british gas/siemens missed appointments compensation

[wingodav]

hi all,

 

i'm looking forward to spending another day today in a cold empty flat in the blind faith that a british gas/siemens engineer will actually turn up to do his job -- namely performing a gas check and changing my meter to a pre-payment one. this will be my 4th appt in as many weeks.

 

the first two were missed because the man went to the wrong address (he described a property with an intercom and a mahogany door, both of which i do not have). said that as he could not gain access he left a card.

 

by the 3rd appt he described the correct property but must have turned up, looked at it and not knocked as i was sitting inside with ears open for the slightest tap on the door. curiously, on this occasion he did not leave a card -- wonder why? i'm sure it's not because he knew that he was at the correct address and didn't want to risk me letting him in to actually do the work...

 

anyway, i've been offered £40 for the first two missed appts. i understand that £20 per missed appt is standard so i expect it will be raised to £60 to cover the 3rd. however i find this to be totally unsatisfactory for what will now be 4 days off work and 4 weeks of missed rental income from this flat (i need this work done before i can rent my flat out), assuming that it doesn't drag on for a 5th appt.

 

i know i'm not the only one who has experienced this level of 'customer appreciation' from british gas (their new ads are winding me up something rotten!) and would like some advice as to how to go about fighting for more compensation. any help would be much appreciated. thanks.

[chesham]

You can sue them for liquidated damages, which wouldn't be a penalty (like the bank charges) as they are true sums which represent the damage caused by the breach. It's the same reason why a dentist charged me £75 for a missed appointment when I forgot to go, so if it works that way, it can work for you.

[wingodav]

thanks for the reply chesham.

 

whaddyaknow, i wasted yet another day for a gas engineer who didn't turn up. well, apparently he did but left straight away because the parking spots directly around me are designated residents parking. i had a permit available for him but as he didn't bother letting me know of his arrival i was not able to give it to him. for the record this was a "monitored" appointment and my mobile number was available to him. he clearly chose not to use it. grrrrr!!!!

 

i'm now onto my 5th appt (this saturday supposedly -- fingers crossed). is that a record? i'm curious to hear from anyone who has had worse treatment and would like to know what the most compensation is that anyone has received in situations like this. there was a lady in the mirror today who had 3 missed appointments and got £120 compensation, £40 for each missed. has anyone done better?

[wingodav]

Received a letter from Siemens today saying that they will give me £20 for the first 2 missed appointments but will NOT compensate me for the 3rd one because the engineer correctly described my green door!!!

 

There must be something I can do about this, I can't believe I give these people my hard-earned cash -- SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!!!

[gretal69]

Hi all

 

In January of this year BG (British Gas) sent a sales rep to my home offering me a "great service" that would reduce my gas and electricity bills. I therefore signed a contract to change my supply from Swalec over to BG.

 

As I have a pre-payment meter for my gas and electricity supply, BG sent me a welcome letter informing me that on or around my supply date I would receive my new cards and that I should not use my old cards once I receive them.

 

On 5th March I received my new cards along with a letter telling me that on the 10th March an engineer would be calling at my home to reset my gas meter. After I had received my new card, and the letter informed me not to use my new card until the engineer called to reset my gas meter, I called BG to confirm that an engineer would still be calling. I was getting very desperate to find out what time he was coming because my emergency credit was running out. The call ended with me being put on hold for an unacceptably long period, (at my expense) being transferred from one operator to another, going around in circles that led to my call being disconnected. Furthermore, to add to my despair, the engineer failed to turn up after I had waited in all day. That evening I credited my new gas card with £5. The meter would not accept it. I had to go back out and credit my Swalec card with £5. I continued to use the Swalec card because my meter was never reset to accept the BG card.

 

The following day I emailed BG complaints dept, because I refused to waste any more time and money on the phone to them. I gave them a few weeks to send me an explanation and an appology. I never got one.

 

At the beginning of May,unhappy with the lack of communication and the appalling service that I had received, I decided to switch my gas and electricity supply back over to Swalec. Then to my disbelief BG sent me a final gas from the 1st March-4th May 2006 for the amount of £123.01! Obviously Swalec my credit for my gas was going to Swalec, because BG was certainly not supplying my gas. I called BG collections to inform them they had made a mistake and that I was a pre-payment customer. I told them that an engineer failed to reset my meter and that I had continued to use my Swalec card. The call ended in them telling me the matter would be sorted out.

 

In June I had a letter from BG demanding me to pay £123.01 immediatley otherwise legal action would be taken against me. Once again, I called BG to repeat what I told them the month before, and I was told to disregard the bills and they would recover the £123.01 from Swalec.

 

However, this was very far from the case. In October I received a Formal Demand for payment from Robinson, Way and Co. debt collectors to recover the £123.01 on behalf of BG. I telephoned and went through the whole senario again. Eventually I was told a block would be sent to Robinson, Way to stop the demand, and to disregard any further notices I receive from them.

 

On 5th Dec, I had a Notice of Legal Proceedings from Robinson, Way. I called them to enquire if BG had sent a block to stop the demand. They had not. I tried to explain that it should be Swalec they need to recover the debt from, but they wasn't interested or helpful. I also told them that BG had told me to ignore any demands they send me. The call ended with me being informed that if I ignored Robinson, Way I would incur court costs and legal fees. I then called BG. This time I was dealt with in a more appropiate manner, by a woman named Rebecca. She appologised for the poor level of service I had received and assured me this matter will be resolved once and for all.

 

I am sending BG a massive letter of complaint for all the inconvenience and stress they have caused me for over a 9 month period. They are suing me for £123.01 that I don't even owe them. They probably won't even reply, but I'll make damn sure they do!

 

Anyway, has anybody else had the same problem that I have had with British Gas??????

[jdmave]

Hiya

 

No of us are happy with waiting around only for the appointment not to be kept and clearly frustrating.

 

But unless specified they would none the wiser you would have liked a telephone call prior to visit (which cannot be gauranteed) and instructions given to the engineer that you had a parking permit arranged for them.

 

Parking in our city centres is becoming a joke and the engineers will do best they know where they can or cannot get away with parking (usually from personal experience, and costs that have esculated from getting caught out)

 

If the Siemens managed to find your property and yes described your "green door", surely wouldnt it be safe to say that they did attempt to make the appiontment (not laying blame to if they actually knocked or you didnt hear - benefit of doubt), A card acknowledging thier visit would have been recorded via thier handheld units and put through letter box (again you can dispute).

 

Knowing the way Siemens work, They would have been ultra hot on the job esculation process from 1st missed appointment and almost unheard of to miss 2nd, I would take my chances and say they have recorded lots of facts on 3rd visit as would be expecting a claim by now!!!

 

Please or offend but giving you an insight from within the utilities industry

 

Regards

 

jdmave

[Woodcutters Son]

My experience with British Gas is becoming a farce

When I moved house 4 years ago I settled up my account etc with a letter from BG saying that the account was now closed etc and hoped they would be supplying me at my new address etc etc - the gas was with someone else when I got to my new flat so never really bothered to get it changed

a full 14 months after I moved in I recieved a letter from BG saying that from my old flat I owed 180 pounds and that it would have to be paid in the next 5 working days

Obviously after a few furuois phonecalls to them the operator seemed it fit to send me a CCJ for non payment of a bill which they had confirmed as being paid and closed- of course I eneded up paying as little me against big them doesnt really stand a chance

 

Now my boiler has broken they have failed to show for 3 appointments leaving me nearly 600 pounds out of pocket for the three dyas I have had to take off with not even a phonecall to say why nor to explain the reason for the no show

When I asked them they said they couldnt gain entry - this is categorically untrue and a lie

 

Im sure I must have some kind of case against them now

anyone have any bright ideas

 

cheers

woody

[pelham9]

woodcutters son.

 

It would be best if you started a new thread. What's this about a CCJ and paying £180 to BG when they had sent you a letter to say the account was closed? Can you give further details - at present the firsf paragraph of your post does not make a lot of sense.