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Mstty

Ok I won't say what I will file your replies as, because this is a friendly board. There are some members on here than hunt out to make people appear wrong because it doesn't fit how they see the world. Having worked in the energy sector I know exactly how BG will handle this..they are not there to lose money and Ofgem do have the open chequebook waiting for them for doing "their bit" for failed.energy companies.

Anyway let's see after this all settles down what claim BG make against Ofgem for compensation for taking on customers as SOLR. Only then will we truly know. However to warn of the potential routes is not something that should be shut down by certain members of this forum.

jmsgld

Mstty said:

jmsgld said:

Mstty said:

However it was crystal clear when customers moved to the SOLR, in this instance BG, they would be on the standard variable rate.

Except when customer services stated in no uncertain terms that the rate was indeed fixed, on the telephone and then via e-mail.

"As requested the following information is regarding the current unit rates and standing charge you are on as well as the new rates at the end of your current tariff. Just to reassure your current rates are locked in until the 30th of June 2022."

It was still crystal clear on the ofgem website and initial contact when suppliers went to the wall. Crystal clear.

Then BG muddied the water and made a mess, that is undeniable for sure and that was covered if you read down further.

Taking a single paragraph without the reflection part of my whole response of course is not ideal.

I am saying go for it, claim compensation but don't be naive to think BG will foot the bill.

What you keep on saying is simply untrue. The only contact I had from BG regarding rates / tariff until March was the original infamous email. 

Below is the e-mail I received from Peoples energy, I received the same e-mail a few times, but never was there a mention of the rate being variable;

"On 19 September 21, Ofgem transferred the customers of People’s Energy to British Gas as part of the Supplier of Last Resort (“SoLR”) regulated process. Your energy supply has remained secure throughout this process, with British Gas supplying energy to all customers from this date. People’s Energy ceased supply of energy from 19 September 21.

Your new energy supplier is British Gas. If you have any questions, please visit their website or you can call:"

I called BG and was told that the tariff was indeed fixed until 30/06/22...

lisyloo

@Mstty - it’s refreshing to see you’ve moderated your view somewhat.
personally I did think it was a special deal as an introductory tarriff.
personally I don’t think it’s fair to expect people to traipse through links to small print when they may be dealing with covid etc. That’s why “key facts” were invented and I think people are entitled to repy on the headline facts. They may be elderly, have poor sight etc. So its BGs responsibility to make it clear to everyone, not just those with a PHD in small print.

i totally agree it’s a concern as to where the compensation comes from.
my view is that it’s not wrong to seek it in genuine cases. 
You are entitled to a different view, but if the ombudsman or courts uphold then I’d say you’re wrong.

Different views should absolutely not be shutdown.

Phones4Chris

Mstty said:

............
However it was crystal clear when customers moved to the SOLR, in this instance BG, they would be on the standard variable rate.
..................

I disagree totally. Anyone who had experienced a previous SoLR move found that the tariff that they were put on (as agreed with OFGEM) was fixed for 6 months - that was part of the SoLR process at the time and I never saw anything to contradict that. So people would reasonably have been expecting the same now based on the "contract" email from BG, which BG now say was a mistake. Whilst one accepts that the situation had changed though with the energy crisis, that is no excuse for BG's incompetence and bad atrocious customer service.

jmsgld

Was just looking at the survey on SoLR transfers and noticed that BG were reported to have managed to correctly transfer credit balances from Peoples energy in only 4% of cases. Firstly, wow!
I checked mine and there was a discrepancy of £17 or so, hardly a big deal but still annoying. 
Is this actually owed to me, or was there some kind of transaction fee or missing VAT or something?

jmsgld

My mistake, it was just the slightly odd way that they have accounted for VAT. Mine is correct. 

Phones4Chris

Well after I eventually managed to submit a written email complaint to BG, I've had a response 15 days later. After telling me how busy they've been with the SoLR process, they seem to think that it's ok to charge BG kWh rates for energy used before NR SoLR, but have ignored the daily charge (still resulting in an overall overcharge). They've totally ignored my complaints about failing to respond to 2 previous complaints, ignored the complaint about the online account not working correctly, ignored the breach of contract and how it has disadvantaged me financially, ignored the complaint about being contacted by phone when preferences were clearly set to email (and that was about a smart meter and this was even after they'd been notified I was leaving) and even this respondent (with an off-shore sounding name) claims to have tried to phone me and that even when my number is no longer in their system, you just can't make it up! The response is totally unacceptable and they will get a very robust reply especially telling me to respond by the 28th or they will assume I'm happy with the outcome and the complaint will be closed. 
I'll put detail about the billing issues etc in the Neon Reef thread.

jmsgld

Your experience is consistent with mine. My complaints were closed without any investigation, action or contact with me. 

It seems to be the standard practice of the call centre in South Africa to simply close all complaints without any action. I would imagine that as a company they have signed up to some sort of agreement where they are supposed to investigate complaints rather than simply log them. 

The other issue I have had with the SA call centre is that the call almost invariably drops out, and they then fail to return to call despite explicit instructions to do so at the outset.

The next sensible step seems to be to wait until 8 weeks have passed and take the complaint to the ombudsman. 

LtMike77

Sounds like my experience with my complaints just being closed and not even answering the actual points I raised in the  complaint in anyway, just a generic nonsense reply.

Decided enough is enough after asking for deadlock letter twice going unanswered, so ombudsman it will be.

Phones4Chris

I "threatened" use of the ombudsman in my complaint - may well be going down that route. I will probably write to the CEO when I can be bothered and have time, things like the "My Account" not functioning correctly need to be addressed for all the poor suckers they call customers! It really isn't rocket science, these things should just function. Whether later the account imports data as a result of change of supplier or because of SoLR is a secondary matter!
I sent a brief response early this morning "Not one bit of your response is acceptable. You've also failed to address many issues that I raised. I'll respond with more detail later today."