To think British Gas are taking the piss?

[AKAanothername]

MIL recently moved house, the new house is supplied by British Gas according to previous owners and the 'To the Occupier' letter we've received. More than happy to sign up and pay by direct debit.

Every time we try to log on and set up an account online we just get an 'oops, something went wrong' or a ' we don't supply your address' message. Tried calling but apparently, due to COVID, they're only accepting emergency calls, please call back end of Feb.

All she wants to do is set up an account, sign up for boiler cover and pay her bills. Surely it shouldn't be this difficult?

Sign up with a different supplier.

I had loads of issues with BG and wouldn't recommend them to anyone. I find Bulb good and cheaper too.

Have you tried their online chat?

Online chat just seems to got to an autobot.

Sigh up to a different supplier.

Had loads ofdear occupier waiting for me when I moved in from them.
Called someone cheaper. About a year later BG decided I was their customer and threatened legal action for the unpaid Bill

@canigooutyet - I had the same. It was a nightmare! I would never go with BG.

I'm with BG - service has definitely declined. You actually have to ask them to update your account after you submit meter readings. I'd go elsewhere. The app and chat function are also very hit and miss.
But they are accepting non emergency calls even if the recorded message says otherwise. I've called them recently.

If it was my house I'd be more than happy to just change supplier but she's old school and can't cope with any stress. I do try and help and organise everything so it's really straightforward but we're not local, it's not always easy to keep on top of everything.

Tried calling but apparently, due to COVID, they're only accepting emergency calls, please call back end of Feb.

And they are lairs too! They are on strike at the moment, it's not due to covid they aren't coming out! (They are doing emergencies only sometimes though.)

If she gives you all the details and meter numbers you can sign up with any utility online for her.
Have a look at the comparison sites to get a rough idea of the cost. I do mine every year to make sure I have the best deal and cos BG aren’t involved it’s very very easy.

The previous wouldn’t have been known as dear occupier. The letters are sent when they know the property is empty.

@UndertheCedartree yup a nightmare. The company I used were astounded and sorted it all out after I kept going round in circles.

Since signing up with Scottish Power, nearly a year ago, I have had the same issue. It's astonishing how many companies can't answer the phone because of Covid. I'll be switching again next month for no reason other than the service is crap, so cost is irrelevant.

My friend's mother is nearly 90 and at the beginning of the year she said her dm's dd had nearly doubled. So I said to ask for the bills, check she wasn't on a standard tariff. Her dm couldn't find the bills so I said set up an online account. The meter hadn't been read for well over two years and she had been under paying her account. Another friend moved into a house without doing this and the previous owner had underpaid the supplier by paying estimated bills and it only came to light as my friend was unable to change supplier.

I am older, with BG on an annual deal, I have an online account, SMETS2, pay by dd and I know my usage. The online account shows my energy use in kw daily and by cost. My contract, which was arranged through Money Saving Expert runs out this month. Is my bill fair got me a deal at only 10% higher. This works out cheaper than Bulb or Octopus. But you can't get these deals with suppliers themselves.If you have dual fuel and SMETS2 the gas meter itself still doesn't record in kw hours as the readings do on your monitor or account.

So: Take a photo of the meter readings and email them to BG. Make sure you set up an online account so you can check the bills are accurate. I get a combined quarterly bill from BG, which I can print off but you can request a printed bill. That way you and your dh will easily be able to make sure your MIL's is being properly billed

I will point out in the interests of fairness, that when you do eventually get hold of someone at BG, they are all really helpful and do what they can to help. It must be horrible doing call centre work from home right now

@AKAanothername

If it was my house I'd be more than happy to just change supplier but she's old school and can't cope with any stress. I do try and help and organise everything so it's really straightforward but we're not local, it's not always easy to keep on top of everything.

But she's getting caused stress by not being able to arrange anything with bg?! Switching is simple and really stress free

They are on strike. Well, to be fair office was always extremely short staffed before this (and rude and unhelpful) but staff are on strike due to the company using fire and rehire. CEO became CEOA in March and is doing such a great job that he had all the engineers on strike as they are saying it's not safe to time jobs (and if they go over have to come in on their days off to make it up). Imagine paying premium prices and the engineer had to be in and out within 30 minute (or whatever the time is).

I worked for BG about 10 years ago. My advice would be to move supplier.
They are awful, their service is awful, their engineers are awful and the waiting times are awful.
I dealt with complaints were engineers had left the property not turning the gas on and leaving appliances unsafe and regularly had to give people with broken boilers appointments over 7 days later.

@73kittycat73

Tried calling but apparently, due to COVID, they're only accepting emergency calls, please call back end of Feb.

And they are lairs too! They are on strike at the moment, it's not due to covid they aren't coming out! (They are doing emergencies only sometimes though.)

Not all employees are on strike!

I've got BG home care cover. Had to call them this morning because I've got no hot water. 2nd March is their first available engineer appt! I'm having to try and get a local engineer out and get the cost reimbursed. I'm struggling to find someone, which is why I have home care in the first place. But apparently, no hot water isn't an emergency. As lovely as the staff are when you do get to speak to them, the point of paying for insurance is to get help when you need it. Am seriously unimpressed this morning.

Also call handler didn't mention strikes. Implied Covid was to blame. If BG are trying to screw over their own employees with fire and rehire, I'm not surprised the engineers won't come out.

If BG are your suppliers you still need to give them the meter read from the point your DM moved in and pay them for the period to the change of supply. If you're not sure then have a look here. www.findmysupplier.energy/webapp/index.html

If it is BG then just carrying on trying to get through but hold on to that initial meter read.

I used to deal with utility bills for a lot of properties in a professional capacity as I worked in property management. British Gas were far & away the worst to deal with, we probably sent as many complaints to BG as we did to the other utility companies combined. I knew their complaints process inside out. I'd never go with BG unless their prices were absolutely rock bottom as the phone bill & stress isn't worth it IMHO.

I'd recommend you put everything in writing, send by email if you can get an address, by phone if you can get through & take details of who you spoke to (full name, time & date) & details of exactly what was said. If nothing else, by recorded delivery. Get timescales to the next step. Confirm you've been waiting X amount of time. Request a copy of the complaints process. Confirm their lack of response has caused you costs, stress, inconvenience, repeated phone calls etc. Give specific examples. Complaints are more likely to be successful if you can evidence specifically why & how their lack of professionalism has caused you any loss. State any costs you want or, more to the point, that you actually just want your account set up. I've had to do this once in my personal life & it worked very well.

@ballsdeep you're right, the majority of staff are in, however majority of engineers are on strike. Which clearly is the biggest effect. They have been sending unqualified people, like smart energy engineers, who only fit smart meters, to breakdowns and pushing sales so that they don't have to repair. Which obviously they can't repair as they don't have experience of working on boilers.

Majority of office workers agreed with the terms, new terms are different for each department, for example, engineers are expected to increase their hours per working week and decrease their hourly rate. They are taking cuts in holidays and expected to work to a system which means they have to complete breakdowns and services within a set period of time, say 20 minute for a breakdown for example, if they take longer they owe the company that time and can come in on days off for free to work it off. This will massively impede on customer safety. Plus, any employer who uses fire and rehire at the start of a negotiation to save costs of redundancy pay is abhorrent in my opinion.

My boiler was broken and I got nowhere on the phone. 2 1/2 hours over the weekend on the phone. Operator was awful. Wrote a shitty post on their FB page complaining and within the hour someone had connected me and issue sorted. We are on a priority list because of vulnerable child so that might have helped a bit but waiting times are a bit ridiculous. I suggest publicly shaming them on social media and you will get their attention.