Suspended compensation with British Gas?

28tsw

We moved to BG in Feb, so before Covid, by June they had moved our electricity but not gas account over. I complained via the chat feature as complaints support suspended?

anyway a week later I’m asked for serial numbers for my meter which I send via email with promise to reply week after

i chase today and told that because I replied via email to personal inbox for agent not the text I got they closed my complaint. They sorted my issue out end of July but not told me though.

I said their communication has been awful and I’ve had to contact them again because of it. I said I expect compensation for the unnecessary time taken to resolve this and bring without an account to pay for 5 months. I was told this was suspended and agent got argumentative with me saying they resolved the connection to the meter but was ignoring my further complaint about how my complaint was handled and that whilst it is now live it took months to resolve.

i want to take to ombudsman as it’s 8 weeks since original complaint next week. He said I will be able to but was so argumentative about it. 

I’ve moved energy a few times but this service this time had been the worst by far. To top it off we are mid sale of the house so when he said it won’t affect us financially getting 5 months bill because of direct debits I said that won’t apply for us, he said not their problem if our circumstances mean we are selling! Surely the service provided should allow you to sell your house without a big huge bill caused by their incompetence!

MWT

28tsw said:

To top it off we are mid sale of the house so when he said it won’t affect us financially getting 5 months bill because of direct debits I said that won’t apply for us, he said not their problem if our circumstances mean we are selling! Surely the service provided should allow you to sell your house without a big huge bill caused by their incompetence!

If I've understood correctly, he was saying that getting 5 months in one bill does not cost you any more than getting one bill a month for 5 months and that is correct.

If you know you have a gas bill to pay why wouldn't you put the money aside even if the bill hasn't arrived yet?

28tsw

MWT said:

28tsw said:

To top it off we are mid sale of the house so when he said it won’t affect us financially getting 5 months bill because of direct debits I said that won’t apply for us, he said not their problem if our circumstances mean we are selling! Surely the service provided should allow you to sell your house without a big huge bill caused by their incompetence!

If I've understood correctly, he was saying that getting 5 months in one bill does not cost you any more than getting one bill a month for 5 months and that is correct.

If you know you have a gas bill to pay why wouldn't you put the money aside even if the bill hasn't arrived yet?

I have but I have had this issue once before with Scottish Power when in a new build house and got 50% off the bill because of the inconvenience caused by not being able to pay as per how I had asked to. 

MWT

28tsw said:

I have but I have had this issue once before with Scottish Power when in a new build house and got 50% off the bill because of the inconvenience caused by not being able to pay as per how I had asked to. 

Then you were lucky that time.

Taking this to the Ombudsman will probably get you a token gesture at most, say £30-60.

If BG throw you a bone that is higher than that I'd take it...

Talldave

You willingly signed up with BG????

Caveat emptor!

28tsw

Yeah I realise now what a stupid move it was! 

Added to the above they have affected my credit score whilst I’m getting a mortgage arranged. Hoping it doesn’t affect it, we had an offer and I think it was added the day before HSBC checked my credit file but equifax score has dropped a lot all of a sudden, just what I need! I didn’t even know it was missing or was going to be added.

MWT

28tsw said:

Added to the above they have affected my credit score whilst I’m getting a mortgage arranged. Hoping it doesn’t affect it, we had an offer and I think it was added the day before HSBC checked my credit file but equifax score has dropped a lot all of a sudden, just what I need! I didn’t even know it was missing or was going to be added.

Don't focus too much on the score when it comes to mortgages, the lenders don't look at the scores they look at the events on the file and use their own criteria to decide how they rate them.

As long as there isn't a default on your file, the lack of the regular payments each month shouldn't matter.

28tsw

Thanks for the reassurance! 

This whole thing has been such a mess. I’ll never use them again. I’d be happy with them just waiving the exit fee at this stage.