British Gas trick

jmrooney

I was recently persuaded to cancel a switch away from British Gas by one of their representatives phoning me and offering me a slightly cheaper monthly direct debit payment. What they didn't tell me was that in order to give me this low monthly payment they used over two hundred pounds of credit which had built up on my account so in reality  the monthly payment was almost £20 more than they offered, when I discovered this and raised it with them British Gas described it as a misunderstanding and refused to remedy the situation it is now being investigated by the ombudsman. Has anyone else experienced this?

niktheguru

Not experienced this, but when I left British gas they did write to me and offer me a "discount" on the tariff, like 15% off. This was off the bills and NOT a direct debit reduction. Despite the reduction the cost was still higher than who I was switching to so still left.

MWT

jmrooney said:

What they didn't tell me was that in order to give me this low monthly payment they used over two hundred pounds of credit which had built up on my account so in reality  the monthly payment was almost £20 more than they offered, when I discovered this and raised it with them British Gas described it as a misunderstanding and refused to remedy the situation it is now being investigated by the ombudsman. Has anyone else experienced this?

Why would changing your DD without any change in the tariff persuade you to remain with them? That wasn't changing the cost of your energy in the slightest...

On the other-hand not sure what you are expecting from the Ombudsman, money you have paid to BG for your energy was used to pay for your energy which is entirely allowable. Having done that they reviewed and reduced your DD, also allowable so it is not clear what 'remedy' you are seeking?

Grizzlebeard

MWT said:

jmrooney said:

What they didn't tell me was that in order to give me this low monthly payment they used over two hundred pounds of credit which had built up on my account so in reality  the monthly payment was almost £20 more than they offered, when I discovered this and raised it with them British Gas described it as a misunderstanding and refused to remedy the situation it is now being investigated by the ombudsman. Has anyone else experienced this?

Why would changing your DD without any change in the tariff persuade you to remain with them? That wasn't changing the cost of your energy in the slightest...

On the other-hand not sure what you are expecting from the Ombudsman, money you have paid to BG for your energy was used to pay for your energy which is entirely allowable. Having done that they reviewed and reduced your DD, also allowable so it is not clear what 'remedy' you are seeking?

The 'trick' is that they exploited a clear misunderstanding to persuade jmr not to switch away from BG.

It's beholden on the Energy Company to ensure the customer understands what he or she is signing up to.
If the salesman uses a customers confusion between the DD and the tariff prices to retain them that's trickery and illegitimate sales practice.

And don't say "The customer should know better so it's their own fault." Many, if not most, people don't understand their bills and the implications buried in small print.
Many business's use a great deal of effort to try to make the whole system impenetrable to anyone without a Law Degree on purpose. My experience with BGas tells me they are one of them.

I'd expect, at the very least, the Ombudman would rule the O.P. can leave BG without exit fees or penalties and probably insist on some compensation too.

The_Fat_Controller

You seem to be saying they somehow have stolen your credit.

They cannot have used a credit for anything other than paying a bill you owed !

MWT

Grizzlebeard said:

I'd expect, at the very least, the Ombudman would rule the O.P. can leave BG without exit fees or penalties and probably insist on some compensation too.

Compensation for accurately telling the OP that his DD would be reduced and then reducing his DD as agreed.. ?

I've seen stranger rulings from the Ombudsman so nothing would surprise me I guess..

niktheguru

Grizzlebeard said:

MWT said:

jmrooney said:

What they didn't tell me was that in order to give me this low monthly payment they used over two hundred pounds of credit which had built up on my account so in reality  the monthly payment was almost £20 more than they offered, when I discovered this and raised it with them British Gas described it as a misunderstanding and refused to remedy the situation it is now being investigated by the ombudsman. Has anyone else experienced this?

Why would changing your DD without any change in the tariff persuade you to remain with them? That wasn't changing the cost of your energy in the slightest...

On the other-hand not sure what you are expecting from the Ombudsman, money you have paid to BG for your energy was used to pay for your energy which is entirely allowable. Having done that they reviewed and reduced your DD, also allowable so it is not clear what 'remedy' you are seeking?

" Many, if not most, people don't understand their bills and the implications buried in small print.
Many business's use a great deal of effort to try to make the whole system impenetrable to anyone without a Law Degree on purpose. My experience with BGas tells me they are one of them.

"not understanding your bills" is never a legitimate excuse. British gas have some of the easiest to understand bills in the business. If you dont understand what it is saying there are plenty of ways to gain understanding, friends and family, the company, citizens advice bureau etc etc. Burying your head in the sand isn't a legitimate excuse. People need to be a bit more responsible of what goes in and out of their accounts and why.

Though i'm not inferring anything of the OP as it is very easy to get duped by sales people if you don't have a clear understanding of how things work. But I would have expected them to have a look at the documentation/bills after.

Gerry1

This was deception pure and simple, there's no excuse for victim blaming

Yes, confusion can happen when customers are shopping around and only comparing DD amounts rather than total annual costs derived from actual meter readings.  (Things aren't helped by Ofgem's daft rules which mean that a more expensive tariff can make claims about illusory savings, but that's another story.)

However, in this case BG actively called the customer and persuaded them to cancel a switch to a cheaper competitor.

It seems that BG weren't offering jmr lower kWh rates and a lower daily charge, only a lower DD payment, which is something completely different.  jmr was no doubt seeking a cheaper tariff and therefore BG retained their custom by deceit.

Grizzlebeard

MWT said:

Grizzlebeard said:

I'd expect, at the very least, the Ombudman would rule the O.P. can leave BG without exit fees or penalties and probably insist on some compensation too.

Compensation for accurately telling the OP that his DD would be reduced and then reducing his DD as agreed.. ?

I've seen stranger rulings from the Ombudsman so nothing would surprise me I guess..

Don't be silly. Not "Compensation for accurately telling the OP that his DD would be reduced and then reducing his DD as agreed.. ?"

Compensation for leaving the customer with the notion that reducing his DD would lower his energy costs when all it did was reduce his credit balance. The representative's phone call was solely for the purpose of retaining the business of the customer. Which ever way you look at it, it worked, and it wasn't until later the customer realized he was not getting what he expected.

You're view seems to be that if a company can bamboozle people (vulnerable or not) they should be allowed to get away with it.

I help look after the utility bills for three people(2 elderly) who are neither stupid or uneducated. If you and I understand how things work we should not be smug and snooty towards those who don't, but just use our good fortune to assist.

(p.s. jmrooney:  I don't know anything about you, but your post in no way suggests you are particularly old, vulnerable, lacking in intelligence or gullible. Any references to these things were simply to illustrate my points about business practice. I've learned many things the hard way, but I've mostly learned from the example of good people who offered the benefit of their experience rather than their judgement and criticism.)

MWT

Grizzlebeard said:

You're view seems to be that if a company can bamboozle people (vulnerable or not) they should be allowed to get away with it.

Not at all, but the OP has made no allegation that BG misrepresented anything, if they feel that there was misrepresentation then they need to explain what it was.

They were persuaded to abandon the switch in exchange for a lower DD payment so they apparently got exactly what they were offered, I'm just not seeing the misrepresentation here... ?

It may be worth the OP filing a subject matter request for a copy of the recording of the call.

If they were promised that their bill would be lower then they absolutely have a complaint and the evidence would support them.

Reed_Richards

I'm in the camp who feel that the OP was mislead.  The British Gas representative may not have lied but they were being highly "economical with the truth" in not mentioning the credit balance.