#Utilities : British Gas Complaint help

[johnfitz26]

Hi Im in an ongoing complaint with British Gas and just have no clue what do but to wait for there response.

 

I moved home to a landlord who pays the electric so called to cancel british gas. I had no access to a final meter read as its in a locked communal cuboard. The guy says after 2 calls ok you account is now closed and you will receive a cheque in the post of £425. Great news i was already £130 in credit so i thought this was from overpaying as i pay weekly. Call 10 days later to find out were the cheque is to be told acctually you now owe £65. I was like WHATTTT???

 

Since then my account has gone to £552 in credit. Ive made over 6 calls with all promises of call backs etc. It was supposed to be with a specalist but ive heard nothing from him. Its beyond a joke and everyone just seems to be making mistakes and misinforming me and no one seems to know what there doing.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreicaited

[rebel11]

Hi John

 

Welcome to CAG

The guys will advise as soon as they are available.

 

Write a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark the letter as such. Explain how you've been let down, explain that you want it sorted out.

Send it to the Chief Executive of British Gas. sam.laidlaw@centrica.co.uk

[amwroberts]

British Gas have put me through a nightmare for 3 years - They are completely incompetent!!!

 

I have today sent this E Mail to their Chief Exec.

 

Dear Mr Laidlaw,

 

Please help me! I am writing to express my utter disgust in the way I

have been treated by your organisation. I am a hard working family man who has

thankfully never been unmeployed and always paid my way. My dispute with

British Gas has now been ongoing for 3 years. It all stemmed back to an

amount for £347.55 which BG denied I had paid but had been allocated to a

duplicate account. Your organisation eventually accepted this and wrote

the amount off this was not after my credit rating had been affected after BG

lodged a payment default with experian - I eventually received an apology in

writing from BG and spent considerable time and therefore money in reinstating

facilities with credit card companies - I achieved this reasonably well as

I always pay my credit cards in full every month.

 

At this point BG agreed that I owed 131.99 which they would reduce to 81.99

to reflect an inconvenience payment - This never happened. On 29/1/2011 i

received an invoice for £479.54 which I rather quickly worked out was the

£131.99 PLUS the now supposedly written off £347.55. I complained at

1940 on 03/02 to Ida who promised that this was resolved and that a fresh invoice

would be received - this never happened.

 

On the 19/03/2011 I received a bill for £473.90 showing gas used of £206.05

and an "adjustment" of £257.55 thus totalling £473.90. Mystified by this

adjustment I spoke to James Dawson at 1710 on 02/04 to seek an explanation

for this amount. I offerred to pay the 206.05 - it seemd abpout right! - but

was advised not too. I specifically asked James to note the conversation on

the account to avoid any stop action - Once agian I have heard nothing. I

the receive a reminder for £473.90 to be paid by 18/04/2011 and presune this to

be another computer run.

 

On the 21.04.2011 I open my post to find a disconnection letter demanding

£271.55 dated 15/04/2011 which includes a £14 admin fee. I reckon I owe

you £271.55 - it is about right!!! - less the £14 less the £50 compensation

charge which therefore amounts to £207.55.

 

This 3 year set of events has probably cost me more than £207.55 in phone

calls so I reckon sir that you in fact owe me!

 

Perhaps you can have a word and resolve it - In the meantime If I am cut

off you will find yourselves in the Sunday Papers and on Watchdog for deserts.

 

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

A M W Roberts

[ihateyes]

remember to send it recorded delivery.

I work in a call centre as well, and most tmes people think ts the agents on the phone that dont do their job properly or follow thngs through.

Infact in most of these organisations the agents only take the info, and their is then staff who dont work the phones that deal wth these issues.

In most cases this is where the problems start....

[amwroberts]

I received this response from Mr Laidlaw yesterday (Bank Holiday Monday) and have since had a telephone message from the managing Director's Office leaving me a named contact and direct telephone number. Mr Laidlaw copied the E Mail into various other senior figures within BG including the Managing Director- Phil Bentley.

 

The situation is not resolved but fair play to Mr Laidlaw for responding.

 

 

A Roberts

 

 

 

 

Dear Mr Roberts

 

Thank you for your email and for bringing this matter to my attention.

 

I was very sorry to hear of the problems you have experienced and I have asked my customer relations team to look into this matter and resolve it as a priority. A member of the team will contact you shortly to address the points you have raised.

 

In the meantime, if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact my Customer Relations Team directly on 01784 874 994 and they will be happy to help.

 

Regards

 

Sam Laidlaw

[amwroberts]

A result.

 

i have been in dialogue with the complaints team and have resolved - I actually owed 126.05 not the 473.90 they were looking for and settled the account.

 

I cannot deny the E mail to Mr Laidlaw promoted a very quick and succesful response - and for him to reply personally on a bank holiday was to be fair deserves a well done.

 

A Roberts