Bend the ear of British Gas

Thankyou for all your posts about British Gas.  We gave a selection of your questions to Phil Bentley, Managing Director of the energy firm.  You can read his  responses on the Times Money website.

Some of you wanted answers about poor service from BG's homecare service.  Mr Bentley could not answer these questions because it is a different part of the business, but British Gas are hoping to answer some of these queries soon.

You can read many of the questions for British Gas below....

Here are some of your comments:

Comments

[Paul]

I am being constantly hounded by British Gas who recently went to court and obtained a warrant to enter my property after I telephoned them and paid a bill (which i have been disputing for months) they said they would not be going to court and so I did not attend the hearing. If i had known I would have attended and no doubt the magistrate would not have granted the warrant. Now I face the prospect of being arrested for defending my property because there is absolutly no way I will let them cross onto my property - they use bully boy tactics and their field rep won't even give me his name...it is disgraceful that a public company can behave in such a way. Well i will fight force with force with these people because I have had enough of this...

[Martin Pasek]

I've just received a marketing call from British Gas. I'm ex-directory but the caller knew my name so I asked how my number had been obtained. All he would say was he'd been given it by BG.

All I can think is that when I've given customer readings by 'phone my number has been retained for this purpose.

Might be worth a 141 prefix, but don't know if the service will still work if you do that!

[RNC]

If you need to get a complaint dealt with promptly then email Phil Bentley on phil.bentley@centrica.com. I got a response within an hour this morning (I'd got through to his Blackberry!). Still not necessarily resolved but it sure saves some time hanging on the phone.

[Mark Hope]

I want to complain to someone senior, a high level complaints group or the Legal department at BG but just can't get past the BG Complaints Management Team who deal with complaints in a very basis first line manner. I am having repeated problems with the gas supply but BG constantly deny all responsibility and won't involve themselves in trying to rectify the situation and just refer me to National Grid. I have tried to get them to understand that I contract with BG for the gas supply and service (although I acknowledge that National Grid is their supplier and I am talking to them too separately) but they refuse to play any part in sorting out the poor supply and service. I do of course pay BG and not National Grid for the service and they seem to be happy to take the money even though they say the lousy service is nothing to do with them - nice work if you can get it! If anybody can assist me to get to somebody in BG who can provide a professional complaints handling service, I would very much appreciate it. Condition 1.6 of their terms and conditions specifically states that customers don't have a contractual relationship with the network operator (i.e. National Grid) for gas service (as opposed to electricity where customers do). I'm fast approaching issuing proceedings on the basis that if I sue them for breach of contract then they may finally grasp that the contractual relationship is between BG and myself!

[Alison]

I am getting rather worried. I have, like many others been a loyal British Gas customer and am now finding that loyalty is also being mistreated. I have always paid by direct debit and - my monthly payments rose from £33 to £66 a month 'due to high increases in supply prices' - ok, I paid it. I then found I was in credit - and actually did get a refund. I then phoned to get my payments lowered as I pay all my own household bills and can't really afford £66 a month. They said I would have to wait until December 2007 when it would be reviewed, and by the way I was £66. in credit already. This is at the end of Spring, beginning of Summer and British Gas are going to do very nicely out of me. Whilst I live in poverty they will have the knowledge they will get £66 a month until December (not fair). I have just received a letter from Onstream, who say they are going to change my meter. They had my address listed very vaguely and when I pointed this out to the Onstream people, they said they would have to cancel the meter changing and I would have to phone British Gas and tell them.... hang on.. I didn't ask to have my meter changed. My bill comes to my correct address, where Onstream got their address from is not my concern. I feel I am being dragged into something by them. I am afraid and upset that a big company that has so much control is behaving like this. I would like to change, and am going to investigate.

[Philip Woodbridge]

Could you please provide me with the address of someone at British Gas who can get problems sorted out as regards billing.
As I have not been able to get any reply to my six letters, over ten hours of phone calls and e-mails.
As a shareholder I am at a loss to see how their accounts for the year can be correct as they cannot get their customer bills correct.
Can their Auditors not look at all the errors which are reported.
Regards,
Phil. Woodbridge.

[Vanessa Penny]

I know that i have missed this discussion session, however i would like to send a letter to Mr Phil Bentley. I shall be grateful, if possible, if you will supply me with his office address.

Many thanks
Vanessa Penny

[kate white]

I have had an on going issue with British Gas that I have tried to sort out through numerous phone calls over the last year but got nowhere - I have since written to your customer complaints department twice since February the 1st-why is it I have had no response what so ever?

[Stuart Lustigman mrics]

I could not possibly go into the entire detail of the saga with BG which has been going on some 15 months (since November 2005) but suffice it to say that BG (on a service contract) misdiagnosed my boiler/system as needing a powerflush which 7 months after the breakdown was confirmed when BG's own engineer carried out a negative water test (i.e that no power flush was required). I had no option but to have the boiler repaired at my own expense of £449.69. During this time BG had the audacity to invite me to renew the service contract knowing that they would not respond to service calls. Eventually, in September 2006 BG offered me uncondition compensation of £136 as being what would have been the cost to them. How does that possibly reimburse me for the costs that I incurred due to BG's incompedence?
I have a catalogue of unaswered letter, unreturned phone calls and general poor service. My most recent letter requested details of where I should serve the Court summons. That was sent on 6 February 2007 and guess what? NO REPLY!

[John Mayo]

Dear Mr Bentley
At what point in their training are your "Sales Advisers - Customer Services Agents" taught that British Gas is always right and their customers are always wrong and should be totally ignored?
I have spent three months trying to convince British Gas that a bill was paid online in December using your system. And yet only this morning I received another threatening letter. Because both my gas bill and my electricity bill were paid at one and the same time how can the gas bill have cleared while the electricity bill has not been cleared?
I am tempted to ask the police to take a look at your finance department in case someone is syphoning money into their own account.
Yours sincerely,
John Mayo.
A totally dissatisfied customer.

[Diane Harrington]

You fitted a new gas meter at your request in August 2006, even though the new METer is a METRIC one how come you are still using the metric conversion of x 2.83 (which you should not be doing as this is a metric meter) Therefore my bills are wrong. Yet many phone calls, letters etc. Perhaps Mr Bently knows the answer. (as it clearly states a five digit meter this is not required. How can I get B Gas to see this.

[Derek Leppard]

Customer reference 8500 0012 1635. In Nov 05 I signed up to transfer our gas and electricity accounts to you under Price Protection 2010. Subsequent statements showed that Price Protection was not applied. Since June I have been trying to get my accounts rectified. Electricity was done in October, but gas still has not. I wrote to your Complaints Management Team on 24 Feb, but I'm not holding my breath. How can you let a simple account correction run for 9 months in spite of regular prompting?

[Norman Swindells]

Can you explain why myself as a long standing customer of your Homecare 200 Gas Service account 3543246-3396666 has been asked to pay £ 252.00 for the year December 2006-December 2007 when you have widely been advertising the exact same service for £ 192.00 per annum to gain new clients. I have been in communication with your complaints department but they refuse to switch me to £192.00 per annum - so much for loyalty! I am incidentally, perhaps foolishly, also a user of your gas and electricity.
I look forward to hearing your comments.

[Thomas Carpenter]

I should just like to add my comment to those already posted.
As a loyal British Gas customer of over 20 years (and I am only 42 now) I signed up for the price protection 2009 scheme. I am amazed and dismayed to find out that the fantastic 17% price reduction that BG have been boasting about will not apply to my tariff.
At the time of "signing-up" to the scheme there was no verbal mention of what would happen, if by any chance, the unit price of energy were to fall. The only factor mentioned was that I would be protected from further rises.
To add insult to injury the protected price was at a higher rate and the not-so-loyal customers who deserted BG at the time now pay less than all of the "mugs" who stayed.
How many people I wonder signed up for price protection and are there any customers at all that will benefit from your price cut?!
British Gas you should read these letters and get your act together.

[CAROL MUNT]

It took British Gas engineers 3 weeks over Christmas to decide that they could not fix the boiler, eventually calling on the boiler manufacturers who took two visits to sort it out. I had to buy electric heaters for my Mother, who is in her mid eighties, in an attempt to keep her warm. We were promised each time the engineer called that the problem would be fixed and had no way of knowing it would drag out over 3 weeks.
So much for the benefit of a full maintenance contract.
I wrote a month ago to complain about this fiasco and as yet have not had any response.
What has happened to customer relations??

[Edward G Wood]

Why is it taking so long to sort out my switch to Click Energy gas and electricity made in November 2006. I switched to BG for electricity because their rate for Economy Seven was much lower than I was paying Powergen. I've been a BG customer for gas since 1980.

I submitted meter readings on 24 November and Powergen sorted out my final bill for electricity bill promptly. On 7 February 2007 the meter reader man came and read both the gas and electricity meters.

British Gas then sent me a paper bill by post (so much for paperless billing) so I accessed my account to see what was happening. The closing balance was displayed correctly but the detailed bill was for the period ended on 9 November 2006. It still has not been updated.

The electricity account shows a balance (which I cannot verify) but will not show me a detailed bill.

Worse still, in November BG said they would increase my monthly direct debit from £93.50 to £155. I protested by email on 22 November and sent figures to show that £110 was adequate for our consumption. Eventually, they sent an email reply apologising and agreeing to the £110. They took £155 in December and £110 in January.

Then, on 18 January I got a letter proposing to increase the monthly direct debit to £163. I sent an email that very day protesting with figures to prove that £110 was adequate. I've had no reply.

They took £163 in Febuary and no doubt will do so again in March.

I don't intend to waste my time and money telephoning British Gas to sort this out.

Get your act together Mr Bentley.

[J A]

I have been waiting for almost a year for a bill to be resolved of £650.00 for 2 months gas usage, common sense dictates this is completely wrong.
I am now refering it to energy watch. I see now, from the above list of posts why your phone lines are always busy and it's not due to the fact that people are returning to British Gas as your phone meassage quite proudly points out.

[Robert V Neale]

On 7 February 2007 I sent a letter to Paul Bysouth, Director of Customer Services, complaining about the:

• Failure to respond to e-mails sent to House.co.uk on 26 January 2007 and 01 February 2007 complaining about the repeated omission to carry out joint meter readings for me as a duel fuel customer despite being given past assurances that this would happen.

• Failure to keep an appointment to read and carry out an urgent safety inspection of the gas meter on 03 February 2007.

Like my e-mails, my letter to Paul Bysouth has not elicited any response whatsoever. Perhaps you can tell me when my complaints will be answered and the points at issue dealt with.

[Dan Jones]

I moved into a property in April 2006. After finally persuading British Gas they did indeed supply our gas and electiricty (they claimed they didn't, they do), and that our house was on the street we said it was and not the one they thought it was (it is), we finally got an account set up. Sadly due to their making a transposition error in recording the opening meter reading we have never had a correct bill. This is a mistake I have now been trying to rectify for 10 months through an endless succession of calls with incompetent (at best) or dishonest (at worst, as they make assurnces and promises and never deliver on them) call centre staff. I have successfully staved off a number of disconnection notices through the only course apparently open to me - paying these inaccurate bills. This is wearing, time consuming, expensive and intensely irritiating. Undoubtedly the most inept organisation I have ever dealt with, and as someone who has also been an ntl customer that is praise indeed. Should Mr Bentley deign to consider this email worthy of a response I can send him the correspondence I am now sending to the regulator.

[Rachel Hill]

Mr Bentley
Back in October 2006 I investigated switching supplier from British Gas - to my surprise I discovered that one of the best options was to remain with BG by joining Click Energy. Brilliant ! I did so immediately. However - today I am STILL waiting to be activated and charges backdated accordingly despite numerous chasers and promises from the CSAs (computer error is the reason being supplied). When will my bills be amended & backdated to reflect the cheaper rates and will I automatically be moved to Click Energy 2 or would I need to start over again ? As a loyal customer for years I can not believe this is how I am rewarded. For this inconvenience I was promised 1 months free Gas and Electric as compensation - this has also never materialised despite chasing....and the level of inconvenience and frustration continues to increase.

In the same period - Nov 2006 I was informed of a price increase to my Homecare 300 package. I checked the website and again found cheaper tariffs for new customers - another example of loyalty being rewarded - so I called to cancel my HC 300 in December 2006. In the end the CSA persuaded me to stay with a much reduced price of £16.56 p/m. I agreed but to this day BG continue to take 20.70 (the increased price) each month by DD. I have chased CSAs and retention team numerous times and with no progress ?

As an aside I recently had my central heating inspection and according to HC 300 this should also include a pipes, valves, radiators etc. inspection. When I asked the attendant why he had not done this check - his response was 'Have you got any issues as surely you would know ?' he suggested the inspection was only visual and essentially a waste of time (and made me feel rather stupid for even asking). This clearly makes me question what the value of this HC agreement and its contents really is.

When will my energy bills be corrected and backdated to the tariffs agreed for Click Energy (from Nov 2006) and HC 300 @ £16.56 from Dec 2006 - so that I can settle final payments and change my supplier ?

The customer service is so appalling that even if the rates are cheaper with BG I would rather take my account elsewhere and be treated with some respect.

I would very much appreciate a response.

[Margaret Barrett]

Thanks to Scottish Gas we haven't had to pay for our electricity since September 06!! This was when Scottish Power sent us a final statement because we were switching supplier to Scottish Gas. Despite phoning several times and being told that the 'front line support team' were dealing with our complaint we still have no idea what our new 'lower' monthly bill will be. Each time promises were made that we'd be phoned 'within 5 working days'. We did eventually get a phone call in mid-February to say we'd hear soon that the account had been sorted out, but guess what?-still waiting!!I suppose the money is better in our account than earning money for Scottish Gas, but the incompetence is staggering! Can anything be done to sort this out?

[Christopher Wrightson]

Why is it so hard to BECOME A CUSTOMER of British Gas?

We moved into our property in June 2006, at the time we were a BG customer for our Gas supply. By mistake in August 06 NPower (who at the time were our electricity supplier) took our account without permission. Since this time we have been awaiting an erronious transfer back to British Gas. We have been assured on numerous occasions that this should take a maxium of 4 weeks however we are now at 7 months. The problem is not with NPower as they have been trying to send our account back since August.

Sine June 06, we have only received 1 gas bill and despite chasing BG to sort this problem out and set up our account and direct debit we have had no luck. We receive promises of phone calls within set time periods which have never happened and letters which have never been responded to.

It shouldn't be this hard to set up an account and bill via direct debit for gas supply!! I wonder whether other companies are this hard to deal with???

[Pat Pilkington]

Dear Mr Bentley, Did you know that Gas and Electric prices were on the way down in February 2006, when you offered the Price Protection Plan 2009 to your customers? Can I get out of this contract, which I feel is going to be far more expensive than a standard price tariff?

[S Harpin]

5 years ago we paid over £3,400 to British Gas for a new boiler. We subsequently took out 3 star cover, under which a faulty valve was replaced. Last year we called British Gas because the boiler was activating even though it was switched off on the clock. The engineer diagnosed an intermittent fault on one of two valves (one of which was the one previously replaced). However, he could not tell which valve was faulty and as it was British Gas policy only to replace faulty parts, he said he was unable to fix it. After paying £18 a month for several years, British Gas refused to fix the fault. We were so angry we immediately cancelled the cover as it seemed pointless to continue paying for a non-existent service. The valve is still faulty and when it sticks the only way we can switch the boiler off is by the main electrical switch. As this occurred when we were supposed to be covered can we now insist that British Gas come out and honour their contract?

[Jessica May]

I currently have Gas with Powergen and it is clear from their latest announcement that they claim to be cheaper. So why would I come back to you?

[G Fitzpatrick]

BG supply both Gas and electricity to my home and I pay by monthly direct debit. In Jan I discovered BG had helped itself to £72 from my bank account when the agreed DD was for £39 for electricity. When I queried this I was told I had gone into arrears. I had signed up for paperless billing but I agree with previous posters that the system is an absolute nightmare to access. First I was told it was because I had had estimated meter readings - then I was able to prove the meter had been read by BG as I could demonstrate from my gas bills. Then the story changed to "your electricity consumption has increased". Then BG's own figures showed that my consumption had increased by less than 1% between 2005 and 2006. Today's excuse is that I was in debit back in 2004 and the debit amounts have increased over time. But BG have reassessed my payments at least twice since then.
On the 27th Jan I asked for paper copies of bills for 2005 and 2006. I was told it would take 14 days. When I phoned again on 15th Feb I was told it would take 28 days. Today, having not received anything I was told that they would be sent "again" and I should receive them by 14th March! Emma in Manchester doesn't know why Tim in Leeds or Melissa told me it would take longer. Apparently Emma has been with BG so long she has access to the archives for the old billing system!!
I agree with everything that has been said about access to customer services. I have abandoned many calls after up to 30 mins without an answer. When you do manage to get through nobody seems to be able to do anything - they just make up another excuse.
I don't care if BG is reducing its prices. Even if they were giving away free electricity I'm not interested in doing business with them. I just want to settle my account and find a new supplier. I have cancelled my direct debit payment today - maybe when they stop receiving my money they might get their act together. BG has the most appalling customer service - they don't deserve to stay in business.

[Nathan Ward]

I wanted to buy Homecare 100 (the basic one) from British Gas, but have read all the above comments about poor customer service and bad bills. Could Phil Bently tell me why I would get a Homecare contract with British Gas instead of just using the yellow pages?

[Robert V Neale]

On 7 February 2007 I sent a letter to Paul Bysouth, Director of Customer Services, complaining about the:

• Failure to respond to e-mails sent to House.co.uk on 26 January 2007 and 01 February 2007 complaining about the repeated omission to carry out joint meter readings for me as a duel fuel customer despite being given past assurances that this would happen.

• Failure to keep an appointment to read and carry out an urgent safety inspection of the gas meter on 03 February 2007.

Like my e-mails, my letter to Paul Bysouth has not elicited any response whatsoever. Perhaps you can tell me when my complaints will be answered and the points at issue dealt with.

[Michael Trotter]

My father died last in February 2006 and I wrote to your Probate Dept in Southampton on 16th February to inform you and request a change of name (to my mother) in the electricity account. Although my parents received gas and electricity from you, the gas account was always in my mother’s name. When I next came to check the accounts, in January of this year I discovered that no action had been taken following my request, This meant that for a year, my mother had continued to receive mail from you addressed to my father. I think she was in too much of a state to tell me about it. I e-mailed ‘house@house.co.uk’ on 18th January to complain about the lack of response to my notification. A pleasant member of your team telephoned me to try and ensure that the appropriate action was taken and the next electricity bill was addressed to my mother. However, during the call, I mentioned that the gas account had built up a considerable credit, and as no review seemed to have taken place, could the credit be paid to my mother and monthly payments continue at the same level. This did not appear to be a problem and payment was promised. Although I don’t have a record of the date of the call, it would have been around 20th – 25th January. My mother has not received the promised payment. Can you please ensure that it is on its way and explain why payment to customers takes so long, or, arrange payment now. Thank you.

[Allan Mitchell]

My daughter moved into a student flat last August and despite numerous telephone calls to BG they seem totally incapable of telling her how much Gas and electricity has been used and what the billing arrangements will be. It is a total disgrace that the customer service is so absolutely appalling and that simple billing queries cannot be addressed immediately.

[Michael Westhorpe]

Question to Mr Bentley
I am owed around £1700 on my electricity account.
When will I get my refund and will you be paying me interest on this as your delay has cost me around £21.
I telephoned in early December and negotiated a refund of around £1400 with a lower monthly payment. A letter from you dated 14 December, cancelled my direct debit and carried forward £1706.62 to my next bill. I e-mailed you on 21/12/06 (ref 002515109) requesting a refund but received no reply.
This prompted me to change provider. I have been with NPower since 6/2/07 but I am still awaiting a final account from British Gas.

Should I now proceed to the Small Claims Court?

[Nick Paterson]

As a business customer I am totally frustrated by BG's ineptidude and incompetence. Having provided opening and closing readings we are still waiting for bills 9 months on! We have some 20 Formal Complaints to energywatch. We are moving all our accounts to Powergen as soon as possible.
British Gas clearly have no idea of what is even a reasonable standard of customer service!

[Donald Dewin]

"British Gas has the worst customer relations in the business" - reported Watchdog 31st Oct'06. A BG response outlined the investment to "transform the way we deal with customers". My experience from July to present day re incorrect bills, intimidation through threats of warrants and disconnections, thoroughly unhelpful staff certainly does not support any measure of improvement. My question to the MD is (i) how is customer satisfaction being measured? (ii) at what level is it being reviewed? (iii) Will Mr. Bentley committ to publicising the performance to it's Customer base, - good , bad or indifferent?

[imogen savage]

I have been in dispute with British Gas since January over an incorrectly calculated bill (my meter was changed by OnStream between the 1st and 2nd readings but the new meter details were not entered into my records).

Every time I have rung I have spoken to a different person. Each advisor has been friendly and reassuring- but there has been no written confirmation of promised actions and the letters threatening disconnection of services continue to arrive.

On Thursday 1st March I received a phone message from BG saying that my meter exchange records had now been updated and that the "payment reminder" letters had been stopped.

Two days later I received a letter saying that I would be disconnected on or after 19th March, and that my credit rating could be affected.
Today (Tuesday) I managed to speak to someone in debt collection at BG. He explained that the disconnection letters could not be stopped, but they didn't mean anything. He said " we do get a lot of customers complaiing about the letters". I asked for written confirmation that the errors in my account had now been corrected and that I would not be disconnected. I was passed to a second advisor who told me They could not send me any written confirmation of what they had told me about my account because of the Data Protection Act!!

Apparently I cannot see my own account details or contact histroy unless I make a written application.
This is patently absurd.

I feel trapped in a system in which I, the consumer, have absolutely no say. Surely this cannot be the way to run a business?

Imogen Savage (Dr)

[Gill Croft]

Dear Phil Bentley,

I am a landlord whose tenant left the property in late 2005, at that time the gas supply was by pre payment meter to another supplier. When I changed to British Gas on 16th January 2006, the meter was still prepayment. No gas was supplied to me by you, until you sent me your card. I then put money on the card, put the card in the meter and a limited amount of gas was supplied until the money ran out, the gas would then turn off. I had to repeat this process several times during the 6 week period I was responsible for paying for the gas.

In all that period I did not receive any gas unless I had already pre paid for it on the card. So I was astounded to be sent a final account bill on 2nd March 2006 for £415.13, later amended to £ 270.14. This was a period of 6 weeks, but in any case I was paying for gas using a pre paid meter card so the bill should have been zero.

I have rung British Gas several times and no one yet has been able to explain how I could possibly be responsible for this debt. Instead I have been contacted by your debt collection agency for an outstanding balance of £308.14 (writing to me at the let property rather than to my address despite being told otherwise) threatening Court action.

I am currently in correspondence with a G Reid, Customer Services, ADMAIL. Who is looking into the matter and assures me she has stopped your Central Recoveries Office from further action.

I am exasperated with British Gas because:

Why send a bill for gas when you only ever supplied gas on a prepayment meter to me.
Despite several phone calls telling you my address is in Gloucestershire you and your debt collection agency continue to write to the tenanted property (with the exception of G Reid).
Whenever I have rung British Gas I have hung on for an average of half an hour before the phone was even answered. Then I have been told I need to be referred to some one else and again left hanging on, often to find I am back where I started from or told I need to be referred to yet another department!
I have been told on three occasions that the details were being sent to the balance enquiry team who would contact me if there was a problem. I however cannot contact them by phone. The operatives I can speak to on the phone can’t do anything except refer to the balance enquiry team and the people who can sort the problem out I cannot contact by phone! This is apparently the same with G Reid, I cannot contact her personally on the phone.

This is a classic case of incorrect billing and a year on I am still trying to get your organisation to recognise this. This is why customers are leaving British Gas. Should you wish further details my account reference number is 100 466 280 8073 or please contact me at this e-mail address.

[david wilson]

I accepted one of your fixed-price contracts last year, paying a premium to put a limit on price rises, when you were hyping up the ever-rising price of gas. Now your prices are falling, I'm told that I will not get a price reduction because fixing my price to avoid rises also means that it avoids falls. I feel I have been conned. I have been a British Gas customer all my adult life but I will be leaving as soon as possible. Do you think this is worth losing customrs for?

[Tom Nicholson]

Many suppliers share the commonsense view that a 'budget' account implies averaging out over the year, i.e sometimes ahead, sometimes behind.
As I can easily demonstrate, British Gas exerts a great deal of pressure on budget customers to pay for all gas, year-round, before consuming it, and attempts to enforce huge monthly rises to get back to that happy situation when things have slipped. Please try to justify this.

[Roger Bancroft]

Why do British Gas treat their customers with contempt, fail to respond to communications, fail to fulfil promises and issue threats that must be close to demanding money with menaces? This is the situation that I found myself in February 2007.

This is how I found it to be impossible to get a sensible response from British Gas with a problem that they had in responding to a situation created by their own incompetence and failure to understand or accept that they used overly aggressive tactics against a customer already in a tragic situation.

I had to act on behalf of my daughter who is resident overseas and has been since year 2000. Her only permanent home is a Flat in Newcastle upon Tyne which is rented out on her behalf by an agent in Newcastle. My daughter uses our home address as her ‘poste restante’ and has authorised us (my wife and I) to open her post and deal with any issues that may arise. The tenants who had occupied her flat for over two years had an unfortunate accident on October 15th 2006, when an electrical fault, probably accidentally initiated, caused the flat to be virtually destroyed by fire. The property was declared uninhabitable by the local council and an investigation by an electrician indicated that the property needed to be completely rewired. I inspected the flat 5 days after the fire and it was a complete wreck, with ceilings fallen in and floorboards burned through etc. It was barely possible to breath for the noxious smell throughout the property.

The letting agent negotiated with the insurers who agreed to let them project manage the job of cleaning and refurbishing the property, as they were local and I live some 260 miles to the south. Work commenced just before Christmas and appeared to be progressing, albeit a little slowly, so it was with great surprise that I received a letter addressed to my daughter in Newcastle and hand re-addressed to my home in Oxfordshire, from British Gas advising her of intended disconnection due to non payment of a small amount of money for the supply of electricity. This was not a bill and no dates, meter readings or amount of electricity concerned were detailed. I noticed that the Newcastle address on the advice was in fact incorrect, in that the post code was quite wrong. I rang the help line on the letter to try to find out the details of the bill as I assumed the electricity usage was attributable to the tenants. The BG call centre operator was excessively aggressive, was not prepared to divulge any details because he correctly identified that I was not the account holder. However, I have acted on my daughter’s behalf before and she has issued authority to BG in the past. The reason given was the Data Protection Act. The operator was not prepared to accept that a bill had not been issued, or that it was unlikely that anyone would respond to any letter sent to a burnt out flat, even if it had arrived due to the address error. I was quite prepared to pay any moneys owed by my daughter, but clearly needed to make enquiries and receive a proper bill before doing so. The letting agent also sent a fax to BG customer services saying that I would pay, but needed some proper documentation before doing so. I also established that the electricity usage may have been by professional cleaners who had been engaged on the clean-up operation, for whom a temporary supply had been laid on. I was not aware that any permission had been given for anyone to use electricity on an account of my daughter. The Insurance Loss Adjuster confirmed that they would pay for any electricity used by the cleaning contractors, provided that I could provide a receipted bill.

The problem got considerably worse, when two days later we received notification of intended legal action and threatened further financial sanctions unless the bill was paid, a bill that I would remind you had not been received and was probably sent to an incorrect address. My daughter had in the meantime sent an e-mail to BG authorising me to act on her behalf, but received notification that this could only happen by both of us signing to change the account to joint responsibility. This was certainly an impossible condition to impose. Still the help line staff would not provide me with information, so I tried the Customer Services Department, who were more polite, but said that all they could do was to send to me a copy of the original bill, to my home address. They said it would take 3 days. Two days later I received a further communication, adding £10 to the bill and threatening further financial sanctions and saying that they were going to apply to enter my home and disconnect my electricity on 26th February, when the police might be present. By this time I was getting desperate, I had no idea what I was being asked to pay for, no one at BG would give me any details or even who it was I should pay. This was clearly demanding money with menaces, which I believe is a serious criminal offence. I tried again to contact British Gas two days later, but could only get through to Customer Services, who were again polite and said that they would try to get the £10 addition to the bill taken off and as I still had no bill to pay, ordered another copy of the bill which I still had not received. The Customer services person promised to ring me back, but never did so. I spent a sleepless weekend worrying about what I should do, and resolved that I would pay the bill somehow, come what may, because I did not want the good name of myself or my daughter sullied by some call centre bullies, nor my home forcibly entered with police presence to disconnect my electricity. In short I must admit to being terrified of the consequences of not paying a fairly small amount of money. We are not a family who like to have debts, but in this case we had no idea of what we would be paying for.

I contacted the help line on Monday morning and amazingly, they were now prepared to talk to me and gave me the dates to which the electricity supply related but they seemed to believe that in some way I was still trying to get out of paying the amount owed. The only concession that I could obtain was paying on my own credit card there and then provided that they would waive the £10 supplement already advised and that I could have a receipted bill to allow me to recoup the money from the insurers. The operator agreed and quoted me the authority number obtained on my credit card. However the final irony was that I was told that the outstanding account was based on an estimated meter reading! At that point I still had not received an original bill. This is the first time I have ever paid a completely undefined bill engendered at a property which may not have been my responsibility, or that of my daughter.

Since that date, I have detailed my distressing story by e-mail to your house@house.co.uk address, asking for some explanation for the stress that has been caused me and my wife but to date I have not received any response whatsoever. Further, it was some 5 days after paying the bill that I finally received a copy of the original bill, but it was not receipted and the address shown of the flat is still incorrect! Need I say more?

Perhaps there is now a second bill in the pipeline, as I was told that a meter reading was due on 22nd February. In my e-mail, I gave an actual meter reading taken on 12th February, but I have yet to receive a further bill. I do hope that I do not have to repeat this sad tale of appalling customer service.

[MR A.LINACRE]

my father who is a disabled pensioner has recently endured some exceptionally poor service.with my help we submitted an in -depth complaint letter to your leeds office.can you mr bentley,assure me that this matter will be thoroughly investigated.as a back-up to this may i have a contact address for your good -self. this incident has left him very distressed ,and i hope as a long-standing customer,he will be offered the appropriate response.thank you.should you contact me i do have his customer reference number etc...thank you

[MR D C COWELL]

I am a B.G.shareholder and I feel I should be proud of the company I partly own/but no I am disgusted with it.
I am beginning to think the thousands of customers leaving us is not due to prices but customer service in view of the way I have been treated.
a.in November 2005 I sent you a cheque to join the advanced payment scheme.
b.all went well and on 27/11/06 I sent you a £56 cheque to continue the scheme which was taken from my bank account on 05/12/06
c.on 11/12/06 you send me a letter saying I had not paid
d.on 20/12/06 I rang your customer services about this and was told a note would be made and would be investigated.
e.on 25/12/06 !!! you send me a letter saying I still had not paid and the scheme was cancelled.
f.on 02/01/07 I rang you again - explained all and was told I would have a reply within 14days / 14days came and went NOTHING.
g.on 23/01/07 I e mailed house.uk explaining all AGAIN.
h.on 29/01/07 I received an e mail from you saying the £56 was credited tomy gas a/c on 08/01/07 - over a month late.
i.on 29/01/07 I replied to this by e mail saying I was not happy and asked for an explanation an requests - NO REPLY
j.on 09/02/07 I receive my gas statement informing me the £56 was credited on 08/01/07 and being accused of changing the way I pay TWICE.
k.on 10/02/07 I wrote to your Complaints Management Team.
STILL NO SATISFACTION

[Gopal Bhayankaram]

Why the British Gas Estimators for emergency repair work to central heating system cannot provide specific details when requested about regulatory change to meet the safety standards for Gas appliances operation. Instead the estimator took the liberty of adding "At Risk" label to the gas boiler to cover his Corgi registered absent colleague during the survey to prepare the estimate for the work. As a customer details of the ventilation requirement was requested but not provided. The existing ventilation has been improved in the past and regular annual service by another corgi registered heating engineer has not advised inadequacy in the ventilation provided.

[June Aston]

Dear Mr Bentley,
Having had no central heating since 24 January, during which time there have been some particularly cold nights and days, I am at the end of my teather. We have been BG customers for over 34 years and have always had taken out the whole system 'insurance' with BG. We had a replacement boiler fitted by BG 5 years ago and the quote included a powerflush. After 5 visits from your engineer and his boss (the last one being on 2 Feb) we were told that as they had done everything that they thought necessary but still couldn't get the syaytem working and that a powerflush was the answer (even though they couldn't guarantee that would correct the problem). This at a cost of £592. Feb 2 to March 5 is a hell of a long time to wait for someone to let us know when you will be doing the work, and this is even after telling your people that there is an 88 year old lady here who definitely feels the cold. After 6 phone calls during this time no-one called us back until you were threatened with a communication to Watchdog, then someone bothered to phone us back. I now find that the original quote and installation included a Powerflush and your terms and conditions state that 'there will be no charge for any future powerflush work'. What is going on at your organisation when the dalays for pensioners are so enormous and then you suggest charging almost £600 for something that you said previously would not be charged for, I await your engineers on 14 March on what will be exactly 7 (SEVEN) weeks of winter weather whilst having no central heating system. I also await your confirmation that this work will be done in line with the terms and conditions of installing the new boiler 5 years ago, ie, NO CHARGE.

[Mrs Dee Jones]

I too have been a loyal British Gas customer for over 20 years. I now find that I will not be entitled to a price reduction because of my price protection plan, which I was initially lead to believe would be to my benefit, to change this I would have to pay an exit fee. I feel mislead & disillusioned in other words "conned". Is This the way to treat loyal customers? I will be leaving British Gas.

[Anita Grover]

I have been trying to get a revised bill for the past month after providing an actual reading after receiving a bill consisting of an estimated reading. No joy, I just keep being told that as the actual reading is less than the estimated reading my case has gone to the 'back room' for investigation. However a reminder for the original bill (estimated reading) has been issued to me! Why do B.G say that an estimate bill can be replaced with an actual reading? Also on their website i.e housecall, noone ever replies when i email. I also have spent much time amd money speaking to their call centre. It is so frustrating espacially as they don't seem to accept written and verbal requests from my husband for me to deal with the account and to have my name on the account. I have recently sent a complaint letter(my second within a year)!

[Viveca Evans]

We moved into our house at the end of August and immediately contacted BG with the gas and electricity meter readings. We received a gas bill a few weeks later, followed by another gas bill which we queried, were assured we owed; we paid up, only to then be issued with a credit note. BG turned up without notice in December and installed a new gas meter. But no further bills came, for either gas or electricity. I have lost count of the number of times I have rang the Customer Services line, held on for 30+ minutes, and been told different stories each time. Last week after 40 minutes on the line, I was told a gas bill has finally been issued (one week on we still havn't received it) and it seems an electricity account has never even been made up for us. This means that (when BG get their act together to actually bill us for our electricity) we will have a bill for 6+ months to pay. BG - we want to pay up, but you have to bill us first!! If a customer services rep says he/she will call you back - why don't they? I was promised faithfully by one rep last week that he would call me back the next day - despite staying in all day, so desperate was I to get this problem sorted, of course the call never came. You don't respond the e-mails either. One thing is for sure - as soon as we receive a bill from you, and have paid it, we will be switching suppliers for gas & electricity - in an age of appalling customer service mentality, British Gas take first prize.

[Linda Jones]

Please see below a copy of our formal complaint to British Gas. We eventually received a response from Ian Hayes in November 2006 following the intervention of Energywatch. He provided us with a lengthy explanation for the delay in resolving our complaint and stated that "I look forward to being able to bring this matter to a close without undue delay". However despite 2 letters to him requesting an update on the situation we have received no further advices from him. As it is now 16 months since the installation of the new meter and the start of our problems we would ask you, as the Managing Director of British Gas, to investigate our complaint and advise us as to what action you intend to take to rectify this matter.
Best regards
Linda Jones

Paul Bysouth
Head of Customer Services
Formal Complaints Dept
Admail AA3120
Southampton
SO14 0NU

1 October 2006

Dear Mr Bysouth

Customer Reference 850007903092

We wish to make a formal complaint with regard to the appalling service we have received from British Gas and Siemens following the installation of a new meter.

On 18 November 2005, in line with the terms of the Electricity Act, our old meter, No N66E008490, was removed and replaced by a new meter, No Z04SE20218. For information the old meter reading was 54602 and the new meter reading was 01052, copy of the card left by the engineer enclosed.

Shortly after this we received another letter from Siemens advising us that our meter needed to be exchanged. We duly phoned Siemens to inform them that this work had already been carried out and provided them with meter numbers & readings and were assured that our records would be updated. Now, over 10 months later and after numerous calls to Siemens and British Gas, we are still receiving notifications that our meter needs changing and estimated bills based on the old meter readings.

On 27 July 2006 we spoke to Michele who, in an attempt to resolve this matter, arranged for an engineer to call between 8am and 1pm Saturday 12 August 2006 to enable him to take full details of the meter.

During the morning of 12 August 2006 we phoned British Gas several times seeking their confirmation of the appointment and they advised that they would ring us back if there was a problem. They never rang back but by 1pm the engineer had still not arrived!! Having wasted a whole morning we were neither prepared to wait in any longer, nor make another appointment unless we could be given a specific time for the engineer to call. As there was no-one in authority that could assist us any further it was eventually agreed that a Manager would contact us in the week and in addition we were advised that we would be entitled to £20 compensation for the failed appointment.

On 15 August 2006 we spoke to the Manager, Sandy Wilson, and again supplied full details of our case, together with our latest meter reading. He advised us he would take the necessary action to ensure our records were updated and arrange for a revised bill to be forwarded to us. In addition he also confirmed that he would organise the compensation payment.

By the 6 September 2006 we had still not received a correct bill or the compensation payment. We therefore phoned Sandy Wilson again and he advised us that he would contact the relevant department and ring us back the following day to let us know the current situation. The call never came so we again rang him but he advised that he had been unable to progress our case any further and was also unable to provide us with an explanation as to the reason for the continued delay – it seems we just have to wait until this department deems to address our case!! We requested contact details of the department to enable us to speak to them direct, however he was reluctant to do this, saying nothing would be gained from this action but assured us that he would continue to chase for a speedy conclusion to this matter.

On the 29 September 2006 we again telephoned Sandy Wilson to request a progress report and he advised us that he had been notified by Siemens that they had now updated our records but he was still unable to tell us when this matter would be fully resolved.

As it has now been almost a year since this saga began we can see no alternative but to cancel our direct debit payments until such time that this matter is resolved to our satisfaction. Please note we have informed Sandy Wilson and your direct debit department of our action and they confirmed that our records would be marked accordingly. We would also advise that we will be seeking compensation for:-
a) The cost of our phone calls.
b) Cost of stationery and postage.
c) The considerable amount of time we have expended in trying to resolve this matter.

In addition to the above, and to complicate matters further, we have received, on 27 September 2006, a letter from British Gas welcoming us to our new home and issuing us with a new customer reference – (850017557426)!! We can only assume this is in response to our request that our contract be amended to include both householder names on our account. We would add that this request was forwarded to British Gas on 28 July 2006 and, with the usual inefficiency we have come to expect of British Gas, after 2 months and several letters it has still been implemented incorrectly. For your information we have enclosed copy correspondence relating to this matter and would ask you to clarify whether this new customer reference number should have been issued to us.

We trust that you will now give all the above issues your immediate attention and advise us of your intended action to rectify this situation. However if we do not receive a response to this letter within one week we will refer our complaint to Energywatch.

Yours sincerely

Linda Jones (Mrs)

Copies to: Sandy Wilson Manager - British Gas
Ed Davies, Operations Manager - Siemens
Jim Needham, Director of Operations

[IreneTout]

Why does the telephone no. given by B.Gas for complaints, not enable you to complain? Once rung, you are provided with a list of options that does not include complaining! You are once more put on the 0845 merry go round.

[Stuart Burrell]

I paid a bill on the automated service on Feb 3 2007. Over the next 3 weeks i was bombarded with Red Bills then discontention notices, and finally a letter telling me the baliffs would be turning up. Customer service and the debt departmet were unable to say what had happened to the payment and wanted me to pay again!!

This situation is more than a little stressful. At this moment I still don't know if the matter is resolved - nobody has ever phoned me back with an explanation.

I believe my credit rating will have suffered due to your company appauling admistration.

Two people have been supposed to call me today but have failed to do so. I would rather pay more for the services then suffer another incident like this

[David Pickup]

I want British Gas to calculate the gas and electricity bills payable for my late mother's house whilst it stood empty after she had to enter residential care. I have the meter readings but no matter who I contact on the BG helpline numbers they (including the BG Probate department)will not do what I ask. They do not reply to letters. All I get is bills based on incorrect ( estimated) meter readings and threats of prosecution.

[Lin Thompson]

I went back to British Gas in December 2005 because I was promised a fix price for Gas and Electricity until 2010. It took until July 2007 for the Gas bill to be charged at the right rate. The electricity bill has always been wrong. I have phoned many times and finally received a bill for the gas used from the time I returned to British Gas to November 2006. This was received last November/December. The bill was charged at almost the right rate, although the way it was all set out was truly unbelievable. the worst aspext of the bill was that I had been paying £35.00 per month by Direct debit since Jan 2006. Instead of listing all the direct debits received from Jan to November the invoice brought in a Balance due to British gas halfway through the year and then only deducted a few direct debits so the balance due to British Gas was inflated by about £300 pounds. Obviously I have telephoned and have recently contacted Energy Watch, thanks to the information listed in Times Money. I received an e mail from British Gas only a few weeks ago which was really apologetic and promised me a corrected bill to November 2006, which I was to receive by 20/2/06. Not only has this not been received, I have received a further invoice to Feb 2007. This has also been charged at almost the right rate but brings in the wrong balance from the November invoice. This means that British Gas now say I own them £490.24. (They tried to put my standing order up to nearly £120 per month! I have sent my calculation to energy watch which shows that I actually owe British Gas £150, appromimately. All I want is a correct invoice and I will be happy to pay them so that I can change at the earliest possible date to any other supplier. They do not employ anyone at British gas who is fit send a bill to anyone. Please help as I am at my wits end with them!