Paperless gas bills

simonne15_2

:mad: Has anyone had the e-mail we have virtually blackmailing us into having paperless bills? They're telling us it's 'convenient, free and reduces waste'. What's more they (British Gas) threaten to change us from the tariff we're on to their Standard tariff if we don't accept this within 7 days! They seem to think because we haven't conformed already we need beating into submission.
Whilst we support the reduction of waste, we know that having paperless bills means that we have to print our own as and when they're available, which takes time, demands having personal access to a computer and printer and paying for printing cartridges so is therefore not free.
What's more, we have found that paperless bank statements become irretrievable after a certain length of time, so if you need a missing one when the Tax return becomes due, you have to pay for it; it's probable that the gas ones will be the same.
We'd welcome other moneysavers' views please.

Cardew

What tariff are you on? Is it a business tariff?

BG have a lot of elderly customers who have been with BG before there was competition; no doubt many are on BG's Price Protection tariffs.

Lots of these not only don't have a PC but wouldn't know how to switch one on if they had one.

If you are on a domestic tariff I would take the matter up with Energywatch!

shandypants5

I was with BG for a short while and they managed to annoy me so much I went back to my old supplier.

They wrote me five..FIVE leters to tell me I was on a paperless billing system, and I should Email them to confirm this..

I emailed they confirmed by Email AND they wrote me a letter too

Then when I Emailed them to tell them I had had enough and was leaving(lots of other billing problems) They Wrote to me again asking me to fill in a customer satisfaction form...:rotfl: :rotfl:

dellxps

simmonne,

could it be because you are on the online click tariff and haven't registered for online billing? I think one of the terms of the click tariff is managing your account online.

IKWeb

Yeah, If you are on the cheaper click tariff you NEED to have paperless billing, you have no choice... Also if you have paperless billing why would you want to print out your bills? you can access them 24 / 7 via the website... If you sign up for a online account and then you go a print your bills thats kinda backwards is it not ??

elektra

They have a cheek when their access to online bills does not work properly. I have been unable to access my parents elec bill since last July when they changed the billing system.

This is the latest reply I have just received from them :-

We’re emailing you again to update you on the problem you’ve had online at www.britishgas.co.uk.

Unfortunately, your account status within our billing system means that it is not possible for you to view your bills online. In order to rectify this issue we will need to close your existing accounts and open new ones with the correct status.

This function can only be performed by our Homemovers department. If you would like to arrange this, please call them on 0845 955 5800*. If you prefer to continue to manage your bills offline and to receive paper bills you do not need to do anything.

Thank you for choosing British Gas.

We’re delighted you’re one of our customers.

Yours sincerely

Online Faults Administration Team

I would not normally be bothered had the bills been accurate but had years of problems which meant it was useful for me to have online access. Only stayed with BG because it was taking a long time to resolve problems(which probably would have prevented a switch) and because they were on lower Essentials tariff. They will probably get the next bill wrong as well which means I have to wait for Mum to post it to me.

elektra

simonne15 wrote: »

What's more, we have found that paperless bank statements become irretrievable after a certain length of time, so if you need a missing one when the Tax return becomes due, you have to pay for it; it's probable that the gas ones will be the same.
We'd welcome other moneysavers' views please.

I don't usually print my online bills but tend to save the online bills as a pdf for this reason.

BexTech

simonne15 wrote: »

Whilst we support the reduction of waste, we know that having paperless bills means that we have to print our own as and when they're available, which takes time, demands having personal access to a computer and printer and paying for printing cartridges so is therefore not free.
What's more, we have found that paperless bank statements become irretrievable after a certain length of time, so if you need a missing one when the Tax return becomes due, you have to pay for it; it's probable that the gas ones will be the same.
We'd welcome other moneysavers' views please.

Really?

I've not yet printed any of my paperless bills and I've been paperless on various accounts for years.

I just save the PDF just in case I do need them.

If you are not happy, then you are free to move away to another provider, however how long will it be before they charge more for paper bills.

Even without any savings we switched to paperless billing, though now most of our accounts do offer a price reduction for going paperless.