British Gas refunds

[Shazza50]

I pay my gas by DD and noticed that I was £89 in credit, so I phoned and asked for a refund.I was told that it would be sent by cheque in 10days. In the meantime, I received a letter saying I had cancelled my DD for electric and had to pay the outstanding balance. What I had done was phone to see if I could get my payments reduced on the electric as I was struggling to pay it.

I called BG to arrange for a DD to be set up again, I mentioned the gas refund, to be told that I couldn't have a refund until July payment was taken when it would be reassessed, also it would go straight into my bank account.Been online today, I am now £122 in credit. I have just come off the phone, I can have a refund by cheque but my DD has to be cancelled, though I can set it up again next week. How stupid is that.

[2Grumpy]

Very stupid

 

In the past they could, but now they have a new computer system to make their lives easier.

 

To do a refund now, you have to provide them with a meter reading, they calculate the bill, (they asked for a reading from me because my bill was based on an estimate. When I had to phone again because they didn't send the cheque they asked for a new reading again) they have to cancel the direct debit, do the refund to your bank account (that takes ages to actually appear) then reinstate the direct debit.

 

This means that if your bill says they owe you £50, by the time that you receive the bill and then call them, they will owe you less unless they have just taken a payment

 

What they were saying about the July payment and re-assessing is a load of porkies, however, if they have already claimed the July payment then the amount of the refund would be greater.

 

Energy watch are useful in these disputes. They will give you a reference number and put you through to a "high powered problem reolution team" at BG who can't make anything happen any quicker (apart from the original decision).

[Trojan1401]

Well BG refunder £100+ by direct into Mrs Trojan's account 2 months ago without our intervention & continued DDs, Mind you when we queried this (as they had calculated bill only to Dec 2006 on a read given June 2007 - that's a different story) they somehow managed to cancel the DD themselves even though we didn't ask for that.

Appears that they don't know what is right !!

[Shazza50]

The plot thickens regarding my overpayment refund.I phoned BG on Thursday as I had still not received my cheque (which I forgot to say in previous post had reduced to £97), the lady told me that it had been issued and I should receive it in the next couple of days. While on the phone I asked to restart the DD, which was done.

Today I received a letter confirming DD for Sept, but still no cheque:evil: . I phoned up again, explained everything again:roll: . I asked how come it took only 3days to receive confirmation of DD but still not received cheque from 3wks ago. I was put on hold while she checked (no pun intended:) ). There is no cheque on its way it hasn't been authorised:evil: and in order for it to be refunded, you've guessed it, the DD has to be cancelled again and the refund has now dropped to £86:evil: .If this carries on the refund will end up at £0.

[Trojan1401]

A word of warning Shazza, when I had the "problem" with BG, they stated that you can only cancel a DD twice. After that they would not allow payment by DD. I stressed that I had not cancelled the DD in the first place so how can they say if "I" cancelled the DD again .......I'm afraid that the call center staff are indoctrinated to say that they cannot be wrong as no-one would cancel a DD without the customer's say so. Towing the company line I'm afraid.

I would not speak to a monkey any longer, get onto an organ grinder. If possible, record your call.

[Shazza50]

I have tried to send a complaint via email on BG web site and would you believe there was a system error on the site:mad: . Maybe I'm just not meant to get this refund.

[2Grumpy]

One word - energywatch - call them on 08459 06 07 08

[mree]

A word of warning Shazza, when I had the "problem" with BG, they stated that you can only cancel a DD twice. After that they would not allow payment by DD. I stressed that I had not cancelled the DD in the first place so how can they say if "I" cancelled the DD again .......I'm afraid that the call center staff are indoctrinated to say that they cannot be wrong as no-one would cancel a DD without the customer's say so. Towing the company line I'm afraid.

I would not speak to a monkey any longer, get onto an organ grinder. If possible, record your call.

 

I hope this is based on actual experience of being employed in a call centre.......

 

My disdain for all opinions along the lines of 'call centre staff are monkeys/they're thick/they're idiots/they don't know anything...' is well recorded, especially when they come from someone who's never worked in one!

[Shazza50]

Well, I have finally received my refund of £86(which back at the end of June started off at £122), but, (there always seems to be a but with BG) my payments have increased by £7 per mth even though the last letter I had from them it had been reduced.

[chelseaboy]

Of course they've increased your DD, do the maths, if they've got 10 million customers who are £100 in credit even at 8% that's £80 million interest, nice bit of profit for little work,(think i've got the maths right!!!) when demanding a refund you should ask for your 8% aswell;)

[2Grumpy]

Ask them when they told you that your payments were going to be increased.

 

If they can't, tell them that you want the difference refunded immediately, not in a few weeks like they usually do. (You could try plus interest - only a few pence or a fraction of a penny but it's the principle.)

 

Quote the banking DD code at them. Tell them that if they don't refund immediately you will have to contact your bank, and that they can only claim back the full amount. If you do get the bank to claim back, remember to pay BG the correct amount!

 

Grumpy

[heartopp]

I hope this is based on actual experience of being employed in a call centre.......

 

My disdain for all opinions along the lines of 'call centre staff are monkeys/they're thick/they're idiots/they don't know anything...' is well recorded, especially when they come from someone who's never worked in one!

 

I used to work for T- Mobile in MT. Years ago... I was a team leader with no experiance. On my team I had 8 members of staff, and one 2nd in comand. My 2nd in comand had more experiance than me, but that was great, as I lead a team, and I did not realy deal with customers, and if I did, 9/10 the customer was right, and I action what was needed to be done. I also listened in to alot of my calls. So all in all, we were ok!

 

I have had to work with another team (overtime) and some of the crap that they told customers. So, yes, most call centre staff, in my experaice are a load of rubbish!

 

(p.s. i got sacked because i miss targets - and they were refunds)