A few pennies here and there...

So whats wrong with complaining online?

|Martin Angove wrote: | |>

|> I'm in two minds whether or not to ring BG up and make a point about |> this (I'd probably spend more on the 0845 call), but the thought |> occurred to me that we're probably not the only ones. What if all BG |> customers have been overcharged? What if it's about a pound for each |> one of them? What an easy little money-spinner! |>

|> Hwyl! |>

|> M. |>

|> -- |> Martin Angove:

Or even Snail Mail 8-O

Well Snail Mail would cost a good fraction of my 96p, after you've accounted for stamp, envelope, paper, printing :-) As for online complaints, I've never tried BG's system but have not had much joy with any other large company I've tried. I find it works much better if there's someone on the end of the phone.

I couldn't use the "sumbit your own readings" procedure either as that doesn't (so far as I can see) allow an intermediate reading to be submitted.

Hwyl!

M.

Just get online to a services price comparison site and sign up with a better service if there is such a thing.

They are all skimping on trained technicians at the moment though. I get the impression that just letting them within 20 feet of your meter will take five pounds off the credit on a prepayment meter.

I wonder if the engineers have found a scam? To what sites might a post elicit more info? Whatever the case make sure you take a reading before you let one of the buggers in.

We were signed up with house.co.uk (British gas) until recently and I'm sure you could submit a reading almost any time you like. Whether you can do it *after* a bill with a genuine reading is another matter.

MBQ

Put in your own much higher reading, the number of units allocated by the utility at the lower price will then be proportionally more.

Chances are the price will rocket again (the US has just started bombing Iraq again big time which is bound to send the price skyward) Then at some future date when they get a proper reading your next bill will be lower than it would have been :)

He's already said the latest bill was based on a real meter reading. You can replace an estimate with a reading but not vice-versa.

MBQ

So far EDF / London Energy seem satisfactory. Online account management, accessible website which accepts intermediate readings AFAICS, and an

Oh, and my account is slightly in credit. They suggested I phone them to reduce my monthly direct debit. I really can't imagine Grottish Gas doing that.

Owain

Of course you can. Meter readers DO make mistakes. All you have to do is ring up and tell them the reading is incorrect and give them your reading. There is nothing to stop the revised reading you submit being higher.

The message from Matt contains these words:

So do some meters. A friend moved into a new house with a card meter installed. The meter was showing a debit of something like £5000.

All seems a bit petty IYAM. how many hours did you spend working that out?

Obviously they have to draw the line somewhere. What about if you were over-estimated as is usually the way the guestimates? I bet you wouldn't have an issue with it then would you.

A fax usually works best.

And how much notice do they take of that??

None - in my experience

But it never seems to work that way.

I think what he was getting at was that ripping off 10 million customers for £1 is not a bad way of adding £10 million to your bottom line profit. Firstly, very few will notice, and even fewer will complain, and even fewer will be able to argue the case well enough, (meter readings on the day), to win.

A bit more notice than a phone call in my experience as a phone call is not logged more than half the time, whereas emails can be kept for future reference. :-)

Yes, that will be the meter deducting the standing charge from the balance over time even when it's not being credited. Something similar happened to us, except the amount was something like £200 in the red. After checking with the supplier, the ticket sales agent was authorised to let us have £200 in vouchers to reset the balance back to zero, although he didn't have that many on him right away. We had to call back and he had them for us for the date we moved in. When I was younger it was so much fun feeding all those £1 vouchers into the meter. Doesn't seem like it would be so much fun now.

Marcus

BG has for our account.

Mary

That's your experience. Mine is different.

Mary

If people can't be bothered to check their own readings and do something about it that's their problem.

I've often had lower estimates than the meter suggests. Should I complain?

It's swings and roundabouts. BG - and (I believe) other utility companiesdon't deliberately overestimate.

Mary