British Gas offered 10% off tariff for homecare customers

silvercar

Just been looking at switching and the two cheapest options using uswitch came out as npower sign 11 followed by British Gas click 5 energy.

Then British Gas phone up and offer me 10% off standard tariff as a Homecare customer. Compared the rates and it does seem lower than the online tariffs. Rate is guaranteed to be 10% lower than standard tariff until 31/5/09. Only condition is 90 days notice required to switch away before 31/5/09.

I have 7 days to cancel, so if anyone can see a catch please let me know.

ContraryMary

Just double check and ask them what their cancellation fee is....Currently, if you opt off their price protection, they charge you £75.

c0113tt3

With all respect to contrary mary, who is a sales adviser for npower, this forum is to give all the facts about energy companies / deals / tariffs, the good and the bad about each deal / company.

Please be aware, and again with all respect, contrary mary is only giving the good sides to npower (and not stating the bad side) and pointing out any good / bad sides to any other deals with other tariffs / companies. In doing this (by what you dont state) you could infact be giving bad advice

I understand with working for npower it would be difficult to state any particular bad sides, as it could / may be deemed as speaking out about your employer, and I know you want to be genuinely helpfull, but to be able to give advice independently and very likely in your own time, which is appreciated by everyone, does need to state both good and bad.

A possible solution to your problem, could actually be stating that you work for npower in each and every single post, and you are not able to speak of any possible negatives of the company you work for, a disclaimer as such.

c0113tt3

As politely pointed out, you may have an opt out fee, but with npower, you need to be aware they are voted the worst company for customer service, and their practices are being investigated by energy watch / ofgem including over charging customers. They also practice tariff years, in which they charge and have charged more than the contracted tier 1 kwh on gas in a 12 month period, as a year to them can be a few to several months. Due to this, they can / may appear to be cheaper on comparisons, but in practice may not. This is due to comparison sites comparing what you are contracted at, where as npower are disregarding what the contracts say in respect to the max of 4572 kwh tier 1 per YEAR only (as stated on contracts / information / website) and have been charging more than the contract in a 12 month period. They also refuse to refund it back too.

The times newspaper 24/05/08

An npower spokesman said: “What we promise is that we won’t charge gas customers more than 4,572 units at the higher rate in a tariff year, which is not always the same as a calendar year. In our short tariff year of seven months from April to November 2007 we didn’t charge anyone more than 4,572 units at the higher price, but over a full 12 months, we did."

Of course British gas have had their problems too, with billing etc.., but have been sorting them selves out lately.

ContraryMary

Just spotted this post..... Yet another thread hijacked! The OP asked if there might be a possible catch, I told her what a possible catch might be, and I'm jumped upon again. I'm sure it's common knowledge that BG have a penalty fee on their Price Protection so I don't see the problem in pointing out that the OP should check they haven't implemented one on the deal she has been offered, but seeing as it was me pointing it out, you automatically assume that I am pointing it out for devious reasons. I give up!

c0113tt3

And again by pointing out that catch with BG, and the op is also considering npower, did you care to mention the catches with npower?

ContraryMary

She stated that she had compared the rates - she had worked out for herself that the BG deal was a better deal - she was asking for any possible catches! I pointed out one possible catch! Other than that, it seems a good deal! Where in all that did I even mention Npower??! Good grief, you need to get over your obsession and start reading what is actually there in black and white in front of you, instead of what you THINK is there.

c0113tt3

So if someone points out a catch with the ops direct question, and the op thinks that they are not happy with that, and then goes to his/her second consideration which is npower. what was wrong with not mentioning catches with npower?

It's common sense to anticipate that as a possible reaction 50 / 50 chance, if they stay switched or goto second choice, which was npower. Again it is about what contrarymary does not state who is aware of it.

silvercar

Checked the cancellation, it is £20 for each fuel or 90 days notice. This only applies upto 31/5/09. For clarity its not a price protection tariff its a discount off the standard rate.

The deal actually works out attractive because I would be a high user and the units charged at the lower rate are low (670 a quarter for gas and only 125 for electric).

Thanks for the advice.

silvercar

Now puzzled!

British Gas phoned again to confirm details as the original caller was a third party! I told this guy that the previous caller had phoned me not vice versa and he said that was possible but maybe they had found me through uswitch or similar.

It was definitely a cold call from BG as I hadn't used any websites at the time of the original call.

I probably can't object to an initial call from BG, as my Homecare cover would allow them to contact with offers, but are third parties allowed to cold call and are they allowed to pretend to be BG?

energyworries

They should not pretend to be from british gas.As far as I know thats illegal.

Had the same thing a while ago with an apparent tie up with SKY and British Gas.
missed a phone call who left a short message saying they were calling from SKY. yet when I called the number I was told by an automated response that I had been called by British Gas on a non urgent matter.

Spoke to British Gas and gave them a piece of my mind along the lines of why pretend to be from SKY?. The cheeky git hung up on me saying "that its a marketing call we can do what we want":mad: