British Gas cancelling my account in order to give me a refund!!??

freebird65

As excuses to hang on to your money, this tops the lot! I've repeatedly requested a refund of my credit balances and am always assured they'll be sent....needless to say, they never are.:rolleyes:

I've just called BG again (via saynoto0870, of course:D ) and have been told that unfortunately the only way they can issue me a refund is by cancelling my direct debits and my payment plan and then setting them up again! Que? :mad: :mad:

I asked to speak to a manager - she assured me this was all true and part of BG's new systems and they were waiting for it to be changed. I've told them to go ahead and look forward to a massive admin muddle/mess. You just KNOW they're going to cut me off for non-payment or something and I'll be back on here in December shivering to report that both gas and electric have been cut-off and there's no sign of my refund.

OOOOhhhhh!!!!! Feel better now I've vented.

Freebird wanders off for strengthening caffeine and to look at changing suppliers.......

Ken68

Couldn't make it up could you, Freebird, can't somehow believe that BG want customers.Easy pickings for their competitors and time for the 'British' part of their name to be taken away. Brutish Gas perhaps.

freebird65

Unreal, I know. I told the manager I was posting on MSE as well as contacting their regulator about the multiple schemes BG think up to get interest free loans from their customers and she insisted BG didn't earn any interest on the credit balances. YEA RIGHT! She also said she would personally see to it that my account was sorted out with the minimum fuss.

Why couldn't that have been done in the first place?

Feel calmer now...have coffee in hand my holiday flight tickets have just arrived:cool:

Ken68

Not BRITISH Airways I hope:rotfl:

tripled

Unfortunately the agent was right, new new computer system can't issue refunds without cancelling the direct debit first. There was supposed to be a fix going in for it around now, but it seems to have gone quiet on that font.

Just for your info, (according to their internal propoganda) BG is currently owed #250 million from people underpaying on dd, payment card, standing order, etc, which is why people are seeing payments go up so much - they want to get that to zero.

freebird65

tripled wrote: »

Unfortunately the agent was right, new new computer system can't issue refunds without cancelling the direct debit first. There was supposed to be a fix going in for it around now, but it seems to have gone quiet on that font.

Just for your info, (according to their internal propoganda) BG is currently owed #250 million from people underpaying on dd, payment card, standing order, etc, which is why people are seeing payments go up so much - they want to get that to zero.

Fair enough.....but it doesn't really excuse the fact that they owe me loads and it's taken me a endless phone calls to a) get my amounts reduced and b) get back the excess. If they could at least be consistent in and do what they tell you, then customers wouldn't get so irate and frustrated.

And if you work there, then I seriously feel for you!

Cardew

freebird65 wrote: »

Unreal, I know. I told the manager I was posting on MSE as well as contacting their regulator about the multiple schemes BG think up to get interest free loans from their customers and she insisted BG didn't earn any interest on the credit balances. YEA RIGHT! She also said she would personally see to it that my account was sorted out with the minimum fuss.

If BG, or any other of the utility companies "think up" multiple schemes to get interest free loans from their customers, then they have been spectacularly unsuccessful.

The Regulator has stated that all of the utility companies are owed far more money than they owe i.e. the debit balances are far greater than the credit balances. That supports the post above by Tripled about how much BG are owed by their customers..

That is also borne out by the many posts on this forum where customers owe hundreds and indeed thousands of pounds and are looking for ways to avoid paying off their debt.

Many people simply do not seem to understand the principle of the Direct Debit payment scheme. It is to be expected that at some point in the year – usually late summer – they will be considerably in credit, and finish the winter in debit. Instead we get plaintive cries that they are being ‘robbed’ of a pound or two lost interest.

We get very little praise for the companies who allow large debts to be paid off interest free over 12 or more months.

I am talking in general terms, I obviously don’t know your specific details. However specifically your accusation of ‘multiple schemes’ etc is uninformed, inaccurate and unwarranted.

I also have vented!!!