British Gas 'Customer Service' con?

FJSRiDER

Decided to change from British Gas and SWEB to Atlantic recently. All seems to have progressed smoothly until I received a letter from British Gas asking me to call an 0845 number to 'talk about closing my account'

I have no intention of calling 0845 9555514 to 'talk about' anything - there is no alternative listed on 'say no to 0870' and I can't find 'British Gas Customer Service' listed on Yell.

Does anyone think I need to bother? I resent calling these bloody numbers unless there is a very good reason and I don't see why I should pay to call anyone when I have already decided to change my supplier.

John_Gray

Undoubtedly they wish to offer you a special, only-for-you, cheap deal for staying with them...!

FJSRiDER

Al_Mac wrote:

Isn't 0845 a local rate number though?

Not if you use 18866 or 1899. :mad:

FJSRiDER

Al_Mac wrote:

You don't have to though, or am I missing something?

0845 will cost @5p/min (although it is difficult to calculate thanks to BT obscuration). Why should I phone them at my cost simply because British Gas want to 'enable us to ensure your account details are settled'?

I deeply resent being forced to call these numbers.

Paul_Varjak

With all those dodgy sales staff signing people up maybe British Gas are making sure you have signed an agreement before agreeing to a transfer.

Can you ring them outside hours and ask them to call you?

Grimbo_2

FJSRiDER wrote:

Decided to change from British Gas and SWEB to Atlantic recently. All seems to have progressed smoothly until I received a letter from British Gas asking me to call an 0845 number to 'talk about closing my account'

I have no intention of calling 0845 9555514 to 'talk about' anything - there is no alternative listed on 'say no to 0870' and I can't find 'British Gas Customer Service' listed on Yell.

Does anyone think I need to bother? I resent calling these bloody numbers unless there is a very good reason and I don't see why I should pay to call anyone when I have already decided to change my supplier.

The letter you recieved is referred to as an 'exit letter'. There are a few reasons why this type of letter is sent to you as a customer, firstly to make you aware you are leaving as it sometimes and often happens through other companies mis-selling that customers genuinly do not wish to leave or have been taken over without their consent or knowledge, so of course these letters inform you of what is happening.

Secondly is of course to try and retain your custom, but the the third and most important reason is to obtain a final meter read from yourselves which will coincide with your leaving date and the other supplier having already asked you for one a few days earlier. This of course is to make sure your final bill is billed to an accurate read and not to an estimate which can result in you paying a higher bill than expected. Also if the other company has not asked you for any opening reads which sometimes does happen it enables the reading to be given then also.

So as the letter states its for the closure of your account. With any business you have relations with its not unreasonable to request a call to check over a final few details to make sure all details are accurate and avoid you having a brain annurism a few weeks later when a £300 estimated bill drops on your doorstep.

=BOB=

beeniemac

The reading used to close the account to _should_ be the one provided by the new supplier, to prevent any discrepencies.

For exmaple the customer giving the new supplier a considerably higher reading than has been given to the one they have just withdrawn from, meaning lots of free gas/elec.

pricefighter

beeniemac wrote:

The reading used to close the account to _should_ be the one provided by the new supplier, to prevent any discrepencies.

For exmaple the customer giving the new supplier a considerably higher reading than has been given to the one they have just withdrawn from, meaning lots of free gas/elec.

It doesnt work like that because they would catch up with you in the end,and you would get lumbered with a big bill.

If you have to use 0845 numbers the best time to ring is Evening/Weekends on BT where it is only 1p a min.

However if you need to ring at peak rate the https://www.dialaround.co.uk access no 0844 462 48 48 allows you to ring them through BT for 2p a minute.

Min call charge of 5p applies in both cases.

jockettuk

FJSRiDER wrote:

Decided to change from British Gas and SWEB to Atlantic recently. All seems to have progressed smoothly until I received a letter from British Gas asking me to call an 0845 number to 'talk about closing my account'

I have no intention of calling 0845 9555514 to 'talk about' anything - there is no alternative listed on 'say no to 0870' and I can't find 'British Gas Customer Service' listed on Yell.

Does anyone think I need to bother? I resent calling these bloody numbers unless there is a very good reason and I don't see why I should pay to call anyone when I have already decided to change my supplier.

email them on https://www.house.co.uk and tell them to contact you either by phone or email.. chances are they already got your number from previous correspondence.. i never ring these companys i email them and if they want to talk to me they ring me..

pricefighter

FJSRiDER wrote:

Decided to change from British Gas and SWEB to Atlantic recently. All seems to have progressed smoothly until I received a letter from British Gas asking me to call an 0845 number to 'talk about closing my account'

I have no intention of calling 0845 9555514 to 'talk about' anything - there is no alternative listed on 'say no to 0870' and I can't find 'British Gas Customer Service' listed on Yell.

Does anyone think I need to bother? I resent calling these bloody numbers unless there is a very good reason and I don't see why I should pay to call anyone when I have already decided to change my supplier.

I have just had a look at the Atlantic web site and i notice they also use 0845 access numbers!!!

FJSRiDER

pricefighter wrote:

I have just had a look at the Atlantic web site and i notice they also use 0845 access numbers!!!

But I haven't had to call them!

I object to be made to call after I had chosen to close the account. I did in the end and they asked for the closing figure which I had ready to give them and then they started to give me a sales spiel. I said "No thanks" and terminated the call.