 which isn't right because we always pay over via direct debit and have never been in debt at that address and last time my wife spoke to them via the phone before we moved she was told by British Gas advisors that she was in credit by £100+ but all of a sudden we are £70+ in debt and that information came from a final reminder they had never ever told us about.

I then contacted (Text removed by MSE Forum Team) about this and he past it right to (Text removed by MSE Forum Team) from British Gas to sort out and after a short wait we was informed we would have been advised about this via our online account which i didn't accept as we have always received letters from them we have never relied on online accounts and she went on and on that this is how we would have been informed all the time about bills when it truly wasn't true what she was saying.

I was now really annoyed and said i am now going to phone EDF and tell them we want to stay with them and i want a gesture of good will from British Gas for all the trouble they had caused and i then had a reply saying we will give you £50 as a gesture of goodwill after you stay with us for 6 months mmmm now as you can see this is a ploy to get us to stay with them.

I then phoned EDF and informed them that we wanted to move both accounts back over to them so they checked there system and said no British Gas only have your Electric account taken over your Gas is still with us. At that point we said are you sure British Gas have told us they have now taken both over and EDF told us no that isn't right at all according to there systems.

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Anyway i then emailed (Text removed by MSE Forum Team) from British Gas and told him what we had been told and we wasn't with British Gas for both and again he past it to (Text removed by MSE Forum Team) to mess up further. She then contacted me on 9/11/2012 and went on and on and on and on and wouldn't listen to me when i told them we wasn't with them for both Gas & Electric she then even give me dates of when they took over our Gas & Electric so we went to EDF to check this but no British Gas was in the wrong according to EDF.

My wife then phoned the British Gas customer services and spoke to a male who was as cocky and arrogant as they come trying to make out he knew more than a director and even told us EDF systems were old and not updated and then had my wife in tears on the phone so i took over the call and yes he was the same with me speaking over me ect so we ended the call.

We then got an email from (Text removed by MSE Forum Team) with two screenshots from there system proving that the two accounts was with British Gas and when i looked and then looked a little closer i laughed and laughed and laughed yes you guessed it British Gas was in the wrong they had in-fact put two accounts in our name and one being for a total different address in the road near us so as you can see they have now changed someone else's account over at an address and put it in our name.

So all this being spoken down to and big attitudes towards us and slagging EDF systems off to find it was them in the wrong the whole time and even when the mistake was in front of them they couldn't work it out from there systems information.

I have now requested compensation for the stress and inconvenience it has caused myself and my family and also a gesture of goodwill. And apologies from the three members of staff involved in all of this.

I have contacted (Text removed by MSE Forum Team) since working there mistake out but they have not yet replied.
I have also warned them not to try and take the EDF Gas account over to try and cover there mistakes up and i have told them i am not happy about our names being used to set accounts up at other addresses as i take data protection very seriously.

If i am not happy with the result i will be taking this further.
Just cannot believe they can get away with all this.

ihateyes

trying to do a transfer of energy accounts at an address you dont yet own is always iffy to say the least.

When you originally contacted Bg to start the move had you contacted the providers EDF at the address to register yourself as the account holder?????

ihateyes

Monk82 wrote: »

My wife then phoned the British Gas customer services and spoke to a male who was as cocky and arrogant as they come trying to make out he knew more than a director .

and he probably did. Do you for one minute think an MD knows the ins and out of their business? How certain transactions are carried out? of course they dont.

He attends big meeting deciding the path the business will run, thats why there are many managers below him to do and work about that work. if you put the MD on a seat beside the cocky advisor and asked him to perform a transfer of accounts he wouldnt have a clue.

Anytime you email an MD he wont reply to you, his PA will be the person that replies.

I hope you sort it out soon.

Monk82

ihateyes wrote: »

trying to do a transfer of energy accounts at an address you dont yet own is always iffy to say the least.

When you originally contacted Bg to start the move had you contacted the providers EDF at the address to register yourself as the account holder?????

Well this is why i phoned the so called professionals at British Gas for them to tell me that was fine so i went along with that.

We wanted to do this as when we moved in we wouldn't have energy accounts all over the place. We would have moved into the empty house and no electric or gas would have been used due it it being empty and then it would have gone nice and smooth from there and the old EDF account would have been paid by the landlord.

But either way they messed up big time on other things as well as this. Especially using my name and then changing an account at someone else's address. Just imagine if i hadn't of noticed this mistake and the house in question may have gone into debt this would then have gone onto my credit as bad.

Not good at all in so many ways.

Monk82

ihateyes wrote: »

and he probably did. Do you for one minute think an MD knows the ins and out of their business? How certain transactions are carried out? of course they dont.

He attends big meeting deciding the path the business will run, thats why there are many managers below him to do and work about that work. if you put the MD on a seat beside the cocky advisor and asked him to perform a transfer of accounts he wouldnt have a clue.

Anytime you email an MD he wont reply to you, his PA will be the person that replies.

I hope you sort it out soon.

Well it worked out neither of them knew what they was talking about so thats not good. And for your information i did speak to the MD via email. Not a PA. I have contacted him many of times in the past and he always sends a reply to each email.

ihateyes

Monk82 wrote: »

Well it worked out neither of them knew what they was talking about so thats not good. And for your information i did speak to the MD via email. Not a PA. I have contacted him many of times in the past and he always sends a reply to each email.

The email comes from his address, doesnt mean he types it!!

from what you say lots of things have went wrong, and hopefully you got whatever compo your lookin for.
Just make sure any phonecall is backed up with a letter or email to create a paper trail.

Also when speaking to someone over the phone always ask for first name, pay number, and location of call centre. makes it easier to complain should you need to!!

Monk82

ihateyes wrote: »

The email comes from his address, doesnt mean he types it!!

from what you say lots of things have went wrong, and hopefully you got whatever compo your lookin for.
Just make sure any phonecall is backed up with a letter or email to create a paper trail.

Also when speaking to someone over the phone always ask for first name, pay number, and location of call centre. makes it easier to complain should you need to!!

mmm ok not getting into an argument to who replies to an email, i see a lot like to argue on here regarding what other members say and i am not biting sorry. From what a friend says who works for British Gas he replies personally to all emails.

I didn't ask for the persons name as it should be on record as he logged into our account so will show on there system. I have to admit i was so annoyed at the time i totally forgot to ask lol.

I will keep you updated what happens anyway. Thank you for your replies on this much appreciated.

macman

If he replied in person to all his complaint emails then he wouldn't be able to run the company...having an exectutive office 'personal' contact to complain to is now standard practice for all big corporations, to make customers think that they are really run by caring individuals.
Purely cynical PR.