Check Those British Gas Bills

[carlingman]

Grrrrrr – Gritish Bas – barstewards.

On checking my bank statement noticed my BG Direct Debit had jumped from £42 to £77 per month for Oct and Nov.

Rang BG, 45 minutes to get through and answered by (Raj in India) and they claimed on my Sept bill (which I have in front of me and no mention) DD increase would have been advised and so I then asked them to supply with me a copy which they claimed they cannot do.

Immediately they recalculated and said oh sorry sir your charge should only be £40 per month and this recalculation error would also affect other customers so they were treating this as a priority.

Asked for the money to be returned to my bank account immediately and they declined saying they could offer to send me a check which would take 10 to 14 days.

Got onto to me Bank (Nat West) and got through within seconds (UK Call Centre) and instructed them to carry out a Direct Debit indemnity and within 3 days they have credited the two DD payments back into my account.

Phoned BG back, 53 minutes to get through (someone claiming to be Andrew sounded more like Raj in India) and asked them what were the last notes on my account and surprise surprise nothing other than a note that I called previously and asked that my monthly DD is recalculated from £77 to £40.

Spoke to supervisor after 16 minutes on hold and result this time as I claimed back £144 they credited my BG account with the £80 payments that should have been made as a gesture of good will and by way of apologizing for bank charges incurred for going overdrawn and cost of phone calls etc.

[Curley]

I moved into my flat a week ago, took a meter reading, then rang BG who informed me that I had no gas connected to the property. At this point I'd had the central heating and gas fire on for over 6 hours warming the place through. I duly rang back with the serial number and was told they had re-connected me....

I was then told I would get a call within 6 days for me to set up a DD. 9 days on and i'm still waiting

I wonder how long it will take for them to contact me?!

[Jules]

I am having problems with BG I had a pre payment meter put in, my bill up to the date of it going in was just short of £200 yet the meter said I owed over £400 I keep ringing them just to be told give it a couple of weeks as it is not on our system yet, I have been doing that for 2 months now just whem is it going to go on there system???

[Chimaera]

Beware British Gas!
Whan I moved into this house (9 years ago) I set up direct debits for all my bills (newly divorced and in a panic about being able to afford everything with two children) and every company I dealt with managed to organise that - apart from British Gas. After 7 months of phone calls to them and threatening letters from them to me, I eventually got it sorted out, but the aggro I had from them was unbelievable - they called me a liar on the phone on more than one occasion (when explaining that I had set up the direct debit for payment and they were rejecting it).
As soon as I could, I changed supplier - and for months afterwards I was bombarded with letters and phone calls asking me why I was discarding them as my gas supplier.
If BG were the last gas supplier on Earth, I would go all electric!

[superbiatch]

Originally Posted by Chimaera

If BG were the last gas supplier on Earth, I would go all electric!

I am going all electric, my new place has economy 7 storage heating

I ended up in debt this time last year for almost £200 with BG due to their rediculous prices, and its taken me a year to pay them back - put simply i can't afford gas anymore. I feel sorry for the old'uns who are even more worse off than me

It's kind of good to know that i'm not the only one having problems with BG! Any ideas what their profits were/are for this year or last?

[Marge]

Thanks for the reminder, I got round to ringing them today about my gas and electric.

My gas account is over £80 in credit and yep, they increased my DD back in July by about £7 per month.

My electric bill is just a complete farce, they haven't produced a bill for me since May and my account is showing over £320 in credit. Every time I enter my meter reading on line I get a message saying that my reading is too low, almost like the computer can't believe I don't use that much leccy The chap today couldn't give me a reason as to why no bill had been produced, why my DD has now gone up by £8 per month and why it couldn't go down to what it was before

I've been advised to get a meter reading and ring them tomorrow, what a complete waste of time they are. I can't believe they can just increase payments, hold onto someone elses money and claim they can't do anything about it

[swoop101]

10 years ago I had problmes with BG, they set up a DD ok but for an amount too low to cover the bills.
I asked every single month for over a year without luck so I gave up.
After two years they sent me a snotty letter about the outstanding balance and informed me that I had 3 months to pay them £250 os they would take me to court.
I then politely told them to jump and eventualy made an arrangement to pay them off over three years.
When I left them they also kept asking why.

[rockin_plumber]

I wish someone had started this thread before the moddle of September

British Gas Catalogue Of Errors

14th September began application

1) When I filled in forms and my monthly payment was going to be £52.00. When the details got posted to me it was £69.00.
2) Changeover date for electricity was the 25th October, nothing happened then I received another letter saying the date was going to be the 21st November with no explanation.
3) Direct debit date on the forms I filled in was the 1st of the month, letters they sent said it was going to be the 27th of the month.
4) Log in details for my account didn’t work.
5) When I did ring up about these problems and did eventually get through the lady I was talking do had to go and ask someone the answer to EVERY question, making the phone calls in excess of 25 minutes.
6) I got a letter on the 17th November (The changeover date for the gas) requesting a meter reading for my gas account, informing me that they needed this reading within 2 days of my changeover date or an estimated reading would be used, this was a Friday and it was the 17th November, I had no chance of getting this reading to them in the post by the 19th!!!!

I am now staying with Powergen.

[bb31]

as of 8th nov i am no longer that loyal british gas customer. ive stayed with them over the years until they hit me with a monthly bill of £53 gas and £33 electric. I am a single parent and could no longer afford the new charges and decided to do something about it.

As of this month I am £30 better off woooooooooooo hhhoooooooooo

up yours BG!

Originally Posted by bb31

as of 8th nov i am no longer that loyal british gas customer. ive stayed with them over the years until they hit me with a monthly bill of £53 gas and £33 electric. I am a single parent and could no longer afford the new charges and decided to do something about it.

As of this month I am £30 better off woooooooooooo hhhoooooooooo

up yours BG!

Who are you with now?

[Stephen]

Not exactly BG but Scottich Gas, I just had my DD changed to £62 a month from £41, even though my account is £72 in credit, its schooking that they can just do that cause they think you might use more than that over winter.

[Shaun]

Not exactly BG but Scottish Gas

Exactly the same company - We used to take over flow calls from their call centre when I worked for BG.

[Chrysalis]

I said this on a diff forum as well and I still believe in it, avoid direct debits with fuel companies and pay by debit/credit card manually when the bill comes in, then you just pay for what you use and it makes you check your bill when it comes. You are in control not them.

[superbiatch]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

I said this on a diff forum as well and I still believe in it, avoid direct debits with fuel companies and pay by debit/credit card manually when the bill comes in, then you just pay for what you use and it makes you check your bill when it comes. You are in control not them.

Yes, but you also pay a higher rate for units used - they have you all ways!