west end letters: British Gas | I Walker, Dalgarno Gardens |

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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 20 February 2009

No fun gassing about my bill

• HAS anyone attempted to contact British Gas recently? Was your query or problem solved to your satisfaction? Mine certainly was not!
When I received my bill recently I attempted to work out the pricing structure in order to check that it had been calculated correctly. Unfortunately this proved impossible to work out.
British Gas had sent me an estimated account even though the meter had been read by their own meter reader. I telephoned them and provided the exact reading.
I awaited my new bill. However, life is not that simple! Instead of sending me a new bill British Gas followed up with a supplementary bill making it difficult for the customer to actually check it! I then spent more than half an hour on the telephone to them – thankfully it is a Freephone number otherwise it would have cost me a small fortune!
I got nowhere with the member of staff with whom I conversed as she continually disappeared to supposedly consult others on my question.
I believe this member of staff did not have the slightest idea of what I was talking about, judging from her answers to my questions and her pathetic replies.
Some staff in these call centres seem to manipulate your question to one that they can indeed answer, which may or may not be the actual question which the customer asked!
Confused? I certainly was.
When I think of the total amount of time that I spent on the telephone, including using the boring and impersonal automated service.
What exactly did I want to know, you may well ask?
Simply this, how do customers calculate how much gas consumption is charged at the higher rate and how much at the lower rate?
On phoning for the fourth time this member of staff had the guts to admit that he could not inform me, as the bills are sent out by computer! Where have we heard that before?
Furthermore, the staff member could not tell me how I could find out this information, so how do we check our bills and ascertain as to whether we are being overcharged or not?
I rest my case.
I Walker
Dalgarno Gardens, W10

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld.
Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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