British gas, " Harrassment " or not [i wont let meter reader in

[tommy456]

If you are a customer of British gas, & you have ever failed to pay your bills in full on time ,

 

You may know how this company operate,

 

They will start ringing you (if they have your telephone number) after a little as one week after the payment due date,

 

they will ring several times a day

sometimes a burst of calls in quick succession ,

or several calls at different times of the day,

even during the evenings ,

 

they ring every day (Sundays excluded) use several different numbers to call you from

 

I once answered the phone to them, and that was a mistake,

 

After explaining that i disputed some of the charges and that i couldn't pay all in one go,

this opened the gates for even more harassment,

until i complained in writing to them,

 

I was contacted by someone who stopped the phone calls (took a few days) and amended the bill ,

which i then paid,

 

now i just turn the phone on silent and ignore them,

& when i have the money i'll pay them ,

faceless greedy utility company as what they are,

 

The other form of harassment is the so called safety inspection that they conduct on both gas and electric meters,

2yrs for gas but supposed to be longer for electric,

 

This saftey check is nothing more than a way of enforcing a meter reading every two years,

the person who carries out these checks isn't an engineer

but a G4S ( other companies are available ) meter reader ,

 

IMO as they don't carry out any safety checks,

 

the provision in law that allows them the powers of entry to do this,

 

should be revoked as their claims are nothing but lies,

all because they don't trust their customers

[dx100uk]

with regard to the safety checking

 

they are duty bound by an act of parliament to do so......

- it is not THEIR RULES that dictate they must 'see' a meter' once in 24mts, but the gov't

 

and it is 24mts for all meter regardless of the supply gas/elec.

 

dx

[tommy456]

That maybe

 

But who was it that bleated to or lobbied government to pass a bill into law ,which enabled them to do this ?

 

was it the utility companies ?

 

Thing is it is supposed to be for them to conduct a safety inspection of the meters,

not as a way to enforce the readings of meters, that is nothing but an abuse of the system ,

 

If they want to inspect a meter for safety that's fine,

unnecessary in most cases but fine by me ,

 

But they are not doing this , also as most tenants in rented accommodation ,

will have a annual gas safety check by a gas safe registered engineer this includes the meter

,so the legislation is out of date and should be amended to stop this being exploited by the utility companies

[dx100uk]

Srr you are mistaken.

 

the util companies have a duty under law placed upon them to do so

and 'normal' meter reading cycle if you allowed it to happen would negate the need to 'force' the issue

under warrant.

 

they cannot by the act, allow anyone else to do it or certify its safety.

 

to many times you see in the press of gas explosions etc.

 

and no it was not the util companies that lobbied for the acts either almost 100yrs ago

it was for you and everyone elses safety.

 

there is already quite an extensive thread detailing the acts

with someone that argued the points you are.

 

dx

[45002]

If you are a customer of British gas, & you have ever failed to pay your bills in full on time ,

 

You may know how this company operate,

 

They will start ringing you (if they have your telephone number) after a little as one week after the payment due date,

 

they will ring several times a day

sometimes a burst of calls in quick succession ,

or several calls at different times of the day,

even during the evenings ,

 

they ring every day (Sundays excluded) use several different numbers to call you from

 

I once answered the phone to them, and that was a mistake,

 

After explaining that i disputed some of the charges and that i couldn't pay all in one go,

this opened the gates for even more harassment,

until i complained in writing to them,

 

I was contacted by someone who stopped the phone calls (took a few days) and amended the bill ,

which i then paid,

 

now i just turn the phone on silent and ignore them,

& when i have the money i'll pay them ,

faceless greedy utility company as what they are,

 

The other form of harassment is the so called safety inspection that they conduct on both gas and electric meters,

2yrs for gas but supposed to be longer for electric,

 

This saftey check is nothing more than a way of enforcing a meter reading every two years,

the person who carries out these checks isn't an engineer

but a G4S ( other companies are available ) meter reader ,

 

IMO as they don't carry out any safety checks,

 

the provision in law that allows them the powers of entry to do this,

 

should be revoked as their claims are nothing but lies,

all because they don't trust their customers

That maybe

 

But who was it that bleated to or lobbied government to pass a bill into law ,which enabled them to do this ?

 

was it the utility companies ?

 

Thing is it is supposed to be for them to conduct a safety inspection of the meters,

not as a way to enforce the readings of meters, that is nothing but an abuse of the system ,

 

If they want to inspect a meter for safety that's fine,

unnecessary in most cases but fine by me ,

 

But they are not doing this , also as most tenants in rented accommodation ,

will have a annual gas safety check by a gas safe registered engineer this includes the meter

,so the legislation is out of date and should be amended to stop this being exploited by the utility companies

.

 

Instead of moaning about it,Let them in to read your meters !

[*RainbowTears*]

But you used the Gas/Electricity & you do have to pay for them!

 

BG are reasonable to deal with, so suggest you think about setting up a DD/Standing order to pay towards your bills monthly etc & that way you avoid getting big quarterly bills.

 

As has already been stated above; It is for your own benefit to have BG check your meters & take readings!

 

@ Admin/anyone who knows. Am I right in thinking that BG report on a Customers credit file? I.E they can trash it if you do not pay & so forth.

[tommy456]

And as i have said there is no safety check that takes place that is b*ll*cks and everyone knows it ,

 

And yes they have been let in to read the meters under the guise of making a safety inspection ,

and the meters did not need such inspection

 

as said a registered gas safe engineer had recently carried out a real safety check (test for leaks,ect)

and issued a safety cert,

the dumb G4S meter readers are not gas safe registered or are qualified sparks ,

so how can they perform a reliable safety inspection ? answer is they can't a visual check means nothing

 

And as for them ringing the phone several times nearly every day that to me constitutes harassment , as for paying the greedy, faceless company yes they will get the money i owe when i can afford to pay them, i ain't going go without food to pay them, they don't help people afford to pay them, nearly each year (winter) they jack up their prices, to do nothing more than cash in ,they stopped their social tariff ,and we now have WHDS which will be even less helpfull for some of us next year, as they will be jacking up prices by 9.2% come November, They should really re brand to Robbing Gas

Edited October 17, 2013 by tommy456

[dx100uk]

you'll be surprised what the readers are trained in.

 

however, this meter stuff is a side issue.

 

certainly complain about the phonecalls though

 

and yes they can trash your cra file.

 

dx

[45002]

And as i have said there is no safety check that takes place that is b*ll*cks and everyone knows it ,

 

And yes they have been let in to read the meters under the guise of making a safety inspection ,

and the meters did not need such inspection

 

as said a registered gas safe engineer had recently carried out a real safety check (test for leaks,ect)

and issued a safety cert,

the dumb G4S meter readers are not gas safe registered or are qualified sparks ,

so how can they perform a reliable safety inspection ? answer is they can't a visual check means nothing

 

And as for them ringing the phone several times nearly every day that to me constitutes harassment , as for paying the greedy, faceless company yes they will get the money i owe when i can afford to pay them, i ain't going go without food to pay them, they don't help people afford to pay them, nearly each year (winter) they jack up their prices, to do nothing more than cash in ,they stopped their social tariff ,and we now have WHDS which will be even less helpfull for some of us next year, as they will be jacking up prices by 9.2% come November, They should really re brand to Robbing Gas

So are you going to allow them to read your meters or get a warrant and gain entry that way,leaving you with a Huge legal bill to pay...

 

And before you say they cant do this,they can and do !

[tommy456]

So are you going to allow them to read your meters or get a warrant and gain entry that way,leaving you with a Huge legal bill to pay...

 

And before you say they cant do this,they can and do !

they have read the poxy meters already, i was just pointing out that the reason they use is nothing but a lie, as said it's not to check the safety of the meter, it's to read the bloody thing, So why can't they be honest about it? I trust them as much as they trust me , And i do not intend on being screwed over by them for much longer

[dx100uk]

as already pointed too you'll be surprised what training they do get

they mostly look for tampering or by passing.

 

when you see something on a regular basis you get obv 'knowledge'

of what to look for.

 

however, the safety check is down to the OWNER of the property

hence yours is done

hence the council send people around to tenants.

 

the reports that 'whomever' does are forwarded to the network supplier

hence the duplication sheet and they give you the top copy.

 

the util companies do not use the act of parl't to enforce regular meter readings anyhow.

 

all they are interested in is sight of the meter and a read ONCE every 24mts.

the rest can be sent by you online and you'll find the meter reader no longer calls.

 

dx

[*RainbowTears*]

@ dx100uk, many thanks for confirming this for me.

 

@ Tommy456, BG provide you with your Gas/Electric & you do use these facilities for heating, light, cooking & so forth.

 

They are not a luxury, these days they are a necessity & rightly or wrongly you & I have to pay whatever £ they charge.

 

You are in control here & you can do something about it; I did suggest in my earlier post that you pay an amount each month to keep your bills down & up to date.

 

As BG can & will take action to recover whatever they are owed (which isnt very pleasant as my Sister found out). And as confirmed by dx100uk they can & do trash your credit file.

 

You also have the option of changing your Utility suppliers (which isnt always for the best depending on who you go with) But your supplier will want paying as your using their services!

 

So instead of being angry at what you cant change, do something that you can change!!

[tommy456]

@ dx100uk, many thanks for confirming this for me.

 

@ Tommy456, BG provide you with your Gas/Electric & you do use these facilities for heating, light, cooking & so forth.

 

They are not a luxury, these days they are a necessity & rightly or wrongly you & I have to pay whatever £ they charge.

 

You are in control here & you can do something about it; I did suggest in my earlier post that you pay an amount each month to keep your bills down & up to date.

 

As BG can & will take action to recover whatever they are owed (which isnt very pleasant as my Sister found out). And as confirmed by dx100uk they can & do trash your credit file.

 

You also have the option of changing your Utility suppliers (which isnt always for the best depending on who you go with) But your supplier will want paying as your using their services!

 

So instead of being angry at what you cant change, do something that you can change!!

If you are on benefits, you can't pay each month, the gas/elec aren't the only outgoings i have every month, and they never are going to be my top priority, Food is number one,

I once tried a payment plan, on one fuel only(when on the social tariff) and recieving more money every week, I paid the agreed amount through 1 winter, and by spring i was in credit by quite a bit, they would not reduce the amount that i was paying or offer any flexibility in the fortnightly amount, so by summer i reverted to pay the bill on receipt, as i don't see the point in paying in advance and not receiving anything in return,

And now there is no longer a social tariff, paying fortnightly (set amount every 2wks) is just not an option i just don't have the amount that they would ask for and pre payment meters the unit costs are extortionate when they should be less than other tariffs

As cooking ,lighting and heating are considered necessities then there should be no VAT charged on those fuels, this is nothing more than an insult that affects the poorest and not the wealthy and IMO government could easily remove the 5%VAT ripoff on each fuel which is 10% in real terms for most of us, But government would sooner we die , hypothermia or malnutrition or something similar,

[tommy456]

Well their harassment via telephone campaign maybe going for a record, 6 calls from them today so far, and 2 of them where less than 1 min apart , Do these fools really think i would waste my breath talking to them, they read from a script and will not deviate from it, and it does not stop their harassment campaign , the only people in British gas i will talk to are the complaint's department

[Daffs]

After being hounded by G4S for yrs,

I got a ltr from Face2Face Contact Ltd. threatening Warrant of Entry even if you are not there,

Magistrates cost would fall on me.

It was shocking but laughable.

I called BG and they too were confused saying "but you are on DD and yr a/c is in credit. Ignor the ltr."

I stopped the original DD some yrs ago because their min. amount was higher than my usage resulting in a large credit at the end of the yr.

I credited my a/c with a more feasible amount for the yr.

I went back on DD some yrs ago as they told me I would receive a lower rate.

I think Face2Face slipped up by saying inspect your metre and read your metre.

The metre is 2 yrs old and I've read it myself for yrs.

 

I did let them in once to try and shut them up.

This was a wk or so after I had called in my own reading and had notice from BG on charges for that qtr.

I then got another bill for the excess the man had taken.

This being small, I was charged at the higher rate.

My call to BG to complain resulted in no credit for that, which should have been added on to the next qtr.

I don't like people coming into my hse I don't know, even with their ID.

A neighbour got mugged twice because she did.

I did get another ltr from G4S a few days ago and called BG again and told

"OK so you don't want your metre read, I'll mark yr records, ignor the ltr."

 

I get no problems with EDF on the electricity,

same method as BG,

but no metre reader and no harrassment. I

'm thinking of switching now.

If not because of this harrassment but the new higher rates.

Makes a lot of sense.

My condolences to those who do find it difficult to pay and get this bullying, but then so do I.

Daffs.

[nottslad]

The requirement to read a meter is part of licence conditions, this has always been the case. Another reason for the requirement to read meters is to ensure there are no signs of meters being tampered.

 

Some customers may also provide lower reads than what is actually correct in order to avoid paying the correct amount, this will obviously build up over time. I'm not saying all customers do this, but it does happen; this only leads to higher prices for all customers across the board and imbalances in the amount of electricity consumed compared to the amount being billed.

[tommy456]

The requirement to read a meter is part of licence conditions, this has always been the case. Another reason for the requirement to read meters is to ensure there are no signs of meters being tampered.

 

Some customers may also provide lower reads than what is actually correct in order to avoid paying the correct amount, this will obviously build up over time. I'm not saying all customers do this, but it does happen; this only leads to higher prices for all customers across the board and imbalances in the amount of electricity consumed compared to the amount being billed.

I doubt it would do as they are more than capable of ripping us off over the actual wholesale prices of fuels, they are artificially inflating prices at the wholesale level, If they weren't so greedy then those who give lower readings wouldn't need to do this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24606614 there you go how they are ripping us off , and this Con Dumb government are supporting them !!!!!

[Daffs]

BG were more than happy for me to read my own meter some yrs ago when I was working all day and they came at a working day time.

We are individuals after all.

Long term customers and no bad records of dishonesty or metre tampering over the yrs.

 

There were the odd time when I was home and they read.

 

They could see then that I was not a doggy customer.

 

I'm the same customer.

 

Is BG so computerised they can't see this.

I don't get this harrassment on the elect.

 

With all due respects, I thought if you didn't pay your bill after given a reasonable time, your supply was turned off.

 

Daffs

Anyone posting, can you please tell me why my posts come up double spaced and lots of para. when I'm typing single space and the odd para. Many thanks

[dx100uk]

because a big block of text is very hard to read as above.

 

had to edit hem for you.

 

you can do this yourself by hitting the edit post icon..please

 

or hit the multi coloured Aaa icon top left of the msg box

before you copy n paste your reply into it.

 

dx

 

 

dx

[Surfer01]

Be aware that if they are unable to check your meters, by law and all legal things, they can stop the supply due to health & safety regulations. Not sure why you don't want they to read your meter. A meter reader cannot issue a safety certificate as this has to be done by a qualified meter operator who will take a reading at the same time.

[SuperVillain]

Personally having done DCA work in the past for two of the big 6 and some smaller suppliers in relation to commercial supplies, I think 2 years is way too long for an energy company to go without seeing a meter.

 

It just causes problems and disputes down the line regarding estimated bills. From experience it often turns into a blame game between the customer (You should have read my meter more often) and the supplier (We only have to read it every 24 months and why didn't you supply us with a reading). They only have to see the meter every 2 years - in that time several people could have been at a particular address with varying levels of usage.

 

Incidentally my supplier (EON) picked up that my meter was old and unsafe and arranged for it to be replaced free of charge.

[Daffs]

To dx100uk, I made a reply to Surfer01's comments mid pm today. Can you tell me what happened to it. It's not showing. Daffs

[dx100uk]

10:56 was your last post

 

click your user name

view all posts

 

dx

[Daffs]

dx100uk, Well, it's not there. Quite extensive too, wouldn't like to do it again. Thought I pressed Post quick reply. What would happen if I had pressed Reply to Thread, Daffs

[dx100uk]

a blank box again