how to get hold of British gas

Robin9

@andrew28 Have you had a look at your bills to see a message about changing DD's

Are you by any chance billed 3 monthly or 6 monthly ?  The online statements list the DD's but not the energy costs until the last day leading to a false impression that you are in credit .

mac.d

Cardew said:

As I state in the above post this telephone number hasn't worked for a long while(I have just tried it again) You simply get a recorded announcement stating 'we are unable to accept calls on this number' and tell you how to go on-line and what to do if you have gas leak.

Similarly any email get the same response 'go on line' and all their outgoing emails are 'no reply'. 

I just tried it and it appeared to work, got as far as entering customer account number before I hung up.

I exchanged emails with them last year online@britishgas.co.uk, but after a couple of replies, they then completely ignored any further emails, and complaints sent via email and also a written complaint to the address on their complaints page elsien posted above, only got a "we are not currently monitoring this address" reply. The complaint is still ongoing and they've now possibly got another issue to add to the list.....  

andrew28

Robin9 said:

@andrew28 Have you had a look at your bills to see a message about changing DD's

Are you by any chance billed 3 monthly or 6 monthly ?  The online statements list the DD's but not the energy costs until the last day leading to a false impression that you are in credit .

thanks Robin9 for use full, i have just checked the last bill. Which is on their web site only and it stats it's going up. I have had enough as far as i am concerned this does not count as informing me. In my mind informing means you send me the information not post it in the back end of your web site. Once i have sorted this out i will take my business elsewhere. i hate this sneaky high handed manner

Robin9

@Andrew28 Unless you opt for bills by post (and that costs you more )  I suspect all suppliers only notify you by the bill on the website. (and some don't have a by post option)

niktheguru

Andrew, if you get bills by post it will be in writing on the bill that got sent to you. If you only have online bills it will be in the online bill. They assume that people look at the bill when its sent.

British gas infact have one of the better online accounts of suppliers. You can get all sorts of information about your payments on their website.
Log in to your online account
Then on the left hand column  it will state how much you are paying a month and whether they think you are on track with payments.
there are then options of "see my plan", "change my payment amount", "make a one off payment", "billing"
click the "see my plan" - here it gives you options to see what payments you've made, what bill deductions have been taken, you can change the direct debit amount back down if thats what you want etc etc....
It is extremely flexible and usually means you don't have to speak to them.
(i just logged into my account and was able to claim £15 refund back as they worked out thats probably how much i'd be in credit at the end of my contract with current usage and payments)

First its important to get the facts. How much credit is on your account and when was your last up to date bill. If you were billed in feb thats fine, but some people are billed 3-6 monthly so credits build up, but that doesnt' take into account of the most rescent usage since the last bill, when that latest bill comes they may find themselves in arrears, so british gas may have increased your direct debit so you don't become a cropper with a massive debt when the bill comes......british gas are better than most at not taking the pi** with direct debits.

I suspect they've increased your direct debit because the current credit on the account doesn't cover the usage that you've had since your last bill. Hopefully you either have a smart meter or have been providing regular meter reads and are not relying on estimates.

I do completely agree that it is disgraceful that a big 6 supplier doesn't have an easily available phone line for customer support. Using the covid excuse is simply unacceptable now, as they've had plenty of time since the pandemic started to sort out their call centres.

I would have a careful look at all the above, and if you still think you've been hard done by, then proceed with a complaint. Good luck.

Robin9

A variation in DD also depends on the accuracy of the meter reads you are giving to BG . When did you last give BG your readings ?

Gerry1

From https://www.britishgas.co.uk/aem6/content/dam/britishgas/complaints/we-are-listening.pdf

Cardew

mac.d said:

Cardew said:

As I state in the above post this telephone number hasn't worked for a long while(I have just tried it again) You simply get a recorded announcement stating 'we are unable to accept calls on this number' and tell you how to go on-line and what to do if you have gas leak.

Similarly any email get the same response 'go on line' and all their outgoing emails are 'no reply'. 

I just tried it and it appeared to work, got as far as entering customer account number before I hung up.

I exchanged emails with them last year online@britishgas.co.uk, but after a couple of replies, they then completely ignored any further emails, and complaints sent via email and also a written complaint to the address on their complaints page elsien posted above, only got a "we are not currently monitoring this address" reply. The complaint is still ongoing and they've now possibly got another issue to add to the list.....  

Regarding the Phone Number I tried several times; including this morning. It didn’t say ‘we are busy/try later/ long wait  etc’

As I said in my above post: You simply get a recorded announcement stating 'we are unable to accept calls on this number' and tell you how to go on-line and what to do if you have gas leak.’

Regarding emails: This is the transcript(after going through the Bot and a long wait):

You : I want an email address for British Gas please.

BG: I'm afraid, there isn't an email address that's functional as of now

BG: I can help you with the correspondence address if you wish

You : Are you seriously telling me that there isn't an email address

BG : Yes, the email address has been discontinued as of now and there isn't a functional email

jaybeetoo

niktheguru said:

British gas infact have one of the better online accounts of suppliers. You can get all sorts of information about your payments on their website.

You are joking I hope.

BG have recently had big problems with people being unable to get their bills from the app or from the web site.  They couldn’t even send me a paper copy of my recent bill.  It took me a few weeks before I could get my bill online or on paper.

I went through the complaints process and BG admitted to me the problems they’d been having.

I’m pleased to say I’ve now left BG.  They were awful.

niktheguru

jaybeetoo said:

niktheguru said:

British gas infact have one of the better online accounts of suppliers. You can get all sorts of information about your payments on their website.

You are joking I hope.

BG have recently had big problems with people being unable to get their bills from the app or from the web site.  They couldn’t even send me a paper copy of my recent bill.  It took me a few weeks before I could get my bill online or on paper.

I went through the complaints process and BG admitted to me the problems they’d been having.

I’m pleased to say I’ve now left BG.  They were awful.

Not joking. I find their website to be very good and amongst the better of the many providers i've been with. 
That being said, BG seem to be in disarray at the moment, with their problems with staff and unrest at their contracts/treatment. They really need to get their act together.