Problems with British Gas switch to British Gas NEP / Evolve

LianneMarie

Hi, British Gas have migrated my account to their new system and ever since I have had nothing but problems and I cannot access my account. I would love any advice.

Is anyone else having the same issue?  Am I entitled to compensation? 

Short Explanation:

On April 6th British Gas transfered my account to their new system without informing me. My old British Gas account has been closed. I do not have access to the new British Gas system. My account details have all been lost and replaced with someone else's.

I have also repeatedly been incorrectly billed by the old system, which they tell me to ignore but i have to spend hours getting them cancelled so that it doesnt go on my credit report as a missed payment.

It is almost impossible to get answers. Every time I contact them they shift the blame and tell me to contact the "other British Gas". Its been weeks and I am no closer to having my account back. They have made no efforts to contact me to attempt to resolve this issue but I have spent hours contacting them to the point of even taking time off work.

Long Explanation / Timeline:

Here is some more info. I'll try to keep this short and to the point, but it is almost two months of online chats and phone calls. 

On 6th April - My British Gas account was closed.

  11 April - I contacted them to ask why my account was closed. I was told I was being migrated to British Gas Evolve, which I now know has not existed since Nov 2021. I was told not to worry all my account details, direct debits and payment history will be transferred, and I do not need to do anything. I was also told I should have been told about this, I was not. 

I was then issued a Final Bill from (old) British Gas. When I queried this, I was told I should not have been billed because It will be transferred to the new system. I was told to ignore it. When I asked if this would go on my credit report as a missed statement I was told It would and so I can't ignore the bill but also I can not pay it as it is a mistake and they do not know if the money would get "lost". I asked them to cancel the bill, they told me they couldn't and I'd have to phone back again later.  

I am now in a cycle of being issued a Final Bill, contacting (old) British Gas to cancel it, who spend half the time trying to convince me that I need to contact the other (new) British Gas, who in turn tell me to contact (old) British Gas. Eventually, I manage to get the bill cancelled just for it to be re-issued a few hours later. This process takes a couple of hours every other week. This is very stressful as I am in the middle of a mortgage application and a missed payment could hinder this. 

  21st April - I managed to speak to someone who was able to give me a bit more of an explanation of what has gone wrong with my account. When my account was migrated, there was some sort of problem, which resulted in someone else's name being down for my address. They had effectively lost all my details. Every correspondence was going to this other person's email address.  I asked for an email to explain this in writing, but they refused.

My account was then transferred back to (old) British Gas and then transferred back again to the (new) British Gas. I was then told the problem had been fixed. They then closed any outstanding complaints linked to my account, despite me not agreeing, and I still could not access my new account.  

For weeks following;  I got nowhere with either of the two British Gas Customer services, both just blamed the other or told me I need to wait.  I struggled to talk to anyone because if they asked for my account number or email address they'd tell me I need to contact the other British Gas and promptly disconnect before I can respond.

  29th April -  I made another complaint, this time via a formaly written email. I am yet to get a response.  

 18th May - I managed to talk to someone at the (new) British Gas. I was once again told the account is under a different name but also a different address - Another flat in the same building. Coincidentally I know the person at this address and the name does not match up and they are not a British Gas customer. The customer service advisor was clearly at a loss for what to do and I am too.

I was told they would contact me within 48 hours, they did not.

  30th May - Another 2 hours speaking to them results in an advisor bascially saying "I dont know" and that they would email the case handler again and tell them to contact me asap. They were unable to transfer me to the case handler or anyone else who might be able to help. 

Clearly there are big problems with their new system. I've seen reports of issues around account closures and incorrect meter readings/bills and I wonder if it all stems from the same issue of being migrated to the new system. I now have absolutely no trust in British Gas. I've had to take time off work so that I can spend hours contacting them. I am also concerned from a data protection standpoint if any correspondences meant for me are going to someone else.

CropQuotation

Similar thing happening to me. After transfer to NEP, which I do not believe I agreed to, and did not know about, I was transferred back. My accounts make no sense. Nothing adds up. Payments taken appear in NEP but not "Classic", not in any intelligible way. It seems to me like I may be being charged twice for the gas I have used between April and September. My monthly direct debits have been upped from around £65 to around £320, I think because they think I haven't paid for 6 months even though they have direct debited nearly £500 in that time, but also perhaps because my account is double counting the gas. Today I spent 3 hours on the phone to them, the fourth call of this nature, being transferred from Classic to NEP, to Classic, to NEP, to Classic, to NEP. I lost count of how many times this happened. At least 8. Each time I am told that the person I am talking to will explain to the next person the situation so that I don't get transferred again, and each time the new person has no idea who I am and what the problem is. I previously registered a complaint to get the issue resolved, but the record of my complaint has disappeared and nobody contacted me. After 3 hours I lost it and demanded to speak to a more senior staff member. Conversation went like this. Stop this nonsense now. You know and I know that you that BG has made a major blunder with my account and I'm guessing thousands of others. It's a mess. You know it. I know it. You're reading the script but it's BS. Tell me I'm wrong... Silence... Okay thanks I'll take that as a yes. I was told they were busy but a senior manager would call me back at 1530. That was three quarters of an hour ago and guess what? No call.

There are discrepancies on my electric account as well though not nearly so severe.

This has been going on for weeks.

Hope your problems got sorted eventually.

denbishop

I am in a similar situation and when I complained I was told they have 8m customers, so things do go wrong!.  I am over £1,000 in credit with emails confirming all outstanding invoices have been paid but they still say I have an outstanding bill.  The two systems do not talk to each other, and operators cannot see both systems!  Absolute rubbish and time the Ombudsman stepped in!!

Kangela956

same here been on hold for an hour now, just wish i could change to a provider with just uk call center , sick of the chat line you get people that dont understand you and give wrong information, going to stop direct debit, perhaps they might get it sorted then  

Gerry1

Follow the complaints procedure.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/complaints.html

Start by writing to them at

Complaints Management Team
PO Box 226
Rotherham
S98 1PB

Go to the Energy Ombudsman upon receipt of a deadlock letter, or if it's not resolved within eight weeks.

@LianneMarie Did you get this resolved?

@Kangela956 Don't cancel the DD.  All that will achieve is that you'll be put on a more expensive tariff, and continuing non-payment will result in being referred to debt collectors.  Just follow the complaints procedure as above.

slm6002

I'm going to be keeping an eye on this thread as I currently can't access my account as I too have been switched over to their new system.  I only switched a few days ago.  Like you I did not know or agree to this.  I am also wondering why they paid some of my balance back last month without me requesting it.

So far I haven't been able to contact them and speak to anyone.  Will try again tomorrow.  I am on a fairly low tariff until Nov 2023 and hoping that doesn't disappear all of a sudden

robin007

I've just found out I've been moved to this new system too.

I had an email about a month ago saying I'd been moved to a new system, but I had no idea that this was essentially a switch to a new provider! Like others I really don't remember agreeing to this.

I contacted them today because I hadn't recieved an electricity bill for 6 months, and the app was no longer letting me track my usage.

They are sorting out my electricity bill now, I just hope it goes smoothly. Apparently I will be able to start seeing my usage in the app again by 5th Decemeber.

Quolh

I've just received a letter from British Gas saying they've paid me double the Government Bill Support Scheme payments and they want the overpayment back!

I've just looked and found this on my November statement:

• “Adjustments after VAT
• 13 Oct 2022 Refund £66.00
• 13 Oct 2022 Government discount Energy Bills Support Scheme £66.00 CR
• Total adjustments after VAT £0.00”

and this on my December statement:

• “Adjustments after VAT
• 10 Nov 2022 Refund £66.00
• 10 Nov 2022 Government discount Energy Bills Support Scheme £66.00 CR
• 12 Dec 2022 Refund £67.00
• 12 Dec 2022 Government discount Energy Bills Support Scheme £67.00 CR
• Total adjustments after VAT £0.00”

I've not received a statement since then as apparently they moved me over to their new system - that I cannot access.

So AFAICS I've received NO support payments!!!

I do have access to both BG's old Android app and (was selected to trial) their new app so I'll take a look and see what they show.

Quolh

Looking at the Android app’s

The old app - “British Gas” v2.26.0
Attempting to log in I get, “Sorry, something went wrong! We couldn’t display your account details. Please tap below to try again.” Repeated attempts gives the same result.

The new app - “BG Energy” v1.0.0.124209-PROD logs in OK but…
On the front page shows a debit balance of £494.19 and suggests that my bill dated 11th March 2023 was for £849.61
However the bill itself, accessible only via the app, covering 16th December 2022 to 11th March 2023 dated 11th March shows a new debit balance of £226.19

It also contains:
10 Feb 2023 Government discount Energy Bills Support Scheme £67.00 CR
10 Mar 2023 Government discount Energy Bills Support Scheme £67.00 CR

So, AFAICS I have received a total of just £134 from the support scheme but British Gas is demanding £400 back as they claim to have paid me £800.

pochase

So you have not received the payments into your bank account? Quite easy to see if they paid you every month.

If they have paid you more than £400 back into your bank account they are correct and have overpaid you, and you need to pay it back.

Quolh

Ahahhhhh... thanks. I was confused by the payments appearing & then being 'refunded' on the BG statements. That now makes sense.

Indeed they had paid £333 (66+66+67+67+67) (up until 14th February) directly into my bank account. So, they needed to pay me one more amount of £67 in March.

It didn't help my aging brain that the November statement was for both Electricity & Gas; that in December I received seperate statements for Electricity & Gas; that on both the credits were displayed in one format; that in January & February they didn't send any statements at all and then on the March statement they displayed two credits but in a new format.

And... checks bank...  instead they've sent me four transfers of £67 on 15th March. Wow!

So, they've over-credited me with 3 x £67 = £201. Ok, I'll pay that back now. Thanks again pochase.