British Gas won't accept complaint

Marksfish

This weeks update:

1. Radio silence from British Gas
2. Ombudsman has finally answered and told me as I accepted a resolution previously, I have to challenge that (from the website handler). I am not hopeful as the reply I finally received via email from the person who dealt with the case was:

"This is a separate issue to your original case and its root cause is your meter not being commissioned (it is). 

This means a consumer must provide their supplier regular readings to ensure their bills are correct ( I do, but they are still incorrect). Considering this, please take an up to date reading and call their contact centre and ask them to send you a revised bill (still doesn't show overnight usage).  

Whilst I appreciate this is frustrating, the Energy Ombudsman cant really do much more other than expect a supplier to take reasonable steps to commission a SMART meter and they have until the end of 2025 to do this."

Not really sure they are understanding the over billing issue here!! Over 200kwh this month already..
3. Still being held to ransom by the meter mis-match and unable to leave. Despite the "excellent" customer service from the purple people, they still have not answered my query on how to proceed to get away.

I'm thinking if I can ever leave this shower, my only recourse for re- payment is going to be small claims. 

Marksfish

Finally, a response from BG. whether it is my persistent badgering or my attempts to re-ignite my old case with the ombudsman, I don't know. the response today is:

I should also apologise that I mis-understood the reason for your complaint. I wanted to let you know a new complaint has been opened under the reference number above, and I will be managing it going forward.

Having looked over your account, I can see you registered for the Electric Driver Tariff back in September23. Since then, we have had intermittent data from your meter relating to the off peak rate. I wanted to let you know that I have passed the details to our metering support team to investigate this. In the meantime they have suggested that we change your tariff back to standard so that we can correctly collate the data from your meter. Please don’t worry too much about this, we will look to make sure you haven’t been financially impacted by this change when we discuss next steps.  

How there was a mis-understanding, i'm not sure, but there is an understanding now. My account has already been switched to a standard tariff and billing put on hold. Not sure how they are not getting the data when Hugo is polling the DCC 1/2 hourly and getting information. Hopefully it is now onwards and upwards!

Marksfish

Would you Adam and Eve it. The day after BG say they'll look into my billing issues, the cephalopod come back to me and say that I am moving to them from Saturday. BRAKES!!. BG after finally acknowledging my complaint have already "temporarily" moved me off my EV tariff and back to standard variable so they can poll my meter correctly. If I were to move now, I am going to be £'s out of pocket (over £100 at this time). I managed to stop the manual move and they have told me to come back to them once BG sort my issues out. Sitting tight now until 4th March when my BG case handler comes back from holiday.

Marksfish

So it's still dragging on. Moved back onto the EV tariff. A phone call from specialist complaints today to tell me my overnight readings aren't updating. No sugar sherlock!! My Hugo app which has been very accurate from the date it was able to receive the meter readings is wrong apparently! If British Gas aren't receiving the readings, Hugo can't possibly be. Thing is, they are receiving the readings, albeit on single rate and it isn't switching.

I now have to wait until 5th April for a replacement meter, which i'm not sure is the issue. The current meter is a single rate meter, set to send 30 minute readings which BG should be interpreting at their end. There never has been a dual reading (like on Economy 7), but the complaints person insisted there should be, so i'm sure there is some confusion their end about what the meter should actually be doing.

All this time, I am potentially losing money as I could have moved to a lower cost tariff while this has been going on. Lucky the September EV rates weren't too expensive, but the SVR was crippling!

MrsRH62

I’m just helping my parents with the same first issue you had I believe. Had a new smart meter fitted in Aug 23 by BG after buying a new EV.

Meter only started working in Mar 24 (elec only), is still not connected to the EV tariff. Gas is still being estimated against the old Gas meter they no longer have access to.

BG keep saying they don’t have an account, but are sending estimated bills, or it’s going to be fixed in two weeks and then two weeks later of course it’s not fixed.

I contacted the ombudsman and BG have said they will fix it and can have £1.90 per day compensation, funnily enough none of us are confident it’s going to be resolved. Any advice? 

Marksfish

Take a look at the bill and see what the MPAN is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meter_Point_Administration_Number
Check the meter number on the IHD is the same as on your bill. Can you see the meters on the Hugo app? I used it to keep track of usage and to get a correct bill for my first issue. I am hoping it works the same this time!

Funnily enough, my meter started reporting overnight usage again over the weekend, wonder if they'll still change my meter tomorrow? They haven't told me they won't yet, so £70 if they don't turn up!

I bypass the normal complaints team no and email jana.siber@britishgas.co.uk . It then gets directed to the specialist complaints team.

Hope you resolve the issue soon.

Marksfish

So, meter was replaced on Friday. It seems the installer forgot to pair the IHD with the meter, so will have to rely on BG activating it remotely. I now have RT1 and RT2 working on the new meter, still not reporting via Hug yet though.

My complaints handler returned from holiday today, so hopefully will hear back from her tomorrow to see if the meter is reporting home as the BG website doesn't show any new readings from installation.

We could be approaching the home straight in this whole sorry episode now. Just need to ensure everything works, agree on a credit for my over charges and get on with life again.

Marksfish

So almost 2 weeks after meter replacement, the meter seems to be working on the correct tariffs, all good. 

However, my complaints handler has ignored the complaint since her return from holiday almost 2 weeks ago. The IHD wasn't paired with the new meter. The readings don't appear to be being sent via the open network as Hugo cannot receive them and despite the meter being changed, British Gas haven't taken a reading to ensure they can yet. I'm nowhere near having my January bill re- created, neither can I see any billing since the complaint opened.

The sheer indifference of British Gas is so annoying. I have had my letter about the ombudsman now, so it seems my only recourse is to go back to them yet again for a resolution.

Marksfish

Evidence upload to my ombudsman case has been accepted, now waiting on the company response.

Surprise surprise. My complaint handler has been in touch today!! Apparently they have not uploaded the new meter details to their database. Amazing!!! Not impressed at all considering my handlers cases have not been monitored in their absence. Just goes to show the contempt for their customers. So my handler is back for 2 days, then off again for another week, you really couldn't make it up. I believe now the ombudsman is involved, if it follows my previous case, it will now be moved from the "Specialist Complaints" team to the ombudsman team.

I know people are probably getting fed up with me talking to myself, but hey ho, I am not one to take being ripped off lightly.

mmmmikey

Sounds like a complete nightmare! Been following your updates with interest - once these things go wrong they do seem to take a ridiculous amount of time to get sorted. Hopefully you're on the home straight now :-)