British Gas Rant

[simonlpearce]

Long Story short i had a British Gas business account. Since Dec last year they didn't take any payments. In June this year they decided to try bill me £750 all in one go. It was only because i moved supplier that they caught up with themselves and realised they were owed some money. I had not noticed either since i hadn't been paying attention to the full in/out of that account. Anyhow i put a stop to the payment as at the time i didn't know what the chuff was going on.

They held their hands up an apologised, so out of pure annoyance i told them to setup a direct debit payment plan. Which they did. Fast forward a couple of weeks and i start getting debt recovery letters. Seems the numpty on the phone didn't setup the payment plan.

Here's the clincher - they are now asking me to setup a standing order. So essentially they are now asking me to do the job that they failed to do on a monthly basis, and then a second time round when they were supposed to setup the direct debit. This is one i think i will enjoy stringing out :headbang:

 

[envy]

thats a major pain in the rear. these large organisations can be a pain to deal with sometimes

im going through a similar thing with bt at the moment. even got the financial ombudsmen involved who found in my favor. bt acknowledged they were in the wrong but are still trying to make me pay £195 debt recovery costs even though there was no debt to recover! this one is going to end up in court i think so i can spank them good and proper in public!

 

[simonlpearce]

Feel your pain. I will eventually pay them as i have used the service, but its the absolute lack of customer service that really grinds my gears. Even down to the letters they sent me. They ask you to call to sort it out, so i call at the specified time only to find the lines are closed, WTF.

 

[envy]

yeah, i think their customer service needs to be better for sure but they couldnt care less as they know they wont be affected by one customer leaving them

i use british gas too but luckily had no dealings with them other than the normal run of the mill billing and dont foresee any problems as its all by direct debit anyway

 

[slick]

Long Story short i had a British Gas business account. Since Dec last year they didn't take any payments. In June this year they decided to try bill me £750 all in one go. It was only because i moved supplier that they caught up with themselves and realised they were owed some money. I had not noticed either since i hadn't been paying attention to the full in/out of that account. Anyhow i put a stop to the payment as at the time i didn't know what the chuff was going on.

They held their hands up an apologised, so out of pure annoyance i told them to setup a direct debit payment plan. Which they did. Fast forward a couple of weeks and i start getting debt recovery letters. Seems the numpty on the phone didn't setup the payment plan.

Here's the clincher - they are now asking me to setup a standing order. So essentially they are now asking me to do the job that they failed to do on a monthly basis, and then a second time round when they were supposed to setup the direct debit. This is one i think i will enjoy stringing out :headbang:

be carefull, British Gas may list you as in arrears on Experian.........worth checking

 

[DumfriesDik]

Total swines and completely out of order.

Why is it that simple things can be so complicated?

I have to say that when I worked in pensions, when it went wrong, it usually went wrong all the way for just one person, like they are singled out for all the bad luck and incompetence. I guess you are going to have to baby sit this one and double check everything. No way you can set up a DD online with your bank?

 

[cj10jeeper]

Long Story short i had a British Gas business account. Since Dec last year they didn't take any payments. In June this year they decided to try bill me £750 all in one go. It was only because i moved supplier that they caught up with themselves and realised they were owed some money. I had not noticed either since i hadn't been paying attention to the full in/out of that account. Anyhow i put a stop to the payment as at the time i didn't know what the chuff was going on.

They held their hands up an apologised, so out of pure annoyance i told them to setup a direct debit payment plan. Which they did. Fast forward a couple of weeks and i start getting debt recovery letters. Seems the numpty on the phone didn't setup the payment plan.

Here's the clincher - they are now asking me to setup a standing order. So essentially they are now asking me to do the job that they failed to do on a monthly basis, and then a second time round when they were supposed to setup the direct debit. This is one i think i will enjoy stringing out :headbang:

be carefull, British Gas may list you as in arrears on Experian.........worth checking

Without doubt don't 'string it out'. They may be arses, but it's only you who will suffer from this.

Your account will now be showing as in arrears and most likely 'default' on Experian and other credit reference agencies. In effect you didn't pay for 6 months (and as far as the world is concerned it's your fault not BG's), so instead of a string of '0's meaning no arrears your account will show as 0,1,2,3,4,5,6 reflecting the months in arrears or if no determinable monthly payment then just the total amount owed and increasing each month.
Next thing is suppliers will restrict your credit, card limits get reduced, overdrafts clawed back, etc. as you risk profile has now rocketed and they react to 'alerts' from these reference agencies
(I know as I operate in this sector )

Call BG and get it fixed.

 

[simonlpearce]

Some sounds advice there, thanks for the heads up. Hadn't considered the long term effects on my personal credit rating!

 

[cj10jeeper]

Some sounds advice there, thanks for the heads up. Hadn't considered the long term effects on my personal credit rating!

You're welcome.
PM if you need any specific advice.

 

[simonlpearce]

Its amazing how much quicker things get sorted when you get passed the minions. Spoke to supervisor of the minions as refused to accept the standing order BS they were trying to make me do, esentially asking me to do the job they failed to in the first place. Supervisor puts me on hold and goes to 'check with the correct dept', low and behold all of a sudden they now magically can setup a direct debit payment.

A quick call with someone new, who actually was helpful this time, and problem is now resolved.

 

[cj10jeeper]

Its amazing how much quicker things get sorted when you get passed the minions. Spoke to supervisor of the minions as refused to accept the standing order BS they were trying to make me do, esentially asking me to do the job they failed to in the first place. Supervisor puts me on hold and goes to 'check with the correct dept', low and behold all of a sudden they now magically can setup a direct debit payment.

A quick call with someone new, who actually was helpful this time, and problem is now resolved.

Hope that puts it to bed with them then.
Just check you Experian score in a few weeks and ensure there's no derogatory information or arrears noted and if so get them to correct it, or at least add your own correcting comment to it.