AIBU to have a massive moan

[sobeyondthehills]

We have gas and electric top up cards and are with British Gas. On the 1st January they changed their provider from paypoint to payzone.

We assumed there might be some teething problems so topped up in our local shop on the 31st.

Our problem now, is our local post office is saying they don't do the top up, the 2 nearest stores are saying the system is down for British Gas , the next nearest store has shut down, there are no providers between home and my partners work. I have mental health problems so really cannot go all around the county trying to find someone, anyone who might be able to top up.

I can't have a smart meter or change provider at the moment. I have been onto British gas, via twitter, facebook, phone and their website as we are now on emergency for both gas and electric and seem to be unable to top up anywhere.

If anyone has any other suggestions I could try I would be grateful

Just a small update on this, we ran out of gas this morning, but we think we have found somewhere to top up, just not sure if my partner is going to be able to get home before the electric runs out.

British Gas, payzone and the post office have been as helpful as a chocolate teapot, but the plus side is I have had something to do today

Do you ever go more than 3 miles from your flat? Yes you probably do so that is completely irrelevant.

No I don't actually, I barely leave my flat. I consider it a win when I get my son to school by myself,

I have left BG just after Christmas after shocking customer service but checked their Facebook and was reading the comments. There was one which said if you call explaining the vulnerability I.e your mental health and child/ren & you have zero on your emergency, they will send out an engineer to restart your meter with a gesture credit until you can get to a shop that's open. Might be worth calling them or reading some of the comments on the Facebook post

@Goingwiththeflow2019 they did offer something like this, but the next available app was the 14th Feb I refused on the basis we should be able to top up somewhere

They are also still pushing the smart meter but based on the advice I got on this thread they may be putting me on direct debit

So to the first poster on this thread no goggle was not my friend but MNs was, which is why I asked

EDF came and changed mine from payg to pay monthly as an emergency at 2am. Could they not do this?

Get a smart meter you can top up from your phone. X

lisag1969
Get a smart meter you can top up from your phone. X
Obviously you haven't read the thread...

@PatricksRum I was originally told that due to the debt I have they couldn't do this, but after several hours I spoke to a lovely guy at british gas and they have agreed to now do this. they can't do it till late Feb, but now we know there is somewhere we can top up, its not as bad as it could be.

I have worse issues. I just walked 7/8 miles, and still haven't topped up because the shops won’t accept credit cards or debit cards for Pay Zone. During my rage induced trip I walked past around forty shops that had some kind of machine. Thirty-seven of them had PayPoint, and three had PayZone. One of those PayZone machines had been broken for over a month, and the other two wouldn't let me pay by card, and WHY should I have to spend money to get cash out of a machine when all the PayPoint shops were fine!

I'm changing my provider and going to be making a formal complaint and charging them $30 an hour for wasting my time. I can't even have a shower and I have to be at work tonight and I don't have or I would have got cash from the supermarket.

Pressed the $ key instead of £ (my bad).

@Raydes, I feel your pain. Our local post office is still insisting they cant do it, the shop local to us is saying their machine is broke.

We have found a place and they only accept cash, but its a place, BG have still to come out to me, although I dont have much hopes for them to change the meters because I was promised that I could on direct debit if I stayed with them, but the appointments all say upgrade to a smart meter, which is they checked they have already been out and told me they can't do