British Gas - contact details for complaints

Yorkie006

Hi,
is there a way to escalate a complaint with British Gas? Their website only mentions 'live chat' or phone call - I've tried those but my issue hasn't been solved and the customers service reps are just fobbing me of with 'we'll sort it by the end of the month' - for 3 months now, so clearly nobody is doing anything). What's the next step? Can't seem to find anything on the website. Is there a way to contact the CEO or someone with authority?
Thank you!

flossy_splodge

I had a complaint that British Gas had 'chosen' to annex my AFP payment to my electricity account which was already in credit. When I explained to their horrendous customer service in South Africa they told me they were free to do this.

I emailed my MP and within about 36 hors the money was in my bank account where it should have been all along.

Moral? Try your MP. Mine certainly did the job!  Good Luck.

Jyana

When making a complaint it's best to keep it in written form with them, that way you have a history to go back to if it doesn't get sorted out. The address to use is on their complaints page here, along with some details about the Ombudsman which you can take the complaint onto if they fail to sort it out within 8 weeks.

PO Box 226
Rotherham
S98 1PB

I have also seen this email address quoted for BG complaints, but only from outside sources so not sure if it is still usable or not. Might be worth duplicating the complaint there too though to see if you get a quicker reply, up to you.

 customercomplaints@britishgas.co.uk

Annemos

I went though my account, if you can get into yours on-line. 

I opened up the account and then clicked on Complaints (at the bottom of the page in bright blue, where it says Support.) 

The advantage of this is that it is directly linked to your account. 

I received this reply last week... 

Thanks for getting in touch. One of our team will take a look and get back to you. The average time to respond is currently running at 7 days, but in some cases could take up to 21 days. Your reference number is xxxxx I also did this myself, even though they had suggested on the phone, that they could open up a Complaint for me. But that would mean they were using their wording. I preferred to log the Complaint myself and use my own wording.

Yorkie006

Annemos said:

I went though my account, if you can get into yours on-line. 

I opened up the account and then clicked on Complaints (at the bottom of the page in bright blue, where it says Support.) 

The advantage of this is that it is directly linked to your account. 

I received this reply last week... 

Thanks for getting in touch. One of our team will take a look and get back to you. The average time to respond is currently running at 7 days, but in some cases could take up to 21 days. Your reference number is xxxxx I also did this myself, even though they had suggested on the phone, that they could open up a Complaint for me. But that would mean they were using their wording. I preferred to log the Complaint myself and use my own wording.

I can log into my account but the 'complaints' link only offers 2 options - live chat or phone number. There is no form to fill in or anything else. I did the online chat a few times but just getting promises that the issue will be fixed by x date and it never is. Also, I always request a transcript for my records but it never arrives so I have no proof of ever getting in touch/raising the issue. It all seems like they're making it difficult to complain on purpose. I don't have time to call them because I have a full time job and the call centres are only open Monday to Friday - they're still closed when I leave for work and closed again before I finish. Why can't they take calls on a Saturday? 

Annemos

Re note above... try this.... go into Webform.  Either as a guest or preferably with a log in. 



https://www.britishgas.co.uk/complaints/make-a-complaint-credit.html

Jyana

Yorkie006 said:

Annemos said:

I went though my account, if you can get into yours on-line. 

I opened up the account and then clicked on Complaints (at the bottom of the page in bright blue, where it says Support.) 

The advantage of this is that it is directly linked to your account. 

I received this reply last week... 

Thanks for getting in touch. One of our team will take a look and get back to you. The average time to respond is currently running at 7 days, but in some cases could take up to 21 days. Your reference number is xxxxx I also did this myself, even though they had suggested on the phone, that they could open up a Complaint for me. But that would mean they were using their wording. I preferred to log the Complaint myself and use my own wording.

I can log into my account but the 'complaints' link only offers 2 options - live chat or phone number. There is no form to fill in or anything else. I did the online chat a few times but just getting promises that the issue will be fixed by x date and it never is. Also, I always request a transcript for my records but it never arrives so I have no proof of ever getting in touch/raising the issue. It all seems like they're making it difficult to complain on purpose. I don't have time to call them because I have a full time job and the call centres are only open Monday to Friday - they're still closed when I leave for work and closed again before I finish. Why can't they take calls on a Saturday? 

That's odd, I have more options on the page than that. Including the address I posted in my previous comment, and links to go to a form too.

Gerry1

IIRC the BG website is Time of Use, e.g. it doesn't show the phone number outside its operating hours.

Annemos

Yorkie

I just tried that route again that Jyana and I gave you. And today I also cannot see the webform. Only chat and phone is there. 

So I don't know if it goes down sometimes. Maybe it only works in working hours? 


The reason I am checking it again is, on the one I did for my friend, logged according to that webform method above,  their acknowledgement does not actually say it is a Complaint. It just says "Your reference number is..."


But the one BG logged for me in April by the BG lady when on the phone with me, actually said "Complaint Reference" and it also sent me the Ombudsman process, too. 

So now I am wondering if a Complaint has even been logged for my friend! Or whether it is just logged as a Question. 


Somebody on Trustpilot is moaning because he submitted what he thought was a complaint, but it had not actually been logged as a Complaint at BG and so the 8 week Ombudsman process has not even been started yet. He is very annoyed about it. 

What an utter UTTER shambles it all is. 

Yorkie006

Update:

The web form is still not showing for me on the website - I tried while logged into my BG account and also while signed out, on different days, at different times, but no joy.
In the end, I decided to go through Resolver. I got an acknowledgment of my complaint from BG the next day along with a reference number. The email said they'd try to get in touch within 10 working days but that it may take longer. Not heard anything since (it's been more than 10 working days now).
Apart from the acknowledgment email, I haven't heard anything back.
Will update this post when something happens, for now, it's just a waiting game... 

flossy_splodge

All this aggro when it appears an email to your MP can short circuit the process and get results. For me , I just wanted results.