British Gas inflexible

Topothy

I signed up for the switch to British Gas late on 17th February. Unfortunately I then found out I was going to have to move out of my current accommodation at short notice. I tried to contact my existing supplier on 2 March to tell them to stop the switch, but had difficulty contacting them, and it wasn't until the next day, 3rd March, that I found the contact details for British Gas, who had confirmed my switch on 23rd February. British Gas firstly are giving out incorrect information, saying that you have a 14 day cooling off period from the request date, when you actually have 14 days from the day after the switch date. Second, they are being completely inflexible and refusing to cancel the switch despite that I was less than 24 hours late in asking them to cancel. They state that I have to take the service and have to keep it for 28 days, but I will not be at my current address for that long. I explained that I thought I was actually doing them a favour by telling them, rather than allowing the switch to happen and then leaving only 3 weeks later, but they won't listen. The point of this post is that I have had similar (worse) experiences with British Gas in the past and they have shown me that they have not changed. I would therefore warn people to think twice before joining them.

jcontest

If your moving to a new location then you can probably transfer the contract to the new address. If your moving areas then I don't know how they would do this.

Everything I have read before says you only need to give 48 hours notice to have the billing stopped. Perhaps you will need to pay the penalty for getting out of the contract, but you shouldn't need to pay beyond the day you leave.

I looked in my BG Terms and I cant see mention of the 28 days.
I can however find that you can end the contract with only 2 days notice when your moving home.


"
Changing the names or address on your contract

7.4 If we have your permission, we can change the names of the people on your account, and we can change the property it applies to.

You might want us to do that if, for example, you move house and want us to carry on supplying you there. Or you might want someone who lives with you to take joint responsibility for the contract. To let us know about any changes, call us on 0800 048 0303 if you are a Pay As You Go Energy™ customer, or on 0800 048 0202 if you’re any other kind of customer.


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8 Ending this contract


How you can end this contract

8.1 This is how you can end this contract.
a.If you’re moving and you don’t want us to supply gas or electricity at your new property (as explained in clause 7.4), you need to tell us at least two days before you move.

If you do that, your contract will end on the date you move out of your property. The only exception is if you still own your property on that date, and no one else has taken over responsibility for it.

If you don’t give us at least two days’ notice, this contract will continue until:
- two working days after you tell us you have moved; or
- someone else gets gas or electricity at your property;
whichever happens first.

"

cifpower

Topothy wrote: »

I signed up for the switch to British Gas late on 17th February. Unfortunately I then found out I was going to have to move out of my current accommodation at short notice. I tried to contact my existing supplier on 2 March to tell them to stop the switch, but had difficulty contacting them, and it wasn't until the next day, 3rd March, that I found the contact details for British Gas, who had confirmed my switch on 23rd February. British Gas firstly are giving out incorrect information, saying that you have a 14 day cooling off period from the request date, when you actually have 14 days from the day after the switch date. Second, they are being completely inflexible and refusing to cancel the switch despite that I was less than 24 hours late in asking them to cancel. They state that I have to take the service and have to keep it for 28 days, but I will not be at my current address for that long. I explained that I thought I was actually doing them a favour by telling them, rather than allowing the switch to happen and then leaving only 3 weeks later, but they won't listen. The point of this post is that I have had similar (worse) experiences with British Gas in the past and they have shown me that they have not changed. I would therefore warn people to think twice before joining them.

What exactly has British Gas done wrong?

spiro

The 14 day cooling off period starts the day you request the switch not after the switch date. That's why when OFGEM introduced faster switching it was set to 2 weeks plus 3 working days, the 2 weeks was to allow for the cooling off period.

dogshome

As far as I aware, there is only one supplier who charges Exit Fees when a customer moves home, and that's First Utility - All other suppliers regard a house move as contract end without penalties.

Just make sure you give BG the meter readings on the day you move out so they can send a Final Bill to your new address
FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION Keep all the paperwork including Start & End meter readings safely filed away for at least a year

Wolf3

as others have stated, give accurate start and final reads, the contract relates to the property, not you as a person. Even though you signed up, the contract ends when your tenancy ends