British Gas

Can't log into a broken account, can't use smart meter, can't get bills, can't pay bills. 100% failure after 6 months.

Experience as a new customer:
- time elapsed with no bills, no way to pay, broken account and unable to install meter: 6 months
- time I have spent in chat & calls with your team: 40+ hrs
- # of BG team I have dealth with: apprx 30

I have had a billing and meter dispute / complaint with British Gas ongoing now for 3 months. I have a disability and the way in which BG treats disabled customers is utterly appalling and they should be ashamed of themselves.
I have sent over 40 emails now to the Executive Office, Directors and customer services and now the matter is with the energy ombudsman. I have even contacted my local MP to ask for help as no one at British Gas is bothered to care or help.
Two managers have dealt with the complaint from the Executive Office, both failed to deal effectively with it. After just a couple of emails they completely ignored email after email that I sent and I never heard from them again. You both should be ashamed at the appalling service you gave.
A mediator then stepped in assuring me he would deal with my complaint and resolve it. He failed to ring me when he promised. When he finally did contact me by email days later he completely disregarded what the complaint was about and an engineers visit and said all was sorted now. IT WASN'T and despite emailing him 3 times asking him to contact me he has ignored my emails and has NEVER contacted me since nor attempted to resolve my dispute/complaint. Again shameful.
I am currently signed off work unable to work due to the decline in my mental health and no one at British Gas is bothered to help despite me literally begging in my emails for someone there to please help me.
There is a huge failure in their customer care standards and a catalogue of failures in dealing with the issue and how I have been treated as a disabled customer. Those in the Executive Office should hang your heads in shame, it's absolutely shocking.
The most appalling experience I have ever encountered and it is still ongoing 3 months on with no resolve.
Shame on you British Gas. I would never recommend anyone to switch to you, just horrendous customer care.

Review of British Gas

Matthew Cheltenham
9 reviews
GB
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Absolutely disgusting how this company…
Absolutely disgusting how this company gets away with this I don't know. I am having to contact the local mp to try and sort my problem out. I moved in to my new rental home after a devorce 6 weeks ago I've tried to call them arrond 30 days in a row to be constantly put on hold for hours then hung up on. I'm paying someone else's debt of and receiving no help as I can't get them on the phone I tried online chat and they left the chat befor sorting anything. So I contacted uw who managed to get the gas. But not electricity supply I'm actually so fed up I don't know what else to do british gas owe me a lot of money also my government help which I won't get as they are not answering. This company is unfit for purpose.

Date of experience: 29 December 2022

Homecare boiler cover policy is just a scam!

Homecare boiler cover policy is just a scam to take your money!
Had a fault with my boiler late last year. Engineer called and carried out what I can only describe as a temporary fix.
This proved correct, as the identical issue arose about 3 weeks ago. Requested a further engineer visit and got an email confirming my appointment slot for Tuseday 23/3/21. ( about a two week wait!)
However, 3 days before engineer was due to call, BG phoned to say the engineer visit was cancelled and they would be able to re-arrange vist for sometime in June! ( several months away!)
Suffice to say I found this to be totally unacceptable!
I had a confirmed appointment slot and failed to see why this could not be honoured!
I have had to pay for an engineer tocall out and complete a proper repair to my boiler, which wasn't cheap. Cancelled my direct debit with this bunch of robbers and will never deal with BG again!

I am seeking quotes for a new boiler, but won't be using British Gas.

One of their fitters lives next door to me, and always parks his van in front of my windows (just a few feet away) because he doesn't want to block his own windows. He has two parking spaces outside his own house and there are in fact plenty of places within a few steps where he could park without blocking anyone's view. The van was parked there without moving at all for six months over the first lockdown and is now there again over the. Christmas /New Year holidays. It's very depressing to have my windows constantly blocked by this ugly bright blue van

British Gas doesn't care about this. It is obviously happy for its bad-mannered employees to use their liveried vans to annoy their neighbours. I can't see why anyone would want to risk inviting someone with such bad manners into their home. Or why anyone would want to employ a company which doesn't insist its employees are more considerate towards prospective customers when parking the vans they have been allocated.

Useless, unprofessional company. Only interested in money not customers or sorting any issues/complaints. The only reply is "we had delays" but I can't see any delays in raising prices AVOID!

You're NOT in safe hands regarding extortionate prices increases! £1350 per month I'm being debited had to leave or else they were going to financially kill me and I wouldn't have survived.

It took British Gas 3 months and several attempts to set up a direct debit, meanwhile potentially forcing me into arrears.
No operative was able to explain why such a simple procedure was beyond their capabilities, nor did they have any idea of how to correct a situation casually dismissed as a system error when the repeated errors were of human construction
The promised phone call from a 'specialist' never materialized.
I was further given false and misleading information regarding direct debits.
And my complaints were either not responded to as promised, or were dismissed by the person(s) against whom the complaint was made.
I have today arranged to change my supplier.

The date of my 'experience' is the date of the first in a series of complaints, which were ongoing and largely unanswered at the time of posting.

In respect of the response from British Gas, I should say that I had been offered similar empty words of apology or regret previously.
What British Gas absolutely declined to do was to address and correct many of the issues.
It is purely due to the cavalier attitude towards my complaints, and the ineptitude and incompetence of British Gas employees that they now have opportunity and occasion to express, in their most patronizing autoresponse, their 'sadness' at losing my custom.
Either the staff or the company are not fit for purpose

I cannot access my account online. As soon as I enter my email address, the webpage goes to a 'google captcha' with a box to tick, saying 'Let's do a quick verification'. You tick the box and it reloads with exactly the same page - so you can't actually login.
Ah you say - "But you can access 'Help' at the top of the page". "Oh, wow, so you can..." and you enter the kind of issue and it presents you with a series of vaguely relevant advice, and "Wow, there's the chatbot. My saviour!"
So, you start chatting with the chatbot, who offers you the chance to chat to a real human being and then decides after 10 seconds that all the real human beings have gone off to lunch or are living a few lightyears from earth or are just busy. And ends the conversation by telling you to come back later...
All I want to do is to access my account...