BG Services

chrissie0101

Hi. I have just found out through checking my bank account that British Gas has been taking £12.00 a month since june for a cover on my boiler that I didnt want.
I know  i shouldve been keeping a better eye on this but it just slipped through the net.
Ive tried to contact them to say I didnt want the cover, never needed it cos my boiler is 12 months old but because i had their dual fuel  for 12 months june19 til june 20, and the cover was free for 12 months within the year I used their fuel. 
What I wasnt aware was was once the 12 months with them was up and i changed the supplier, well, they rolled the Homecare cover over.
I had no notification of this, no email denoting the new cost of the cover, nothing!!
Am I being naïve to think that some sort of notice couldve been sent?>? 

dreamypuma

No notice will have been required, as I expect you agreed to it in your initial sign up for dual fuel, when you accepted the free offer of cover.

What, were the terms of the free 12months when you first signed up to your dual fuel plan?

I'll put money on something like free for the first 12month, £12 per month thereafter. 

Aylesbury_Duck

I was on the same package.  When I switched, I cancelled the boiler cover before it renewed at the £12 rate. It was very clear in the initial paperwork, sorry. 

Samanthaharman

Hi @chrissie0101,
I had the same issue. 

British Gas are naughty doing this, the boiler cover is a separate entity so when you switch gas and electric supplier it doesn’t cancel your boiler cover as British Gas class it as something completely different. 

However I argued that whether it’s a separate entity to them I took it out as a package and cancelled the package as a whole. 

I move suppliers every year for financial reasons, it’s always cheaper to move however soon as the year with British Gas finished they started to charge me £12 for the boiler cover separately and this continued when I had fully moved over to the new supplier. 

Firstly this charge shows up differently from you normal Gas and Electric direct debit (BRITISH GAS) the £12 charge will show as BG Services. 

Secondly the contract you receive when taking out your package does not state you have to cancel the boiler cover separately. 

Thirdly you receive letters coming up to the end of your contract advising your home care will automatically renew, this again does not advise to cancel both as they will be separate going forward. 

British Gas know this would be confusing for the customer, and should outline exactly what to do if we want to cancel all cover with British Gas. 

Due to not ever claiming for issues with my boiler (Because I didn’t even know I still had the cover) British Gas did rectify the issue and refund me the £12 I had paid per month from when my home are package was cancelled. So please insure you phone them so they can rectify. 

Going forward, when moving supplier always phone to insure this will cancel all cover and payments from the cancellation date. I don’t want anyone else getting stung, this won’t only be British Gas I'm sure. 

Thanks for reading. 

jspillings

Lesson to be learnt for me ... i bank online which means a lack of watching whats happening on my account ... have noticed today that my British gas boiler cover is now nearly £25 .... i thought it was still £12 but who knew that it increases over time ... I didnt ... they have said they send emails but I have not had any ... I went on the BG site today to get a quote for the same cover I have .. £14 a month, how can they justify increasing it to £25 .. especially as all we have had is the yearly service ... no troubles ... shocking .. are they allowed to do this ?

Aylesbury_Duck

jspillings said:

Lesson to be learnt for me ... i bank online which means a lack of watching whats happening on my account ... have noticed today that my British gas boiler cover is now nearly £25 .... i thought it was still £12 but who knew that it increases over time ... I didnt ... they have said they send emails but I have not had any ... I went on the BG site today to get a quote for the same cover I have .. £14 a month, how can they justify increasing it to £25 .. especially as all we have had is the yearly service ... no troubles ... shocking .. are they allowed to do this ?

That's the shocking bit.  You're supposedly all over your emails but you don't check your online banking frequently?  Madness.

mattyprice4004

jspillings said:

Lesson to be learnt for me ... i bank online which means a lack of watching whats happening on my account ... have noticed today that my British gas boiler cover is now nearly £25 .... i thought it was still £12 but who knew that it increases over time ... I didnt ... they have said they send emails but I have not had any ... I went on the BG site today to get a quote for the same cover I have .. £14 a month, how can they justify increasing it to £25 .. especially as all we have had is the yearly service ... no troubles ... shocking .. are they allowed to do this ?

 Banking online does not mean a lack of watching what happens - it means the opposite; that you can check 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without having to go in branch or pick up the phone like the old days.
The blame lies with you, not with technology!

victorjbennett

Hello All,

Having just set up a DD for British Gas to supply electricity after being transferred over from PFP Energy, I noticed a second DD under the name of BG Services.  A quick Google and MSE search led me to a telephone conversation with British Gas.  They confirmed they could see my electricity account DD, plus the additional BG Services DD.
Strange thing is they could not see when this BG Services DD was set up - just that it was new and dormant, not even live.

Seems to me, British Gas are still using some trickery to eventually take payment for a service that was not requested.

If you have been transferred to British/Scottish Gas from a defunct energy supplier, please check your direct debits and make sure everything is as it should be.

JJ_Egan

(Seems to me, British Gas are still using some trickery to eventually take payment for a service that was not requested.)

So have they actually taken money ?

victorjbennett

Not yet, but everything was confirmed as in place to facilitate taking a DD payment

Jenni_D

If it's a separate DD, simply cancel it.

No comment as to how/why this appeared, but it's easy to stop it having any impact.