BritishGas

I wrote to him with my complaint and one of his staff wrote back to me, extremely condescending and not even answering the issues I raised. I wrote back asking once more for the answers to my queries and got a letter back from same person telling me she had answered my queries and wouldnt respond to any further letters from me!
So I am now writing to energywatch to try and sort it.
Basic problem is, Im getting ripped off big style with my gas and electricity payments. there is absolutely NO possibility that I am using as much as they say. Id have to have my heating on 24-7 and enough lights on to start a cannabis growing enterprise. Whilst tumble drying the washing of everyone in my street.
Grr.

might i say i am very PROUD to work for VENTURA/BRITISH GAS.

You are a very sad puppy indeed................Gritish Bass make millions ,yet have no time to deal with legitimate complaints ,or deal with them in a positive manner..................I contacted the CEOof Tesco Ins recently........not only did his office reply but they dealt with the complaint and followed it thru to the end.....................Gritish Bass think only of profit and shareholders ?...........................Read the Sun re. latest price hike and drunken party.........Whats all that about?..........Jobs are being cut in the offices...........and changes at grass routes level are putting the work force under pressure................disillusion and discontent are rife...........If your happy in your little bubble lets all hope It dose'nt burst............................."Live Long And Prosper"

my complaint number is 2549346. i did have a personal complaint manager sorting out my situation. well he aint anymore. i had to find that out myself another phone call to the moorons at customer services!!!!!! so here i am back to point a and this is about 7 weeks on a complete waste of my time , i have done all the chasing look at my case number and you WILL be very humbled by what you come accross. you are all a complete disaster !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shame you are a very sad individual!!!!!British Gas are a disgrace to Britain!!!! They should not be allowed to get away with what they do!!!!!

Hi there. OI have never come across such rank incompetence in a large organisation as I have with BG. Their Customer Service assistants are unable to interpret their computer screens and listen to me at the same time, and I too have been billed for huge sums amounts of electricity which even a rudimentary glance at would seem unusual.The people I have spoken too cannot distinguish between tiers and tariffs and have charged economy 7 at the day rate. Energywatch kicked them in to action v quickly but STILL the bill was wrong and it took me 30 mins on the phone just now to get them to admit that they's screwed up.I mean, they were going to increase my DD to 130 a month for elect only, when I live in a highly insulated terrace with 40 quid a month tops usage.Cretins.

A letter to the boss of BG will follow!

British Gas have outsourced a lot of their Contact Centre to a company called VENTURA, who are based in Rotherham. VENTURA come cheap which is why British Gas use them.The agents who take the calls at VENTURA have not as much experience as British Gas, this is why they make so many mistakes.Other companies use VENTURA, and many wish they didn't.I work for a large utility who are starting to pull out of the outsourced VENTURA deal.I'll prove it, phone British Gas to discuss something, chances are you'll take 15 mins at least to get through.When you eventually do, at your cost, ask them if you are speaking to a British Gas or VENTURA agent. Then ask how many people are handling British Gas calls, typically it's under 50 at peak time. I suggest that anyone who phones British Gas submits an itemised phone bill and asks for compensation for the wait in the queue.It's not your fault that British Gas are being greedy and outsourcing on the cheap.The legal system can work for us,now go go get em, British Gas deserve little else.

British Gas use Ventura for a small number of debt related calls. Mr. Edwards is correct in saying that these outsourcing agents do not have the same level of expertese as permanent employees which is why British Gas will be moving all their call centre work back to the offices.

Ventura were used temporarily whilst training for a new billing system was deployed.

I work for British Gas Residential Energy, and despite everything you read, complaints are a minority.We serve over 15 million energy customers and out of those, less than 1% 0f our customers feel agrieved enough to complain to Energywatch. You may be suprised, but I am proud to work for the UKs largest energy supplier which has over 14 million happy, loyal customers.

Of course, we made a HUGE mistake in the way we managed a new billing system (you can tell from my honesty here that I'm not a director).However, we are committed to Fixing The Basics - we have to. We cannot afford the number of complaints to go up to 1% of our customers.Mind you - this will not happen overnight.It will take some time and we will reward our customers for their loyalty with a first class effivient customer service.

Another point I would like to make is that British Gas Services and British Gas Residential Energy are separate directorates under Centrica.Therefore any customers aggrieved by both (I have to assume there may be a tiny number of them) should make separate complaints in order to get a more satisfactory response.

It doesn't help our customer service when a national newspaper publishes a specialised customer helpline for complaints to go to.The result was that the line was jammed (causing long queues) and vulnerable elderly customers (who the line was for) could not get the customer service they need.

to add to this I know for a fact that British Gas pay more per agent for someone answering the phones in Ventura than they do in there internal call centres

Firstly Ventura agents will recieve a training package that will obversley be put together by british gas and only take calls for British Gas,the degree of experience you get when you call Ventura/ British Gas or anyother call centre is entirely dependent on the indivual you get and surely everyone realises this (the Ventura contact has been going for around 5 years I assume they have gathered some experience during this time). As for the staffing level every call centre has a forcast call figure normally generated in relation to the number of letters printed and should staff to this Out sourcing companies are very different they staff to a level agreed by there client(with the exception of a calls or sales based contract) therefore any short comings in the wait time would not be the Outsources fault also in september 07 when you posted thsi I belive Ventura had arround 1800 ish BG employees. To give you some idea of the company you mentioned and it's place in the market visit there site and look at there client list they employe over 10,000 people and take the majority of calls for most of there clients they must be doing somthing right.

I would just like to say that I work for o2 that is based at Ventura and they are not at all as bad as some individuals think, I have worked for this company for 5 years and in this time we have provided consistantly better customer service than o2 employees themselves, this is found by a third party company called EDCSM which calls the same percentage of customers who have called and spoken to someone in o2 and Ventura, I can tell you that it is well known within o2 that Ventura staff are much better trained and get the most satisfied customers month after month and that direct o2 advisors are pretty rubish and cause no end of problems that we end up sorting out, we have much higher satisfaction targets. I also know things are run the same throughout the company and they have won many new contracts recently such as Sky, Argos, RSPCA, Sainsburys, National rail enquiries and much more.

That's kind of funny because I had a problem with my o2 broadband and the people I spoke to where amazing. I was so happy with them but all of the people that have answered my ten million calls to B.G. were simply useless. If you work for o2, well done on being so efficient and pleasant to deal with. Keep up the good work :)

You think youve had it bad;like most Thatcherite com;They are aware that they get away with criminal acts....like fraudulent accounting..I had BG set up 2 gas accounts at my address,they refused to answer letters sent untill 2 years later.

Which they blamed me;saying I had changed suppliers;and they issued a new account when I went back.I stayed 1 week with the new suppliers as they were more expensive.

2 years mounded up bills ;they agreed that they would transfer to the new supplier;then went back on their promise.This agreement was witnessed.
Maters are still continuing.....

Dont ever use any of British Gas portpolio co or use them.
Unleess you want trouble.

Four weeks and counting for British gas Homecare to get a part for my boiler.
I gave up after two weeks and got it fixed within 48 hrs by the manufactures, who said the part is widly available.

I'm seeing how long BG take to get the part.

Oh, And I have to keep ringing them for updates.

I've only been without hot water and heating for five days... but four weeks! HOw did you cope??? The reps won't pass me to anyone to complain. Say I've got to write but that's hardly gonna be a swift way of getting hot water again! My husband located the part but BG still waiting to get the part from godknow'swhere! Who did you ring to complain?

this is a copy of an email i sent to a debt collector, which british gas sent me to.

I have lived at this address since 20th June 05, i have been paying rent to Eastlands homes, of £48.21p per week, on top of that was a service charge of £7.89p per week, the service charge was for gas used in the accomodation.
In September 2005 the service charge ceased, because everyone got fitted their own meter and boiler, i moved over to southern electric which you can verify in September, i then got contacted at this address by British gas trading plc, who said i owed them £72.48, for gas from May to September, by a letter, i quickly phoned British Gas and explained that i had been paying direct to my landlord in the form of a service charge for my gas, and gave details, after many more letters and emails, and phone calls being passed from one dept to the next and back again i subsequently gave up trying to explain that i owed them nothing.
My costs for administration and phone calls i have made to British Gas are £28.52 if you would like a breakdown of how i arrived at this figure, i will only be to happy to oblige.
i trust this matter will now be resolved and no more threatening letters are sent to my home, if you would like my landlords address to confirm that everything i have said is correct then please let me know

what an incompetent company, do not use.

I am a landlord.

On the 16th Dec 2006 my tennants moved out & I became responsible for the gas & electric which were with BG

When the first bill arrived my wife paid it online.

BG Opened 2 new accounts (away from dual fuel so there goes the discount) at the time of bill payment, because my wife gave them new details, including a correspondance address, since the property was not my residence.

The payment my wife made was applied to the 'old account'. When the bill arrived (to the wrong address) saying you owe £xx my wife phoned them an explained, we have one account in credit, one in debit for exactly £xx. She gave them the correct correspondance address. She was told that this couldn't be sortedout over the phone and we'd have to pay the bill and claim back on the other account.

I phoned BG and gave them the correct correspondance address and they told me it couldn't sorted out on the phone.

My wife wrote to them breaking down the details of the accounts, meter reading and payments, and gave them the correct correspondance address.

My new tennants moved in on the 26th March 2007. We gave British Gas final meter readings, and the correct correspondance address.

We received a letter (actually my tennants did becuase BG used the wrong address) stating we would have to provide proof of payment. My wife wrote to them enlosing a copy of her bank statement and gave them the correct correspondance address.

My wife telephoned BG and gave them the correct meter readings again, and gave them the correct correspondance address.

We recieved a letter (actually my tennants did becuase BG used the wrong address) stating the new reading would be applied to the account.

We recieved a letter (7th May) (actually my tennants did becuase BG used the wrong address) stating the £xx had been moved from the account in credit to the accound in debit.

I heard nothing until 9th June when I was contacted by the 'Telegram Office' AKA CapQuest a Debt recovery agency. What a bunch of b*stards these guys are. They phoned me at work, they phoned my wife looking for me, the phoned my parents and they phoned my tennants. Each time they said it was a message from the 'Telegram Office'. I didn't even know it was about BG (It turns out my debt, for the wrong bill (not with the £xx adjustment) and the wrong meter readings was sold to CapQuest on the 11th May - 4 Days after the last letter we had seen).

A chance comment made me realise what the problem was and on 12th June I spoke to BG Minder who sorted out CapQuest and promised me a revised bill. They actually managed at last to update my correspondance details, but the bill, promised in 4/5 days took a week and half.

I got a copy of the bill, without the £xx adjustment made and with the wron meter readings 21st June. I spoke to them today and asked for compensation for the phone calls, letter, registered letter to CapQuest requesting the details of the depbt (with a £1 postal order as required by law), the cost of an equifax credit check when I had no idea why a debt recovery agency was chasing me and I was told....

Tough it's not our policy at Minder, speak to customer services.

CS told me to use the website.

I filled in the email us section of the website, and since I got no 'you message has been sent' or email acknowledging my complaint I've no idea if it's even been sent.

And as of this moment my bill is still wrong, wrong meter readings, but at least adjusted by £xxx, and I've not been offered any compensation.

How on earth are they allowed to continue doing business.

I am at my wits end and I have complained to energy watch.

I hope to goodness thay can sort this mess out before the bill is again handed to CapQuest.

Steve

I have moved into a new property wherein I have a Prepaid meter for Gas. I ordered a new card and topped the card with £20 on new card and it deducted £14 for previous debts. These debts are not mine and I should not be paying them in any case. The system has deducted money for emergency credit and debts. I have never been in debt with British Gas or with any other supplier for that matter. This is the first time I have taken a connection in my name hence there is no chance of debt that I owe to British Gas.

As I was issued a new card everything should have started fresh and not been charged for previous tenants debts. I have losing nearly 70% of the top up value every time I add credit.
I called them up and apprised them of the situation. I requested them to reset the meter as this debt does not belong to me and should not be paying it any case. I requested them to chase the debt with the person it belongs to not me. They asked me to check the meter. I followed the procedure as instructed and then realized that previous debt of £1201.86.Hence I was being charged by my meter.

They said that they will send an update to prepayment machine so that when I top up the card next time the card will pick up the information for debt write off as an update. When I insert the card in the prepayment meter again the meter will reset itself and will not deduct any debt in the future. They asked me to top up for £1 and check the remaining debt and this should have been cleared after the card picked up the update. I did as advised but nothing has happened so far.

I have complained to Energywatch about this situation. In my previuos property it took 6 months and a letter to CEO and MD to get a resolution. I looks I have to go that extent again as the Customer Service is hopeless.

british gas has the worst customers service in the whole of Britain.
i dont want to go on and on about what a bunch of fucking idiots they are but will say..its all about the money with them!

given the chance i would personally piss on the faces of all the directors, managers, staff and anyone associatted with the company!

I have worked for British Gas for over 7 years now and have seen many ups and downs with the company.I work very hard to ensure all the customers I speak to are dealt with in a professional manner. I take great offence that you would tar me with the same brush as those who don't care about their job or the customers they deal with.How dare you.

We are still without hot water after three weeks due to the extremely poor service from British Gas. After logging a fault with our boiler a part was small part was initially replaced. The fault reoccured and then we were told our boiler was too dangerous and our gas supply was capped. Engineers did not turn up nor call after they said they would. After a week without gas a new flu was installed and during this installation this engineer disloged our flu vent in the loof causing it to fall out! The engineer left saying he would need to return tomorrow with another engineer and a ladder to get on the roof. This was a week ago and they are still making excuses saying engineers are not available or there is only one engineer in the area. Customer service helpdesk does not help either. Still our gas is disconnected and no hot water!!!

The worst company you can ever go to.
BUT if you have a problem try ringing 0845 607 0870 ask for Martin Sheehan He tries hard it appears.

Thanks for the Info about Phil Bently.

I telephoned the number given this morning and got through immediately to his PA - Jane Neighnour.
She took the details of my complaint - and was very sympathetic. She explained that Phil Bentley was Out of Office - i didn't really expect to talk to him anyway- but Wonder of Wonders! - she gave me the name of a guy called John Stangroom who is the director of Customer Services.

I was promised a callback within 2 hours, with the reassurance that i should call Ms Neighbor back if i did not receive said call as she sits about 20 foot from Mr. Stangroom.

I hope this info is of further use to some people - i will attempt to get Mr. Stangrooms direct line - but his address is the same as that of Phil Bentley.

Hi, just wondered how your complaint went when you spoke to someone higher up? i have had no end of problems with them - trying to get thru to that phil bentlys number now - still ringing...!

I have had a response from Mr. Stangroom. He offered me my bank charges plus £45 pound and confirmed this by email stating that a cheque would be with me within 10 days.Here we are 6 weeks later with no cheque so i have written personally to Phil Bently and copies the letter to The Mail on Sunday - who laughingly have an address for British Gas Complaints:

British Gas Blunders, Room 445, Financial Mail on Sunday, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS.

i don't hold my breath!

On 25/5/07 ( a bank holiday wkend) BG came to repair my boiler, the engineer broke the stop valve on my drive (I do not have one inside my house due to the age of the house) I had water pumping over my drive and running down the road for 36 hours. I was without water for this long and eventually after being told numberous lies by BG they arranged for Thames water to come and fix the stop valve. Thought my problems were solved. BG sent a technical manager to my house and he advised that as the water had damaged the end of my drive and as a goodwill gesture they will pay for my whole drive to be replaced. Now nearly 5 months later they say they will not pay for this. But my problems don't stop there the water pressure in my house is about half a bar, as TW have never managed to rectify the pressure to its original status. They have sent numerous engineers technicians and plumbers but nobody can rectify the pressure???? All the time its me ringing either BG or TW when Im the innocent party in all this.BG have said that we need to get 2 quotes from plumbers and they will send us a cheque??? More lies, we will have to wait and see. Phil Bentley will definately be receiving a nice little letter from me.

I read your notes,British Gas must have insurance to cover this,so claim through your own insurance,who will claim against BG'S Insurers.

Jeff.
PS I have been trying to get connected by BG since 3/09/07.

Like most of you, a bill way past what I could have used at a property I was in a year ago.Gave up trying to get it looked at, a year later and I was still being asked to explain it all again from the start, all they are good for is debt collection letters.

My approach will be to never use a Centrica company as long as I live and request as much postal information as possible for as long as I can be bothered.Not sure how much £180 will be in postage and brochure printing costs, but hey, I'll just work it at 50p a shot.I will be recycling the brochures.

Might also put a brick through any van windows that I see of theirs parked around.Have to wait and see on that one, but if they want to play fascist bully boy then they should expect a little bit of direct action back at them.Maybe they will listen to that, emails, letters and phone calls don’t work.

Can you hate an organisation?I certainly do with BG.

I have an interesting bitter sweet story.It starts with being over billed by 10x the gas I used.Goes on to describe 9 technology failings I encountered whilst trying to resolve the problem.And ends up with the most surprising customer service call I've ever had!

It's quite long, so rather than repeat it, you can read it here: British Gas Customer Service Problems

HELP .... I came home today to find a LETTER on my own table telling me that BG has broken into my house today whilst i was out with a locksmith and warrant !!! jesus its a police state- and have put a pre payment meter in without any prior consultation!! and charged me £380 for this !!! on top of my slightly overdue bill CAN THEY GET AWAY WITH THIS ?

i was a wee bit behind on a bill - i owed about 100 and was about to try to call up again ( had tried all week !!!)and settle up -id been in ill , hospital and off work - got behind etc usual problems etc etc

but without warning they break in !!!! unbelievable and they have wait for it
CHARGED ME AN EXTRA£380 !!! for the meter andbreaking in

I phoned the BG number on the letter and spoke to an appalling woman who claimed i had been sent endless telemessages !!?????and spoke to me like I was an idiot or criminal - she actually laughed at most of my attempts to get a word in edgeways and explain that i HADNT received any such mail and had been poorly ' and had tried to phone endlessly without success HELP any ADVISE who can i complain to and get this overturned ?

How about you paying your bill? Everyone else does.....

It takes about 9 months to cut someone off and you must have known about it.

Wake up muppet, it's the real world - people pay for what they use - I forgot to pay my Southern Electric bill and they were like the 7th cavalry ready to kick my door down after about 3 weeks! Sounds like you had it easy to be honest and you didnt help yourself - don't be too quick to blame those who provide the energy - you use it 3 months in advance and if you're on this website you should know who to speak to.

PLEASE HELP!! ......Our heating and hot water have now been off for approximately 12 days! It initially started on a week last monday with a small problem of no heating in the bedrooms!I did however have heating downstairs and loads of lovely hot water(Oh hum).BG came on the tuesday and said 'you appear to have a problem with the valves at the back of your boiler mate and i am too fat to fit in the space so someone less fat will have to come and do the job'.Next day a thinner BG man appeared and went in and supposedly changed said valves that were sticking. 0600hrs next morning I was awoken by a teenager yelling 'water is leaking through the light fitting on the landing' (directly under the said boiler!Things did not improve and the hot water and central heating was subsequently turned off until, 'Valves' could be replaced.I was confused as i thought that was how the leakhad initially occurred!A BG man then arrived the next day and stated that they had blown up the electric board that that controls the boiler mate.He would come and install a new one tomorrow.The BG man arrived looked at the boiler and declared that 'oh they sent me the wrong one!i'll be back tomorrow' but did not arrive.After much telephoning and consternation a man arrived on Saturday morning.Installed electric board and stated that the boiler mate was still not working properly and would have to turn it off and would be back on Monday.After my husband refusing to let him out of the house until it was sorted he stated 'i'll come back this afternoon' - he never arrived!!Managed to book a man for Sunday who was good enough to ensure we had 'hot water' until it was sorted.A man came on Monday and said that we needed new valves!! Just how many valves does one boiler need!!!!Today a man came to change the valves, and informed me that the boiler mate was ****ed and a new one was needed I now appear to have hot water and some warmth until the pump stopped working and water was not getting though and was making such a noise that I feared it would blow-up so I turned it off at the mains! Silly me I rang BG and asked for someone to come and have a look again!!! Tomorrow the saga continues!! I will keep you informed.

Which area of the country do you live?We live in West London and have had the same issue as you outstanding for FOUR YEARS.I am sitting at home as we speak when I should be at work, a BG man has just been and gone for about the 15th time this year and at last has admitted that there is nothing that BG can do to fix this - apart from take over £20 per month in homecare agreement charges.He recommended a Megaflow replacement system which BG do not cover - at a cost of around £3000 to us that BG will not cover.Oh yes, and we were told we should be grateful of the amount of times they have come to look at the system! We only want it fixed which is what we pay for!

Dear Mr Laidlaw,

I refer to my email to you of 6 November 2007 terminating on grounds of British Gas'repudiatory breach my HomeCare Agreement, No 4909564 4691719 on which your Ms Grainger wrote to suggest I might receive a call from Customer Relations. Nothing of course eventuated.

I am compelled to write today to evidence to you (again) the crass incompetence of your organisation. It relates to a letter from British Gas received today, 19 November 2007 (copy attached) informing me that parts have arrived and that your engineer was to attend tomorrow to fit the same tomorrow.Let me remind you my boiler broke down on 3 November 2007 and were it not for my actions with a third party from the boiler manufacturer my family and I would still be without heat or hot water now in this bitter winter and for the last 3 weeks.

I suggest you note what I say as it shows in a practical way the level of incompetence of British Gas in its HomeCare scheme such as I expect you as an Officer of Centrica to take note so you as CEO may use your powers to ensure most customers receive something close to the service British Gas covenant to provide because your record to date is not short of being at the helm of a disgrace and the seam is deep and tainted.

Should I find British Gas is still deducting monies from my account for a service it does not provide (as I contracted) and BG by its failures has repudiated, you can count on a reaction at the highest level as I have broken off my work this evening to take the trouble to write to you.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Tolson

Hi,
I have read with horror all the complaints posted on this and other sites relating to British Gas. I had great pleasure this week in accepting a position within British Gas. I taking up the role of customer experience manager, and my role is to champion the customers needs, wants and basic rights. Although I am employed by BG I will be acting independantly to ensure that steps are taken to rectify the issues within customer service.
With such a massive company this is not going to happen overnight and as another BG employee explained previously a lot of the problems stem from a new billing system that was mis-sold to BG that turned out to be a complete logistical nightmare, however, I am not making excuses for BG and things need to change. I am not able to directly solve every complaint at this stage, as my job will be to influence change within the organisation in order to prevent the complaints escalating in the first place, however, I would be interested to hear of the issues you have come across within the organisation. I would also be interested to hear details of when you have been delighted with the customer service you have received, whether from a utility company, retailer or any other service. Tell me why you were delighted and tell me what you expect from your utilities provider. You can send details to me at the following email address. This is not a British Gas address and my message has not come from British Gas - I have not yet started working for BG but your information will help me to get started where it counts! BGC@maceyandmacey.co.uk

Warmest Regards!

I am a landlord with 4 British Gas service contracts, which i have had for at least 3 years. My tenants have all complained of failed appointments having been asked to wait in for at least a morning or afternoon for an engineer to arrive only to be told that the engineer arrived but no one was in.

This has happened too many times to be a coincidence and one engineer told me off the record that they will say someone is out as a way of catching up on their calls.

The next problem is the parts excuse which involves a cursory inspection by an engineer who states that a part is needed only to find that when the part is to be fitted it is either the wrong one, has not arrived or is damaged but in any case the engineer does not turn up. In desperation I have turned to outside companies who fix the problem there and then - sometimes without the need to get the part as their was a misdiagnosis in the first place.

In short, I find them to be incompetent, unprofessional, dishonest and completely unreliable.If I knew of another company that provides a national service, I would switch instantly.Unfortunately, I seem to be stuck with them.

If you want a load of aggravation I recommend you use BG otherwise stay clear of this totally hopeless company.
Richard

I fully sympathise with everyone here although we're not having problems with billing.

My father is peed off with CS ringing trying to sell him something so I passed on the address here, plus they've got his name wrong on the bill and they still haven't changed despite numerous attempts. At least he can claim it's not him if we get any problems. :)

Anyway a good story about BG coming through:

A few years ago we had a new back-boiler fitted and then I went off to university. My sister who was also studying but still living at home was getting sleepy whilst studying in the same room as the gas fire and back boiler.

When it came for the service the service guy discovered the installer had stretched the old narrow flue to fit the wider gap on the new boiler and it had pinged back releasing allowing carbon monoxide to escape into the room. The reason why he did this.....it was raining and he didn't want to go on the roof to get the flue down the chimney.

The service guy called his supervisor and explained the situation. He arrived within 30 minutes took one look, rang up head office and then told us the installer guy had been fired on the spot.

I was livid, I could have lost my sister or worse as this had been happening over 9 months or so.

We got a new flue and a reasonable amount of compensation (four figures).

It seems BG only care when lives are at stake.

I sit in my freezing house waiting for the 9th visit from a BG engineer (for 2 of these engineer just did not turn up).We are in our 4th week without heating. It took a long time to diagnose the problem, but eventually problem with flue diagnosed and parts ordered.After 10 days phoned BG to find out if any news on parts only to be told that parts arrived at BG 3 days previously but that nobody thought to let us know!Developed problem with immersion heater also and it took 3 visits to diagnose the problem.Engineer said he would order parts and arrange for them to be fitted at same time as boiler.Engineer came to fit parts last Friday.When I opened the door to him he waved the parts in front of me and asked what he was to do with them - unbelievable!He also did not have part for immersion.He clearly had no idea what he was doing and was also clearly unhappy in his job - very sulky and surly.He called a colleague who informed me that they were the wrong parts and that the boiler would not be turned on that day - I could have wept.I have 3 children and the past few weeks have been really miserable.I have to get up at 5 am every morning as the immersion shorts the main electricity board and I have to reset the switch so that there's hot water for everyone. Am totally fed up and have only come across this unacceptable level of service before when I had dealings with TalkTalk.Have taken note of MDs phone number and address - anyone had any luck with this?

Waited in freezing house for engineer since 12pm and received a phone call saying that the appointment was changed to 31 December!!! That would take us to 6 weeks without heating.Have contacted MDs office and they are trying to get appointment tomorrow.Unbelievably bad service from Customer Services.

I waited 7 weeks to get a new tank fitted, three missed appointments, constant chasing, but eventually the day arrived.
Tank delivered, engineer on site, the job was completed, but immediately it was obvious something was seriously wrong.

After some messing about and head scratching, the engineer decided he hadn't a clue because he had only ever fitted one of these. He switched off the sysrem and suggested I ring the customer service line and tell them I had a leak.

I have no heating and no hot water.

Next day another engineer came along and eventually came to the conclusion that it was the wrong tank for our system. This tank cost around £700 and took most of a day to fit.

A new tank had to be ordered, delivery date 14 January. (Bearing in mind the 'wrong' tank took 7 weeks).

With Christmas looming and visitors coming, I contacted customer services again. We'll send an engineer to assess whats needed on Monday (xmas Eve).I explained that this had already been done and spent the next ten minutes trying to stop them sending out an engineer to confirm what they already knew.

As far as they are concened, the part is on order and thats it.

My house has no heat and no hot water as a direct result of a cock up by British Gas and they seem quite happy to sit back and let things take their course. You just can't talk to anyone who can tell you anything or influence the situation.

I will be contacting Phil Bentley, but it will be too late to save my Christmas arrangements

I thought I had it bad but comparatively not. We had BG install boiler two weeks back - they managed to get water onto the receiver's circuit board (for signals from the wireless thermostat) but said it'd be ok and used hairdryer to dry it out. They took another few hours then had to call in the manufacturer (Worcester Bosch) to help - he installed a new fan and then it worked for about a week. Then the signal started cutting out. Called Homecare (free for 12 months), they started it up again and left. Cut out the next day. Call Homecare again,tell them we need a new circuit board, first appointment they have is in four days - on the day, the engineer never turns up but lies to his/her bosses and said that couldn't get access, what a sht. Call Homecare again and tell them that we need a new circuit board and book in another visit two days later: engineer turns up and within about 30 seconds tell us that we need a new circuit board. We call Homecare and they say it's the Installation Manager's problem not theirs and they've 'done all they can' (which in fairness wasn't very much but may have been true - not all they're contractually obliged to do mind) so we call up the Installation Manager who says it's Homecare's job. Eventually he agrees to order it and Worcester Bosch (who seem to be the sole decent link in the sorry chain) will get the circuit board to us in a day or two. All I can say is that I'm glad I haven't paid for Homecare because even when it's free it's a waste of time and money.

I have read everyones comments and am pleased to see that we are not the only ones. We have paid for home care cover for the last five years and have never had issues with our boiler (14 years old). Last week we had a BG engineer out too look at a small leak and said he needed to order a heat exchanger which would be fitted 4 days later, in the mean time we still had heat and hot water. When the engineer came to fit the heat exchanger he told us that he had a family member ill and would have to rush the job as he had another job after ours and was then going to the hosiptal (which i can understand BUT NOT AT MY COST). After an hour and a half we were called up to say that the combustion chamber also needed to be replaced as this was damaged due to years of this leak (even though never picked up on a service)He said the part may not be available and arranged a sales person to come who arrived the next day at 8am (before we even knew the parts wernt available). He said we would need to spend £3500 on a new boiler. As we are not in the postion to go to a plumber and pay cash we had to accept that. Later we rang the BG engineer and asked if the parts had been sourced. He said he was told by his boss to close the job down and not bother as we would most certainly older a new boiler. A few days after the sales visit we questioned how the sales guy had got to the figure of £3500. He said it was the complete package and he couldnt take any thing of it. We asked to speak to his manager (head of sales) who then said if you dont like the price take your custom else where as British gas will only install what they want and not what you want. This sales manager is called Neil Clark and in the next sentence said he does not value me as a customer as i question the qoute. We had a call from the ops manager offering £500 compenstaion for the fact he couldnt be sure if his engineer had done the damage. we declined this offer as it dosent even come close to our hotel cost we have incured. I said that i would be willing to pay for the cost of the boiler but not the labour or the other bits (approx £1500). He declined. After speaking with consumer direct they advised i should write to BG and give them 14days to respond by recorded delivery. This letter is being sent today to the CEO and i await his response.

Hi

We went 6 weeks without heating and hot water - engineers failed to turn up 4 times - then it took another 4 weeks to get someone to come out. We also took about 7 days off work in total and made over 40 phone calls. In the end, the call centre kept hanging up on me because they didn't want to deal with the problem.

Eventually they sorted it when i spoke to EnergyWatch and Trading Standards. I threatened that i would get a plumber out and bill them directly seeing as they could'nt fulfill their contract. Next day engineer turned up and fixed the problem.

The worse bit about it is although it was the same problem as we had previosuly with our boiler they have sent us a bill for £160 - despite aparently being covered for 12 months!

Am in process of writing to BG now. They are useless- there's no way that we'll take out HomeCare now.

After suffering almost a week without water and heating, with 2 small children (due to leaking tank) our tank was installed.The insurance company came and did their bit. Now the joint on the tank is leaking again.A whole new cycle of pain begins....I feel suicidal at the thought of dealing with BG again.

I moved into my new build property on 1 June 2007 I've not had a bill since. BG is the supplier for all on the development - they certainly supply my gas. No new supplier can take over the account until BG release it. I've contacted them about once a month since I moved in to request a bill.

All the helpline staff are 'unable' (read: unwilling) to escalate my call, and I am concerned that the bill will be rather large as it will cover at least 9 months of use. The unsympathic advisors and lack of movement on the issue has caused me to contact EnergyWatch.

At present I feel as though my eletricity supply is being held to ransom. I want to move to a green supplier but I'm just not able to without any of my account details (which BG are "not able to supply").

A bunch of monkeys. But not surprising given the huge nature of the company. I'll just have to keep chipping away until I get a bill... in the meantime I'm trying to save a little to be able to pay the giant bill - assuming it ever arrives!

Good luck one and all!

Hi,

I'm having the same problem with BG...i wanted to switch to E-on as used them with previous property. Bought a new build from persimmon and had to wait for switchover to happen. I assumed it did...then got gas bill (5 months later) for 4 weeks we were with them £169! for 4 weeks! paid it though as they contacted collection company to chase payment.

Now, 6 months down the line, still no electric bill, and it's flagged as de-energised so switchover can't happen.

They are not getting a penny out of me for Electric, i had to bring this to their attention, to advise them politely that they are actually supplying me...they didn't even know they were...and they want to bill me for it now i've told them? not likely...

There are quite a few local service contract companies around, local ones, one website to look at if you are in or reasonably close to Lancashire is http://www.familygascare.co.uk visit within 2 hours and only £149 per year for the whole system covered.

We moved to this country from South Africa (not sure if you have heard the jokes about the blackouts), and are relatively used to bad service. I must say that the service from BG equates to the poorest service in a 3rd world country. I have been charged in excess of 600.00 over the past 6 months for my electricity. I decided to take my meter readings every day for a week, only to find that in putting a new metre in, BG had swapped my metre readings around and were charging me high rates for my low readings and vice versa. I phoned them on 8th Feb this year to enquire about this and the gentleman on the phone assured me that he was putting a log into the system that my metre readings should be changed over and my balance corrected. He assure me that this would take no more than 17 days...
I phoned BG customer services (and waited the regular 10 minutes) end March. No changes as yet. The lady said that yes, there was a log on the system but obviously the 'back office' (wherever that may be) had not dealt with it as yet. I asked for a number or contact in the 'back office' and was told that this information could not be passed on and that there was nothing more that could be done I would just have to wait.
We are at the end of April and no changes as yet... ah, well, at least we don't have blackouts I guess...

I currently work in for British Gas Ventura customer service. I treat every customer i talk to with respect and try my hardest to resolve any queries or problems they may have. Obviously i cannot speak for all agents but i know that every person on my team treats all customers fairly and sympathetically which i have to say can be a struggle with the amount of abuse we sometimes have to deal with!
My training was intensive and within my team we are constantly trying to improve our knowledge of company codes of practise as it is an ever changing environment. We dont always know everything but people do expect that of us....
It is true that some customers are unhappy with the service they have received but we are not perfect and i doubt you would be able to find a rival company that is. As such a public company however we do accept we have a responsibilty to improve on our flaws.
Our job is made so much harder by media speculation, i try my best to make sure every customer goes away happy and i have had brilliant feedback from hundreds and hundreds of customers which is the reason i enjoy my job so much! sometimes you have to be hard on people and give them bad news but 99% of my job is helping people, working FOR them and hearing them go away happy.

My problem with British Gas and Capquest began about three months after I moved out of the first flat I rented.

My mum got a call at home asking for my address; the company claimed to be the Telegram Office, and, stupidly, my mum gave them my new address.

I kept getting calls and letters saying I owed a debt, and after googling I discovered it may be British Gas employing these deceitful techniques, so I emailed them and told them I'd be contacting Watchdog about it.

Cut a long story short, they said they hadn't sold my debt, and denied any knowledge of Capquest. I gave British Gas my meter readings for my old flat, and they promised to send a new bill. British Gas have not sent a new bill, and Capquest ring me all the time. I can't get very far with them, because whenever Capquest ring they demand the first line of my address. I ask them if they'd honestly do the same if someone rang them? Capquest's retards' brains cannot compute this question however, and they mereley repeat the demand.

Capquest are honestly a complete bunch of pricks. They rang me so much when I was at the Glastonbury festival that my battery died after two days. Seriously Capquest, f*** off. And British Gas, f*** off with them. What is your problem?

I was behind on my bill after having been made redundant in January of this year. I received numerous threats of disconnection and legal proceedings and I telephoned to arrange a regular payment which they were happy with over the phone. YET I kept receiving the debt letters and recovery action.

Next thing I get a letter from the post informing me there would be a court application. I telephoned immedietly to try and avoid this and spoke with a foreign gentleman who informed me I would have to make a direct debit payment over the phone to avoid this. I asked how much and 'he said around £100' of a £300 pound bill. I thought ok I will do that despite it making me short and I was informed the court action would be avoided.

Next thing I get a letter saying BG had been granted a warrant I had been charged for this plus I had been charged for a debt visit which I know did not occur because I was in all day on the day specified!

So now I get a demand saying pay the balance in full plus the charges or they would break in and fit a prepayment meter and charge nearly £400 for this.

I telephoned the 'heavy' Keith who refused to give me his surname or acknowledge that I had been told the court hearing had been cancelled and implied that I was lying about being told this and that there was nothing he could do and that unless I paid the balance including costs he would break in to my house.

This would put me in breach of my shorthold tenancy as well.

I was forced to borrow money from a loan shark to pay this debt and reluctantly handed over a cheque to keith on the day he arrived.

Subsequently I get further debt letters after having now left the property - these bills are now completly erroneous and stating I owe £150 for 150 units of gas for example. I have written and telephoned the company on numerous occasions including writing to the senior management and never once received a reply - and now they have started texting me asking for a call back! I have moved house and switched supplier and want nothing more to do with them. I accept I probably do owe them a small amount of money for energy used but I refuse to pay their self imposed costs - £14 for a letter - at that rate they owe me money for the amount of times I have written to them!

Can I just walk away and ignore them ?

Energywatch were informed months ago and appear to have done very little

Literally at the end of my tether with them...Unbelievable bully boy tactics.

Makes me sick when I see them posting profits of millions of pounds.

To cut a long story short, for 4 1/2 mths I have been trying to get £327 that BG owe me.
They have systematically lied to me.I have spent god knows how much on phone calls.
They have told me a cheque had been sent and will take 10 working days, when it didnt arrive I rang and got told to hang on a couple more days, which I did, and it didnt arrive, I rang again and got told a cheque was never sent to me at all, and not really given an apt reply as to why not.I was adamant the problem was going to get solved, so I asked for them to transfer the money into my bank account.Which after a couple of phone calls they said was fine, they double checked my account details and on mon 1st sept said it would take 3 working days to get to my account, so after checking my bank daily(....just on the off chance), on thursday 4th I rang and was told that I was given the wrong info and it was actually 4 working days, so today I checked the bank, and lo and behold nothing there, so I ran them up, to be told 5 working days and then I kinda blew my top a bit and asked what kind of company they worked for.They put me on hol, spoke to god knows who and said it was actually gonna take 30.....yep you heard.....30 working days......so I got a right strop and went on supervisor blood hunt.To which the supervisor came on the phone and garenteed me it would be 5 working days and guarenteed it would be in my account by monday 8th sept.She also gave me the number for the admin team who were dealing with the refund.I figured I had nothing to lose so gave them a call......this was a whole other ball game.Basically got told that it hadnt been processed yet and would take 30 - 45 days, which made my blood boil.I asked for head office address and she eventually found it, I asked the name of the managing director and she said she didnt know, I asked why on earth she didnt know this and she simply replied 'we are based in india'..........like I hadnt guessed, and thats the reason you dont know the name of your company director!!Anyhow.....moving on to close this rant, I rang up Phil Bentleys office and gave my story to a gil named Liz, I said I thought Mr Bentley may want to be aware of this before I take British Gas to court...she said that she would pass my details onto the dept that would be able to give me the right answers, but it would probably be monday....it was 5.30pm, so I accepted this.So lets see what monday brings.......cos small claims court is looking more and more of an viable option, in which I can simply get what I wanted 4 1/2 months ago.........GET MY MONEY BACK.

I work for British Gas in the Homemovers department. The pay is good and the benefits even better. 9/10 customers I speak to are generally satisfied customers and my colleuges are always willing to go the extra mile for customers. I've only had to raise one complaint in the year that I've been working there... It's quite disappointing to see that some people have had bad experiences. Reading some of your queries(not the homecare ones though), most are easy to solve, but not overnight though. I wish I could give you my extention number.

BG have next to no customer service, and as for the comment further up re less than % complain to energywatch?? If so it is only because they see little point. I told a BG rep that we would take it up with energywatch and he very smugly told me I was wasting my time.

I have recently found out that British Gas attempted to break into my property BEFORE they had a warrant. Luckily my neighbours called the police so I have prof of this and will defenitely be taking this further. I was already intending to, due to my awful treatment anyway, this just compounds it.

In BG's code of conduct they promise to listen sympathetically to any debt issues or financial problems affecting your ability to pay and offer payment plans or help and advice to get back on track, taking your situation and ability to pay into account. I have NOT had this AT ALL. When we went to them and told them we were struggling they offered us one payment plan which was totally over the top in terms of what we could afford- we tried to compromise but were blankly refused. We were told they were NOT interested in seeing a financial breakdown to see what we could afford to pay themselves, and would not be willing to discuss further. They made us one offer, and when we said we couldnt afford this they decided to just go for disconnection.

Disgusting, money grabbing animals. The people I spoke to contradicted eachother, and gave promises on things, which were later dismissed by others. We were basically laughed off the phone.

We received a letter back along saying they had a warrant when they did NOT, and now I find out they were breaking in without one.

I want to sue their arses off.

If BG are really that bad go elsewhere they are enough competitors....I work for BG and Im sure after a few months with the competitors (who cant compete) you will of wished you stayed with us. Yes mistakes are made granted but you never compliment them for the good work they do. Just look at their website to see a few examples.

You all make me laugh!

Hello,

I am a New York class action lawyer living in London.

Several individuals at our firm have also had negative dealings with British Gas over large scale fraudulent and cartel behaviour.

We would be happy to hear from you regarding your issues regarding these civil justice issues.

We applaud the actions of this site and sympathize with anyone who has suffered a miscarriage of justice at the hand of any energy provider.

had a bill this morning..from the account review department saying i under payedby£8000 ..they say i should of been on a higher rate ..i disagree ....but they are demanding the full amount... they say it the law.. i think i go bankrupt

I did a little pre payment meter test
70p for a shower????

I dont owe anything and i have a good boiler. At that rate i would have to be in the show for a day!

I will be switching!
Something tells me BG is topping up their targets for bonuses with prepay menters.

I have now been without a cooker since 9th April, 5 weeks, and spent hours and hours on the phone with Britsh Gas Switchbaord people who are pleasant but simply pass the issue around to each other. On Monday after escalating yet again, I was told an area manager would call. Surpise, surpise - No call.
When the engineers have come out they admit they haven't the tools or know how to tackle the problem.
I sense that the people are good but the management, quality and escalation processes is useless.
With my latest escaltion this afternoon, a pleasant lady told me that someone would actually call me tomorrow. When I asked was this to resolve this issue, she said no, it was only someone from Customer services who would decide if it should be escalated.
Give up!

I set up direct debit in 1997 because the saleman said I'd pay my winter bills over the FOLLOWING summer (the DD amount would be the same every month).
Last year, British Gas had taken 600 quid too much from my bank account.
I demanded a full refund, eventually got most of it back, & BG agreed to change my DD to 50 pounds a month.
Instead they took 60 pounds!!
I rang again - & one DD of 50 was taken.
The next month BG took 98 with no prior warning!!
When I rang to complain AGAIN, a 'manager' told me DD customers are 'expected' to pay for next winter's bills IN ADVANCE!!!!
Quartlerly bills are paid in arrears...
BG must be taking millions of pounds in advance from DD customers - effectively taking interest-free loans from us.
Letters to Phil Bentley, Centrica Chairman Roger Carr, & energy watchdogs are on their way!
Is anyone else onto this?

Im having BG worries. (suprise!) Ive had the wrong meter, being charged the wrong rate for the last 18 months, and Bg have messed me regarding this for over a year! They wont pay me back what ive over paid, and have offered me an insulting £100 for an "all in" pay off!!! :-O (you what?) Im definately going to be changing my supplier once this is all resolved (trust me, im so out of there) Im keen to get my complaint through to Phil Bentley (as is everyone i know) but the above address, Is this still correct? Does anyone have any tales of responses from letters sent to this address? I would be grateful to hear them.

I still find it hard to comprehend the situation I have been put in by British Gas Business. I am so incensed by the lack of co-operation and sensibility that I have taken the drastic step to persuade my whole family to leave British Gas. This is currently taking place.
Here's what happened.
I took the lease of a unit in Northampton in Nov 2008 from where my business Key2estates Ltd was to trade. We were unaware of who the current electricity supplier was. We received a bill from British Gas In Jan for £1,200. (roughly). In the office we used 2 x Laptops, 1 x desk top printer, a radio, Kettle and low energy lighting. £1200 FOR 2 MONTHS ELECTRIC! I contacted British Gas to tell them there must be a mistake. After much exchange of phone calls British Gas retreated for shelter behind their equipment and said 'If the meter says you used, then you used it!'
Since then it got worse. I had to close the office and British Gas Business took to writing to me at my home address in MY NAME. No longer the company name and billing me in the same way.
I wrote to Phil Bentley in Jan 2009 & to the billing department. On 24 Dec 2009 I got a threat of COLLECTION AGENCY from them. They deny receiving either of the letters. SHAME ON YOU PHIL BENTLEY & BRITISH GAS!
The upshot of this is I now have to pay £1,200 for an electric bill which should have been no more than £400 TOPS!
So, I am now voting with my feet. I will no longer support companies who use their muscle before their brains.
Jay Harwood.

On december 23rd, my boiler blew up, although on "home Care" i was advised i would have no hot water or heating untill 24th of Febuary!! leaving me and my three children with no heat or water over chrismas. I subsiquently had to pay over £600 to get a gas engineer out over new year.

This was a tempory fix, as of now June the 13th, although i have hot water "thanks to a plumber i know! have had no heating since christmas.

In the last couple of weeks my oven developed a fault. after three hours on the phone i was advised that an engineer would be available to attend today, After watching him run up the drive and post a card through the door then drive off in an unmarked van, im left wondering!!!

If anyone is considering British Gas for any service, Please please think again. If you would like a conversation with anyone who can speak more than two words forget it. what a wast of space!!

My last words are, save your money. dont use BG they havent a clue and are compleatly usless!!!

What a set of usless Idiots....

Regards

One costomer who has had no heat and cooking facilitys for six months!!!!

Best Regards

Richard.cryer@gmail.com

one very very very unhappy customer of BRITISH GAS!!!

I have had the misfortune to work for British Gas Electrical, and it's a joke. The management is incompetent and pathetic. I share an office with the over worked help desk department, their manager is more interested in making sure emails are spelt correctly than getting service levels down. The manager of my department is a complete incompetent fool and British Gas not only pay him enough to afford a brand new Saab convertible with all the trimmings, they also pay for him to spend 3 nights at one of the best hotels in town.

From what I have seen British Gas / centrica is an archaic and outdated company and I would urge anyone thinking of working for them to reconsider.I have no idea how they were voted in the top 25 companies to work for.

Phil Bentley has announced that no employee will be getting a pay increase in 2012, this was announced only months after he recieved a 1.2 million bonus.

BG isn't just defecating on the customers; employees are suffering too. At the moment, they're working on a 'storybook of BG' to celebrate 200 years of the company (at great expense) while in the middle of a round of redundancies. During the last round of redundancies there was a huge (expensive) re-brand exercise. Failed outsourcing projects are being re-undertaken at the moment, too, as if any more visible evidence were needed of the incompetence of the powers that be at GB.
Managers are shuffled around different projects within the business with little to no regard to their skills, experience, or subject knowledge, leading to not only very poor direction and decision-making, but the knock-on of poor morale.
As well as their PR may have been in this instance with the letter, one letter does not rescue what is possibly a sinking ship. It looks as if a complete overhaul of management, with a view to long-term decisions made in the interests of repeat business and employee efficiency, would be infinitely more helpful to all involved rather than the current willy-nilly nonsense compensated by a massive marketing budget.
But then, that would require common sense over rampant avarice, so the board would never see it through.
'Working for British Gas' is correct.

I had British gas install a boiler which was done so badly that when my flat was surveyed I was told that I would have to get heir electrical work redone. This was confirmed by two other electricians . The gas pies were also completely wrong, no magnetic filter fitted and the system was filthy despite their claims hat they had cleansed the system. I am locked in a battle with an appalling woman from customer services called Heather Fletcher who refuses to even phone the contractors I usedto prove that the installers and Homecare staff acted illegally. I have put many photos and the whole story including the pathetic responses from this woman on the web at http://britishgas-complaints.com/sample-page/. Without doubt they are the worst company I have ever dealt with.

contact GASSAFE ask for a free survey of the work you should have a ciertificate issued via building control as it should be notified works then some sh--t should hit the fan< the she will talk to you