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Author Topic: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!  (Read 6138 times)

essex2visuvesi

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Re: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!
« Reply #25 on: December 07, 2009, 02:17:14 am »

A few years ago my Grandfather died and my dad was left to clear up his estate

A call to his bank to discuss closing his account put through to someone in an Indian Call centre

"Im sorry sir we cant discuss your Fathers account without his written consent"
"But he's dead"
"Im sorry to hear that sir but we still need his written consent"

This went on for quite some time
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jonny shoreboy

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Re: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!
« Reply #26 on: December 07, 2009, 04:45:20 pm »

I was taught by my father not to take any "£$% from anyone.

So when my BT line stopped working I harassed them till they fix it. I also got 3 months free line rental.
When Talk Talk stuffed up my Broadband I harassed them till they fixed it. Got 6 months with £5 off.
When my orange contract ran out I harassed them till I got what I considered a fair deal.
When I changed my Dual Fuel to NPower and they stuffed me around I harassed them till they sorted it and got 2 free tickets to lords to watch the cricket.

The moral of the story is fight for a fair deal. As a consumer you do have rights and most of the time the law is on your side. Don't settle for anything less then absolute satisfaction and never be afraid to take it further or higher.
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malcolmfrary

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Re: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!
« Reply #27 on: December 07, 2009, 09:19:27 pm »

Too true, Jonny.  Remember that its best done by writing, or better yet these days, over the internet.  That way you have copies that you can append in case they manage to "lose" anything.  Its also a handy move if it obvious that your original query has gone through a "Cant be bothered to read it, just send the stock answer" phase.  Your copies also gather a time and date stamp, as well.
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DickyD

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Re: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!
« Reply #28 on: January 18, 2010, 08:32:17 pm »

We got a water meter last year.
One phone call to Severn Trent, one bloke, half a day, includes external reading point, very neat job behind sink unit.
Last annual bill before meter = £402
Monthly direct debit with meter = £15.94 (under £200 per year)
Current situation = £41.31 IN CREDIT

I'm an even happier bunny than Dicky  :-))

Danny

My original water rates were originally £ 460.00 per year this went down to about £230.00 per year when we had the water meter fitted.
We have just been re assessed and our bill is now £ 5.60 per month / £ 56.00 per year and we are in credit to the tune of £ 99.00.

I'm an even happier bunny than Danny  :}
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grasshopper

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Re: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!
« Reply #29 on: January 18, 2010, 08:54:54 pm »

Just received my combined electricity, phone and internet bill from my supplier at my place of business, the communications side was normal, the electricity charge - £ 559.61 for this month! finally got them to use the meters and not estimate! 

As for water rates, my industrial unit was part of a block of three used by one business and was converted back to individuals when I moved in. I insisted that the water main be reconnected to my unit instead of running through from unit 1 - the landlord complied and fitted a new water meter. Unfortunately the water board won't recognise it and refuse to charge me based on those readings, the landlord says it's nothing to do with him, so I haven't paid water rates for seven years.

The water board says they can only start charging when they fit one of their own meters, but they won't pay to fit one....and neither will I !
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DickyD

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Re: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!
« Reply #30 on: January 18, 2010, 09:02:57 pm »

Fitted my water meter for nothing. Mind you it is a private dwelling not industrial.
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Jimmy James

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Re: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!
« Reply #31 on: January 18, 2010, 09:57:01 pm »

When We moved into this house 32 years ago we had the gas turned off and the metre removed as we brought gas bottles (2 x 104lbs )and a propane range from our previous dwelling (1 bottle cost £9.50 to refill and lasted approx 11 months, I think the gas metre rental was £15 a quarter ) For 2 and 1/2 years we got an estimated gas bill every quarter and every quarter we phoned the Gas  company to say we weren't connected to the mains gas --- after a year of nonpayment by me, we were told they were comming to turn the gas off and that we would be charged for this service...I rang to say that there was nothing to disconnect... a few days later  the gas man arrived with an Inspectore and a Bailiff when I ask why the bailiff I was told that I was being treated as a hostile client and they then demanded to see the metre ... I said I can't show you the metre because you took it away a year ago I even showed them the paper work to prove it was the gas board that had removed it--- BUT--- they still demanded to see the metre---- so I agreed to let them look in the cupboard --- the Inspector came back to me and said "YOU DON'T HAVE A METRE AND YOU'VE Allready been disconnected. I said something like Bright boy now sling your hook...Next quarter we got a bill from the gas Co. 9 months later they came around to disconnect us -- 3 months later we got a Gas bill ----3 months after that I took the gas co. to court for harassment and won the case hands down.... But thats another story
Freebooter >>:-( >>:-( >>:-( :-)) 
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justboatonic

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Re: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!
« Reply #32 on: January 18, 2010, 10:29:59 pm »


So there I am at home going through the bills and various other bits of junk mail and I come across a letter from Xxxxxx Gas Ltd.

'Dear Sucker,
....we have adjusted you direct debit in accordance to your gas useage over the last year.
Your new rates will increase from £72 per month to..... £285 per month.
Thank you for your custom.
Regards,
 Uncaring Conglomerate.

Therein followed a very short but very terse conversation to said company.

I followed up with another, more reasonable phone call a couple of days later and I actually got through to a reasonable person
that didn't need any prompting from me! "Your bill seems to have gone up by..... 300% .... in one month! Hmmm, that doesn't
seem quite right, have you changed anything dramatic recently?"

"No. Don't you think you should ring someone to mention that their bill is going up 400%???"

"Well you would have thought so but we don't.... on the other hand, we would have rang you when you Didn't pay it!
What I'll do is arrange for your meter to be changed on Friday. We very sorry about this. We'll assess your bill based on a weeks
useage on the new meter and we'll backdate you bill up to 24 months when you meter was last replaced.
 My name is _____ _____. My personal phone No. is _________.  Anything else I can help you with sir?"

"Oh!...... Er.......no. Thank you very much."

Well, we'll see what happens next but needless to say, everyone in the house is wearing thermals this week as the heating is set to 1o above the fridge! We sit around a candle in the evenings and I'll light it if it gets really cold!


What's your tail of woe / joy?
 




Not suggestting you've done this but, I know one person who put an electric fire in their loft a few years ago when we had another really cold snap to stop the pipes freezing (or so they said).

Some time later they were mystified when the leccie bills were regularly 200 and 300 quid more than they used to be. They complained to the leccie co and had the meter tested etc. Then in the summer they had to go in the loft. Guess what? The leccie fire was still on. They'd forgotten all about it for about 9 months!

Oh and dont start me off on gas and leccie for a business! Had to go into an old unit that is thankfully being moved on in literally 2 weeks. Switched the leccie back on and the light to take a final meter read and the meter was spinning like a whirling dervish. All for one flourescent light! Grrrrrr!
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Perkasaman2

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Re: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!
« Reply #33 on: January 18, 2010, 10:43:09 pm »

It's true that some years ago some gas companies were using an illegal bogus legal shortcut to disconnect non-paying customers (often hardship cases where folks had no money). In law they have the 'Rights of Entry Act' which empowers them to force entry to make safe a gas installation to prevent a possible explosion. They failed to explain that these powers could only be used in the circumstances of a reported gas leak on the installation, when they entered to cap supply/confiscate the meter. A hefty fee was also demanded later, for re-installing the meter, in addition to the full payment of arrears. Their action was both illegal and unreasonable and essentially held folk to ransome who often could'nt pay throught no fault of their own - heartless. Publicity finally halted their dodge.
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justboatonic

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Re: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!
« Reply #34 on: January 18, 2010, 11:02:51 pm »

It's true that some years ago some gas companies were using an illegal bogus legal shortcut to disconnect non-paying customers (often hardship cases where folks had no money). In law they have the 'Rights of Entry Act' which empowers them to force entry to make safe a gas installation to prevent a possible explosion. They failed to explain that these powers could only be used in the circumstances of a reported gas leak on the installation, when they entered to cap supply/confiscate the meter. A hefty fee was also demanded later, for re-installing the meter, in addition to the full payment of arrears. Their action was both illegal and unreasonable and essentially held folk to ransome who often could'nt pay throught no fault of their own - heartless. Publicity finally halted their dodge.

Yep and all sold off for a few pieces of silver \ short term gain! Now, mostly foreign owned and the UK customer base subsidises the customers of those foreign companies in its home market. FACT!
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dbninja

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Re: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!
« Reply #35 on: January 19, 2010, 10:47:17 pm »




 arrange for your meter to be changed on Friday. We very sorry about this. We'll assess your bill based on a weeks
useage on the new meter and we'll backdate you bill up to 24 months when you meter was last replaced.



What's your tail of woe / joy?
 






Martin

DO NOT LET THEM TAKE YOUR METER!


honestly, similar thing happened to me about 3 or 4 years ago.. those bafoons British Gas  removed my meter and promptly "lost it"  and its final meter reading!

but

they owed me over £350 in over payments due to all the estimated bills and no meter readings being taken.....


anyway   18 months and 1000 hours on the phone  later... i had no refund and a solicitor writing to them threatening legal action for their incomptence !


i eventually at nearly 2 years later had to settle for a £180 refund and not so much as an apology



trust me!  i would rather set fire to my own furniture to keep warm than go back to that incompetent shower of XXXXwits !


db
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The Antipodean

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Re: Gas bills and other mysteries of our time!
« Reply #36 on: January 20, 2010, 06:01:20 am »

My first apprenticeship was with NZ Telecom, a wholly government owned and run monopoly, no competition allowed.We did as pleased and nobody could complain as they had nowhere to go. Worst first job a person could have, taught me to be an inconsiderate so & so.
Later in life, after a stint in the RNZAF and some private corporations I went back to telecommunications, for a private company that was setting up a totally seperate infrastructure at high cost, I was a QC and had to ensure quality of not only the installations but the quality of service in general. Let me just say it was a shock to compare where I started from and what I was now doing.

It is amazing to see how quickly problems can be resolved when a contract installers job is on the line. I personally gave away multiple months of free service with free upgrades to compensate for rude, beligerent installers who could be arsed to do a good job and be polite while doing it. Problem was that as soon as a customer has your business card they think you are their personal customer care rep.

A lot of big businesses seem to feel they don't have to give a damn, but introduce some healthy competition and see what happens. I just hate the service centres based in Calcutta or where ever they are as I have major problems trying to get my point across to someone who barely speaks my language.
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