British Gas over 1 hour on hold

BexTech

You've never worked in the West Midlands call centre then?

If you saw what went one there it would shock you.

jem16

smartie1976 wrote:

I have never experienced a hold time of that long.
I work for BG, and I can assure you that customers are not put on hold 'just for fun', neither are they purposely made to wait because staffing numbers are low.
There are strict call times to be adhered to.
In fact, I always call the external number if I need to ring for any BG query about my account, and I've never been in a queue longer than about 10 mins, irrespective of what time of day (although to be fair, I would never ring at peak times, which are probably between 8-10am, and 4-7 pm).
I can't believe there wasn't some sort of problem with the number you called for you to be queued for that amount of time. In fact, I've just called them now and I was through to an advisor in 1m 12 sec.

If you have a specific number for a query and you are unable to get through, ring a general number and ask to be xferred. Or submit your question online. There are also additional phone numbers online if you do not have the number you want.

So what number do you suggest I phone with my latest problem?

I applied for Discounted Electricty - NOT Price Protection 2010 on the 25th September. After hearing nothing to confirm my application, I emailed house.co.uk as I could never get an answer on the phone. Today I eventually got a reply saying they had registered me for Price Protection 2010 on 2nd October :eek:

What's the number for complaints?

RichyRich

Okay this is a bit OT but take a look here: http://www.callcentrediary.blogspot.com

It's a diary of a call centre manager. He doesn't update it any more but all the archives are still up.

When you are waiting in a queue, listening to some out of copyright music, just think about the people in the office: they are probably throwing a ball in a bucket.

Rich

smartie1976

Jem16 - I would send them another mail (if possible directly to the original responder) - as this is the way you got your response last time - and advise them that they have taken incorrect action and explain it was the discounted elec not the Price freeze. I don't know about the discounted elec (i'm not front office), so I'm not sure what that offer is exactly. Let me know how you get on, and if possible I will help.
If all else fails, mention you are staff and see if that gets you anywhere!

jem16

smartie1976 wrote:

Jem16 - I would send them another mail (if possible directly to the original responder) - as this is the way you got your response last time - and advise them that they have taken incorrect action and explain it was the discounted elec not the Price freeze. I don't know about the discounted elec (i'm not front office), so I'm not sure what that offer is exactly. Let me know how you get on, and if possible I will help.
If all else fails, mention you are staff and see if that gets you anywhere!

Thanks for the offer of help. Been away in Prague for a few days.

I have emailed almost two weeks ago now - still no reply. I phoned last Saturday and made it clear I'd been registered for the wrong thing. It's supposed to have been noted on my account and the CS rep was emailing the appropriate dept to have it corrected. She said she also asked them to email me when it was actioned but nothing so far.

If your offer to help is still open, I'd be glad of it.