British Gas Nightmare

Mr_Gnu

Yesterday I made my latest complaint about the message saying 'it's time to send meter readings' when it is not supposed to be time  until 10th May, they haven't done anything about it despite previous complaints.

Things went downhill fast.

The operative then butchered my account with fictitious meter readings one of which was lower than the last reading I gave before I paid my last quarterly bill.

Also in payments there are senseless transactions that have not taken place yesterday. For amounts £70.+ and £25.+ I have no idea what these are about.Under download it says 'not ready'.

Thankfully these idiots can't access my bank account.

Then he changed my previous readings back to estimates made in December 2020 so I don't know how I can get an accurate bill at all now.

Now it says my account is £194 in credit,no idea why or how.It should be £0, I paid my last Q-bill in February.

In payments there are 4 transactions made yesterday which did not happen 2 energy charges and 2 reversals none of which happened. 

I'm confused as hell.

At Ebico things just worked.They emailed me -it's time to send reads- I sent reads - they sent bill - I paid bill.

This seems way beyond British Gas' capabilities.

tempus_fugit

You get an accurate bill by sending your meter readings in. Also, don’t wait until they tell you to send in readings, just put in regular readings, either monthly or quarterly, and it should be fine. Companies often send missives saying “time to out your meter readings in” sometimes 2-3 weeks in advance. I just ignore them and put them in on a specific date each month. Has always worked fine for me.

Mr_Gnu

Yes that's good advice tempus_fugit thanks, I will carry on in that manner in future though I would have preferred  the Ebico way of doing it.

niktheguru

There's nothing wrong with giving more regular readings.....it infact makes your bills more accurate.

Mr_Gnu

niktheguru said:

There's nothing wrong with giving more regular readings.....it infact makes your bills more accurate.

Yes but I pay quarterly,so I expect to send readings quarterly so I complained about the message and they said it would be sorted in 7 working days,never happened.Now there's  estimated readings and fictional transactions and a fictional credit on my account,  its completely bizarre.

I will try again tomorrow to get the account back to how it was before the actions of the last operative.

All would've been fine if they said 'look forget about the message just send reads in  May for your next bill' but instead they have interfered with past reads and created false transactions.

niktheguru

Mr_Gnu said:

niktheguru said:

There's nothing wrong with giving more regular readings.....it infact makes your bills more accurate.

Yes but I pay quarterly,so I expect to send readings quarterly so I complained about the message and they said it would be sorted in 7 working days,never happened.Now there's  estimated readings and fictional transactions and a fictional credit on my account,  its completely bizarre.

I will try again tomorrow to get the account back to how it was before the actions of the last operative.

All would've been fine if they said 'look forget about the message just send reads in  May for your next bill' but instead they have interfered with past reads and created false transactions.

Forget about debits and credits on your account.....what does your BILL say. 
It doesn't matter if they do any tomfoolery, when your next bill is generated with your ACTUAL readings it will sort itself out.
Even if you pay quarterly it is still good to send regular readings. I don't really understand why you were so offended by an email asking you for a meter reading necessitating a complaint. Perhaps if you hadn't called and complained, none of these shenanigans would have happened? These unnecessary readings that have been added, are they noted as "estimates" or "actual" readings?

Mr_Gnu

The last reads I gave for my bill in Feb have gone and been replaced with estimates from December 2020,why I don't know.A credit of £194 has also appeared with no explanation.

The message saying 'it's time to send meter readings' is at the online account.I thought it must not be working properly so got into it with the chat operatives who promised it would get sorted but it wasn't and still hasn't and probably won't be,but it seems it may be best to leave them to it.

I had none of these shenanigans at Ebico.

Grizzlebeard

Mr_Gnu said:

The last reads I gave for my bill in Feb have gone and been replaced with estimates from December 2020,why I don't know.A credit of £194 has also appeared with no explanation.

The message saying 'it's time to send meter readings' is at the online account.I thought it must not be working properly so got into it with the chat operatives who promised it would get sorted but it wasn't and still hasn't and probably won't be,but it seems it may be best to leave them to it.

I had none of these shenanigans at Ebico.

If you're interested Ebico is back - trading as Ebico Living -
 https://living.ebico.org.uk/

The website is still a bit quirky at the moment, and unfortunately they are not quite so competitive as they used to be, especially for very low energy users like myself.

I'm in the same position as you being a BG ex-Ebico customer and have had the same extremely frustrating experiences. BG's systems rely on box ticking and "The Computer says No" responses, with no thought at all as to the Customer experience.

Despite not having the very best prices for my usage profile I will be going back to Ebico soon. They were like living with friends rather than constant sparing with adversaries.

I can't see how BG will offer a deal worth considering when my fixed tariff ends anyway, but I wouldn't stay with BG's stresses if they did.

I'm sure there are many happy BG customers around, and if they work for you I quite respect that . Not trying to change your minds.

Mr_Gnu

Thanks for the link Grizzlebeard I will certainly consider Ebico  Living when I make good my escape from BG that's for sure.

niktheguru

Be aware that if you rejoin Ebico you will essentially be joining octopus energy, it is likely all the customer service will be from octopus. (Who themselves are pretty good)

Grizzlebeard

niktheguru said:

Be aware that if you rejoin Ebico you will essentially be joining octopus energy, it is likely all the customer service will be from octopus. (Who themselves are pretty good)

If they manage to recreate their previous system, Bills and Accounts will be handled by Octopus, but Ebico will handle queries and complaints themselves. They have a dedicated Customer Service Help line e-mail address and own telephone number, (which unlike before is an 03 number and not freephone 0800.)