Has anyone been charged for using emergency credit?

[angryandy]

Hello again people

 

Just a quick one for you all.

 

One of my mates has a gas meter fitted in his house. He struggles to find any paypoints around his area to get more gas (as most of the paypoints are always broke).

 

He quite reguarly has to go into his emergency credit to continue to have gas.

 

When he put gas on his card the other day he noticed that it had charged him £1.50 for the use of the emergency credit. (This is the first time he had noticed this).

 

He asked me if i would phone British Gas up for him to see what was going on.

 

I explained the situation on the phone to one of the operators who explained that the emergency credit was like an 'overdraft' and if you go into it you get charged on average 30pence a day.

 

This is all well and good but if they haven't told you about this ie in writing then they can't charge you. This was my argument then to the operator.

 

My mate has had his meter for nearly two years, and the operator then added up all the charges and is now sending him a cheque for £87 and something pence. This mightn't sound like a great deal but it is better than nothing.

 

I must also point out that British Gas didn't really argue with paying the money back as i think they know they haven't got a leg to stand on when it comes to this.

 

Anyone else done the same? If you haven't then i think it's time you should.

[sillygirl1]

I'd like to give it a go, we have been on 'emergency' a few times so they must owe us a fair bit on the meter - can you PM me with the no you rang and I will ring them up to see what they might be 'able to do'.

[angryandy]

Will pm you now sillygirl

[indebtstudent]

I was not aware of this, very interesting. You would expect the extra to come off the next time you topped up, but to be charged more for an emergency seems a little harsh.

[angryandy]

yes that's what he thought. But apparently everyone who uses their emergency credit gets charged an 'overdraft' fee which they don't tell you about. This is why they have to pay you back when you ask them to.

 

Just another con by British Crap. Everyone should claim the charges back (and i suppose you could argue for interest as well if you where in the mood). My mate was just glad to get his back though so no arguments on his behalf!!

[ben1305]

I've had this problem with BG before.

When I threatened to take them to court they promised to look into it.

 

Low and behold the next time I charged my gas card and put it in the meter it suddenly had over £400 credit on it!!!!!!

 

Just left BG and moved to EDF as they dont charge you for using your emergency credit AND you get £6 instead of £5 emrgency!!!

 

2 days after leaving BG they sent me a letter stating i owe them £379 and i must pay in 7 days or else.

I rang them and they said they'd look into it. Will keep you posted on what they muppets say!!!!!!

[angryandy]

How can you possibly owe them money when you have £400 credit on your meter. They're not happy unless they're ripping you off.

[ben1305]

lol my point exactly andy. BG are just p*ssed off that i left them for EDF.

BG are constantly ringing tellin us they are much cheaper than EDF.

 

The other day i actually entertained them and listened to their little spiel before stating that although they may be cheaper per unit than EDF, EDF DO NOT charge us an standing charge or shaft us if we go into emergency!!!

They didnt like that a put the phone down. Funny how i've not heard from them this weekend lol

[angryandy]

I hate British Gas with a passion and i to will be leaving them when i have paid my gas arrears. They treat you like s*it and speak to you like you are stupid. What winds me up the most though is when they get their 'asian' employees to phone me and tell me i owe them money. Most of the time you can't understand them and they certainly can't understand you and they call this customer service. Yer s*it customer service

[ben1305]

I totally agree with you.

The problem is that if complain then we are labeled as racists.

Talkin of which your post will probably get deleted for that same reason!!!!!!

[angryandy]

Shouldn't do. I'm not racist, but if i phone British Gas or they phone me i expect to speak to someone British. It totally defies the object if you can't communicate with one another. I have already made complaints to British Gas about their foreign advisors and how they can't understand you. They could be white for all i care but if i can't understand them what's the point in them phoning me.

 

Ps Why do they always pretend to have a British name?

 

Is this to make us believe they are calling from Britain. Why do they do this if they believe their customer service from abroad is up to scratch?

[sillygirl1]

I agree with angryandy about the Asian call centres, I had one guy who continually asked "Are you Miss or Mrs" and I asked him if he was trying to chat me up - he didn't understand the question and got his supervisor, who apologised and said he was new.

 

I will give British Gas a ring tomorrow as we are quite often on Emergency here, My flatmate leaves at 5.30am, I leave at 6.30am and we both sometimes don't get back until about 9 when the nearest paypoint shops are closed... which only leaves the weekend to get gas & electric.

 

I'll post up the results on the site - wonder how many phone calls it will take to get a response, according to our meter they have it set at 20% of any debt, so 20% of £5 over about 100 occasions soon adds up!

[angryandy]

Hi Sillygirl

 

Defo keep us posted on how you get on.

 

It only took me one phone call. As i stated earlier the average they charge you is 30pence a day so if you are in your emergency credit for 5 days they will charge you £1.50. If you reguarly go into your emergency credit this will soon add up, so if you have had your meter for years it could come to a decent amount.

[marie6666red]

oh my good god!!!! have had a meter for about 15 years, not owed any debt for about ten of them at least...but just because im useless at being organised, regularly run out of gas and go on emerg. at least once a week. how much therefore have the b........ ripped me off for???? i am furious. and could anyone pm me that number. cheers guys and thank god for this site...IS THERE NO ONE WHO ISNT TRYING TO RIP US OFF!!!!sorry im ranting.

[angryandy]

oh my good god!!!! have had a meter for about 15 years, not owed any debt for about ten of them at least...but just because im useless at being organised, regularly run out of gas and go on emerg. at least once a week. how much therefore have the b........ ripped me off for???? i am furious. and could anyone pm me that number. cheers guys and thank god for this site...IS THERE NO ONE WHO ISNT TRYING TO RIP US OFF!!!!sorry im ranting.

 

Sent you a pm

[buxie34]

I need to check this. Never took any notice of what the meter displays but thought I'd phone and ask. Very nice lady on the phone insisted repeatedly when I asked 'are you sure' theres no charge for using the emergency credit.. insisted I only pay back whatever gas I use. Am on my emergency credit now..will be topping up later today, what do i watch for on the display please?

[ben1305]

Hi buxie, you need to watch how much credit you are given on the meter against the amount you credited on your card.

Also look and see if the meter takes any money for debt.

 

I had BG telling me that the charge when i topped up after being on emergency was VAT added. Erm..... so basically your charging my VAT twice??????

[buxie34]

Isn't this just the standing charge (which apparently does not come out when you are using emergency credit)

Assuming a link is okay for reference, this is what I mean

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/utilities-gas-electricity-water/153366-my-gas-meter-fiddling.html

[buxie34]

Okay..they deducted the emergency credit I used and it sed 42p charge.. am assuming this is towrds my standing charge as I only put the emergency on yesterday.. I have no debt on the meter (ie not paying an outstanding bill off)

[sillygirl1]

Just to let people know I rang the number and got a Scottish lass who was hopeless, so asked for a manager callback. Said manager called back and result is I am having meter changed on Saturday - it is admitted that the meter can be set differently to their records.... so will be interesting to see what transpires.

 

I also got the following info which should help people check their meters.

 

Insert the card in and hold the red button until it bleeps.

 

Screen 00 is the last amount put into the meter

Screen 01 is the last amount taken for debt

Screen 02 is the last amount taken for emergency credit

Screen 03 is the top up for gas

Screen 04 is the time

 

NOW THE IMPORTANT SCREENS - Amount will vary according to area and tarrif but this is for Seeboard South West area below

 

Screen 05 High Amount per Therm charged 8.341 pence

Screen 06 Low Amount per Therm charged 3.409 pence

 

Meter apparently calibrates itself at 2am each day, taking 38pence whether or not you have used gas, so the more you use the less it needs to calibrate!

 

Screen 24 Gas debt recovery (usually 70%)

Screen 25 Weekly minimum taken for debt (should be £5.00)

Screen 26 Weekly MAXIMUM taken for debt (didn't say what this is)

Screen 27 Debt

 

I'd be interested to see what screens 05 and 06 are for different people.

 

He said we were 'paying more because we were a low user' which I think STINKS...

 

However meter exchange and meter set CORRECTLY should help gauge how much they may owe us.

 

Many many thanks for this thread - its been most helpful in me getting a basic right across to the idiots at BG.

[buxie34]

Oh.. I forgot to mention. When I phoned and said I was told I get charged for using the emergency credit the lady asked me where I got this information from (maybe worried their competition was trying to poach their customers though that didn't occur to me at that point) but rather than making them aware of this thread, the first thing that entered my mind was to say a neighbour/friend had told me. She then went on to assure me that 'friend' was wrong

[buxie34]

{snip}

NOW THE IMPORTANT SCREENS - Amount will vary according to area and tarrif but this is for Seeboard South West area below

 

Screen 05 High Amount per Therm charged 8.341 pence

Screen 06 Low Amount per Therm charged 3.409 pence

{snip}

 

wondered what the chuff was going on when my screen 5 & 6 both displayed 0.000

but I found the very same therm amounts on screen 8 & 9 on my meter.. I'm in east midlands

[ben1305]

Oh.. I forgot to mention. When I phoned and said I was told I get charged for using the emergency credit the lady asked me where I got this information from (maybe worried their competition was trying to poach their customers though that didn't occur to me at that point) but rather than making them aware of this thread, the first thing that entered my mind was to say a neighbour/friend had told me. She then went on to assure me that 'friend' was wrong

 

If you speak to them again you should mention that you are 100% certain that they are charging you and that you are not the only one this is happening to!!!

[buxie34]

Oh yes,...I saw the 42p charge when i topped up earlier but is it definatly a charge for using the emergency credit or is it the standing charge that was mentioned in the link I posted

[ben1305]

you'll probably find that the next time u use emergency the charge will be different