British Gas fixed price 'fine' - need some advice please

[candy25]

Hi there, firstly if I'm just repeating a thread already, please accept my apologies

 

After receiving two very hefty bills for my gas and electric (I'm on dual fuel) this week I want to move away from British Gas. Unfortunately I fixed my prices when I received my last set of bills after being told on the phone by one of their advisers that the prices would not come down and I should fix them. Lo and behold just after Christmas I received a cheeky letter saying, yes, everyone not tied into the extortionate fixed until 2011 would see their bills drop, but bad luck you wont.

 

Unimpressed I decided to wait for my next set of bills and see the damage. They have turned up and BG want £162 per MONTH out of me, no chance I simply cannot afford it. I was made aware of penalties to pay if I 'broke' the fixed price, but I feel I should not have to pay them since I actually refused to be in a fixed price when the adviser first 'advised' me, he then went on to press that the prices wouldn't be falling and neither would anyone elses, and that I wouldn't lose out. I feel a big mug for believing him! Is it possible to tell BG that I'm moving away and I'm refusing to pay the penalties because of false info??

 

I've been a customer of BG for 7 years now and I've felt extremely let down by them. Every time I ring to try and sort out my sky high direct debits they try to sell me something else. I want out!!!!

[candy25]

Ok I've submitted a complaint about seeing if the penalty charges can be waived and I'll keep you all up to date on how it goes. I'm not expecting miracles out of them, obviously customer loyalty counts for nothing and they are only out to make a good few bucks out of us.

[andybugz]

When you were first offered the price protection till 2011 this was the best advice anyone could give you as the cost of gas & electric went up twice in 2008 and everyone predicted it would continue to go up so this wasnt falsh information at all.

 

In regards to submitting a complaint this is probably the best thing i could advise you, most agents you speak to wont remove it (me included) as it still is a good tariff (this is depending on whether there is another price decrease or not) and you have entered a contract but the complaints team may look at the situation another way, hopefully in your favour

[Clare_L]

Is there a penalty if you come off the tariff or only if you leave the supplier??

[MG123]

Is there a penalty if you come off the tariff or only if you leave the supplier??

 

 

I was wondering that too.

 

Im aware that if you changed supplier that penalty would be applied, is this Fixed Price tariff based on paying Direct Debit? If it was and for example you decided that wasnt the way you wished to pay, would that charge be applicable?

 

Im sorry, Ive hijacked the thread!

 

Good luck, I hope they waive the charges for you and/or put you on a beneficial tariff in its place.

[Clare_L]

Im thinking that if there is no penalty to just change your tariff, do that, THEN change supplier!

[candy25]

I went onto the fixed price in September 2008 time, so I suppose that maybe I'll be fighting a losing battle.

 

I've done some looking into switching suppliers and with one particular supplier I can save £270 per year so it may be worth just paying up with British Gas and moving on

[andybugz]

Because your technically cancelling a contract the charge is applied no matter what you choose to do, its £70 for gas and £30 for electric

 

have you had a response yet ?

[shazadali]

Hi there, firstly if I'm just repeating a thread already, please accept my apologies

 

After receiving two very hefty bills for my gas and electric (I'm on dual fuel) this week I want to move away from British Gas. Unfortunately I fixed my prices when I received my last set of bills after being told on the phone by one of their advisers that the prices would not come down and I should fix them. Lo and behold just after Christmas I received a cheeky letter saying, yes, everyone not tied into the extortionate fixed until 2011 would see their bills drop, but bad luck you wont.

 

Unimpressed I decided to wait for my next set of bills and see the damage. They have turned up and BG want £162 per MONTH out of me, no chance I simply cannot afford it. I was made aware of penalties to pay if I 'broke' the fixed price, but I feel I should not have to pay them since I actually refused to be in a fixed price when the adviser first 'advised' me, he then went on to press that the prices wouldn't be falling and neither would anyone elses, and that I wouldn't lose out. I feel a big mug for believing him! Is it possible to tell BG that I'm moving away and I'm refusing to pay the penalties because of false info??

 

I've been a customer of BG for 7 years now and I've felt extremely let down by them. Every time I ring to try and sort out my sky high direct debits they try to sell me something else. I want out!!!!

 

 

I know how to deal with this as i have experiance in this field please call me i will talk you through this and any one who is with british gas can call me as i have made it my mission to recommend a company i am currently with who i have saved enormous amount of money with sice i swapped. Please call me on 0{EDIT}

 

MODERATOR NOTE

 

DO NOT POST TELEPHONE NUMBERS AND TRY TO COERCE MEMBERS TO CALL YOU

 

this is a clear breach of site rules

Edited March 25, 2009 by pt2537
see comment

[Could_Be_Anyone]

If i recall, the terms were that the tariff could be changed... but if you changed suppliers within the original time period (usually 12 months) the fees would be applied.

 

*this may have been an offer made by a different supplier...

 

All said and done - if this was an outbound sales call then a recording of the call should usually be kept as a matter of course.

 

Log a complaint about misleading information given by the sales agent, as although this may have been true to the best of his knowledge, it turned out to be incorrect. They have a duty to provide accurate information when describing benefits and drawbacks of an agreement, speculation does not constitute accurate information.

[andybugz]

If i recall, the terms were that the tariff could be changed... but if you changed suppliers within the original time period (usually 12 months) the fees would be applied.

 

*this may have been an offer made by a different supplier...

 

All said and done - if this was an outbound sales call then a recording of the call should usually be kept as a matter of course.

 

Log a complaint about misleading information given by the sales agent, as although this may have been true to the best of his knowledge, it turned out to be incorrect. They have a duty to provide accurate information when describing benefits and drawbacks of an agreement, speculation does not constitute accurate information.

 

First of all the terms you quote are incorrect for BG's Fixed Price 2011 and what i mentioned earlier is taken straight from the T&C's of that actual tariff, and secondley the agent who promoted the tariff was accurate, at that point in 2008 the cost of gas went up by over 100% (half of which was passed onto customers with BG) and the prediction was that the cost would keep on going up through the whole of 2009, this thankfully didnt happen and now the cost is coming down people beleive they were miss-sold the tariff which is not the case at all, at the moment BG have lowered gas by 10%, yes its going down but the cost of gas is still very volatile so the tariff is still a good offer (people will have there own opinion) but again this depends on the cost in the future.

[Could_Be_Anyone]

First of all the terms you quote are incorrect for BG's Fixed Price 2011 and what i mentioned earlier is taken straight from the T&C's of that actual tariff, and secondley the agent who promoted the tariff was accurate, at that point in 2008 the cost of gas went up by over 100% (half of which was passed onto customers with BG) and the prediction was that the cost would keep on going up through the whole of 2009, this thankfully didnt happen and now the cost is coming down people beleive they were miss-sold the tariff which is not the case at all, at the moment BG have lowered gas by 10%, yes its going down but the cost of gas is still very volatile so the tariff is still a good offer (people will have there own opinion) but again this depends on the cost in the future.

 

Not wanting to get into an argument - I'm aware they may have been for a similar offer by another supplier (most offers of this type have common terms)

 

Regardless of the current market state a sales person is NOT at liberty to state that prices are not going to come down unless he is certain that they are not (which he cannot be).

[andybugz]

There may well be other offers around with that sort of term to go by, but sadly it doesnt apply to BG.

 

And yeah i totally agree that nobody should be allowed to state prices will not change because it is impossible to say whether they will or not, it is alright for people to advise you of future price changes though and given the current market the advice of capping your prices would have been sound advice.

 

On a side note, have you heard from BG yet ?

[candy25]

Hi,

 

I've had an email today, they are trying to trace the call as I wrote down the date and time, unfortunately not the advisers name, but they are going to track down the call.

 

We are locating the call taken on the *date* at or around *time* with the agent you spoke to. Once the call is located I will be able to listen to the call.

If the gentleman did say that the price will not go down, I am happy to take you off the price protection 2011 without any charge.

I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. This is not the experience we would like to provide our customers.

[candy25]

Just an update, SUCCESS! They can prove I was wrongly advised and I have been taken off the fixed price plan so I can move onto another tarriff or change suppliers!

 

I was sure I would here nothing after the first email, but seems I was proved wrong.