Absolutley fuming with British Gas!!! I'm so angry!

Terrylw1

melissa'smoney wrote: »

The complaints manager said a letter had been sent out on the 1st but i honestly have never recieved one (if i had i would have complained earlier!)

My bills are always based on real readings not estimated ones and i gave a man come only the otherday to do a proper reading...!?

She said my DD didn't need to go up and didn't understand why they had...!?

C o m m u n i c a t i o n......!!;)

So, in their eyes they did inform you hence satisfied the terms in place for DD as they can't help RM loosing the mail.

You could ask the complaints manager if your DD was set up correctly when you joined and has jumped afterwards. If this is the case it sounds like the salesperson may have assessed you incorrectly and not thought about winter but since it didn't need upping at all, it sounds more like an error.

I wonder if it's a computer or user error? Pity you didn't get the letter though so you could have known earlier.

You are doing the best thing by not paying estimates as that should make it very easy to assess your DD. However, until you have been with a Supplier for a year, they have less accurate data to go on.

Worth noting that they don't always use the ones from the meter readers as they can get to them too late to produce your bill from. However, that doesn't stop you telling them to use it by amending your bill as long as the reading was taken close to when your bill was due.

All the best

Terrylw1

jackieb wrote: »

I was in credit with my gas account to the tune of £90 when Scottish Hydro decided to raise my £56 DD, up to £57. I phoned them and asked why, as I was in credit. They said they had to take into account the winter bills, but i'd been paying £56 for over a year already (so i'd already paid £56 a month during a winter - and also, since the beginning of the year the gas and electricity prices have went down! ) However, Scottish Hydro kept my DD at £56 after I phoned. I'm now £141 in credit with them. I don't think many of the companies have a clue, to be honest.

Thats just incompetance isn't it!!! What difference would a quid make.

Sounds like they have yours set too high as the last year has shown. Of course, they will be happy with that as they are earning a nice sum of interest off you! You could be using that cash.

Cardew

autismmum wrote: »

i change via quidco every three months i recieve on average 55.00 cash back, so i get one months elec and gas free out of three. just a thought if you'd like to try it, just take meter readings every month so you know who you need to pay what. i know this will soon end as contracts are comming in to stop people doing it, but until then its buy two get one free for me.

I think that adequately demonstrates why Utility firms have been allowed to insist on fixed term contracts.

Quidco and the comparison networks are an unneccesary overhead adding £millions to the costs of gas and electricity; which of course we, the customers, pay in higher prices. It will also cut down on the large staff the companies need to process all the consumers hopping between companies in the manner above.

Ofgem as the Regulator can ensure that companies don't 'lure' customers with low priced tariffs and then hike prices.

IMO the sooner all companies drop quidco and stop paying the high commission to comparison sites the better.

tightrs

Cardew wrote: »

I think that adequately demonstrates why Utility firms have been allowed to insist on fixed term contracts.

Quidco and the comparison networks are an unneccesary overhead adding £millions to the costs of gas and electricity; which of course we, the customers, pay in higher prices. It will also cut down on the large staff the companies need to process all the consumers hopping between companies in the manner above.

Ofgem as the Regulator can ensure that companies don't 'lure' customers with low priced tariffs and then hike prices.

IMO the sooner all companies drop quidco and stop paying the high commission to comparison sites the better.

so what your saying is utility firms that dont use quidco and comparison networks would pass the savings on to customers,i dont think so, the lower published prices of a utility firm doing this would filter down through sites like mse and draw the people in but i believe the savings would go into the profits rather than back to the customers.

Cardew

tightrs wrote: »

so what your saying is utility firms that dont use quidco and comparison networks would pass the savings on to customers,i dont think so, the lower published prices of a utility firm doing this would filter down through sites like mse and draw the people in but i believe the savings would go into the profits rather than back to the customers.

If the Utility companies had their way, then it all would go to profits. I am as cynical about utility companies as anyone.

However it is a regulated industry and any efficiency savings would probably be split; and not paying commission and reducing call centre staff must reduce costs.

The cheaper costs for running on-line tariffs have(to some extent) been passed on to customers and are the cheapest tariffs available; as have the savings for Direct Debit been passed on in the form of discounts.

Ebico, I believe do not pay commission to the comparison companies.

However one cannot escape the fact that millions of customers hopping from one company to another is a huge and advoidable overhead; and this is actively encouraged by quidco and the comparison sites.

This couldn't be more clearly demonstrated than by the person above who changes every 3 months purely to get £55 from quidco.

autismmum

well these firms make millions and somehow manage to pay their sharehloders and have company cars, where as i am struggling o pay a large amount of income on fuel... nah, i am definetly allowed to get something back, as its legal. and if they couldnt afford it, they wouldnt offer. its just following martins lead, gotta make them be fair, they should of invested over the last 50 years on alternative fuels instead of now giving us high bills cause its running out. i feel totally justified..

Terrylw1

My take on this is that switching & hopping will still exist if you get rid of the comparison sites. Years ago Suppliers had large offices full of sales call centres. They got rid of much of this due to alternative sales & marketing.

So, if the comparison sites went you would just get them replaced with some other form of utility e.g. a collaboration sites by main Suppliers aiming to edge the smaller ones out of the market or maybe using a more aggressive sales campaign. I believe they would just invest that money into their own sales to keep the pressure on.

Now the cat is out of the bag on how to save money by hopping, customers are smart enough to keep doing that even if they didn't get a cashback i.e. just doing it for cheaper unit prices or looking for Suppliers that give extras.

icefall

Another happy Ebico customer here.