Ot : Damn Britsh Gas

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Changed over to BG from NP.

Ok I've made a mistake of not remembering to call them when there was about a pound in the meter for them to arrange a call to have the meter reset.

I've just phoned (26 minutes wait,never had this long wait with NP)BG informing them that the meter will not accept BG's new card they informed me the earliest appointment for the reset will be tomorrow afternoon, I see what do I cook on? now I have to use NP's card to buy more gas or use the Emergency and lo and behold because I've gone and purchased credit on BG's card this card is now defunct as it needs to be credited to the meter before purchase,it doesn't say anything about this on the bloody welcome letter.

Damn you BG for your incompetence to answer telephone calls sooner rather than later,if NP can answer calls in the space of 5minutes or not more than

10 then why can't they. I swear they're shaking hands with BT.

Where's the camping stove?

Rant over

[.]

LOL @ prepay meters !!

[Sylvain VAN DER WALDE]

In spite of all the bad reports about British Gas. I see that you're already beginning to regret it. Can you tell us why you changed over?

Sylvain.

I've got an electric twin burner for emergencies; I think that I've only used it once, a long time ago.

Sylvain.

[Colin Wilson]

You are effectively off supply - if it was an electric supply, you should have had someone out to you within TWO HOURS irrespective of who your supplier is.

If this was an electricity supply, this would be a failure under the guaranteed standards and you should get a payment - sadly, at first glance, these rules do not appear to apply to gas (there`s a section in the link below).

I have an old copy of the guaranteed standards on my site:

[Phil L]

Why don't you go down the Chinese? - I hear that bird you was after shafting is offering free '69's

:-p

[Andy Hall]

You have a meter where you put in coins and cards?

I didn't know that those still existed.

[Phil L]

Not coins, but card meters are still being installed, the cards are prepaid, they are mostly used by the people who can least afford to use them, given that they are the most expensive way of paying for gas/electricity, but lots of people have little choice in the matter.

[Andy Hall]

The energy suppliers are falling over themselves to win and retain customers.

[Phil L]

Because some people don't have bank accounts for setting up DD's yet still need gas and electricity. Some people can't save enough money together to pay a bill all in one go, let alone two, and can only 'pay-as-they-go'. These people have card meters and pay an extortionate rate for gas/electricity

[Andy Hall]

... and the banks and building societies are also falling over themselves to win and retain customers. There's really no excuse not to have a bank account somewhere.

That makes no sense either. All of the energy suppliers operate annualised budget schemes where the customer pays monthly.

It's very difficult to find sympathy with that when there are so many other options whereby this is unnecessary.

[John Rumm]

Many suppliers use these for debt recovery as well. So not only do you pay over the odds anyway - they use an additional price hike to recover past debts.

[Andy Hall]

.. of other people as well, by the sound of it....

[Owain]

to win and retain *profitable* customers to whom they can sell lots of lovely financial products.

Although there are now "basic" bank accounts I don't know if they allow DDs.

Owain

[Guy King]

The message from Andy Hall contains these words:

Card meters do. Bloody awful things, and the cause of our leaving BG when we bought this house with a card meter installed and they wouldn't change it "Because we were late paying a bill, once, seven years earlier".

[Guy King]

The message from Andy Hall contains these words:

But not those who they perceive as unlikely to pay on a credit arrangement. I've loads of neighbours who can't get a credit meter and have to have one of these expensive card meters.

[John Rumm]

Apparently it can be quite a pain getting shot of one if you move into a property and the "property" has a bad debt record!

[Huge]

This is one of the flaws of the credit rating system. When I applied for a copy of my credit record, I got copies of the credit records of everyone who'd ever lived at the same address ...

[Andy Hall]

This is really fixing the problem in the wrong way. The issue that needs to be addressed is why they can't manage their finances

[Andy Hall]

I completely agree.

Any supplier who plays silly games like that loses the business without further discussion.

[Ed Sirett]

Equigas & Equielec are a mid price supplier who (uniquely?) don't put a premium on prepay customers.