Caporegime
It's true they don't make them like they used to. They're much safer and more efficient now.
British Gas - a new height for customer non-service. Just venting.
- Thread starter Angilion
- Start date
It's true they don't make them like they used to. They're much safer and more efficient now.
As someone who works for one of the big 6 currently (not British gas) appointments being cancelled/rescheduled are an issue.
There are not enough engineers to go around but appointments still need to be booked (we cant just stop all appointments until further notice)
The covid excuse I'm afraid to say is a real thing, many engineers have had their gas certificates expire so they are legally not allowed to do any gas jobs and are unable to recertify due to covid. Also engineers going out coming into close contact with people and getting covid symptoms then needing to isolate.
It just makes the pool of engineers available less and less.
There are not enough engineers to go around but appointments still need to be booked (we cant just stop all appointments until further notice)
The covid excuse I'm afraid to say is a real thing, many engineers have had their gas certificates expire so they are legally not allowed to do any gas jobs and are unable to recertify due to covid. Also engineers going out coming into close contact with people and getting covid symptoms then needing to isolate.
It just makes the pool of engineers available less and less.
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Commissario
That makes sense, and the certificates experiring wasn't something I'd thought of, but now you've mentioned it, it makes me wonder how many other professionals are going to have the same issue - one that immediately springs to mind is pilots as IIRC they have to fly a certain number of hours to keep their licences current and between the layoffs and furlough the aviation industry may be short qualified pilots next year.
Soldato
Reference the last 2 posts, covid is affecting other professions too. I know a train driver for ScotRail and they are extremely short on drivers at the moment. Probably affecting all rail franchises.
Caporegime
It will only get worse and worse as this goes on.
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Soldato
I have just ordered up a new boiler and radiator fittings with British Gas, confirmed today in fact, for install end of November.
Sorry if I stole resources from you
Yep, just been delayed to the middle of December...literally 2 hours after they delivered 11 radiators, the boiler and the gubbins for it all.
Now my house is cluttered up for 2 weeks.
Ho-hum.
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2006
- Posts
- 12,129
British Gas is the retail arm of Centrica which is well known to Ofgem - say no more 
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I have a BG annual service contract, and had an engineer visit earlier this year when a faulty valve made the radiators constantly hot, even though the timer switch was showing OFF.
After he’d successfully fixed it, he gave me his mobile number, and said, “To save you the agg of calling BG, if anything goes wrong, call me, and if I’m in your area, I’ll come round and take a look.”
Later in the year, my BIL had need of a gas engineer, and I said that I’d call this guy for him.
The engineer said that BG had laid off a whole slew of engineers and fitters, including him, paying some of them a retainer to be available if specific jobs ever materialised.
ETA
Had a fault on Sunday, 22/11/20, called first thing Monday, 23rd., got a visit that for that p.m., fault occurred again on Tuesday 24th., got a visit for Weds 25th., fixed, please God it’s all okay now.
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British Gas do genuinely have the worst customer service and customer care you can imagine.
Today after fighting their awful website for far longer than necessary, I tried to set up a direct debit. The process is automated like everything BG provide, and I'm increasingly wondering if there are any human beings working for them any more. But after the website stopped falling over, the system finally offered me a monthly DD plan which worked out to be literally 2.5x more expensive than just paying the bills as they arrive.
A few minutes later I went through the process again and was offered a mere 2.0x more expensive plan. Are they rolling a dice or something?
Needless to say I didn't bother setting up a DD. Clowns.
(Our average annual bills are ~£550 and the first DD plan offered was £100 per month for 12 months. WTF, British Gas?)
Today after fighting their awful website for far longer than necessary, I tried to set up a direct debit. The process is automated like everything BG provide, and I'm increasingly wondering if there are any human beings working for them any more. But after the website stopped falling over, the system finally offered me a monthly DD plan which worked out to be literally 2.5x more expensive than just paying the bills as they arrive.
A few minutes later I went through the process again and was offered a mere 2.0x more expensive plan. Are they rolling a dice or something?
Needless to say I didn't bother setting up a DD. Clowns.
(Our average annual bills are ~£550 and the first DD plan offered was £100 per month for 12 months. WTF, British Gas?)
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Mar 2013
- Posts
- 9,141
550 for both? Mines 115 a month normal so if that's both you must never turn your lights on
.That's why you don't do a direct debt that way, as they are guessing what they expect you to use which is usually no where close half the time.
You do what's called a Direct Debit Whole Amount Monthly (you have to call them to set it up as its an option they don't tell people about), it gives you the direct debit discount (roughly 8% cheaper compared to paying bills as they come in)
The way the whole amount one works is the same way you pay your bills now (as you get them), you get a bill every month for what you have used based on your readings/SM readings and the amount is auto deducted from your bank as a direct debt 10 days after the bill has been issued. Or you can pay the bill straight away when you get it manually, as long as the account balance is £0, a DD will not be taken when it gets to the 10th day. This still gets you the DD discount
Works much better as you cant be charged too little or too much, you pay the exact bill and still get the benefits of the discounts. Make sure to compare your UNIT RATES however as that is where the discounts (if any) are. Keep in mind, there have been price increases recently and one coming in September.
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Why are you going with BG? Pretty much every one I know can get cheaper energy from one of the challenger brands like Bulb, Octopus etc.
I had a similar thing with BG many moons ago, at the end of one year they sent a letter saying that I was almost £700 in credit, but my new DD would be way more than I’d paid in the previous year.
After a flurry of phone calls and emails it was still going to be the new higher DD, so I voted with my feet and went to EDF, who were my electricity suppliers, they worked out a new DD which covered both gas and electricity.
The new combined DD was pennies more than my old individual DDs were, one for gas and one for electricity.
That's why you don't do a direct debt that way, as they are guessing what they expect you to use which is usually no where close half the time.
You do what's called a Direct Debit Whole Amount Monthly (you have to call them to set it up as its an option they don't tell people about), it gives you the direct debit discount (roughly 8% cheaper compared to paying bills as they come in)
The way the whole amount one works is the same way you pay your bills now (as you get them), you get a bill every month for what you have used based on your readings/SM readings and the amount is auto deducted from your bank as a direct debt 10 days after the bill has been issued. Or you can pay the bill straight away when you get it manually, as long as the account balance is £0, a DD will not be taken when it gets to the 10th day. This still gets you the DD discount
Works much better as you cant be charged too little or too much, you pay the exact bill and still get the benefits of the discounts. Make sure to compare your UNIT RATES however as that is where the discounts (if any) are. Keep in mind, there have been price increases recently and one coming in September.
I recall setting up a direct debit 4 years ago with npower. I had to pay £96 per month. This value did not change for 3 years, even though I use to call them up and enquire about why the DD did not go up or down. Then last year I got a bill for £2900 because I had been under-paying.
I tried to resolve this with them, but to no avail. They offered me £50 to settle on a payment plan and not take the matter further to the Energy Ombudsman.
I was stupid. I should have gone further. Yesterday, I am certain heard a lawyer on a radio station mention that the Energy companies cannot claim back payments over 12 months.
You have protection under what's called "ofgem back billing principle/code" if you are incorrectely billed for 12 months or more, they cannot ask you to pay the difference. However there are a few rules.
1. You asked for bills from your supplier and they didn't bother
2. There was a mix up in meter readings and the supplier didn't fix the situation when YOU notified them.
3. YOU reported issues with your account/payments and the supplier did nothing.
4. You have been billed on estimated readings despite YOU giving correct readings or meter reader who came to read the meter
Do you see a common trait with these? the ownership is on you to correct your account under Ofgem's rules.
I get plenty of people per week who get estimated bills for a year or more then complain when they have an underpayment, however what they don't tell you is that they have not bothered to read there meter themselves when asked or they have declined a meter reader to read the meter. I get people who specifically mention the back billing code knowing full well what they are trying to do.
The only thing the company has to do is make a reasonable effort to get correct readings and you have no room to make any arguments.
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In your case, you mentioned you called them to enquire about the direct debit not changing, did they ask you for readings to bill the account at all or did you provide readings and you just kept getting estimated bills? You are still covered under the code regardless of all long ago it was btw but it depends on what specifically happened to you whether or not Ofgem would entertain it or not.
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Caporegime
Christ.
You've got a gas appliance you've not had serviced in 11 years.
Seriously?
Do you at least have a (working, tested and in date) audible Carbon Monoxide alarm in the same room?
The legal requirement for any building that is rented is that it should be serviced and tested every year, the sensible way as a householder to deal with a gas appliance is to get it serviced and tested every year and have a CO alarm (I'm not too worried about the boiler dying, I'm worried about it killing me
We pay around £14 a month for our boiler contract, vs ~£100 for a local gas engineer to do a service.
It's paid for itself several times in that when we had an issue last year the expansion vessel, valve and a couple of other bits were all replaced under that contract, in the past they've been out to replace other parts including the next day over the Christmas period when there was an issue that was stopping our old boiler from working.
I have a guy come round once a year to check the gas side of the boiler. I drain and service the water side myself. It really isn't that difficult once you know what to look for. We bought our house in 2010 so the boiler is at least 11 years old. Had to replace an expansion vessel and water flow switch. Even when people come to visit they compliment how quickly the hot water gets and complain of our radiators being too hot in the winter.
I have even fitted and soldered in new copper pipe to move a radiator.
In the world of Google and YouTube anything is possible to learn.
People just can't do anything with their hands anymore.
Also a boiler service with a local indy is a lot cheaper than £100.
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Commissario
I've been doing plumbing since I was about 10 or 11 (helping my dad, then doing it myself), but I wouldn't touch the gas side, it's the idea of not having the appliance burners checked for years that worries me.
These days I'm not really up to doing some of the repairs I used to do so it's handy having a contract where someone will come in and do them if I'm not up to it (or have pulled my back again).
These days I'm not really up to doing some of the repairs I used to do so it's handy having a contract where someone will come in and do them if I'm not up to it
(or have pulled my back again).
Caporegime
I'm with you on this one @Werewolf