Broken Gas Meter

OldCodger101

I'm at my wits end, I've had a broken gas meter since the start of July. There's been no display on it regardless of the buttons I press so I have been getting estimated bills.

When it broke I sent a video to my supplier showing that it was broken. Since then I've sent numerous emails, made a call and finally a few days ago have sent a complaint email starting off their apparent complaints procedure. 

I've had no contact back from them whatsoever other than the standard automated reply emails. 

Anyone got any other advice on what I should do other than wait the 8 weeks and take it the Ombudsman? 

Thanks

MWT

Which supplier is it?

OldCodger101

It's SO Energy that's the supplier. They just seem to be dragging their heels. I just don't know where I stand on this. 

MWT

I suspect their attention has been elsewhere recently and integrating their operations is probably delaying normal customer support activities unfortunately:

https://theenergyst.com/esb-takes-75-control-of-so-energy/

The complaint is the right way to go and should help focus their minds, not a lot else you can do at the moment...

dbks

OldCodger101 said:

I'm at my wits end, I've had a broken gas meter since the start of July. There's been no display on it regardless of the buttons I press so I have been getting estimated bills.

When it broke I sent a video to my supplier showing that it was broken. Since then I've sent numerous emails, made a call and finally a few days ago have sent a complaint email starting off their apparent complaints procedure. 

I've had no contact back from them whatsoever other than the standard automated reply emails. 

Anyone got any other advice on what I should do other than wait the 8 weeks and take it the Ombudsman? 

Thanks

You need to raise your complaint against So Energy to stage 2 of their complaint process.
If you fail to do that, then the OS may refuse to consider your complaint even after 8 weeks have passed.

https://help.so.energy/support/solutions/articles/7000046440-complaints-code-of-practice

OldCodger101

I've raised it to stage 2 and we'll see how it goes. 

I'll post back again when things happen. 

Thanks all. 

OldCodger101

So just an update on this. 

I raised this with the Ombudsman and they upheld all my complaints. They have instructed SO Energy to credit my gas account £230 and fix my broken meter.  They have 28 days to respond.

I'll be surprised if this actually happens given this organisations track record of silence. 

SAC2334

Most likely the battery has gone flat on the gas meter, its not "broken " .They don t last that  long , prob 6 to 10 years .Many people go years on estimates and are quite happy with them. Bearing in mind the supplier knows what you use per year and the estimates won t be far off. 

QrizB

OldCodger101 said:

So just an update on this. 

I raised this with the Ombudsman and they upheld all my complaints. They have instructed SO Energy to credit my gas account £230 and fix my broken meter.  They have 28 days to respond.

I'll be surprised if this actually happens given this organisations track record of silence. 

Thank you for coming back to update us (lots of people don't) and I hope you see your £230 within 28 days!

Gerry1

 

SAC2334 said:

Most likely the battery has gone flat on the gas meter, it's not "broken" .They don t last that  long , prob 6 to 10 years. Many people go years on estimates and are quite happy with them. Bearing in mind the supplier knows what you use per year and the estimates won't be far off. 

A rogue smart meter battery caused @Matthaus73 a lot of grief: the meter recorded vast amounts of gas being used even when the supply was shut off !  A conventional meter solved the problem.

ndav56

Interesting post and Old Codger has had almost the exact same experience as us!
We had a visit from a meter reader back in Dec after being legacied into So Energy. Our meter was defective and giving no read-out. It is still that way today, although an engineer is due tomorrow
Contacting them is like pulling teeth as you get a different agent each time who seems unable or unwilling to look at the historic mails/calls. Some  are just reading from a proscribed list of dos and donts. I have issued a complaint 10 days ago bit only got an auto response.
My concern is that for 5months I have had no idea (and neither have they) of how much gas we've used- should I pay for this period when estimates can only ever be that, without any starting point?? Bucket shop does spring to mind and I will be looking to 'escape' when the fuel crisis dissipates.