OT: Impenetrable British Gas leads to crazy estimate

[Mike Halmarack]

Since 4th November, when my supplier stopped being Peoples Energy and became British Gas, I have been urged by email to enter my meter readings on the British Gas website. This I have attempted to do 17 times so far.

Message: "Something Went Wrong" due to technical difficulties, has always been the result. To overcome this I've been instructed to change my password on 3 occasions. This didn't gain me access either.

During one of my early attempts I tried the Online Chat route to communication. A very helpful person took my meter reading, assured me that my Economy 7 bill would not differentiate between day and night charges, as has been the arrangement with my previous provider over the past 3 years. All this seemed quite encouraging until I pressed the button to get a transcript of the Chat agreement by email and it didn't arrive.

So yesterday, 8th of January I receive an estimated bill in the post. This estimate is over twice the actual amount it should be, due to a more than doubling of the actual usage numbers on my meter. It also showed different day and night rates

This spurred me on to try other methods of communication. I've never before attempted to conduct financial transactions on my phone but out of desperation I download The British Gas app and attempted to log in.

I was informed that I hadn't got a British gas account (despite the bill I'd just received) and that I should attempt to log in to my account online, which I was then automatically transferred to on the phone.

Logging in by this method I was once again met with, "Something Went Wrong" due to technical difficulties.

I see on my paper bill that if I have any problems or queries about my bill I should contact Citizens Advice and/or other organizations that are not British Gas.

There were other contact details such as phone a number, a long and fruitless experience, or Online Chat. Both of these have failed to achieve communication so far.

[Jack Harry Teesdale]

Just pay them what you think is due by your own calculation, they are in a complete mess anyway.(Unless you are on direct debit, in which case complain to your bank)

[Peter Johnson]

Do you know what your switch status is? Have they actually told you that the switch is complete? I've been through this with a switch from Utility Point to EDF. The latter told me, by email, that I was their customer several times since last October but I couldn't do anything with my account until the switch was complete, just before Christmas. But I could at least access my account and didn't get a bill from EDF until after the switch had been completed.

[Mike Halmarack]

Well I did get a bill which was eye wateringly over-estimated, so I suppose that indicates progress of a sort.

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

If you are using XP it don't work on the s**te BG site. There are phone numbers and you can talk to f****ng Abdul.

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

...in wagga wagga

[Theo]

Write it all down in a letter and post it to them. It's much more efficient than dealing with call centre people etc, since you can put down all the facts in one place and organise them how you want, rather than having to drip feed them via phone or web chat.

It's also more efficient for them, since they can pass your letter on to the right person who can sort it out, rather than being transferred between call handlers who can't do anything.

It may take a while - in the meantime keep an eye on the direct debit and don't be afraid to cancel it if something is badly wrong (like they want to take vast sums or something)

Theo

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

I'm not surprised. Others who have been sent to them seem to be having similar problems. The facts are, that the BG system works entirely differently to the old energy company and it seems that unless it is exactly like a British Gas product the date cannot be accepted. The discussion needs to I think include somebody like the watchdog, inn the meantime I'd be tempted to pay your estimate not theirs and inform them of the reasons, but do keep all paper and email correspondence, as they are inept and confused.

I'm with EDF, and that seems to work at the moment. Brian

[Jethro_uk]

When did XP go out of mainstream support ?

(That said I did catch a story recently about needing IE6 for a new government site to do with permits for Brexit or something).

[Jethro_uk]

If only there was an electronic way to do that. You know. Save paper and fuel resources.

Someone should work on that. Could be a winner.

[Tim Streater]

See my sig below.

[Jethro_uk]

No sig I can see ?

[Tim Streater]

Get a better newsreader.

[Jethro_uk]

Ah, it seems one of those Linux "upgrades" has either added a new feature to Pan newsreader, or decided to change the setting on an existing one. Who know ?

So anyway, returning to my question, and slightly ignoring the implications of your signature, I ask again: when did XP go out of support ? Bearing in mind we aren't talking about an XP (presumably IE) website not working on a Win11 Edge/Chrome/Firefox setup. But the reverse. A modern Win11 Edge/Chrome/Firefox website not running on Windows XP - an OS which is almost a decade out of support and as close to obsolete as is possible.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I think around 2009.

[Jethro_uk]

I thought it was a bit later - MS were forced to extend it at least once because so few people had Win 7 (let's forget Vista shall we ?).

I know I was running it - against compliance - in 2012. I think I was finally upgraded in 2013. When you have 1,000+ desktops with a myriad of interlocking 3rd party applications, testing and rolling it isn't trivial.

[Mike Halmarack]

If there was it would soon be destructively handicapped. It's all going one way, like good old "His Masters Voice" as in "noreply@...

[Mike Halmarack]

[Mike Halmarack]

Good advice, paticularly as there seems to be few, if any other avenues.

My wife is still struggling to forgive me for moving from EDF to the "less expensive" Peoples Energy.

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

what did you expect from a computer ....