British Gas phonecall about homecare ?scam

Seraphinaoflondon

Yesterday I had a phonecall from British Gas about my recently upgraded Homecare policy. It came from an 0800 number which, when I called back, was BG. They told me that hundreds of thousand letters about Homecare had been sent out with errors on them and they wanted to cancel my contract, and open a new contract with a new DDM. I had the paperwork on my desk as it was a recent upgrade and it looked OK to me. I told the caller to send me a letter explaining the problem. She said not possible as there are so many. I suggested that they post the details on their website. Not possible - she could give me a free month if I go ahead.

At this time no security details had been taken. I told her that they must write and she said that it would take months although meanwhile I would be covered. The lady sounded VERY disappointed (though maybe she's on commission).

I cannot believe that BG would do all this for my benefit. Has anyone else had a call, or does anyone know what they are up to?

ollski

Sounds odd to me, I would take the phone number or email off bg's proper website and ask them the question.

Seraphinaoflondon

I did call them using the 0800 number on the Homecare paperwork. The lady told me that it is a callcentre and all the do is make and take calls. She confirmed that the original 0800 number was a BG number and she 'sort of remembered' that there was some kind of issue. I asked her to report it and she reiterated that it is just a call centre, but all calls are recorded. I asked if that meant someone in management would listen to the recording. She said she didn't know.

Short of making this a crusade I can do no more but I share it here in case someone else gets such a call, and in the hope that someone knows what it's all about. You don't expect a call from the blue telling you the supplier wants to tear up your contract, issue a new one and ask for a new DDM all in the space of one phone call with no written backup.

notbritishgas

It may be related to this;
On 16 Oct my MIL received an email saying that due to computer changes to improve service :rotfl: they had changed her account number. No action was needed and there was no mention of cancelling and renewing her account.
She has online access to her account (via me), do they ring those who do not have an email registered?

Seraphinaoflondon

Received in today's mail a letter from BG from a Matthew Bateman, MD of Home Services. It has a HomeCare number and tells me that they have tried to call me and not got through (not true) and that they need to speak to me urgently or my cover may not be correct. The letter says they want me to sign a new contract on the telephone - no copy of the contract, no explanation! So I must call them on an 0800 number to set up a new contract, with their call centre operator(!)

Having read Little Red Riding Hood several times as a child I was certainly not going to do that without more information so I called the 0800 number to ask for more details....the reply just says "The number you have dialled has not been recognised". So I went online and tried to log onto my account section. BG don't supply my gas because nobody in my region is on mains gas -- I have bulk LPG. Anyway, I registered using the HomeCare number, or should I say tried to register. The system wouldn't accept me.

I seem to have no way to contact these wretches. They are taking my money and now tell me I might not have the insurance in place, but how do I contact them?

This is the sort of thing that happens to other people...not me. Are these people really running the business or is it a mass scam from Nigeria?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Seraphinaoflondon wrote: »

Received in today's mail a letter from BG from a Matthew Bateman, MD of Home Services. It has a HomeCare number and tells me that they have tried to call me and not got through (not true) and that they need to speak to me urgently or my cover may not be correct. The letter says they want me to sign a new contract on the telephone - no copy of the contract, no explanation! So I must call them on an 0800 number to set up a new contract, with their call centre operator(!)

Having read Little Red Riding Hood several times as a child I was certainly not going to do that without more information so I called the 0800 number to ask for more details....the reply just says "The number you have dialled has not been recognised". So I went online and tried to log onto my account section. BG don't supply my gas because nobody in my region is on mains gas -- I have bulk LPG. Anyway, I registered using the HomeCare number, or should I say tried to register. The system wouldn't accept me.

I seem to have no way to contact these wretches. They are taking my money and now tell me I might not have the insurance in place, but how do I contact them?

This is the sort of thing that happens to other people...not me. Are these people really running the business or is it a mass scam from Nigeria?

Call them

Seraphinaoflondon

I called them this morning on one of the other BG numbers. Seems that HomeCare took my monthly payment for £20 on 1st November and cancelled my contract on 3rd November. Girl on phone couldn't get the computer to reinstate me. She told me that I shouldn't worry because it's 'not a problem'. Oh. Promised to phone me back on Monday. She confirmed that Mr Matthew Bateman is a Director of British Gas and she couldn't get through to the 0800 289694 number on the letter. Thankfully she did agree with me that she wouldn't have handed out bank details or accepted a new contract from a phone call.

Maybe they should fire Mr Bateman and make the phone girl the Director. Frankly I am horrified and disgusted that they didn't get a senior bod to call me straight back with an explanation. I'd wager that BG is staffed by young kids and scallywags....maybe the ex-Lehman lot :mad:

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Seraphinaoflondon wrote: »

I called them this morning on one of the other BG numbers. Seems that HomeCare took my monthly payment for £20 on 1st November and cancelled my contract on 3rd November. Girl on phone couldn't get the computer to reinstate me. She told me that I shouldn't worry because it's 'not a problem'. Oh. Promised to phone me back on Monday. She confirmed that Mr Matthew Bateman is a Director of British Gas and she couldn't get through to the 0800 289694 number on the letter. Thankfully she did agree with me that she wouldn't have handed out bank details or accepted a new contract from a phone call.

Maybe they should fire Mr Bateman and make the phone girl the Director. Frankly I am horrified and disgusted that they didn't get a senior bod to call me straight back with an explanation. I'd wager that BG is staffed by young kids and scallywags....maybe the ex-Lehman lot :mad:

Oh do get over yourself! Why would you want a director to call you back? The people you have spoken to almost certainly have a better idea how to fix your problem than the Matthew Bateman, possibly because that's their job, not Mr. Bateman's.

Young kids and scallywags? I'll bite my tongue....

Seraphinaoflondon

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

Oh do get over yourself! Why would you want a director to call you back? The people you have spoken to almost certainly have a better idea how to fix your problem than the Matthew Bateman, possibly because that's their job, not Mr. Bateman's.

Young kids and scallywags? I'll bite my tongue....

Maybe because Mr Bateman signed the letter? If Mr Bateman signs the letter Mr Bateman is responsible. I assume that I am not the only one to be affected as they said on the first phone call that 'hundreds of thousands' had been affected.

As for biting your tongue, be my guest.