British Gas - Idiots!

cjS_3

Tripled, I would love to 'meet' you!

spinningsheep

British Gas as a company,yes idiotic. Their staff muppets because they wont do exactly as you ask over the phone? no. I can fully understand your situation as it happened to me too. Only it took them 6 months to send me the "real final bill". However as much as I was frustrated and angry with BG as a company, I never took it out on the call centre staff, after all, if they were being paid to make descisions like that, they wouldn't be working in a call centre. Staff do as they are told most of the time, I know in my job I disagree with half the stuff I have to tell customers,but hey, its my job, I follow the rules, I dont make em!

cjS_3

good point.

Elise1309

My feeling is that if a call centre rep doesn't have the authority to carry out a particular task, then the onus is on them to refer it on to someone who can - not refuse to help, give out erroneous information or do nothing.

Customer service at many companies (not just British Gas) is nothing short of abysmal these days.

Companies do have a duty of care to their customers to recruit staff who have the intellect to deal with problems. And all call centre reps have a duty to refer on anything they can't personally resolve. It's not unreasonable to expect staff to show a bit of common sense and pro-activity.

midflight

My feeling is that if a call centre rep doesn't have the authority to carry out a particular task, then the onus is on them to refer it on to someone who can - not refuse to help, give out erroneous information or do nothing.

I couldn't agree more with this! My recent experience with BG has produced the following "results":
- refusing to help
- giving out wrong information
- doing nothing
- being polite & helpful, but STILL cocking things up royally

Are we supposed to feel sorry for these call centre numpties, when it's our lives & stress levels they're messing with?

Customer service at many companies (not just British Gas) is nothing short of abysmal these days.

Maybe not just British Gas, but let's face - they are the perfect example of how not to conduct a business. The very name of the company makes me ashamed to be British...

briandiggle

Elise1309 wrote: »

Customer service at many companies (not just British Gas) is nothing short of abysmal these days. quote]


Well you pay peanuts, you get monkeys...

Terrylw1

Of course common sense is a actor but so is training and management.

If you look at call centres in ANY industry, it's all about dealing with things within X minutes.

You also find that they are trained very poorly, as are their own line managers. Then you'll have a back office somewhere else in the country who do all the stuff to sort your bills out.

The call centre is just their to fend off the easy queries and hand off the complicatd stuff internally.

You need to speak to a manager first. The people you are speaking to in my opinion have very little support but their are plenty who may help, perhaps you've been unloucky to land on the ones that can't. Thats an issue with all call centres in any industry.

No point going to Energywatch until you've spoke to someone with more authority at BG.

Suppliers all have the same complaints (Energywatch have a top ten list) but some are worse than others. Customer volume does play a part, BGAS have lots of customes so they generate more complaints.

In regard to Tripled on how they handle your debt process, thats correct. You're just a number on a report dealt with by a compute. After so many chaser letters, tey will simply sell your debt off. You may be a great customer but when you're on those reports they just see you as a defaulter. Tripled was just trying to tell you how it works and gave you good advice.

One thing I would say is, it's far worse working in a call centre than having to ring one. Poor pay, angry customers and your boss telling you to hang up on the customer because you've been on too long with them! It's the training & management thats wrong.

Sadly, debts get sold off very quickly. You could set up a plan with the debt collectors but sounds like you need to clarify why they sent you a credit when they shouldn't have. Also, you took your readings so did they even bill you correctly to that?

kingmidas_2

Yes I can identify your with your dilemma - in the last 2 weeks BG have managed to leave my already stressed out bank account £200 in deficit, as a result of going into my account on dates that have not been agreed and taking willynilly amounts, resulting in £80 charges! Had lots of apologies but very little action. I wouldn't mind but I have a 3 month old baby and nappies are not cheap...:mad:

tubster

Sigh. Yes, they are truly rubbish. I haven't had an electricity bill in two years. I spent months calling them about it and in the end asked them to stop my direct debit thinking it might concentrate their minds. They stopped the DD then did nothing, so I've been getting 'free' electricity. This is great until I get a bill for thousands when I move, but I daresay they'll !!!! that up as well. I can't face calling them again; am I wrong to give up?
Tubster

Terrylw1

Hey Tubster, just remember Ofgem ruled they can only backbill you for a year if you have not been billed so no matter what, you seem to be better off! You seem to have tried, so it's their incompetance. Thats partly why Ofgem probably came up with this rule as it serves (apart from helping the customer) to boot Suppliers in the one place it hurts them - their profits!!!