No show engineers & compensation

Scientist_Matt

Hi All.

Had another one of those really annoying mornings where having arranged for an engineer to come out to remove a redundant electricity meter, the engineer was a no show :mad: . Apparently, the date on the customer services system which I was told (12th) was not the same as on the engineer booking database (17th).

Needless to say, I said I wanted to complain and seek compensation for the 1/2 day I took off work. I was offered £20 as a good will gesture and took it.

Now, was this a fair offer? should I have held out for more?

I always wonder whether it is making a stand over things like this or to take the first offer and go quietly. If equate salary to days leave, the £20 is about half of what half a days work is worth to me and about 8% of what my company charges as day rate.

All feedback welcome

Matt

adaze

To be honest you've done welll to get anything, I've had that before and not been offered a sausage!

elliefink

My mother had this happen to her a few months ago. The British Gas engineer was a no-show but said he'd knocked and no-one was in. My mother complained and said she'd taken the day off work and waited in all day. She was offered £10, which she took, but since found out from a colleague that if you push for it you can get £20 compensation.

I then had 3 BG appointments cancelled in the last few weeks at ridiculously short notice. I complained after the second was cancelled (as we too had taken the time off work to be in) and was offered £20 compensation, which I took. The third time this happened I complained and spoke to the Customer Care manager who said that they are not required to provide any form of compensation but that she would give us £10 as a gesture of goodwill.

This equates to £10 per missed appointment, which is nowhere near a full day's salary for us but I think the £10 is standard and £20 is only if you push for it. And it took so many phonecalls for us just to get the £30. I explained that my fiance works for the fire service and BG had basically wasted his leave but it didn't make much difference.

Good luck if you decide to fight for more

Terrylw1

Hi Matt,

£20 is the official compensation you are entitled to per the ombudsmen, Ofgem. They have a Guaranteed Standards Of Service (GSOS) for appointments.

Have a read through this and link attached to Ofgem's standards.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=571937&highlight=Know+Your+Rights+To+Compensation

You could have had £40 as well if they hadn't automatically credited your account with the initial £20 as they have to add a one off payment for £20 after X days if the initial is not made.

Worth noting that this may not be your Suppliers fault.

They book appointments via a data flow system to the Meter Operator who is a seperate trading company with their own licence commitments. That operator should then stick to the appointment or send them a data flow back if they have to change it.

So, before you go after your Supplier consider finding out the following to help your case:

- did your Supplier send a data flow requesting an appointment on the day you requested? If Not, Suppliers fault.
- did the Meter Operater change it and notify them? If Yes, your Suppliers fault as they have to contact you at least 24hrs before the appointment to avoid compensation. If No, then your Supplier had no way of knowing so not their fault
- did your Supplier book the appointment incorrect? (e.g. sent the wrong type of data flow for the work type) If Yes, Supplier is at fault. Now, when this happens the MO should also send a rejection flow to them however this can often be in a backlog and not give the Supplier the chance to even contact you. So, there could be some fault with the MO there as well.

If you are going for further compensation, knowing the above answers will help you construct an argument. Without it your Supplier could easily brush you off with the £20 as Ofgem will totally support them if they do not investigate on your behalf.

Terrylw1

adaze wrote: »

To be honest you've done welll to get anything, I've had that before and not been offered a sausage!

Suggest you read my links then as it will tell you your rights in the elec industry. You are one of the many as Ofgem never actually monitored Suppliers on this until 2005/2006. So, Suppliers never even told you about it to save on compensation costs.

Terrylw1

elliefink wrote: »

My mother had this happen to her a few months ago. The British Gas engineer was a no-show but said he'd knocked and no-one was in. My mother complained and said she'd taken the day off work and waited in all day. She was offered £10, which she took, but since found out from a colleague that if you push for it you can get £20 compensation.

I then had 3 BG appointments cancelled in the last few weeks at ridiculously short notice. I complained after the second was cancelled (as we too had taken the time off work to be in) and was offered £20 compensation, which I took. The third time this happened I complained and spoke to the Customer Care manager who said that they are not required to provide any form of compensation but that she would give us £10 as a gesture of goodwill.

This equates to £10 per missed appointment, which is nowhere near a full day's salary for us but I think the £10 is standard and £20 is only if you push for it. And it took so many phonecalls for us just to get the £30. I explained that my fiance works for the fire service and BG had basically wasted his leave but it didn't make much difference.

Good luck if you decide to fight for more

They can cancel or change your appointment date as long as they give your at least 24hrs notice per the ombudsman, Ofgem.

£10 is actually incorrect for a missed appointment and BGas know that. If your missed appointment is per Ofgem's GSOS then you could complain and get the remainder of the £20 you should have got in th first place.

So, if they have changed or missed your appointment and not informed you within that period, you have the full backing of the ombudsman to get your money. Thats all they need to give you though.

Trying to get more is difficult and comes down to how important it is to them to get rid of your complaint since the ombudsman will not support your claim for compensation.

As for the kkocking issue, thats an old one. Some engineers knock and then leg it. I've had loads of complaints about that as well in the past.

It is possible to ask your Supplier to add a note to the Meter Operators address details to specify things like "knock loudly hard of hearing", "beware dog" or "allow extra time as resident disabled" etc.

Scientist_Matt

Terrylw1,

Thanks for the links. when I get a new printer cartridge today I'll print them out and keep them with my utility bills for future reference. Now I know what the compensation levels are, I am satisfied with the £20 that was offered and I accepted. It is worth noting though - I only got it because I complained. compensation wasn't about to be offered up free of charge, and the HD operative had to go through one or two layers of management with my verbal complaint before coming back with the offer

Here's a radical idea - instead of having to go to ofgen to find them, why don't the utility suppliers send a copy to all customers, thereby informing them of their rights. Then, when a mistake is made, they automatically give you the compensation. Ah, but then the cynic in me says that that would just be too easy....

Thanks again

Matt

Alias_Omega

Hi all, we were due to have a meter changed the other day, but no one arrived to carry the work out. The meter is located outside. Im sure the date was the 12th on the piece of paper we recieved from British Gas Electric.

We have not chased it up yet, as we want to be taken from the token meter scheme, to the quarterly meter system..

What do you think.?

Scientist_Matt

Hi Alias_Omega,

from my experience and for the price of a phone call it is definately worth a punt. When you are sure of the details of the agreement, give your supplier a call and complain. Be assertive without being aggressive, state that you wish to make a complaint, giving the reason why and that you would like the name and address of the person responsible so that you can persue a compensation claim. Expect to be put on hold while the operative checks with management.

That's what I did, pretty much, and to be honest was surprised when i was offered £20 off the bat - I was expecting to have to write in at the very least. having just printed off the Ofgem document I'd say it is worth reading the bits pertaining to appointments (p14) forewarned is forearmed.

Matt

Terrylw1

Alias_Omega wrote: »

Hi all, we were due to have a meter changed the other day, but no one arrived to carry the work out. The meter is located outside. Im sure the date was the 12th on the piece of paper we recieved from British Gas Electric.

We have not chased it up yet, as we want to be taken from the token meter scheme, to the quarterly meter system..

What do you think.?

Have a look at the table in the link which will tell you what you can claim.

For GSOS to apply you must have been made aware of the appointment date & time. It does not apply to adhoc visits where you have not agreed to the actual appointment.

Remember, you get £20 for a missed appointment and then if you look in the doc it will tell you that you can get a further £20 if they do not credit your account within X days. So, hanging back slightly can double your compensation with this.

Terrylw1

Scientist_Matt wrote: »

Terrylw1,

Thanks for the links. when I get a new printer cartridge today I'll print them out and keep them with my utility bills for future reference. Now I know what the compensation levels are, I am satisfied with the £20 that was offered and I accepted. It is worth noting though - I only got it because I complained. compensation wasn't about to be offered up free of charge, and the HD operative had to go through one or two layers of management with my verbal complaint before coming back with the offer

Here's a radical idea - instead of having to go to ofgen to find them, why don't the utility suppliers send a copy to all customers, thereby informing them of their rights. Then, when a mistake is made, they automatically give you the compensation. Ah, but then the cynic in me says that that would just be too easy....

Thanks again

Matt

Hi Matt,

Well to let you into how 1 major utility played this:

- they told their staff not to mention it and wait to see if the customer even knew. So, they saved countless refunds.
- they didn't even book the GSOS into the systems to ensure the system auto refunded. The system didn't even work properly even then
- they never trained their own call centre staff to make them aware until Ofgem started to audit this process fom 2005/2006.

So, all fault lies with Ofgem for very poor management of the utilities.

I have to search through tons of docs to find those for this site. Even Ofgem/Energywatch don't make them easy to find.

I've spotted at least 1 Supplier that has got thse in an easy to find place on their website. Just badly managed though by the ombudsman...who are pretty poor on the whole really.