Bord Gáis prepay changes...

Wertz

I'm pretty annoyed right now. I just got home from work to get a phonecall from my mum that she needed to see me.
Bord Gáis had written to her to "inform" her of changes to the pre-pay system for gas supply. Now for a start these changes took effect today, Tues 28th, but the letter was dated 21st (only managing to arrive today) so not giving anyone any real time to prepare for the changes.
So what are the changes? It seems that BG have a problem with their current method of topping up the smart card and have opted instead to switch providers over to certain Payzone outlets that also display the Bord Gáis logo...so what's the problem?
Here's the problem...the payzone outlets that do the gas thing in and around the town where we live aren't nearly as numerous as they were under the old system. The new system only allows 5 shops total for the whole of Co Louth! ( I can only hope/assume that this is going to change but it's all we have for now)
Used to be that the three nearest shops to her house ALL had top up facility and so it was no problem for my mum (who is of ill health) to top up if and when she needed to...now she (and everyone else on prepay metered system) has to make her way to one of these 5 stores, and because they are now so far out of the way, needs to top up the card by a lot more to save journeys.
Okay so I get to do this for her, grand, I dont really mind...but what about other elderly and infirm people, what about those with no transport? It's often those who are poorest who are forced into using prepay meters and whilst it was convenient under the old regime, this new system is making things awkward. Hvaing to find extra money to top up by an extra amount is problematic also. Don't BG realise that 99% of people on prepay have budgetary issues already?
Add to that that her spotless smart card also now needs to be replaced...not for free either...she gets to pay a euro for that privilege too. Luckily enough I topped her meter up last week so she didn't get caught out...but what if I hadn't? In case you didn't notice winter started with a bang this morning...for pensioners unable to top up their cards and with no-one to do it for them, it could have been a very cold day indeed. The shops where she used to top up all had signs up saying that BG cards can no longer be topped up there. The staff didn't know much about it, just pointed to the sign.

So I'm fairly peeved about all this...it seems like BG are just making life difficult for their prepay customers (who already pay a generous standing charge) and have failed to think through their changes and how it will affect their customers.
I intend to call their CS line in the morning and give someone a good talking to but I feel this is unlikely to change much...what can be done about this or who can I contact regarding this matter?

Clytus

TBH I wouldnt have expected any different from |Board Gas....

Lying...robbing...thieving...all comes to mind when i hear the words Gas and board!!

cer

Hey,
I know what you're talking about - I'm in the same situation in Coolock, D17. There was 4 shops doing it in the area, now there's one - it's also the furthest away, with the worst staff and the furthest away (did i mention it's really far away?)
I spoke to the owner of the store I was using before and he told me that there was nothing wrong with the old system. He seemed pretty well informed on the detail of what was going on, he said that Bord Gais Networks are a new company that have separated from Bord Gais Supply and that Payzone had tendered for the contract at a lower price than Paypoint. The consequence of this apparently is that retailers get offered half the commission they were earning before, hence the low take up from shops.
He said it's the same with the M50 store payments - it would cost him €7, including banking charges and staff wages, to do 100 M50 payments in his shop.

So, my conclusion on this, is that Bord Gais have opted for the cheaper option when it comes to topping up Gas Cards without thinking about their customers. It's not too bad now but when the very cold and wet nights come soon, the elderly run out of gas, have to walk a two mile round trip to top up their card and run the risk of colds/flus/pneumonia - I hope they are held accountable.
For a company who made a €166 million profit last year and invests so much in corporate social responsibility - it seems somebody has taken their eye off the ball here and their customer service couldn't give a toss.

I have just wrote a letter to Ed O'Connell who seems to be the top man in Bord Gais, I have also wrote to Eamon Ryan (minister for communication, energy etc etc) and the commission for energy regulation.
The beauty about letters is that they will write back, and it's these letters I will use when I'm speaking to Joe Duffy and Matt Cooper.
Don't get me wrong I don't mind going for a longer walk with my dog to top my card up, but the older people in my estate deserve a bit better than this...
I urge you to do the same, these f*ckers will only get away with this if we let them!

Wertz

Thanks for the info...after ringing BG last week, I may as well have been talking to a trained monkey, there was little point trying to reason with the girl (who in fairness is only a firewall between the consumer and the company) who sympathised but reverted to rhyming off the list of working payzone outlets.
Local radio got a hold of this story during the week after concerns were raised by local SF councillors (criticise the shinners all you like, they're about the only ones who'll do anything at a local level) and after a few vox pops and interviews with someone in BG, apparently a fix was promised but has still failed to appear. The only shop in urban Dundalk doing the top up is about 5 miles from my mums and isn't even on a bus route.
It doesn't surprise me in the least that this all comes down to penny pinching cost cutting measures...the price of the product is already a concern but now the supplier is trying to screw it's most vulnerable customers over for a few pence.
I also suspect that it's an underhand move to try and get more people to have their meter changed to post pay and grab some more handy direct debits.
I'm going to do some writing as you suggest...not something that ever occurs to me. Cheers for the suggestion.