My fight with british gas

[ICY]

Ive had a cracking arguement with BG yesterday. had loads of problems with them, in october last year we changed to EDF but once we had transferred EDF said they will only let us remain to be a customer if they put a pre payment meter in, now we have had no problems paying bills ect and everything was up to date, i refused this and ended up going back to BG, readings were given constantly yet they were still estimating the readings and were way out, they re checked it and found they owed US £160 after we went back they still estimated the bills, we were paying £47 per month direct debit and they reckoned we owed them £200 and they were increasing the payments to £107 per month, naturally i was a trifle upset at this, when i looked at the bill they reckoned we had used 1000 units more than we had, called them up and balled them out, they eventually agreed (so kind of them) that they will accept my reading, end result... they are dropping our payments to £45 per month, i checked our BG account online today to find it showing a balance of £80 in credit. when i gave them some stick yesterday i also asked where the hell the payment was from when we left them, he looked t the account and said oh yes it is a closed account showing as being in credit by £160, "would you like a cheque sir", of course what the hell do you think, and why has it took 8 months before you are willing to send me the money you owe me.. no idea sir, that it i had had enough, down goes the phone, it is amazing how much confidence this site has given me to fight my corner

[ICY]

And so the saga continues, do these people have the slightest clue what they are doing.$£ust received 2 letters from them the first one saying;

You regular payment scheme has been cancelled as you requested

Weve cancelled your regular payment scheme as youve told us youd now like to pay for your gas by quarterly variable direct debit

NO I HAVE NOT

Then opened letter 2 which says thank you for choosing to pay for your gas by monthly direct debit, we can now confirm payment details of £45 per month

Now to say i am a little annoyed is a bit of an understatement, so its off to phone the muppets yet again.

While i am at it, i want to know where the £50 payment is which we were promised for returning to BG, i forgot to mention it in the last rant to them.

[ICY]

Ooooh it gets better, my name is on the account, as well as the OHs name, i have just called them, they asked account number postcode and address, then asked my name, so i told them, the conversation then goes as follows

operator: the account is in another name, is your partner there
Me: no she is at work.
Operator: Sorry then sir there is nothing i can do if she is not with you
Me: why as i am named on the account, and in fact dealt with it last week when i rang to complain
Operator: I cant deal with you
Me: Is everyone who works for BG incompetent, because up to now i havent seen any compitence or proffessionalism
Operator: you arent on the account i wont deal with you
Me: BUT I AM ON THE ACCOUNT, check your records properly, you will see i rang last week to complain.
Operator: I wont do anything, i cant help
Me: slams phone down.

I have had enough of these idiots

[2Grumpy]

You might find that the 2 letters are due to their useless (new) it system.

I was told that if you are on monthly direct debit then they cannot issue a refund.

The only way they can do it is to change your payment method, make the refund and then change you back to monthly dd.

Now that is what I call a well designed it system.

Obviously their IT dept is as professional as the rest of the outfit

[ICY]

How can a company dealing with this much money be as incompetent as they are, is is beyond belief, an IT system does what it is told to do, so the problem if thats the case must have been in set up of the system, i am sick of having to call them because of their cock ups, when i went over to EDF we were promised the world, the first thing they said was you have to allow us access to change your meter to a prepayment meter, if you dont a court will allow us a warrant to access property, my next words to them bye bye, you have no rights to demand access like this, and i am not having a prepayment meter fitted end of, account closed.
Is there anyone who knows what they are doing in supplying utilities

[installspark]

Originally Posted by ICY

Is there anyone who knows what they are doing in supplying utilities

A rarity but there are competent people working for the suppliers who what they are doing, and even this bunch of rarities is fewer as I no longer work for a supplier

[ICY]

OH called yesterday and sorted the DD out, they just said "it was a mistake you shouldnt have received the letter saying your direct debit has been cancelled" OH also checked my name was showing on the account on the account, which it was, make your mind up British Gas Yet another case of them not having the slightest clue what they are doing.

gets better now, i really am getting tired of all this hassle, all we want to do is pay our monthly payments and get on with life, not have to constantly be worried what british Gas are going to be sending us next, we are keeping our part of the contract by paying on time every time, we do not deserve to be treat like we are.

Just checked the British Gas account online and they have issued a final bill which again is estimated (they reckon we have used 17 units since the 23rd not a chance) it wont let me submit my own reading because they are now saying my account has been closed and the final bill issued, strange that when yesterday they confirmed the direct debit has been set up, so how can the account be closed.

And what gives them the right to just close an account when it has been run in a proper way, i cant believe they are treating the people that pay there wages in this manner.

and the closing balance the estimate is £79 in CREDIT, they are not doing themselves any favours here, there will be one final call to BG to give them the opportunity to sort there mess out, if they fail to sort it this time, energywatch here i come. Maybe even the press, get some fantastic bad publicity for them.

[gondukin]

Why not take your business somewhere else?

[ICY]

i tryed that and had a lot of hassle, more than i am having now

[mrsfoot]

Hi go to energywatch: Home Page and make a complain via them. They are fabulous and really helpful

I had trouble with a refund in June 2006. I called and called kept getting told their hadnt been an investgigation raised by the last person so they would have to do one. This happened 4 times and still no refund. I called BG and asked to speak to Cutomer Relations to be told and this is not a word of a lie....CR do not talk to customers!! So i took the managers name and told him i would file in court for my money and name him.
I called energywatch and they had it sorted and refunded to me within 14 days AND got me compenstion!!!
Keep dates of calls and who you spoke to and Tell energy watch everything
Good luck