Tariff whilst switching suppliers

footyguy

SnowMan wrote: »

The switch took place on 2nd March and the 'final statement' is dated 8th March 2017.

It's only 1 day charged at the standard rate (so trivial in my case, about a 80p overcharge), but I rang them up because I don't like the principle of them doing this when they are supposed not to and have promised they won't do this, and my hunch was that if that is how mine has been billed then that is how others will be billed.

The first complaint handler implied pretty much everybody who had switched from the collective switch but whose physical switch from the fixed rate collective switch delayed past 28th February was as a default position being billed incorrectly.

He actually said that they are right to bill post 28th February at the standard rate, and that had to be right or else that would mean they had billed large numbers of others incorrectly :rotfl:

But if we assume they are wrong not to apply license condition 24.9 in the way we think it should be applied, but that the compliant handler is right that this is their default billing methodology then large numbers must be being billed incorrectly hence my translation

The complaint is ongoing and the 56 day clock is ticking. I think I did get eventual agreement from them today after over an hour of phone calls for the 1 day to be billed at the collective fixed rate tariff rates, but I have said that unless they confirm in writing that they accept that they are required by the license conditions and their own terms and conditions and statement in the 'your tariff ends soon' letter to bill the day at the old fixed rate the complaint wasn't closed in my view.

Only others experience will clarify whether they, going forward, bill people correctly, so will be interested to hear from others with final bills straddling both sides of 28th February.

I'm so glad you have managed to sort this out in a simple phone call.

It would appear you now have no cause for complaint ... except previously you said

SnowMan wrote:

Thanks. It is the final bill where the mis-charging has occurred

:huh:

But if you were previously mistaken, or they will now re-bill you correctly, then you have no cause for ongoing complaint. (once you get the revised bill, if appropriate)

SnowMan

footyguy wrote: »

I'm so glad you have managed to sort this out in a simple phone call.

That made me laugh :rotfl:

After a number of phone calls lasting over an hour, where there was no indication of backing down on their part, I was asked in the last call if billing me throughout on the collective tariff would resolve the issue. I explained that given the time I had had to spend to get to that point, I required a written letter to confirm what their position was in terms of their believing they weren't breaching the supply license conditions or their own conditions.

The current position is that I have been billed on the standard tariff for gas for 1 day and this hasn't been corrected.

footyguy wrote: »

It would appear you now have no cause for complaint

My objective here is to make sure others aren't wrongly billed also. I'm taking other action to make sure this doesn't happen. Being able to take a complaint forward individually isn't relevant to this.

What we don't know is if British Gas are routinely overcharging by charging on the standard tariff where a transfer is in progress but doesn't physically take place until after 28th February, so that needs other to post up on when their final bills come in.

footyguy

Good luck, SnowMan!

chocolateteddy

I too switched from British Gas Collective but I went to Avro the process was very very simple which surprised me.

I entered my readings as requested by Avro when I transferred on 8th March and British gas have generated a final gas bill but as yet no electricity bill (was surprised at speed of gas bill so not worried yet by lack of Elec bill).

BUT they too have me on the collective rate till 28 Feb and standard rate between 1st and 8th March. Like you say it is the principal I haven't worked out the extra cost as I am waiting for final elec bill before querying it.

I know when I swapped from other suppliers previously the rate was always held at the lower rate even though I often didn't get the switch through before the end of the fixed term.

footyguy

chocolateteddy wrote: »

I too switched from British Gas Collective but I went to Avro the process was very very simple which surprised me.

I entered my readings as requested by Avro when I transferred on 8th March and British gas have generated a final gas bill but as yet no electricity bill (was surprised at speed of gas bill so not worried yet by lack of Elec bill).

BUT they too have me on the collective rate till 28 Feb and standard rate between 1st and 8th March. Like you say it is the principal I haven't worked out the extra cost as I am waiting for final elec bill before querying it.

I know when I swapped from other suppliers previously the rate was always held at the lower rate even though I often didn't get the switch through before the end of the fixed term.

If you already have a final bill for gas, why are you waiting?

Complain now!

As SnowMan found, a quick phone call sorted it all out. Surely that is better than sitting there waiting until they make the same mistake on the leccy?

CashStrapped

Interesting, having helped a family member switch from BG to Sainsburys (BG), it appears their final bill from 1st March to 10th March does not include a correction nor continuation of the previous cheaper tariff.

phillw

SnowMan wrote: »

What we don't know is if British Gas are routinely overcharging by charging on the standard tariff where a transfer is in progress but doesn't physically take place until after 28th February, so that needs other to post up on when their final bills come in.

I think it's obvious that British Gas are switching people onto the standard rate on the date they said they would. The problem is that while it's true if they inform you of a price rise and then you decide to leave then they cannot raise your price as you have rejected the rise, in the case of a fixed price contract they inform you up front the date that your price will rise & so it's deemed that you accept it.

British Gas also inform you notice about 7 weeks before your fixed price is coming to an end and it's up to you to switch away in time to avoid the standard rate. Obviously you'd have a cause to complain if the switch was delayed through no fault of your own, but 5 weeks is unfortunately the standard time it takes to switch.

However, if you complain nicely then they'll probably let you off the money just to get rid of you as it will cost them more to go to the ombudsman. If enough people successfully complain then they may rethink how they do things in future.

If people phone them up and say they have been overcharged and british gas are breaking the rules then it's more likely they'll decide they haven't broken the rules and distribute a memo to all their handling staff telling them to not refund.

chocolateteddy

footyguy wrote: »

If you already have a final bill for gas, why are you waiting?

Complain now!

As SnowMan found, a quick phone call sorted it all out. Surely that is better than sitting there waiting until they make the same mistake on the leccy?

I phoned them and they say the electircity bill is in the process of being generated and they would look into the gas bill and ring me back - Surprisingly no phone call back and it wasn't a quick phone call it took forever to speak to someone and was then passed from department to department. Elec bill is showing in my online account but can't be downloaded yet - probably tomorrow.

CashStrapped

Update:
Speaking with British Gas at the moment.

They are pretty clueless and seem unaware they are meant to retain prices up to 20 days after the tariff ends.

They seem to know nothing about this, even though it is in their literature.

CashStrapped

Update to the update:

Two call handlers knew nothing about it.
One incorrectly passed me to Sainsburys energy
The Final call handler did not know anything about the policy, until I quoted their policy to them. They then went away and came back, now aware of the policy.

The resolution was....from what they said......that for some reason the transfer was stopped and restarted the day before the tariff ended, this "confused" their system into thinking I had not applied for the switch in time.

Hence, the small final bill (after the tariff ended) was not charged at the same rate as my fix.

(I had actually applied for the tariff on the 18th (or maybe 20th) of Feb, which should have been enough time for some notification). The process is also usually a lot faster/smoother with it being Sainsbury's (British Gas) energy.

As a gesture of good will they have manually recalculated the bill for the 9 days at the cheap fix rate, which equated to about £5 saving. They have credited this to the account. It won't produced a revised final bill.

Apparently, if that random error had not occurred, then I should have been billed at the cheap rate automatically.

I am not convinced by this argument.

It seems to me their staff are not properly aware of the policy and their systems are not processing it properly.