British Gas...hahaha
 Nov 23rd, 2005
Advantages:
none
Disadvantages:
stuck with them for now
Recommendable:
No
Review rated by 11 Ciao members on average: somewhat helpful 
This review received a counterstatement by a party concerned
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We moved to Kent 8 years ago, and decided to change suppliers thinking we would be saving in the long run..So we changed suppliers rougly 7 yrs ago, what a mistake! We have had on going problems with this supplier since then. We've had two new meters put in,a tester meter put in beside the normal one, and still somehow manage to get quarterly bills that would run a hospital! No joking, bills of anything from £300 to 3500 pounds..and it seems to be 'our usage'..We had a street lamp outside our house, which looked like it was wired to our house, we enquired if we were running this,and were told no,but it was disconnected shortly after, and repositioned on the other side of the road. Still the bills were extreme!
We spoke via telephone to several 'managers' who said they would investigate, as theres no way, that we could use that much electricity in such a short period,and rectify any problems they could find. We were even told that ' yes,theres a problem, your meter seems to be running at twice the speed of the test meter' Alas, nothing was ever done..Then..the nice man at British Gas, decided to put in a brand spanking new meter which should 'sort out all your problems once and for all' No it didnt!
After letters and telephone call to them, and threatening them with watchdog (on t.v) we took it to their ombudsman..Twice we have had their watchdog on to the case,.Their management team were given a certain amount of time to sort the problems,and for a month, they stopped taking direct debits, as 'a gesture of goodwill' and at one stage, did think it had finally been sorted, only to recieve an astronomical bill the following month. My husband is registered disabled, and British Gas kindly gave him a peptic Ulcer.
With such a big well known company, their attitude towards customers should be better,it seems as soon as they have your signature to become your supplier their interest and honours stop.
As for reading the meters..well..they send you a letter saying they could not gain access to the property, could you send them an estimate, and they still put what ever they like down. Knowing full well, that the guy didnt even go down your street,probably sat in his nice warm car to pass the time of day. I certainly would not recommend this supplier to people, as i dont have any good points to make about them, their customer service skills (?) or the way they handle complaints.
When contacting them, they asked questions like....do you have a tumble dryer, washing machine, dishwasher,freezer?
Er yes, i do,like the thousand of other customers, but i dont do the whole streets washing,cleaning, and i dont sit in front of them all day watching them go round..and a dishwasher-im that in our house. We dont even have radiators, we have economy 7 and a coal fire..I hope people will definately shop around before making this one of their choices...U too could end up helping funding the NHS..maybe i could advertise for them, and get reduced bills...now theres a thought
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by (27%):
by (73%):
18.08.2008 16:41
lol, Thats crazy paying for street lamps
23.11.2005 16:18
Sorry to sh, because I'm with you on this one, I have my own sorry British Gas tale. But to be more helpful you really need to detail exactly what has happened, if you do I will re-rate. Hope this helps :-)
23.11.2005 16:05
Hi there, think could do with more info. Sad to hear about your billing probs, perhaps the living flame gas fire or swimmingpool was the cause, lol. I read somwhere that energywatch was pushing for Smart Meters to be installed so the meter reader will be able to drive by in his cosy van and they will tell him the meter reading without having to come into your home, maybe they got mixed up and thought you had one of those! Will be happy to revise rating if you edit your review drop me a message. Dan