failing to get a credit refund from British gas .

ivanhoew

Hello to the collective ,

Just in case this helps anyone in the same situation, i thought i would jot down my experience with BG .

I am using about 150 units a month , and have a , as arranged and assessed by BG , 90 pounds a month DD.

I am 600 pounds in credit .

i decided to try to get this money back .


I used the chatbot , and got to a advisor ,  , then got sent to a different chat bot , that had 99+ in the queue ahead of me . i did not have the time in the working week to wait , so instead i sent an email to the address supplied .


I asked can i please have my credit back , and supplied the acc name number etc .

They answered several days later to say they could not associate the email address i had used, with the acc , this was my fault . i used a slightly different address , since i cannot send out on the one i registered with  BG .


 I tried the chat bot again ,  , again got through to an advisor , then passed onto a chat line with 99+ ahead of me .

I sent another email , this time putting in the letter an explanation of why i had a different  email , and including the email address i registered .



They replied several days later to say .....


"Hi

Thank you for reaching out to us.

This is related to your query of refund, as because of your security purpose for getting refund you have to contact us on chat, apologize for the trouble caused, kindly contact us on chat we will get your request processed kindly do not worry at all, but it will be through chat only.
You need to chat to us in the meantime, the quickest and easiest way to get through is on live chat, where you can find us Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Thanks
Minal
British gas team"



So ,to sum up . unless i can spend a fair while waiting to get through 99+ happy customers in front of my on chat , during my working week ,  i cannot get a refund . (or a literate email reply).


In light of this i thought i would see how easy it is to use the complaints procedure . a hollow laughing ensued when i realised i had to call them up on the phone , or use , yup you guessed it , the CHAT function , which i feel it would be reasonable to suggest should be renamed..

 "The +99 service ".

 or even page one in the "ZEN training" course . included with every BG account.  For free !


regards
robert

NorfolkCanary

Could I check when was the last time you were billed using actual readings?
Without trying to ask you to suck eggs, reason for checking is the credit balance is only valid with an up to date account, i.e. the money paid via DD sits in a pot, until the billing cycle is completed at which point the balance is updated

ivanhoew

i put in my meter reading ,as far as i can remember , every 1st of the month. although this month i did it on the 29th , since i received a email from BG asking me to .

(and completely failed to read the whole email where it goes on to say send it on the 30th )

So , i suppose , in theory NC , i am billed every time with up to date actual readings .



regards
robert

Jyana

I've found that the easiest way to get hold of BG is through their Twitter account. To get a credit refund, I've just asked them to do me an up to date bill and refund a set amount of what remains afterwards, they can't refund until a new bill is done but are they are always happy to do an interim one outside of the normal 6 monthly you get if you ask them.

TheMilkmansDad

are you due a refund? When was a bill last produced on your account?

You balance may show £600 in credit but if you not had an bill raised recently using actual reads then that balance will not be accurate.

ivanhoew

Thank you Jyana , i try to avoid twitter .

TMD , 

i had a look, my last bill was April 5th , so i imagine next bill will be July 5th , being quarterly .

the last 3 quarterly  bills were 203/175/199. ....and after the last bill paid i was 422 in credit .

Surfer01

We moved away from BGAS in Feb 2023.  In Nov 2023 we were that a refund of over £200 was due, but we needed to phone in.  Spoke to an advisor who told us what we already due and said that the refund was due.  I explained that is why i was phoning in about it.  Spent the next 10 minuted going around in circles.  We still have not had our refund although we have chased it up since.  As we have not had a "final" letter from BGAS I am unsure how to escalate the matter to the Ombudsman.  Makes you wonder how many millions they are sitting on gaining interest daily?  Also I guess many people give up and the money stays with the supplier!