British Gas

[Jack2jack]

What a pile of cr@p.
Online accounts don't work.
App for android useless.
Dont try and phone them, been trying for two days, wont pick up.
Tamping

 

[BrynCartwright]

What a pile of cr@p.
Online accounts don't work.
App for android useless.
Dont try and phone them, been trying for two days, wont pick up.
Tamping

Takes about 30 minutes to get through to an actual person at Eon..

 

[BrynCartwright]

Takes about 30 minutes to get through to an actual person at Eon..

..but they could not sort out my problem in that my smart meter In House Display needs to be replaced. EON don't replace Smets1 IHDs.....cnts!

 

[Cooperman]

I generally regard British Gas as the worst of the worst when it comes to customer service. The inability to speak to someone who can actually make a difference is staggeringly difficult.

Our smart monitor stopped recording some weeks ago so I have less visibility of incurred costs. The fault is allegedly due to a software issue on the meter so this also impacts on data being fed back to the online account. The guy who came to service the boiler didn't want to get involved; he was part of the "It's not my job" brigade, the online chat route has proved futile, and some call centre chappy could not advise on a fix (at about the tenth attempt at trying to reach someone).

The app doesn't work for me either. The reason quoted to me is that it's not able to cope with two addresses being paid from one account.

Tinpot organisation of the highest order.

 

[legoman]

I generally regard British Gas as the worst of the worst when it comes to customer service. The inability to speak to someone who can actually make a difference is staggeringly difficult.

Our smart monitor stopped recording some weeks ago so I have less visibility of incurred costs. The fault is allegedly due to a software issue on the meter so this also impacts on data being fed back to the online account. The guy who came to service the boiler didn't want to get involved; he was part of the "It's not my job" brigade, the online chat route has proved futile, and some call centre chappy could not advise on a fix (at about the tenth attempt at trying to reach someone).

The app doesn't work for me either. The reason quoted to me is that it's not able to cope with two addresses being paid from one account.

Tinpot organisation of the highest order.

I had this issue a couple of years back when I noticed that my display suggested I had used £27,000 worth of electricity one day. Couldn't get an answer from EDF, but then someone came to change my electricity meter (a coincidence, not prompted by my call). I quizzed the guy who said that all the software had been updated and thus had screwed a large number of displays. He said I could ask for a new one but I thought I'd not been looking at it after I'd had it a week as the novelty had worn off.

EDF guy said it's the actual meter that feeds back your usage not the display so I unplugged the display and binned it.

To me it is patently obvious which items in my house consume the most power so I never really saw the point in having the display.

And on the point of customer service, in my opinion every large organisation is the same. Recent attempts to contact the Office of the Public Guardian, National Savings, Barclays have cost me hours of my life I'll never get back. I've sometimes given feedback to these firms and guess what, it counts for s*d all. This is the modern world folks with a facade of good customer service in offices populated by kids who are untrained beyond reading a script and who are actively encouraged not to take personal responsibility or think outside the box to help customers.

 

[Jack2jack]

Update, Still trying to get through to speak to a real person. Total wait time listening to some cheesy electro pop garbage 110 minutes, that's 1 hour 50 minutes. Farking disgrace.
Did manage a web chat, but was cut off half way through chat by agent, who thought i had finished.

 

[Cooperman]

Update, Still trying to get through to speak to a real person. Total wait time listening to some cheesy electro pop garbage 110 minutes, that's 1 hour 50 minutes. Farking disgrace.
Did manage a web chat, but was cut off half way through chat by agent, who thought i had finished.

There has probably never been a worse time to get hold of British Gas.
1. Staffing hangover post Covid
2. Winter
3. Many customers in fuel poverty

However, if you do make it through can you ask them how many smart meter software updates are outstanding? Last count it was about 33,000.

 

[cmajack]

Octopus energy, head and shoulders above any other energy company I've had to deal with over the years.

 

[J_B]

Octopus energy, head and shoulders above any other energy company I've had to deal with over the years.

I second that.

 

[Jack2jack]

There has probably never been a worse time to get hold of British Gas.
1. Staffing hangover post Covid
2. Winter
3. Many customers in fuel poverty

However, if you do make it through can you ask them how many smart meter software updates are outstanding? Last count it was about 33,000.

You're right Coops. Thing is if they want to go down the online route, you have to make sure the system is in place to cope with demand. again the online system was down this morning with technical issues.
I've got an app with OVO, no problems at all really good bit of kit.
When I spoke to someone in BG back in the summer, she was telling me that they are inundated with calls, some folk obviously concerned about the price hikes, the stories being told to her, she said were heart breaking.

 

[Squarebear]

I used to work on the IT side at British Gas so saw some of the goings-on. There were a lot of systems/processes all bumping along, causing issues in other areas.

The one that particularly struck a nerve was when someone rings to report that the account holder has died. First mistake was BG routed the call to India meaning grieving people were struggling to make themselves understood.

But more calamitous than that, although the call centre agent would update the system to show the new account holder, another system regularly overwrote those details ensuring correspondence continued to be sent to the deceased.

On one occasion a list of recently deceased BG customers were sent a mail shot intended for customers who'd recently switched to another supplier (Dear Mr Brown, we are sorry you've left us. If you ever want to come back please call this number...".

Calamitous stuff.

 

[J_B]

I used to work on the IT side at British Gas so saw some of the goings-on. There were a lot of systems/processes all bumping along, causing issues in other areas.

The one that particularly struck a nerve was when someone rings to report that the account holder has died. First mistake was BG routed the call to India meaning grieving people were struggling to make themselves understood.

But more calamitous than that, although the call centre agent would update the system to show the new account holder, another system regularly overwrote those details ensuring correspondence continued to be sent to the deceased.

On one occasion a list of recently deceased BG customers were sent a mail shot intended for customers who'd recently switched to another supplier (Dear Mr Brown, we are sorry you've left us. If you ever want to come back please call this number...".

Calamitous stuff.

:lol:

 

[Jackmanandboy]

British Gas supply my electricity.

In 2021 I was paying £56 a month. This was increased to £148 a month in April based on revised prices. In October they wrote to me to say my annual bill was now estimated to be about £1400. I wrote and explained £1400 a year is £117 a month not £148, they agreed to reduce my direct debit to £117. In November they wrote to me to say they have reviewed my actual use for the last 12 months and my monthly direct debit is now £68. I had overpaid by some £450 so I asked for that back and received £350 this week.

If all their customers have similar accounting issues............

 

[monmouth]

I second that.

Yep, they even answer emails. Within one day the twice I’ve tried. Be interesting to see if they regress to the mean.

 

[monmouth]

I used to work on the IT side at British Gas so saw some of the goings-on. There were a lot of systems/processes all bumping along, causing issues in other areas.

The one that particularly struck a nerve was when someone rings to report that the account holder has died. First mistake was BG routed the call to India meaning grieving people were struggling to make themselves understood.

But more calamitous than that, although the call centre agent would update the system to show the new account holder, another system regularly overwrote those details ensuring correspondence continued to be sent to the deceased.

On one occasion a list of recently deceased BG customers were sent a mail shot intended for customers who'd recently switched to another supplier (Dear Mr Brown, we are sorry you've left us. If you ever want to come back please call this number...".

Calamitous stuff.

RBS was like that. Sellotape legacy. “Dear Sir Colonel Deceased” went down well