British Gas

UPDATE, THIS MAY BE A PUBLIC PLATFORM, BUT YOU HAVE MY ACCOUNT NUMBER AND YOU CAN ACCESS MY CONTACT DETAILS, JUST ANOTHER COP OUT BY BRITISH GAS! AS REGARDS YOUR CHAT ONLINE SERVICE, THEY CAN'T HELP AS PREVIOUSLY STATED! USELESS COMPANY! You know what is so frustrating? When you actually state in your review that you do not use any form of social media, or that you have contacted customer service and you clearly state that they can't help you either! THEN YOU GET A REPLY FROM THIS AWFUL INEPT COMPANY FROM A PERSON WHO HAS NOT READ THE REVIEW PROPERLY OR TAKEN ON BOARD YOUR COMMENTS, SO WE ARE NOW APPROACHING 70 DAYS SINCE MY FAULT WAS REPORTED BY YOUR ENGINEER. SO HERE'S A COPY OF YOUR REPLY, IT'S LAUGHABLE AND PATHETIC, BECAUSE NO-ONE AT BRITISH GAS ACTUALLY CARES... 1 REPLY FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT... UPDATE FROM LUCY, WHO HAS CLEARLY NOT READ AND UNDERSTOOD THE REVIEW, NO SOCIAL MEDIA USED BY ME. HER ADVICE USE FACEBOOK OR TWITTER TO PRIVATE MESSAGE THEM! OR I CAN CONTACT CUSTOMER SERVICE, WHO AS I'VE PREVIOUSLY STATED CAN'T HELP!
NICE ONE LUCY! YOU TOTALLY EPITOMISE THE SHEER INCOMPETENCE OF BRITISH GAS! YOU ARE A STAR! Oooohhh! I have a "complaint Handler"! So come on British Gas, since when do I have a "complaint Handler"? When were they assigned? I'd like to know please? Give me a definitive ANSWER! HELLO! IS THERE ANYBODY THERE WHO GIVES A DAMN? Account number is ************** feel free to access my account British Gas and contact me.

A typical ex-nationalised 'untouchable' company operating fraudulently.
British Gas hoodwinked my restaurant staff in Nov 2018 to 'fix' the smart meter to work on MAXDEMAND tariff which means a minimum bill is issued irrespective of actual usage. Bills went from £111 to £1505 monthly which forced closure of this small restaurant. Knowledge of MAXDEMAND tariff did not come about until 2021. BG offered no such contract nor explanation nor willingness to resolve.
If this was not true, I would be sued. British Gas are definitely NOT RECOMMENDED as business suppliers.
For 3 years British Gas have refused to justify or correct (several complaints raised & Ombudsman refused to investigate claiming Smart Meters are enforced by law but there is no legislation for lack of mobile signal/defaulting to maximum usage bills) their [default/estimated] overcharged bills until the posting of online reviews. Now (10/21), overcharged by £20k I am forced to take BGB to court for £19k refund & loss of profit: unlikely to get more than refund so AVOID! Simply cannot do worse.
Additionally, BG have unwarrantedly damaged my credit rating.
Complaint ref.: *******128

Smart meter has not worked for months and British Gas refuse to fix or replace it, customer services are totally ignorant and rude. AVOID

Ive neva used them as my energy provider but theyre the one of the most appalling and unprofessional company of UK. Before I moved into my flat, another tenant was living there and he used britishgas. Its been 5years since hes moved out, and i still keep getting letters at my address under his name and account. Ive made several calls to them to inform them that the person doesnt live here for 5years and to stop sending me mails. Ive forwarded over 50mails by post to return to the guy at his new address but they seem to neva get it. They still send their engineer to check my gas supply every year and Ive told him every year the same thing, that i don't use them and theyve got to delete the details for the last 5years. I just can't believe how unprofessional they are. Its the most simplest thing to delete the account if the person has moved on or chase him whereva he lives as this kinda info is readily available anyway. But they can't do this one little simple thing. Im just glad i don't use them as a supplier. Neva can believe such appalling stupid service.

British gas are a complete rip off we moved in to are new house thay changed us £872 for 3 and half months supply. The house is a 3 bed semi

£996 for a 3 month bill...one house.2 old age pensioners...smug $#*! director's making outrageous profits.Disgusting company.!

Awful service, wrong bills and amounts, over priced. Will never use British gas again. Absolute robbing c**ts

We joined BG in May ‘19 and the first seven months seemed fine. Around Xmas they began doubling the monthly DD without writing, or writing and confirming a lower amount. I reclaimed and paid manually to protect my mortgage payments. Battled on to correct estimated start readings. Maintained original payment schedule and initiated leaving early June with a modest credit on the accounts.

Received three bills in mid July (after account closure) claiming I owed £154, then £194, then £249. On receipt of first bill, asked BG to prove the debt. Despite regular contact and repeated requests, it failed to do so. In Sept, BG placed 3 late markers on my credit file for the disputed debts (2 gas and 1 electricity), which has derailed an ongoing mortgage application.

Raised a claim with ombudsman and discovered that BG had placed us on the standard (most expensive) tariff and backdated this to January, that BG had also increased the debt to £336 added an additional £28 ‘debt recovery fee' and forwarded to a debt collection agency during investigation by the ombudsman. This is contrary to FCA sourcebook guidance. I have received no justification for the increases after account closure.

The markers have reduced my mortgage offer by £80k-£100k and forced us to radically downscale our aspirations. Instead of looking forward to buying our dream home with our two small children we're are struggling to raise enough to even remortgage our current home!

Even after being forced to pay hundreds of pounds in disputed debt in full (on a without-prejudice basis) to its debt collection agency, British Gas refuses to remove the late markers. After following BGs advice to escalate to the ombudsman, BG refuses to speak to/correspond with me on the matter. I am left hundreds of pound out of pocket and essentially unmortgagable!

Taking out a British Gas contract ranks amongst the worst decisions I've ever made. It's no exaggeration to state that British Gas have ruined my family's dreams!

COME ON, British Gas, do the right thing and remove the late markers. Don't punish my children for the dispute you have with me!

Paying 400 a month 2 adult 1 child got solar panels in the house in summer and still have 2k dept!

I have had Homecare cover for the last 15 years and didn't have any issues with BG until recently. Since Sept this year, their services have got extremely bad with engineers not turning up to their appointments and failing to notify that they wouldn't be coming. They were supposed to attend an appointment to fix the door of the washing machine four weeks ago, three appointments were made but the engineer didn't attend. Today which was the 4th date given to fix the problem, the engineer who couldn't speak proper English turned up asking to check the fuse box! When asked why he wanted to check the fuse box as he was there to fix the washing machine door, and after being challenged for repeatedly fibbing, he said he didn't have the part! When asked why he had lied, he said the previous engineer was a contractor and it was he who had lied! I am at the end of my tether with this company and at a loss as to what to do having waited 4 weeks and having taken 4 days off as unpaid leave waiting for them to attend, and the washing machine is still not fixed. Separate to this, they arranged an appointment with Dynarod for a different issue which was for yesterday but they didn't turn up for that and didn't call either. It's impossible to speak to an adviser or to their complaint team. Their call centre is in India and they lack communication skills as well. I was chatting with an adviser today about my Dynorod appointment and said the kitchen sink is blocked, the adviser kept asking if I have another bathroom for bathing! I repeatedly tried to explain it's the sink in the kitchen that's blocked. Didn't understand what a kitchen sink meant. I am seriously considering cancelling this cover!

Poor management and a lack of professionalism are my experience of British Gas.

Where do you even begin, I was lied to about the amount I would pay, promised a deal that never materialised and then it changed without consent once the contract was signed. I have had ongoing problems, the recent:

I had a direct debit set up, I was in credit, they then suddenly pushed up my DD without letting me know, not by a small amount either. This caused huge financial problems as they wiped my bank account clean, which meant there was no money to pay other bills, including rent. I was then told it would go back to the original DD. It took 3 months to resolve this issue.

I paid in extra each month, on top of my DD to make sure I wouldn't be hit with a huge bill all at once. While I continued making extra payments, they stopped taking the direct debit, for months, never told me, the DD was still active; and as a result, I ended up with a massive bill. (6 months of not taking payment) Again, they pushed up my DD without telling me, cleared my account, again, and claimed they did tell me of the changes (in small print in a random emails that had nothing to do with payments and billing.) and the reason they didn't take the DD, because I was making extra payments too close to the DD date and it was withheld; ummm! What?

A year later, after having to go through Citizens Advice to get that complaint addressed, I was assured it was all sorted, I am back where I started. Same problems, they added an extra payment onto my DD without telling me, to clear this massive bill, (that they created by not taking DD payments.) I have spoken to 6 different people over 3 weeks, not including the 4 hours today on the phone, nothing is resolved. More lies, a long list of excuses, even more lies, no responsibility, not my department, I didn't talk to you, I never did this, I never did that. And then the pure joy of dealing with a 'snowflake' who can't deal with anything that's 'negative and too much like hard work'. So, here I am, the one who has to pay the price both financially and personally because of this poorly managed company with incompetent dishonest staff, who can't work to a basic standard.

British Gas, is a perfect example of how broken, and rapidly declining Britain has become. Poor service, duplicity, incompetence and a profound lack of responsibility, culpability and accountability. It's not just the government, it's the entire infrastructure and mentality of the society. A society unwilling to get their hands dirty and make the changes so desperately needed, a society that has allowed this sickness to take root, spread and prevail.

Extremely disappointed with my recent Boiler repair experience. I have been really happy with my BG homecare (3 properties) and energy supply.

I had the boiler serviced by BG engineer in October 2022 and it`s been all good. However the boiler stopped heating the water recently and on 20 July i called out for a repair. Engineer attended on 24 July, fiddled a bit cleaning the heat exchange, marked the job as completed and sent an invoice. Well, next day -no hot water again. I called BG and explained the problem, raised a complain and they booked a revisit. However it`s the same engineer- A******y and he didn't bother going to the property but called the resident instead, saying the system needs a power flush. And of course it`s not covered by the homecare cover but A******y suggests we contract him for the service privately. And there we go again! I called British gas, raised a complaint and insisted i have a SECOND opinion, by a DIFFERENT engineer as i believe the problem is in the boiler itself, the radiators are working perfectly. Appointment booked. It`s been 10 days without hot water and i am excited to receive a message from BG that the engineer is on his way. But...nobody turns up. Instead a visit, i get a call from the infamous A******y who insists he knows what best for my boiler and that a power flush of £1100 will fix my boiler problem. He insists he`s sent me a quote which i have never received. A******y seems oblivious to my argument that all radiators are heating perfectly and it`s just the hot water to the shower and the sink that`s been affected. Instead A******y insists I take his number and contact him privately instead! According him, everytime I book repair it increases my premium ( Total nonsense), so best to keep BG out of the loop and deal with the engineers privately!
The audacity of it it`s shocking!
It seems to me that British gas contracts engineers who use the opportunity to sell their chargeable services to homecare holders and neglect the actual investigation and repair. All they want to do is to sell their lifetime guarantee powerflush though you might actually need a new boiler. When i said that to A******y who was very quick to suggest a quote for a new boiler. I was stunned and asked " What i should get then? Power flush or a new boiler". His answer was -"Whatever you like".?
And i am supposed to trust this people with my boiler and heating system?
So i have another visit booked for Monday and I wouldn't be surprised if A******y gives me a call in the morning to tell me I should trust him instead, buy his private service and stop making fuss with British gas:-)

It is sad that British Gas are solely focused on profit and oblivious to their customers` needs and lower quality of service they provide.

Date of experience: 04 August 2023

Good evening
Please treat this as a formal complaint, which I will also make through your online channels and by telephone when your call centre opens at 9am. I am putting it here too so people considering taking out your services or renewing them can be aware of your poor service levels and the obvious contempt you have for your customers and, to a degree your staff, as you do not equip them with what is needed to respond to customer queries. I will detail the background to the complaint and the steps I would like you to take to put it right. I have been a long standing homecare customer for well over a decade and have always thought it provided a good service and peace of mind when there is a problem. Your service is a very poor imitation of what it once was, and on today's experience, pathetic and not fit for purpose and the £300 a year charge.
Our boiler broke on Tuesday evening and we have no means of heating or hot water. I logged on to the system and booked the first available appointment of Thursday between 8am to 6pm. My partner has taken a day off work to wait for the engineer to arrive. He is self employed and lost income for the day. It got to late afternoon and we were expecting to be told the engineer would be with us on the next call. I called the call centre to see where we were in the queue. You were unable to provide any information - please consider why you have a call centre if you cannot deal with basic queries such as the arrival time of an engineer. I asked what I should do if the engineer did not arrive as expected. I was assured this was unlikely to be the case but if this did happen I would be notified and a prompt resolution offered. At 5.45 approximately, I received a call at work which went to voice mail. In the call you offered no apology and advised an engineer has been rescheduled for Sunday. Today is Thursday, tomorrow is Friday - why are we not at the top of the queue for a rescheduled appointment. On the performance of today, there is no point me having boiler cover - I pay for this so any problem can be resolved quickly. I would have been better advised to not pay for boiler cover and call a local engineer.
This is what I would like you to do to resolve this complaint.
1. You have failed to fulfill your appointment commitment. I should not have to wait until Sunday, you should be offering an appointment as soon as possible, in this case Friday morning.
2. Details of how to claim for a days lost earnings.
I await your response. I hope some of your senior leadership team read this review and reflect on how your service levels have deteriorated. This used to be an exemplar service and is now shockingly bad on todays experience.
Date of experience: 05 January 2023