British Gas - another frustrated rant

JCR

:mad:
We moved into our new house in February - the previous residents had used British Gas but we wanted to keep the same supplier we had previously used. So on taking the meter readings I wrote to the new supplier providing them with this information and tried to ring BG to inform them that we were not using them as we had received a letter addressed to the occupier. Having failed to get through on the phone, I sent them an email via their web site telling them that we would not be using them. I then received an email back thanking me for informing them of our move and saying that they were opening an account for me. I then emailed them back telling them that we were NOT using them and had chosen another supplier.

We then received a letter through the post addressed to me saying that an account had been opened for both gas and electricity. Head and brick wall come to mind at this stage. I then tried to ring again, but failed through the normal channels, so tried the complaints line. I then eventually got through and told the woman on the other end the situation. She said that she would rectify the problem and that should be the end of it.

However, lo and behold what comes through the post a few weeks letter a bill for £59 for a months worth of electricity. I wrote again saying that it was ridiculous and that I wouldn't be entering into any more correspondence with them as they obviously didn't take any notice of what I was telling them.

Then this weekend a Creditor's Notice was issued to me for the amount of £59 that they say is outstanding. Even though we have had a bill from our actual supplier, although I think that the bill from our supplier is from the period April to June and the BG seems to be for the month of March. The supplier that we are using was notified of the meter readings on 26th February so should have taken on the account from that period. I am totally confused by the whole thing, but feel that as we told both suppliers of our wishes then we should not have to pay BG's extortionate rates as we had informed all involved of situation.

I have since contacted the Creditor's Office explaining the situation and sending what correspondence I could as back up. They said they would put the account on hold and contact BG - but I don't hold out much hope since BG seem to just totally ignore any information they are given.

Why are they so absolutely inept. It is a wonder that they don't go out of business - they are the worst company I have ever come across.

I don't expect anyone has read this far - but if you have thank you :rolleyes:

Cardew

Not denying that BG customer service is very poor, but I suspect that the same situation would occur between any 2 utility companies.

I believe(tripled or other utility employees might confirm) that in order to change between two suppliers you must have an account in your name at the address with the existing supplier.


I suspect that would be a stipulation of the receiving company.

It seems to me that your gripe is not with BG but your new company; as they haven't used your readings you sent them and started from April.

How much extra do you think you have been charged on that £59?

steveandel

The house you moved into was already supplied by British Gas even if you didn't have an account with them.

It was the same with us. You have to ring your new supplier and give them your details and set up an account. Then you must ring BG and tell them you wish to use the other provider. To actually switch between the two providers can take up to 28 days so you have to set up an account with BG initially in order to pay for the electricity you use in the time before the switch is complete. BG/your new supplier will then inform you of the switch date at which point your BG account is closed and your account with the new supplier starts.

If you had managed to get through on the phone all of that would have been explained to you when you contacted BG the first time - at least it was with us and we had a completely hassle free switch over to Atlantic.

stewie_griffin

When you move in to a new property you automatically take on the previous occupiers supplier and in your case this was BG, which is why they set up an account for you. As you asked the supplier from your old house to take over the supply they would have started to transfer the supply over from when you moved in but it takes around 4-6 weeks to complete the transfer and during this period you were being supplied by BG and therefore need to pay them.

The only thing that I would check is that all the meter readings follow on and are correct i.e. have BG charged from the readings taken when you moved in up to the readings your new supplier have used to open their account? If they have then it looks like in this case BG have done nothing wrong whatsoever and the only problem is that your new supplier did not explain the transfer process to you.

JCR

My gripe is that both companies have been told - our chosen supplier was told both by phone and letter and nothing was said on the phone to indicate it would take 4-6 weeks for the transfer (and why would it take so long). They accepted the readings and said that they would set up an account. They didn't say "and in the meantime you will have to pay the current supplier until we can get our act together". Perhaps they are to blame partly but I am not alone in my frustrations about BG.

Not being able to get through to BG is a major fault as far as I can see - people haven't got time to spend 40 mins plus waiting to be answered - and the cost of it. I tried on numerous occasions to get through to BG and failed so the only path left to me was emailing and writing. If they are not prepared to write back explaining the situation but wait until they feel that you owe them money before any communication is received and then it is from a Creditor's Office, it just isn't on. Sorry but I still feel that this is not good service.

espresso

I can understand your frustration but you were the one tried to beat the system! You should have registered with the current supplier first and THEN applied to the supplier of your choice and the chances are that the transfer would have gone smoothly. It does take approx 4-6 weeks and there is not a lot you can do about that time, when you would be charged by the original supplier.

tripled

Whilst it is true that the waiting times to get through to BG have been rediculous over the past few months (although they seem to be coming down over the last week), your new supplier should have explained the transfer process to you including the timescales. As far as I'm aware this is a regulatory requirment. Had they complied with this you wouldn't have had any problems.

When you sent in your details by email/letter, a guy in India would simply have processed the details and moved on to his next job. He wouldn't be sitting there wondering "I wonder if JCR's new supplier has explained things properly for him". It's not BG's job to check other companies are doing their job properly.

The 'complaints line' simply goes into general enquiries, had you endured the wait and gone through to homemovers instead they would have explained it to you. General enquiries agents don't have experience of the homemove process so many of them wouldn't be able to help you properly.

JCR

We did not try and "beat the system" - we geniunely thought that you could choose which provider you wanted to use from the offset as long as you provided them with meter readings. At any time we could have been told by BG that we were required to register with them before we could get away from them. If the complaints department are not trained to deal with complaints or general enquiries then they should inform you of that not leave you under the false impression that your query is being dealt with.

Obviously Tripled you work for BG as you have such an indepth knowledge of them, but you will never convince me (nor many of the other posters) that BG are anything other than incompetent.

gotnobread

Fair's fair - BG have done nothing wrong here, and have not been incompetent.

An easy way to think about all this is that, when you sign to another company, you are really signing the meterpoint across. So, even if you as a new occupier have no wish to be with BG, the meterpoint is still with them and you are liable to pay them for any gas that passes through "their" meter until it goes to another supplier.

The 6week transfer period is a combination of regulations - you must give any supplier 28 days notice that you intend to transfer their meterpoint - and process limitations - there are a number of organisations involved in the transfer (not just the two suppliers) and, unfortunately, there is no great advantage to all these organisations in spending large sums of money to nail down all their processes so that they can transfer customers in 28 or 29 days flat. Bear in mind that customers are only one group of people who are interested in these companies - it is critical to make a healthy margin in order to please the shareholders.

Cheers,
Gotnobread.

ckerrd

She said that she would rectify the problem and that should be the end of it.

This is the part that gets me. I have a long running dispute with BG, now into it's second year, and everytime I have spoken to someone they have promised to deal with it and call me back. Never, ever, did this happen, until I threatened them with legal action, since they had been threatening me with legal action. I now, allegedly, have a guy on the case who is sorting it all out, but it will take a minimum of two months. Up to this point their customer service has been appallingly bad. Most of the people I spoke to on the phone were perfectly pleasant, however they all lied when they said they would phone me. Now why would a company act like that? To the OP - you have my sympathies.

wheresitallgone

Ive just had a similar problem to JCR with British Gas,

Contacted gas supplier from old property ( Southern Electric) before moving to inform them of move date and that I wanted my account moved to new address, supplied meter readings on the day I moved in and was not told that i needed to contact the previous occupants supplier or informed that there would be a transition period.

After moving received a letter from BG saying to the occupants, tried to contact them to say they would not be supplying my gas but kept dangling on the phone so didnt bother sticking around as I thought they would only go through a sales pitch of the advantages of BG.

2 weeks later received a bill for £25 from BG for gas supply.

I have also been billed by Southern Electric for the same period as BG have billed me for and I have no intention of paying them both for the same gas.
The bill from BG does not have my name on it just says to the occupier, can I get away without paying this bill or should I reclaim my money from Southern Electric.

Anyone got any ideas?????