Didn't use a comparison site, can I claim back money lost?

Robin9

leroyJ said:

A bit of a tangent  but WOW LeroyJ - you use twice as much  in a quarter than I do in a year in my 4 bed 

Hmmm yeah maybe I should look into that.  Mine's only a 3 bed.  Only moved in last year so I don't know what it's been previously.  Heating is used quite a bit though (as I often work from home, and we've got a baby so the wife is often in all day).

I presume you are using ACTUAL meter readings and give BG your readings every month.
PS We are a couple of OAP's and my wife is housebound so a similar need for heating.

leroyJ

I presume you are using ACTUAL meter readings and give BG your readings every month.

I have a smart meter, was installed when I switched to BG.  Might investigate if that's something to do with it.

Talldave

leroyJ said:

It's not as if I was "too lazy" to go onto the price comparison website, I was just lead to believe I didn't need to.

Then any claim you might have would be against whoever led you to believe that. Although your biggest mistake was probably going to BG in the first place!

Gerry1

I don't think it's necessarily a case of people defending BG, it's just advising whether they think you would succeed.  They are telling you want you need to hear rather than what you want to hear; it would not be helpful to encourage you to proceed if there were no reasonable grounds to do so.  Get that recording and things may become clearer.

Incidentally, I'm no fan of BG because they give deliberately fake quotations for Economy 7.  They ignore your day and night usage and make an arbitrary assumption about the percentage split.  That means a quotation for £xx can work out at £500+ if your night usage is low.

As always, it's dozy Ofgem that's to blame for lax enforcement.

Robin9

leroyJ said:

I presume you are using ACTUAL meter readings and give BG your readings every month.

I have a smart meter, was installed when I switched to BG.  Might investigate if that's something to do with it.

leroyJ said:

I presume you are using ACTUAL meter readings and give BG your readings every month.

I have a smart meter, was installed when I switched to BG.  Might investigate if that's something to do with it.

Your smart would have been reading 00000 when installed  - what is it now.?

PS A MSE tip - don't go dual fuel - different suppliers is usually best.

FullForce

leroyJ said:

I signed up to British Gas last year for my gas and electricity.  I contacted them directly, mainly because I had been hassled around a lot by a previous supplier and wanted a reputable company (and I was already a previous British Gas homecare customer), but this was my big mistake.
After my quarterly statement came in absolutely huge, it came to my attention that there are "exclusive" tariffs that you can only get through comparison websites.  Had I selected one of these tariffs, I would have saved around £250 (for just this quarter alone).

When I signed up to British Gas I asked them to go through the available tariffs with me, and I selected the cheapest option.  I assumed that I would be getting the same choice of tariffs as on comparison sites, but I've since found out this is not the case.
Offering a tariff for customers who just use comparison sites seems very misleading to me.  I have essentially been penalised for contacting them directly, and trusting their brand.
I've now closed my account and moved to another supplier, but I'm wondering, can I claim this money back?  I did ask the customer service representative for their cheapest tariff, I was essentially lied to.  Do they not have a duty of care to inform me of any tariff that would be available to me?

£250 per quarter saving on British Gas? £1000 per year?

I was just looking at the current MSE email for another user, and it states an average user on BG tariff would only save £330 per year, and that's based on the supplier's most expensive standrad tariff; you presumably picked a chaeper tariff than that.

So you must be another MSEer with a unbelievably high level of consumption.

Robin9

leroyJ said:

I....…...….. moved to another supplier, …...……..

Don't forget that your Smart meters may longer be Smart and that you need to read your own meter at least monthly and give them to your new supplier.

leroyJ

£250 per quarter saving on British Gas? £1000 per year?

No that’s not quite how it works. This particular quarter was over winter. So usage was higher. (It also was slightly over a quarter).

leroyJ

I don't think it's necessarily a case of people defending BG, it's just advising whether they think you would succeed.  They are telling you want you need to hear rather than what you wantto hear;

I guess what I was expecting to hear is some kind of agreement that the practise of these “exclusive rates” is misleading and unfair. 

I’m still going to complain, and will write to offgem also. If everyone just accepts this then this is exactly what we will continue to get.

I’d ideally like to see the rules enforced where the suppliers have to let the customer know about their best rates. Kind of like the changes they made with mobile phone contracts expiring and having to communicate this to customers. 

PennineAcute

Whilst not condoning this, you asked for the cheapest tariff.   The tariff you got was the cheapest they could offer you.  Lesson learnt, never go direct.