Grrr British Gas!! Rant

[TTCabundle]

Sorry if this is extremely long, just very annoyed right now!

So we are in the process of moving house to a house with a prepayment meter for gas and electric. The meter that is in the house now was in debt from the previous tenant. So this morning we phoned up British Gas to try and get the electric sorted for us moving in this week, we need electric to clean carpets ect... 10am this morning we first phoned up and we were told it was all incredibly easy to sort out, we were given a code to take to the shop with the key, that would apparently set the meter back to 0! So off we go to the shop, get the code put on the key, come back and put it into the meter and it does absolutely nothing, so again we phoned them back and were given another code, so off to the shop again, come back and it didnt work! We did this various more times and nothing. We rang them back and were on the phone for an hour whilst the guy tried different things to reset the meter, he the told us that if we put money on the key then it would all be reset and we would be in credit, so off we go and put £40 on it, come back and put it in the meter and it gave us a grand total of £2! So we ring back, were on the phone for an hour on hold, and then 2 more hours whilst the guy tried to figure out what was wrong, eventually he told us that someone would have to come out to reset the meter, said they would be there between 5-9, which was a bit of a pain seeing as though we were waiting at an empty house with no gas and no electric! But we waited anyway seeing as though we needed it sorted. Well they didnt turn up! We waiting untill 9:45p, amd then gave up. The call center is also conveniently closed untill Monday! So i have no gas, no electric and I am now £40 lighter with nothing to show for it. Ahhhh what a mess just to get some electric on!

Thanks for letting me rant lol!

 

[sethsmummy]

omg hun sounds like the problem i had when we moved years ago. you need a new key/card! thats what was wrong with ours. That is shocking that they didnt send anyone out!! try contacting them via facebook.. eon have a facebook site where yuo can get help.

do you have a reciept for the £40 you put on? if so keep hold of it as proof! xx

 

[smileyfaces]

Grrr what a pain! Our meter was in loads of debt too when we moved in here but we are with Southern electric and it was all sorted on the phone immediately!

 

[mummylove]

Thats british gas for u. Hope it gets sorted soon for u

 

[modified]

In the last flat, we were with Scottish Power when we first moved in and, for every £10 we put in, it would take £8. The meter actually said it was for debt. Phoned them up and they denied it being debt, said it was a "service charge". Um. No. We had a right fight on to get them to accept that we were paying off someone elses debt

 

[Kate&Lucas]

I actually despise British Gas. They never erased the previous tenant's debt from my gas meter so I'd get about £3 out of every £10 top-up if I was lucky. There customer services are disgusting, one said to me "I don't believe you" then hung up!
I've switched now and had the meters replaced, *touch wood* it's been good so far.

Good luck getting through to them.

 

[smileyfaces]

In the last flat, we were with Scottish Power when we first moved in and, for every £10 we put in, it would take £8. The meter actually said it was for debt. Phoned them up and they denied it being debt, said it was a "service charge". Um. No. We had a right fight on to get them to accept that we were paying off someone elses debt

This is actually happening to us....on the meter itself it says the debt is zero and nothing is owed but everytime we top up it takes about a quid for 'debt' I called up and they said it was some sort of service charge, cant remember what now. Maybe I should call them back!!!!!

 

[sethsmummy]

In the last flat, we were with Scottish Power when we first moved in and, for every £10 we put in, it would take £8. The meter actually said it was for debt. Phoned them up and they denied it being debt, said it was a "service charge". Um. No. We had a right fight on to get them to accept that we were paying off someone elses debt

This is actually happening to us....on the meter itself it says the debt is zero and nothing is owed but everytime we top up it takes about a quid for 'debt' I called up and they said it was some sort of service charge, cant remember what now. Maybe I should call them back!!!!!

do you ever use emergency credit hun? apparently if you use ermergency it doesnt take your standing charge while your in it so when you next top up thats the "debt" it takes away.

i think all pre-pay meters have a standing charge but it should never be a great amount taken in one go! xx

 

[smileyfaces]

In the last flat, we were with Scottish Power when we first moved in and, for every £10 we put in, it would take £8. The meter actually said it was for debt. Phoned them up and they denied it being debt, said it was a "service charge". Um. No. We had a right fight on to get them to accept that we were paying off someone elses debt

This is actually happening to us....on the meter itself it says the debt is zero and nothing is owed but everytime we top up it takes about a quid for 'debt' I called up and they said it was some sort of service charge, cant remember what now. Maybe I should call them back!!!!!

do you ever use emergency credit hun? apparently if you use ermergency it doesnt take your standing charge while your in it so when you next top up thats the "debt" it takes away.

i think all pre-pay meters have a standing charge but it should never be a great amount taken in one go! xx

Yeah I always use it when the gas runs out lol! Maybe thats why ten! What is a standing charge anyway?!

 

[modified]

Yeah, there's always a service charge - around about £1 sounds about right. We're never one to dip into the emergency credit though and certainly never £8's worth! We got it sorted in the end though, it was just a nightmare getting there!

 

[sethsmummy]

Everyone who has a pre-payment meter pays a standing charge for the use of it (maintenance/checks etc) ... with eon my electricity standing charge is 26p per day and the gas is 31.5p per day. You should be able to look online to see what yours is. And if you have used the emergency.. on top of paying that back you then have to pay the "debt" of standing charge you owe from being in emergency credit... does that make sense?


its funny as you find most places are a nightmare to get money off of if they owe you yet theyre quick enough if you owe them. I've not had any problems with Eon so far and the tesco clubcard points certainly go down nicely their customer service is also usually really good and they take part in the warm home discount scheme as well for anyone who qualifies

 

[mummylove]

I actually despise British Gas. They never erased the previous tenant's debt from my gas meter so I'd get about £3 out of every £10 top-up if I was lucky. There customer services are disgusting, one said to me "I don't believe you" then hung up!
I've switched now and had the meters replaced, *touch wood* it's been good so far.

Good luck getting through to them.

Same when i first moved up to lancashire there ws a card meter in. The previous tenant owed money and they never cleared it. They was taking £4 off every time i topped up a tenner
Will never go to them again

 

[TTCabundle]

Well I think we have it half sorted! Theyve refunded my money and we have a new key and I now have electricity! But its still taking money off, for every £10 we put on we are getting £2 electric, its very confusing! So im going to have to phone them again tomorrow, what a palava! We are switching to Eon but have to wait 3 weeks so we are stuck with British gas for now! x

 

[sethsmummy]

just make sure you keep all receipts hun. it will also say on the meter what youve put on but keep all reciepts and take photos or write down how much its taking off of you each time hun. Thats rediculous that its doing that!

Eon are fab. never had a real problem yet

 

[Bevziibubble]

Ugh I hate British Gas!! When we moved we stuck with them and they said they would send a pre pay meter key out to us. We waited and none arrived. When I phoned they said that they had sent it to the wrong place. They actually said that they would most likely send it to the wrong place again and to go to my local shop and ask for a blank one! Wtf?!
We also noticed that they were so expensive than the supplier we had briefly when we first moved in, so we switched suppliers and are much happier now. They are so incompetent

 

[TTCabundle]

Thanks everyone! We kept the reciepts following advice for people here and we have finally been refunded! The electric is finally sorted haha. British Gas are horrendous amd their customer service is terrible, I would not recommend it to anyone! x

Bev- We also had the trouble with them sending the key, they ended up telling us about getting the blank key from the local shop, they're idiots! x

 

[sethsmummy]

glad youve managed to get it all sorted now hun! x