British Gas - A Direct Debit rant!

[SimonM]

I pay all my bills by DD as I find it very easy to manage.

Today, British Gas sent me an e-mail telling me that they were putting up my payment.

I rang, and asked for last years consumption January to January.

It comes as no suprise to find that I am already over paying, even if you take into account that annual usage is paid for over 11 months not 12. Think about that, every year they get 1 months extra funds from every customer paying by DD - a small fortune for nothing.

Why then do they want to put up my DD and not reduce it?

The operator I spoke to obviously had a script and would not deviate - my DD was going up with immediate effect, and nothing I said would change that, so I asked to speak to a supervisor...but surprise surprise there isn't one on shift!

In a fit, I have cancelled my DD and then rang complaints - to be confronted by another mindless moron reading a script!

From now on I shall pay for my Gas the old fashioned way...wait for the red bill then pay!

Rant over

Simon

 

[Shewie]

We had a similar carry on with npower last year, they took almost a grand out of our account in less than two weeks and caused us allsorts of problems with the mortgage and bills etc.

Needless to say we soon switched suppliers, to EON who so far can't do enough to help us out when we ring with queries. Even though they offered us better unit rates with DD we now get billed quarterly and just ring up and pay it. Not going through that malarky ever again with any big firms as they're a nightmare when it comes to getting stuff done.
Just before we switched we also noticed they had the wrong electric meter number on our statements, that was back in February I think and the incident is still not resolved.

 

[fred gordon]

Had a similar problem with my DD electricity some years ago and did what you did. Just remember that they make tons of money by having all those peoples extra money making interest for than as well as overcharging for the product in the first place.

 

[Melonfish]

i had this with Npower each and every time. i last had my duel fuel lowered by about £30 a month in october today i got my statement throught.
i'm £306 in CREDIT.
i'm going to leave it till march then ask for a cheque and a lowering of my bill. nice saving account i've got going on here..

 

[locum76]

We get superb service from scottish and Southern.

 

[Walks with dogs]

Dont get me started on British Gas, treid to con me out of the best part of £3,000 when we first moved in due to a gas leak "under our floors". I got a corgi resistered plumber out who tightened a nut in the gas fire and the "problem" was sorted.

That was the final day I had any dealings with British gas and would never go back.

 

[TeeDee]

Without wishing to sound like a salesperson , look up Utility Warehouse ( Telecom Plus ) and think about the idea behind it ,ie large band of consumers united ( think consumer union ) dictating to companies what price they are going to pay per unit of gas/electricity/phonecall etc , all your utilitys on one bill with a statement in advance of what they are going to take out.

If anyone wants more details PM me , as i don't want this to sound like a sales pitch , it just makes sense....

 

[FGYT]

we have had that with seveal suppliers water lecy etc but have been able to phone up and get it changed to what we want tho it takes some time pointing out its your money and you would quite like it for your self some times a bit quicker than it will all work out over the year

ATB

Duncan

 

[addo]

I had my gas supply pipe cut and capped, and got the water and CH powered by a logburner. Still had Electric and gas combined supplier.

So phoned them up. They said if I kept them as the resistered suplier of Gas, Id keep the combined discount on the electricity/gas bill.

Try telling them that the meter reading hasn't changed everytime they want a reading!!! Each time a numpty with a script.

Made them send someone round after months of agro, paid a £4.00 bill and got rid of Southeren Electric regardless of there cheap offer and environmentally friendly electric and went to NPower who have been sound, and offer the same deal as the meter is still in the house.

 

[jonquirk]

E.on did it to me last year: bumped up the direct debit in the autumn. They explained that although I was in credit I wasn't far enough ahead to finish the winter with a zero balance. Even using their figures I couldn't see myself using as much energy as they forecast but they wouldn't budge.

There was a happy ending though: in the spring I got a letter confirming a new reduced Direct Debit and a lump sum credited to my bank account because the higher DD was way too much for the amount actually used.

While I strenuously objected to lending them my money at zero interest it was nice to be proved right so convincingly.

I had looked at other suppliers but once you get past all the different schemes and terms they all use they appear to charge pretty much the same: so much for competition!

 

[wingstoo]

But all the gas comes through Transco pipes and transco meters, so like it or not you do deal with British Gas at some point, just that you don't usually notice, If there is a leak anywhere on the system British Gas Transco will be dealling with it, they can also cut the supply off when they fix their pipes, and as you pay another company I wonder who will be compensating for the problem, also if they do have to turn off the gas to a property they can just shut off the valve before the meter and you will probably have to pay to have it re-instated as the gas board are not responsible as they would be if they are the billers, not just the suppliers.

I have both Gas and Electric from B/gas, when they wanted to increase my DD by a huge amount I told them I was willing to go half the increase, the person the other end wouldn't but offered 5%... As she wasn't being very helpful I asked for her supervisor, not available, so I asked for the Chairmans number so I could complain directly to the one in charge, got his Secretaries number, just in case. Phoned after the weekend, got someone else, DD increase reduced by 50%...

Also got my Electric DD reduced to less than I had been paying the year before... Not had a problem since.

Ask for the Chairman if you really are not getting anywhere, he has the power to deal with the whole issue.

Another important thing to remember is that it is your money, and not theirs, if you are over at the end of the year you can get a rebate, they do not get any interest from your money in their account, it is a zero interest fund holding account, and they are governed by law that they cannot receive interest on it.

If you are under at the end of the year then you can either pay the extra or they spread the cost over the next year, plus the same again to make sure that you hopefully owe zero at the end of the year.

Also it is still a lot cheaper than it should be, check the historic cost comparisons, what percentage of a weeks pay did it used to cost.

 

[MattF]

I use Scottish power for both on there web saver no paper work just get an Email to read the meters log on with the readings then I know how much its cost there and then but still have to pay by DD so much a month
I went with this after N power didn't read the meter for 2 years and dropped a massive bill on the door step they only have to read the meter once every 2 years

Matt

 

[wingstoo]

I use Scottish power for both on there web saver no paper work just get an Email to read the meters log on with the readings then I know how much its cost there and then but still have to pay by DD so much a month
I went with this after N power didn't read the meter for 2 years and dropped a massive bill on the door step they only have to read the meter once every 2 years

Matt

But they do say that it is an estimate, if you don't tell them they have it wrong and are under charging then unfortunately they WILL catch up with you and you have to pay, fortunately not with interest.

If we get a bill that is way over or way under we just send them a revised reading so they can monitor it better for future DD payments.

Not paying by monthly direct debit and waiting for the red bill to come in will cost more a little bit more per therm/unit, but that is the benefit of not having to pay for something for three or four months interest free, I wonder how many supermarkets would let someone have three months interest free shopping?

 

[Walks with dogs]

I subscribe to a great site with money saving tips ( cos I'm a tightwad) . I got this in my inbox today and thought it might come in handy for some...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

I subscribe to a great site with money saving tips ( cos I'm a tightwad) . I got this in my inbox today and thought it might come in handy for some...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

Was just gonna post the same link

If you pay by standing order, they have no say in it at all. Thats what i do...

 

[demographic]

I had my gas supply pipe cut and capped, and got the water and CH powered by a logburner. Still had Electric and gas combined supplier.

So phoned them up. They said if I kept them as the resistered suplier of Gas, Id keep the combined discount on the electricity/gas bill.

Try telling them that the meter reading hasn't changed everytime they want a reading!!! Each time a numpty with a script.

Made them send someone round after months of agro, paid a £4.00 bill and got rid of Southeren Electric regardless of there cheap offer and environmentally friendly electric and went to NPower who have been sound, and offer the same deal as the meter is still in the house.

Funny you mention this cos for several years I rented the house I now own and the only gas appliance I had in the house was a warm air heater thing in the back bedroom.
The only time it was used was when the landlords heating engineer did a gas safety test and for ages the meter reading bloke would come round and there would be no change in the reading.

Anyway after a while of getting "Bills" sent that said I didn't owe them anything I was working away for a while and while I was away they had sent me a letter saying they needed in and would force entry if I didn't let them in.

I missed that letter cos I was away and they must have paid a locksmith to pick my locks and read my meter.
I came home to see the letter that said they had entered my home on the seat of my bike in the hall.
In about four years living there how much did I owe them?
Two pence They must have paid the locksmith a good amount and all I owed was two pence from the gas safety tests moving the meter a tiny bit.

Needless to say I made British Gas wait a good while for that two pence and paid it at the post office where it costs them more money to get it that they would have got from me.

 

[Tony]

Without wishing to sound like a salesperson , look up Utility Warehouse ( Telecom Plus ) and think about the idea behind it ,ie large band of consumers united ( think consumer union ) dictating to companies what price they are going to pay per unit of gas/electricity/phonecall etc , all your utilitys on one bill with a statement in advance of what they are going to take out.

If anyone wants more details PM me , as i don't want this to sound like a sales pitch , it just makes sense....

If it's helpful put up the link mate, unless you own the place

 

[dwardo]

When i moved into this house a few years back it was and still is fitted with gas and electric pre-payment meters. I know they charge a few pounds a year for the rental of the meters at the moment but thats about to change.
I can keep an eye on how much gas and electric i use daily so i am never caught out with a big bill. I could have had the meters removed years ago but i like the way it works

 

[Dano]

British Gas once made an error on my DD and took 29000 pounds instead of 29 which left me significantly overdrawn, I was out of the country at the time and trying to pay for something when the payment was rejected, having just been paid I couldn’t understand the problem so called the bank, the customer services (in Deli) asked if this was my normal monthly payment, I said I don’t know how much gas is in your country but in the UK you could run a steel works on that much! Anyway they froze my account because I was overdrawn! I was stuck in another country with no money and British gas didn’t even say sorry, they just stated it must have been my error on the meter reading! Even if I had given them a reading you would have thought a spike of a thousand times normal usage would have flagged somewhere

 

[wanderingblade]

If it's helpful put up the link mate, unless you own the place

Just remember to thoroughly research any new supplier before signing up for anything.