Consumer complaints about British Gas rise
Published On 21 April 2007
More and more people have complained about the service they receive from their utility supplier, according to a watchdog.Energywatch reported that that it received 21,427 customer complaints between October 2006 and March 2007 about services provided by British Gas.
Most of the complaints were about how the company estimated metre readings, with many feeling that the firm overcharged them for their utility.
People also believed that the new style of bills that the utility supplier recently introduced meant that they were asked to pay too much.
"We understand that British Gas implemented a new billing system last year, updating technology that dated back to 1985. While this will lead to more accurate billing eventually, the switchover should not have been allowed to cause this much disruption. Customers are suffering unnecessarily," said Karen Darby, the founder of the price comparison service, SimplySwitch.com.
"Following price cuts last month, British Gas actually offers some of the best value tariffs in the UK. However, if they can't send out accurate bills, their customers won't feel the benefit."
British Gas said that they had hired 800 new staff to deal with complaints, but Energywatch described the situation as "unforgivable".
