British Gas Smart Meter not working - won't refund my credit.

Karenmaybin

I feel like I'm going round in circles - 12 months ago my smart meter stopped sending readings to British Gas, I contacted them to raise a complaint, I was told it was a known issue and would be rectified soon - could they close the complaint, so I said no, you can close the complaint when it's fixed otherwise they're fudging their stats on their complaints handling.  For 6 months or so I got a periodic email saying your complaint is ongoing, we're trying to get it sorted, then they stopped. 
My fix was coming to an end and the company I wanted to switch to needed a working smart meter, so I contacted British Gas again, I've been told that the meters are being changed but they don't know when, that they're being sorted remotely, that an engineers visit will be arranged - none of this has happened and I've ended up signing up again with British Gas or lose a fix. 
Three weeks ago I contacted them yet again as they wanted to drop my direct debit, quick check and it appeared I'm in credit on my Gas by £396, so I asked them to keep the direct debit as it is and send me back my money, they emailed to say it had been processed and would be repaid in 7 to 9 working days.
The money didn't turn up so I emailed them, they messaged to say I needed to call as they needed to confirm the bank account the money was to be paid to, so I phoned.  I much prefer to email, that way you've got it in writing whats been said.  Today I've been told that it's not the bank account thats the problem its that the meter hasn't been sending readings, which they've known for a year and they need a reading before they can make the refund.  When it suits them they can estimate usage but when you ask for your money back its a different matter.  I've just put the meter reading from the gas on my account, the electric smart meter not only doesn't send readings to them it doesn't display them either so I can't send that even though I'm £200 in credit there too - they are aware of this issue too.
I did look at complaining to Ofgem, but you need to have come to impasse with your energy provider and have a deadlock letter - which I don't have as they keep closing the complaint as resolved.
The worst of it is I've spent the £396 as I was expecting to find it in my account by now.
I don't know what else I can do - any suggestions?

Mark_d

Without BG getting a meter reading for your electric, your account hasn't been charged with your usage to date...so it's possibly that you're not actually in credit.

Are there seriously no readings on your smart meter?  Can you share a photo?  More often than not I've heard people thinking that their in-home display is actually the smart meter.

QrizB

Karenmaybin said:

I feel like I'm going round in circles - 12 months ago my smart meter stopped sending readings to British Gas

Is this your gas meter or your electricity meter? You haven't said?

Although its stopped sending readings, can you still read it yourself? If so have you been taking & submitting readings?

Karenmaybin said:

I've just put the meter reading from the gas on my account, the electric smart meter not only doesn't send readings to them it doesn't display them either so I can't send that even though I'm £200 in credit there too - they are aware of this issue too.

So the gas meter works (you can read it yourself) but the electricity meter is dead and doesn't show anything on the display at all?

Are the LEDs flashing on the comms hub (the bit above the meter)?
Can you share some photos of your meters?

Karenmaybin said:

I did look at complaining to Ofgem, but you need to have come to impasse with your energy provider and have a deadlock letter - which I don't have as they keep closing the complaint as resolved.

You can escalate to the Ombudsman once your complaint is eight weeks old You don't need to reach deadlock.

Karenmaybin said:

I don't know what else I can do - any suggestions?

If you have an open complaint that's more than eight weeks old, escalate to the Ombudsman per BG's complaints process.

twopenny

Escalate it straight away.
If you want to try you could let them know you are doing it but it's a waste of time.

I'm finally moving. They put the debt collector onto me for non payment when I had paid and I spent weeks being told it was sorted when it wasn't. They wouldn't take a call from my bank either.
I finally got through by old fashioned letter with documents to prove it. You could try that. It might be quicker. 
Or do both 
Now I've got an estimated bill from the day before they emailed for a reading. It's completely gone to the dogs.