BritishGas - I'm loosing the will to live

[Bosswhite]

Energy Companies dictate DD rates because they know they get interest on surplus cash , they have received billions from the Government to help out consumers just at the time Interest rates have risen to their highest rate in years , someone is taking the P*** out of consumers .

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I found BG getting too expensive and changed nearly 10 years ago now.

They are all almost the same price now.

They're taking the absolute **** out of people, they're a law unto themselves and can get away with being as useless as they want because the whole things a rigged racket, including the supposed consumer watchdog groups which are meant to oversee all this shyt.

I agree, what sort of company needs 10 months to properly sort a simple bill out? I have it clear I want my bill straightened up, so I can change to a supplier who can send correct bills to their customers.

I owe them a fortune because I've tried to call up to organise my payments since I moved in to this property and keep having to deal with Indian call centre who couldn't care less...

Yep, I have tried to talk to them a few times, they are absolutely hopeless - if it's not on their script, they simply don't understand.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I had this with Bulb. I managed to get them to agree to take a monthly payment by DD based on my meter readings, rather than their stupid "predictions". The up front payment plans were sold as a way to keep tariffs a bit lower, but all tariffs are at the cap now so it really makes no sense to pay a DD based on what the supplier wants you to pay, rather than one based on your meter readings.

All of my 5 previous suppliers have used bill prediction to spread the bill through the year, and it has always worked out accurately. BG are only taking £40 per month, which is well below what I need to pay, but there is no facility on my account to modify it, because of the mess they have made of my account. So I'm expecting a massive bill, if and when they do finally sort it out.

 

[albaPhenom]

I'm sorry, that information is classified.

 

[albaPhenom]

Yep, I have tried to talk to them a few times, they are absolutely hopeless - if it's not on their script, they simply don't understand.

I actually had one of their debt collection guys show up at my door, who was absolutely fine because I explained to him that I had no issue making payment and that the issue was with them claiming their system was constantly down whenever I actually managed to get through to someone.

We set up the one off payment to them together and I sat and watched him blow the hell up at them over the phone because he sat for about half an hour sorting a payment, only to be cut off just as they had it sorted and then when he tried to call back, the next person tried to tell him that they couldn’t technically do what he was asking even though another operator had just done exactly that… and then refuse to pass him over to the original operator or a manager.

The frustration written on his face told you everything and he ended up apologising for shouting at them on the phone.

It’s this payment which has never come off my bill, so they can sort that out before they get anything else.

 

[noseall]

In theory, yes. But judging by the experiences of other members here, per the posts above, it's a good idea to read the meter manually, as a backup in case you get a crazy bill.

The high, low or outrageous setting of individual monthly debits is nothing to do with the meter.

 

[jeds]

All of my 5 previous suppliers have used bill prediction to spread the bill through the year, and it has always worked out accurately. BG are only taking £40 per month, which is well below what I need to pay, but there is no facility on my account to modify it, because of the mess they have made of my account. So I'm expecting a massive bill, if and when they do finally sort it out.

I'm surprised at that Harry. I was in a similar situation (but different figures apparently) when BG reduced my payment from £166 to £134/m. Even £166 was too low so I put it back up to £200/m online and it was fairly simple to do.

I had smart meters installed recently when I built a porch to the front of the house. Other half wanted a coat/shoe cupboard which covered the wall that the meters were on. It was ****ing me off having to pull the thing out all the time so smart meters was the answer. If you put your ear to the meter box you can hear the little man inside snoring at night.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The high, low or outrageous setting of individual monthly debits is nothing to do with the meter.

No, it is a calculation based on your previous consumption, averaged out to allow you to pay a similar sum throughout the year each month. It can make it much easier to budget for energy, than the wild variations between winter and summer.

 

[ajohn]

If you put your ear to the meter box you can hear the little man inside snoring at night.

Some do have problems getting a reading out of them. I did following instructions. The supplier wasn't much help.They didn't have correct instructions either.

 

[IT Minion]

Exactly. Not smart.
Smart would benefit the homeowner in some way. If energy prices fluctuated throughout the day, smart would be turning on devices at the cheapest times. But we don't do that.

Not widely yet. Octopus has been trialing stuff like that on their Agile tarrifs.

 

[gas112]

years ago i had them on the phone threatening me with disconnection assured her that the money had been paid only for her to have a go at me saying i was lying and had not paid etc and the baliff would be calling let her go on for a good 5 minutes digging a big hole .
Then said would you like to contact payroll and ask them where the money they have been taking from my wages for the past 6 months has gone .
Long silence then her asking oh are you an employee
Yes i am .
Entire persona changed and she couldnt do enough before saying oh yes i can see the payments now

 

[JP_]

years ago i had them on the phone threatening me with disconnection assured her that the money had been paid only for her to have a go at me saying i was lying and had not paid etc and the baliff would be calling let her go on for a good 5 minutes digging a big hole .
Then said would you like to contact payroll and ask them where the money they have been taking from my wages for the past 6 months has gone .
Long silence then her asking oh are you an employee
Yes i am .
Entire persona changed and she couldnt do enough before saying oh yes i can see the payments now

Bulb were a bit like that. They set the DD date, but for some reason that was about 2 weeks after their bill date.
Every month, because I refused to keep a big credit on my account, they would phone me and say I owed them money, even though the payment had been requested already - I could see it leaving my account, it just wasn't yet on my Bulb account.

Which is why I think they were playing on the cash markets with customer money, and lost.

 

[JP_]

All of my 5 previous suppliers have used bill prediction to spread the bill through the year, and it has always worked out accurately. BG are only taking £40 per month, which is well below what I need to pay, but there is no facility on my account to modify it, because of the mess they have made of my account. So I'm expecting a massive bill, if and when they do finally sort it out.

Yeah, but I prefer to pay for what I use. I tend to do more and spend more in summer anyway, so happier to have lower summer bills and higher in winter.

Besides, if you decide to leave an energy company after the summer period, you'll probably find you're out of pocket and need to claim cash back, which is a PITA

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Besides, if you decide to leave an energy company after the summer period, you'll probably find you're out of pocket and need to claim cash back, which is a PITA

Until BG, I have done a supplier cost reassessment each October and done a switch soon after.

 

[Old Salt]

Yeah, but I prefer to pay for what I use. I tend to do more and spend more in summer anyway, so happier to have lower summer bills and higher in winter.

Besides, if you decide to leave an energy company after the summer period, you'll probably find you're out of pocket and need to claim cash back, which is a PITA

Lots of energy companies will let you pay whole amount monthly by DD.

Personally I am with Octopus, have smart meters and pay by DD. The app or online lets you change the DD easily. Had a smart meter changed within 6 weeks when the first one went belly up and pay 7.5p per Kwh for 4 hours a night to charge my car. 2 sessions gives me 160 mile for under £4.