British Gas - another frustrated rant

espresso

wheresitallgone wrote: »

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

Another one who has tried to beat the system!

see here

:rolleyes:

tripled

wheresitallgone wrote: »

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.

If the bill is unpaid they will search the voters roll, credit records and even the land registry to find out who was living there - then pass the debt on to a collection agency. For the sake of £25 I'd recommend you pay it.

JCR - I agree the system is flawed, and also had there not been long waits to get through then someone there could have explained it to you. The general enquiries agent should not have told you she would "rectify the problem", even though there was nothing to rectify, as it left you with the incorrect impression that BG were in the wrong and shouldn't be billing you. Instead she should have explained the situation or transferred you to homemovers if she didn't have the knowledge.

However you surely must concede that if your supplier had complied with the legal requirement to explain the transfer process to you these issues would never have arisen in the first place.

Cardew

JCR wrote: »

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.

Tripled does work for BG and makes no secret of that fact - and there are other posters who also work for BG and other utility companies..

It is readily admitted by just about everyone that BG have had poor customer service and nobody is trying to state otherwise.

However in this case BG have done nothing wrong. You tell them you are intending to leave BG, but apparently think it is their duty to explain to you the regulations pertaining to the gas and electricity industry, but not the company that you are moving to?

All that has happened is that you have not understood the regulations regarding moving into a new house and, having made unjustified accusations, don’t seem able to admit where the fault lies.

JCR

I admit that I didn't know the regulations of moving into a new house and using a supplier that I choose to use. At the time of moving I did not have access to the internet, not everyone does you know. Therefore, how is one supposed to find out the regulations of the gas and electricity industry (ringing them, I don't think so), However, what I am saying and which you seem to ignore Cardew is that whether they think it is their duty or not to explain to me the regulations pertaining to the gas and electricity industry, I do think it is their duty to explain the methods of the industry when they are continually telling you that you are their customer. Wouldn't that be what you'd expect from any service that you are using?

Also how am I supposed to get an accurate bill now when the reading was not taken at the time of their cut off.

olly300

Actually OP it's not BG fault this time it's your chosen energy supplier's fault and you should make a complaint to them and inform energywatch (http://golwgarynni.org/) about them not giving you the correct information.

Whenever I've changed suppliers, the new supplier has always provided me with this information by post in a letter within 10 days of me agreeing to switch.

BTW I'm with BG and still waiting for a bill before I change suppliers (long story) but strangely when put at the end of my emails that I will inform energywatch if the issue isn't resolved they sort it out.

For future information when dealing with utilities companies (gas, electric or water) any of them should provide you with information like this even if you don't have a customer account with them. They cannot hide behind the Data Protection Act and refuse to give you this generic information by saying you are not a customer. Thames Water tried and I threatened to report them to the Information Commissioner for misuse of the Data Protection Act and they couldn't apologise enough.

Cardew

JCR wrote: »

I admit that I didn't know the regulations of moving into a new house and using a supplier that I choose to use. At the time of moving I did not have access to the internet, not everyone does you know. Therefore, how is one supposed to find out the regulations of the gas and electricity industry (ringing them, I don't think so), However, what I am saying and which you seem to ignore Cardew is that whether they think it is their duty or not to explain to me the regulations pertaining to the gas and electricity industry, I do think it is their duty to explain the methods of the industry when they are continually telling you that you are their customer. Wouldn't that be what you'd expect from any service that you are using?

Also how am I supposed to get an accurate bill now when the reading was not taken at the time of their cut off.

It has been standard practice, probably before your Grandparent’s time, for a person moving into a new property to take on the existing supplier of gas/electricity. Full details of terms and conditions supply are sent to new customers by all utility companies – your grandparents were probably not on the internet either!

Your new supplier(not BG) should have explained to you that there would be a time delay before the transfer could take effect; they are required to explain the transfer procedure. The query you have about meter readings at "time of cut off" is down to you and new supplier.

My objection to your approach in this thread is firstly the title. Then, after several posters have carefully explained to you that BG are not at fault in this case, you persist in slating BG in subsequent posts.

That BG have poor Customer Service has been pretty conclusively proven and is not in dispute; and as far as I am aware nobody has been trying to “convince” you otherwise.

However BG’s competence is not relevant in this situation; you and/or your new supplier are ‘in the dock’ for that offence!

gotnobread

tripled wrote: »

However you surely must concede that if your supplier had complied with the legal requirement to explain the transfer process to you these issues would never have arisen in the first place.

Tripled, I'm pretty sure this is not a legal requirement, I believe it's more of a regulatory requirement. The difference is just that the company could be hit with sanctions from the regulator (worst case, loss of licence to supply). Failing to explain the transfer process is not illegal.

Don't want to be pedantic but in my BG days I do remember lots of talk from Customer Service Advisors about legal requirements "the law says we've got to read your meter every two years.." etc. Need to be careful about this because I don't think that's actually the case...

Cheers,
Gotnobread.

JCR

Why on earth would you object to the title of the thread, it's not as if it's unique or directed at you, unless of course you are the Chairman of BG. Seems to me you have taken the whole thread rather personally, which is very strange. I am not the only one to have experienced problems with BG and while I concede that my new supplier is at fault for not telling me how things would proceed, the issue hasn't been helped by the lack of information that I have received from BG and the difficulties I have had when trying to obtain that information, via phone and letter.

So BG's lack of customer service has been conclusively proven - well that is what I am complaining about, do I not have the right to put my opinion about them across, or is that to be the domain only of utility company experts like yourself Cardew?

espresso

JCR wrote: »

Why on earth would you object to the title of the thread...........

The rant board is this way.

Cardew

JCR wrote: »

So BG's lack of customer service has been conclusively proven - well that is what I am complaining about, do I not have the right to put my opinion about them across, or is that to be the domain only of utility company experts like yourself Cardew?

Your complaint against BG was on specific issues, which are not valid.

Having had that explained to you by several posters - not just myself, you continue to bluster in an attempt to obfuscate.

Of course you are entitled to your opinion and, in an open forum, others are entitled to comment on your lack of objectivity.