British Gas not honouring promise to match or beat RHE's deal

Gimel

Robin Hood Energy went out of business and made an arrangement deal with BG to take over their accounts. BG sent a letter promising to match or better the  fixed term deal I had with RHE. This promise to "either match or beat the deal you’re on right now" was also published on their website 

On the strength of this promise I signed up with them and didn't look into other deals

My RHE deal ran until October 2022.

Now, almost 6 months later and having been given either the run-around or encountering sheer incompetence and misleading offers that would have meant I'd be significantly worse off had I not cross-examined them, their complaints representtive has notified me that as they don't have a matching tariff   "I'm afraid I cannot apply a tariff we do not hold"

But, even their above linked welcome info offers this:

"Why is my tariff end date with British Gas longer than the one I had with Robin Hood Energy?

Some customers will find their tariff end date is longer than the one they had with Robin Hood. This just means you benefit from the special price we’re offering you for longer. In fact, you’re free to switch to another supplier without exit fees at any time before your tariff end date."
How do you suggest I proceed?

Gerry1

It worked for me.  BG matched my Robin Hood 12m Summer Saver rates of 2.0265p per kWh, Daily Charge 28.497p inc VAT, extended it by a month and abolished the exit fee.

[Deleted User]

 I got my match but it was only for the same duration i had left on my Leccy tariff. Which was about 8 months.

 Threaten to leave, they gave me a 15% discount for 12 months. 

 

dave8204

Worked for me and printed on my bills.

Ghyll

Migration of Robin Hood Energy account to British Gas took ages. No way of contacting them except snail mail. Finally got bills which do reflect RHS's tariff. WARNING: the BG bill for gas went from a meter reading on 6/10/20 whereas RHE had billed me up to 12/10/20. Complained and got a refund for the double-billing. I expect this may apply to all the thousands of customers who migrated. Only solution is to check the gas meter readings that were used. BTW BG think they are selling energy as "Kw"; as any good supplier will know energy is sold by the kWh!

dave8204

My own tale of woe over the RH-BG switch is elsewhere on here but regarding your point about no way of contacting except snail mail,if you mean BG I had a next day phone from them after using "Resolver" and it looks as if finally I'm getting somewhere.

worrywart_3

Seems like a excellent deal
most of us put on solr we’re not price matched. If others were and they aid they would you need to fight it 

MoneySavingNovice

I'm in the same position and eventually made a complaint to the Ombudsman about this.    The finding from the ombudsman included the comment: -

"... as British Gas indicated within its correspondence from the outset that it would beat or match the tariff you were on with Robin Hood Energy, for it to end the contract earlier than agreed with Robin Hood is failing to follow through on the promise it has made to you. I do not consider it reasonable for British Gas to alter the terms of your contract….”

They added that:-

“…. remedy of British Gas extending your current contract on its system to match the one agreed…”

Unbelievably British Gas appealed that decision stating: -

“….I've checked with our advocate team and there is no way we can amend the system to extend this. Therefore, we're unable to complete this remedy and therefore cannot accept the decision.”

Which is a farcical argument to say the least.

I’m considering going to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to make a complaint about false advertising.  Would you be happy to support me?

UnclaimedEnergy

What would the ASA have to do about it? British Gas didn't advertise to win new customers, they took them on as a Supplier of Last Resort.

MoneySavingNovice

UnclaimedEnergy said:

What would the ASA have to do about it? British Gas didn't advertise to win new customers, they took them on as a Supplier of Last Resort.

There was a straightforward acquisition of Robin Hoods customer's book.  Ofgem never made a 'Suppler of the Last Resort'  order.

Irrespective of this any advertising that British Gas or anyone else undertakes for any purpose is blatantly misleading then they are in breach of the ASA rules.

UnclaimedEnergy

Ah... yeah with all the supplier exits due to mismanagement/offering tariffs they can't afford, I forget which ones are bought out or busts... Sorry.

Still, The ASA won't really do anything about it. They upheld a complaint about Outfox the Market in 2019 by falsely advertising themselves as the cheapest energy supplier when they weren't all the time. However all that they said was that "The ads must not appear again in their current form". Link