British Gas

[douglas9401]

Really, really crap company isn't it?

Steam driven website, inept foreigners lying to one on the phone, useless energy tracking, expensive, puke-making adverts, did I mention the dross website that goes round in circles?

Everything's closed there so I just thought I'd vent here before bed.

Thanks for being there.

My toilet's fine btw. :-)

[Hopkirk]

They are OK for me. A blessed relief from the horrendous Eon.

[douglas9401]

They have been for me too, Hopkirk, up until now.

Random spikes in my gas usage, which I've been assured is an IT glitch and "will be resolved within 48 hours" are appearing on my projected bill due at the end of this month and I can't get to someone whose first language is English to sort it out.

Seems to be a case of say anything to get the problem off the phone.

Monolithic mayhem.

[Zacs-Master]

We don’t have gas. Night night everbloody, night night.

[Buenchico]

" . . . did I mention the dross website that goes round in circles"

Are you sure that you're not thinking of BT there?
;-)

I quite like British Gas in some ways (especially as they were really good to me when I was unemployed and struggling to pay my bills) but I agree that they can also be quite maddening at times.

e.g. They recently sent me a cheque for the grand sum of £1.58, saying "Here's the cheque we promised" and "We've attached a cheque to the bottom of this letter to settle your final account". As I thought that I was still with BT for both gas and electricity, I was left completely mystified.

The letter went on to say, "If you've got any questions . . . just let us know". So I looked on the letter for a contact phone number - there wasn't one. I looked on the letter for an email address - there wasn't one. I looked on the letter for a link to an online email form - there wasn't one. I looked on the letter for a link to a web chat page - there wasn't one. So I was being encouraged to contact British Gas but being given absolutely no way of doing so!

[I eventually worked out that, when British Gas recently assigned new numbers to their customers' account, they'd effectively closed down my existing gas account (thus generating a cheque for the £1.58 that I was in credit by) and then opened a new one for me. It would have been nice if they'd just told me that though!]

[ladybirder]

What's wrong with Eon Hoppy? I was considering moving to them from BG.

[Buenchico]

^^^ A third of all the reviews for E.On on TrustPilot give them either 1 or 2 stars out of 5:
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.eonenergy.com

SiteJabber has 109 reviews for them, with no fewer than 105 of those awarding the company just 1 star:
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/eonenergy.com

Here's the 'Which?' assessment of E.ON:
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/energy-companies/article/energy-company-reviews/eon-next-asTGf4U1ggxU

[ladybirder]

Thanks Chris obviously I shall not be using Eon after seeing your post. Thank you.
My beef with BG is that they keep promising me Smart meters but no sign of them yet. My gas meter is in a big hole with a lid on it in my back garden. It's a nightmare to read. I have to get a stick to hold the lid up, then try and clean the dirt, dust, and spider's webs away from the screen and then dangle my mobile on a piece of string hoping I've caught the relevant figures. As I said, nightmare. BG know I am disabled and say they will look after you and give you help. No help coming my way. No new Smart meters coming either.
Can you recommend anyone Chris? One who will put SMs in straight away? Thank you.

[Buenchico]

Sorry, LB. I'm no expert when it comes to smart meters.

I'd happily have one except that I know that after installing the gas one, they'd test my gas cooker and find that it doesn't meet the safety standards. (I know that two of the burners emit excess carbon monoxide. I simply don't use them and keep a CO alarm to let me know if there's any problem with the others). So they'd refuse to reconnect my gas supply until I bought a new cooker.

Further, the gas fire in my living room hasn't worked since my cat peed into it about a quarter of a century ago. So, even though I don't use it, I'd have to get the gas fire replaced as well in order to satisfy the gas engineers.

So my 'free' smart meter for gas would actually end up costing me a fortune!

[BG keep trying to force a smart meter on me but, for the reasons that I've stated, I've held firm on the issue so far!].

If it might help you at all though, here are the current customer satisfaction ratings for energy suppliers from Citizens' Advice:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/get-a-better-energy-deal/compare-domestic-energy-suppliers-customer-service1/

[Hopkirk]

Douglas's description of BG (Seems to be a case of say anything to get the problem off the phone)
could easily be applied to Eon.

If they can't transfer you to someone else they promise to look into it and sort it out, then call you back. Like hell they do.

[johnny.5]

I blame Sid

[ladybirder]

Thanks Hoppy.
Poor Chris, how you manage is a miracle. How you cope with it is a miracle. Compared to yours my problem is a walk in the park. Take care. xx

[mushroom25]

// someone whose first language is English //

do they no speak "Rab C Nesbitt" north ae the border?

[Peter Pedant]

My toilet's fine btw. :-)
so clearly it is not run by BT

I am with British Gas and regard it as the "least worse" of the group of gas companies.

I have no idea why competition and market hasnt improved conditions - you know like Wilco and MandS.