Being Harrased By British Gas

Terrylw1

follows2006 wrote: »

Hi there i actually work for british gas and would advise this:
Every call made by agents are recorded both inbound and outbound.
Do not ask to speak to a manager as there calls arent recorded due to having to discuss confidential employee details.
Advise that you have gone to energy watch and write to Phil Bentley the MD. All MD complaints go to the HLC department and there timescale for resolution is 28 days maximum.
Every account has to legally have notes placed on them. Ypu can request to see all notes on the account(it costs a fiver but will identify who you spoke to when they said theat the £150 cleared the account).
Every agent can make outbound calls so dont be fobbed off with this.
Unfortunatly BGR (i work for buisness) have a reputation for not talking to each others departments and also not reading notes. If you need to call again advise them to read the notes.
Also if a customer requests a breakdown of to how they have came to a bill amount we must provide it. The general bods cant do this but all areas have correspondance and complex query teams who will give this for you. Say to them i understand you cant do this but could you raise a complex queryt so i can have this info.
Hope this hepls if you need anything else ill gladly help.

Thats good news, as many call centres restrict their outbound activity (which is actually best practice in a call centre or you have chaos)

OP has an email stating that they debt has been clearing and that is enough for EW to be concerned about the debt chasing. The chasing needs to be recalled by BGas or put on hold immediately.

This OP's case needs to be going to managers, not advisers who have achieved nothing so far. Despite recording of calls, the managers have more authority to address a complaint.

OP stick with EW to resolve this.

katgold

thanks for all of your advice, everyone! It has made me feel a lot better. The current situation is that EW has spoken to BG a number of times to get the debt recalled at least from the debt collectors, Buchanan Clarke and Wells and of course to investigate it. However BG has not passed the info on and BCW has now sent a letter that they are sending a debt investigation officer. of course this sent me into a state. Is this a bailiff or just someone who is going to try and pressure us to pay?

We did write a letter to the MD of BG, but DH forgot to post it:doh::mad:. so that will be going out again later today or tomorrow.

I have to admit that I find this whole thing mind boggling...how is it physically possible to have such a poorly run business?

Terrylw1

Katgold - I suggest you contact Energywatch again as you have a new development. The debt investigation officer is coming around to discuss payment with you. This is just the next stage to them to put pressure on you to pay. This is happening because BGas have not recalled or halted the action.

The debt collection agency are just chasing and whilst they should get off their backsides and call BGas for clarification of the debt, it's still BGas who have cuased this and are continuing to add to it!!!

BGas are ignoring Energywatch and you are now going to get debt collectors on your doorstep. Don't let them in though.

If they carry on and this happens, you could always report them to the media. From experience, utility companies jump through hoops when some customer does that.

Terrylw1

midflight wrote: »

If they are already recording you (and have notified you whilst you are waiting) then why can't you record them? All the warning says is "this call may be recorded", it doesn't say "we may be recording you" - so surely the warning they give can work both ways?


That may be so, but it's not what happened in my case. The person I was trying to contact could definitely make outgoing calls, as they had already done so in the first place. It was all further attempts at contacting them which failed.
This was someone in the complaints department, not just a general customer service bod. Are you suggesting that if you have the name/number of a specific person who are supposed to be dealing with your specific complaint, and have told you, "any problems, just give me a call"... they can't call you back? Wow, that's useful

In your case Midflight, you were dealing with a support team of some sort, not a call centre bod. My point was that to run a call centre you often have to simply not allow the main line staff to make tons of calls. If they do, you just get a big long queue of calls never answered. I've seen that happen and it;s just a lack of efficiency. Call centre staff are generally there (not always) to fend of the quick calls & enquiries. Beyond that, they hand off to support teams who can spend more time helping - like in your case.

That wasn't a comment about your case, more the principle.

I also didn't say that comments being noted is policy, not the law.

In relation to the recording of calls, call recorded has to be subject to the law. That is, you have to be notified prior to beginning which allows you the option to simple hang up - if you intend to share the reocrdig with a third party. In the case of call centres, they state it's for training purposes only although I've heard of threats by customers be passed onto the police before.

There are rules about individuals & businesses, so this link will clarify:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/consumer/advice/faqs/prvfaq3.htm

So, you could record it for your own reference purposes, which could be useful. However, you wouldn't be able to use it against a company by sharing it with them. So, it's just like note taking really.

I've had customers try that on me before. The response has been, I don't give you my permission to record the call so I'll hang up on you which is completely supported by your company. Companies don't like that either and advise their staff to not get involved. That's not because I'm hiding anything (I've always been on the customers side against these companies, hence why I bother trying to help on MSE!) but because I don't know what that call may be about and how it may go. As an employee you have to protect yourself from some customers by sticking with policy, it's a bit difficult to give an example though although some such customers have reeled off things which you would not need to answer and are just trying to vent it on you. This was years ago though and in a company known for it's dodgy attitude (not utility) to customer service!!!

You give your permission for your call to be recorded when you continue after hearing the message. You have the option to write or email, but with the call you have little choice. In the case of support teams, calls are rarely recorded (as Follows said about managers) as there is no need to as these are specialised teams. Letters get scanned though and emails can be recorded for referral purposes later.

This area is covered by law, so you have to stick within it.

EDIT: Ok, an example. A customer who has been talking to X person who has made a real mess of it (manager or advisor) and is trying to get you to admit to their incompetance. Whilst we would all like the say it, it can land you in trouble from a grievance/disciplinary point of view.