Two British Gas Problems....

[Sidewinder]

Good day kind people!

I wonder if anybody could advise where to go with two problems with British Gas - one mine and one on behalf of a work colleague!

Firstly for my part we are on British Gas through a prepayment meter - it was in the house when we moved in and no problems really to date, but every so often we get a bill, on receipt of which I get on the phone and it has been sorted fairly promptly.....how can we owe when we pay as we go? You can imagine the way the conversation goes. Anyway, yesterday a bill dropped onto the mat for £835 and quite frankly I am getting a bit miffed at having to spend evenings on the phone going through the whole rigmarole again. I am inclined just to completely ignore this latest incompetence and allow them to waste their own time in trying to recover a debt which doesn't and cannot possibly exist but would this be advisable? Along with the bill was a request for access to the meter as it legally has to be inspected every two years and they say that if we don't arrange a time for them to do so, they will apply to a magistrate for right of entry. I have already e mailed and said that any day or time after 7pm is OK but they don't actually need to get in as the meter is in an unlocked cupboard outside, but how likely is it that they would use that inspection as a means of adjusting the tariff to recover the ficticious debt? Can they do this without court action anyway, and how could I ever know whether the meter is set at the correct tariff?

The second issue relates to a service contract. My colleague pays BG for Homecare and over a week ago the boiler developed a fault and she has no hot water. Homecare came and identified the problem and promised action the next day. Needless to say despite taking the afternoon off work nobody came so a phone call followed and a promise was made to phone her at work to give a definite time to call and repair the boiler. No phone call to the number she left, but a message on the answerphone when she got home asked her to call and rearrange the appointment. This done, hubby took the afternoon off work and waited in all afternoon but once again nobody turned up and when he phoned to find out why not he was told that it was because they were waiting for parts to arrive. Some days later (still with no hot water) my colleague phoned again only to now be told that the parts have been lost in the post. Finally yesterday they phoned to say that they should have the parts today and would be at the house at 8.00am this morning.........they weren't and still haven't turned up or phoned to explain why.

Any idea where she should go with this? Energywatch? or is it not an issue for the regulator as it doesn't actually relate to supply? They have flatly refused to compensate for the lack of hot water, failure to respond promptly and for the wasted time for broken appointments, but what can she reasonably expect by way of restitution?

Any comments gratefully received - Thanks

[CAGisforME]

In my experience you will get no-where with emails and telephone calls to the call centre.

If you want action call the "Customer Escalation Department" on 08459 555703 or 0113 381477

They have been the ONLY folks at BG that i have managed to get a "non-muppet" response from and seem to actually keep problems until they are solved.

Good Luck

[Sidewinder]

Thanks for the tip - I will call them tomorrow

[CAGisforME]

No Problem.

The staff in that department are NOT trained chimps and will actually give you their name and extension number.

They take "ownership" of a problem and see it through.

Good Luck.

I'm still waiting to get my BG probs solved, but the recent £36 reduction to my monthly DD has helped in the meantime.

[Surfer01]

As you have written to BGAS and stated that it is a pre-payment meter you should be on solid ground as long as you can produce a copy of the letter. Just to be on the safe side write again sending it by registered post. That way of the bailiffs come knocking you will not have a problem. Generally iof the bailiffs see a pre-payment meter they apologise and leave because if they do anything they would be in the wrong.

[Sidewinder]

Thanks for all the help guys

Spoke to British Gas - took a long while on hold to get through but actually spoke to a very helpful young lady. No messing about and told me that the bill should not have been sent. I actually had three live accounts (result of a balls up over switching a couple of years ago) and the main account had been running in debit whilst credit was applied to one of the other accounts incorrectly. Misdirected payments had raised a 'bill' in order to apply the incorrect credit amount to the main account and the bill should never have been sent. Confirmed that I owe nothing and a new statement will be sent to confirm this.

As for the colleague, she spoke to the customer escalation number who initially said that they only deal with supply and billing issues, but nevertheless phoned back on Saturday morning to make sure that an engineer had called. When told that they hadn't she went away and confirmed that one would be there in the hour - it was! Although they still haven't yet got the required valve to repair the bolier, the engineer has adjusted something to allow the water to heat so she has hot water for the first time in almost two weeks.

[CAGisforME]

Chuffed.

I strongly recommend that anyone who is with British Gas keeps a hold of that Customer Escalation Number.

Very Usefull

[Sidewinder]

Originally Posted by CAGisforME

Chuffed.

I strongly recommend that anyone who is with British Gas keeps a hold of that Customer Escalation Number.

Very Usefull

.....although the 0113 one is unobtainable - is it missing a digit? The 08459 one is fine.

[CAGisforME]

The 0113 number only seems to work 9-5.

The 08459 number takes you through to the same department anyway!

Thanks for the rep