. . . the company whose slogan is "DO THE RIGHT THING".
The following sequence of events very much speaks for itself;-
| 2003 Nov 3rd | British Gas are phoned to be told a new customer is moving into a property they supply in 7 days' time and wants to continue the supply with BG. The BG operator tells the prospective customer they cannot log the call until three days before he moves in and to ring on the following Friday (Nov 8th). |
| Nov 8th | Busy moving (inderstandably enough), the customer forgets to phone British Gas. |
| Nov 11th | Customer phones BG, again, and is told a new pre-payment card will be sent to him and an engineer will call on Thursday (Nov 13). |
| Nov 12th | New pre-payment card arrives at the adress - addressed to the previous customer
Customer phones BG and is told that registering new customers' details takes four days and a new card will be sent. |
| Nov 3th | New card, properly addressed arrives, as does BG's engineer. |
from: webmaster - www.swuklink.com
2003 November 18th
Would you care to make any comment on the sequence of events detailed on the web-page
www.swuklink.com/BAAAGBIR.php#BritishGas whereby you will not arrange connection for a new customer earlier than THREE days before they move BUT you take FOUR days to register their details correctly?
Webmaster
www.swuklink.com
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. . . one does wonder, if the company cannot get such a simple process right, how bad subsequent service is likely to be? . . . please email us if you have any stories about similar shambolic organisation in public utilities - the following space is reserved for the comments of British Gas on this incident;-
. . . as of December 23rd, 2003, British Gas seem to be unable or unwilling to comment. This is hardly surprising as we know of another customer in a very similar situation who has waited for four months to find out why SHE is being robbed by the company.
DECEMBER and the Saga Continues
The pre-payment meter has been gobbling money as if there was no tommorow and, on December 8th, �10 credit on the meter showed that it was taking �1.53 for "debt ".
Having phoned the accounts dept., of British Gas on 0845 607 2391, the customer was told that the meter had not been reset because of a previous debt and that the money would continue to be taken until proof of tennecy was provided to British Gas because the previous tennant had a large debt and the name had been "added to the account ".
When asked for a correspondence address, the customer was given "British Gas Trading, Admail 33119, Southampton, SO4 0NU ". British Gas PLC are subject to the relevant companies legislation and, having already waited for five minutes on an 0845 number for which he was paying, when the customer asked for the registered address of British Gas PLC where legal notices could be served, he was told that this information,which the company are legally obliged to disclose would take five minutes to find. In the event, when the customer protested, the gentleman at the call center told him he would ring back with the information.
The gentleman did indeed ring back in five minutes and, as BG are incapable of providing the information in an expedient manner, we list it below;-
British Gas PLC,
30 The Causeway,
Staines,
Middx. TW18 3BY |
When asked for a written statement of where the alleged "debt " that British Gas were already taking money from the customer for, the customer was told that BG could only discuss the matter verbally on the phone because they could not discuss a previous customer's affairs because this was company policy!
Conclusion? Be warned . . .
British Gas "company policy " is to rip you off for the money while refusing to provide a statement of what the money is being taken for. |
When asked how long BG intended to take the money without at least the common courtesy informing the customer what they were taking money for had the customer not phoned to complain, Ian (the call centre operative concerned) informed the customer, as long "as it took until you contacted us. "
So popular has this page proved to be this morning that we tried to get the telephone number for the BG head office at Staines on Yellow Pages and BT Directory Enquiries on line so that we could speak to their Press Office - neither service has their number, anyone would think they were hiding? Wonder why?
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December 8th, 2003, 1530h
Dear Sir,
Despite my previous communication with you and your not replying, as our web-page on my experiences with your company has hit the top ten pages on our site of several thausand pages I write to inform you of the page's success and that I will be only too happy to publish your comments on the page with the page in the interests of fairness.
This week-end, we have had 1.5+ thausand hits on our pages - if you (again) have no comment by Monday next, please observe the advertising banners on our site because EVERY page will carry an 'add' directing our viewers to the page in question.
The address of our homepage is and I am confident (well, after dealing with your company as described, almost confident) that you will find your way from there.
Yours faithfully,
R.B. |
Finally: the receipt page for the email gives a telephone number where British Gas can be reached - 0845 600 5001 - but (at 3.30pm, a recorded message anounced the lines were closed for staff training).
Watch this space . . .
Another Phone-call . . .
and a Completely Different Version . . .
�10 credit was purchased on the pre-payment card on Thursday, December 18th and, on being inserted into the meter, �5.22 was taken as "debt".
On phoning British Gas on 0845 600 0055 to request (again) a written explanation of why themoney was being taken, the customer was informed that the money was being taken for a "misdirected payment" and this "debt" would be removed by the operator.
On inspecting the meter, it showed an "misdirected payment" and this "outstanding balance" of �234.93 and the operator assured the customer that an electronic message would be sent to where the customer usually boght credit for the meter to clear the alleged debt and refund approx �40-50 which had been taken since the beggining of November.
However, despite being quoted the paypoint reference and the postcode of the shop who's paypoint was used, the operator could not find any record of the paypoint and, instead, the customer was required to purchase a minimum of �1 credit a mile away about 36 hours after the call for the message to be collected and transferred to the meter.
Fair do ... BUT, the customer was warned that this process might have to be gone through twice because it might not work the first time - it seems that British Gas can get just about nothing right the first time round.
Whether any of this works as it is meant to remains to be seen . . .
Saturday, December 20th, 2003
The customer made his way about a mile from to the store/Post Office where the credit was meant to have been sent to be told the machine for creditting the pre-payment cards was in the Post Office part of the shop which closed at lunch-time on Saturdays.
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2003
Another trip to the Post Office a mile from the house because BG could not find a record of the paypoint 500 yards from the house where payments are normally made. �10 put on the card (despite �2 being asked for, but that's life), on inserting the card into the meter, it ran up a credit balance of �60.87 - British Gas had been robbing the customer of �50.87 over a period of only fifty days. Despite robbing the customer, British Gas refused (see above) to put in writing what the money robbed was for so an apology is out of the question. By co-incidence, the company made the evening news on Channel 5 the same day . . .
MAY 1ST
A gas bill again arrives "For the period 5 April - 28 April 2004";-
| Debit balance brought forward | | � 304.06 |
| . . . It looks battle is joined again - BUT HERE IS A WARNING FOR YOU IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING SIGNING UP WITH BRITISH GAS |
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re: The Gas Bill dated April 28th which arrived today with alleged "arrears" of � 304.06
I do not intend to waste any more of my time recounting this whole sorry saga to date so refer you to the following web-page where it is recounted - www.swuklink.com/BAAAGBIR.php.
I have had this garbage ever since first signing up with British Gas in November of last year and am fed up with dealing with it. I am taking this matter up with energywatch and any attempt to steal the alleged "debt" from payments on the prepayment meter will be met with a claim in the Small Claims Court for any amounts stolen and you can explain your actions there to the satisfaction of the magistrate, or otherwise.
Please not that I will not entertain any discussion of this matter on the telephone - anything you have to communicate in this matter can be done in writing so that I have a written record which can be presented in court or elsewhere as required - also note that ALL communications concerning this matter will be published on the above web-page as a warning to your prospective customers.
Yours faithfully,
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| George (89) and Gertrude (86) Bates |
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