bord gais billing delays

foggy_lad

i have been waiting since 2nd of april for my gas bill and emailed bord gais 3times but am still waiting for a reply. i rang them today to fnd out when my bill will issue but the lady i spoke with could see a bill pending but could not say when it would issue or more importantly when the direct debit would be taken from my bank account!

has bord gais's systems collapsed under the strain of their electricity blunder? why do their current gas customers have to wait weeks for a bill that should be issued promptly and direct debits that are not taken at regular intervals?

i can only say i would never switch to this shower for electricity or any other service i had to rely on and i wonder how they are let have a monopoly on piped gas supply when the ESB are not allowed the same with electricity supply?

Max Power1

foggy_lad wrote: »

and i wonder how they are let have a monopoly on piped gas supply when the ESB are not allowed the same with electricity supply?

by volume, bord gais are the third largest supplier in ireland, behind Energia and VAYU.

Also, the residential gas market has been fully open to alternative suppliers since july 2008. Its hardly Bord Gais's fault that all their competitors are quite happy to only serve business customers, and stay away from the high risk low reward minefield that is the domestic gas market

Smartiesxxx

The electricity market opened in 2005 and it is only now really (with the exception of a couple of failed attempts) that competitors took on the risk of the domestic market so I'm sure that eventually someone will tackle the gas market and I cannpt wait!!! I have had nothing but problems with Bord Gais in the two years that I have been unfortunate enough to be their customer. I would actually pay MORE for my gas supply if it meant I didn't have to put up with the obnoxious excuse for Customer Service that Bord Gais currently supply. They are absolutely awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

alexmcred

Flo gas supply the domestic market have them for the business I manage and they have been fine so far and are 10% cheaper than BG for business anyways.

Musha

Got my BG bill exactly 2 mths after the switch over and it was €60 cheaper than ESB. No complaints Here

tomsav

I signed up for Bord Gais servicing agreement which was suppost to split the cost across the year. I heard nothing from them for months and then got a big bill to cover their error - with "Overdue" at the bottom as well! As if I was the problem and not their crap billing system.

I.K.Brunel

Musha wrote: »

Got my BG bill exactly 2 mths after the switch over and it was €60 cheaper than ESB. No complaints Here

You must be their best customer & use more electricity than most people!

The ESB rate is 16.51cent/unit (incl VAT) and the maximum discount BGE offer is 14%.

14% x 16.51c is 2.31c and you need to use 2,600 units in a two month bilkling period to be €60 better off. That's three times the typical average household use!!

most customers moving from ESB to BGE are only going to save €100 in the first year and less than €50/yr thereafter, assuming ESB and BGE don't change their offerings. On an annual spend of almost €1,000 that's not much to get excited about.

Musha

I.K.Brunel wrote: »

You must be their best customer & use more electricity than most people!

The ESB rate is 16.51cent/unit (incl VAT) and the maximum discount BGE offer is 14%.

14% x 16.51c is 2.31c and you need to use 2,600 units in a two month bilkling period to be €60 better off. That's three times the typical average household use!!

most customers moving from ESB to BGE are only going to save €100 in the first year and less than €50/yr thereafter, assuming ESB and BGE don't change their offerings. On an annual spend of almost €1,000 that's not much to get excited about.

ESB 2 mth bill was €264.70 1358 units
BG 2 mth bill was €137.84 840 units

Cannot find a bill from ESB without an estimated reading to give a overview but we allways budgeted for 100.00 per mth

dub45

tomsav wrote: »

I signed up for Bord Gais servicing agreement which was suppost to split the cost across the year. I heard nothing from them for months and then got a big bill to cover their error - with "Overdue" at the bottom as well! As if I was the problem and not their crap billing system.

Indeed - they have direct debited me on the double in three of the last four months!!!

Fnergg

Has anyone been in contact with BGE to get an estimated electricity bill adjusted to an actual reading? That is a service ESB Customer Supply offers as a matter of course. A friend of mine wanted his estimated gas bill adjusted and he was told they don't issue interim amended bills anymore. Is that the case too with their electricity bills?

Regards,

Fnergg

dmaxontour

I wouldn't touch Bord Gais with a barge pole. We use FloGas for ggas, and Airtricity for Electricity. Happy with both of them.

Fnergg

Fnergg wrote: »

Has anyone been in contact with BGE to get an estimated electricity bill adjusted to an actual reading? That is a service ESB Customer Supply offers as a matter of course. A friend of mine wanted his estimated gas bill adjusted and he was told they don't issue interim amended bills anymore. Is that the case too with their electricity bills?

Fnergg

I got my answer over in the Accommodation & Property section. A poster wrote:

Then I got my first bill and it was 400euro (I live by myself)!!! I rang them, they said it was estimated so I checked the reading and i was over stimated by miles!!! I rang them AGAIN to get an adjusted bill and they said they don't issue adjusted bills because of the cost that I had to pay the bill and it would correct itself the next time when they got a reading!!! I couldn't believe it! I'm went back to the ESB with my tail between m legs - no savings are worth that. At least ESB know what they are doing!!!!


And my response was:

That is incredible. How can BGE hope to get away with that approach? A customer has a right to have an over (or under) estimated bill adjusted to his/her own reading. Given that large numbers of customers will have switched on a direct debit basis, BGE will now be taking their overestimated charges out of their bank accounts even though the charge may be many multiples of the true amount. Absolutely appalling service.

Regards,

Fnergg

dub45

Fnergg wrote: »

Has anyone been in contact with BGE to get an estimated electricity bill adjusted to an actual reading? That is a service ESB Customer Supply offers as a matter of course. A friend of mine wanted his estimated gas bill adjusted and he was told they don't issue interim amended bills anymore. Is that the case too with their electricity bills?

Regards,

Fnergg

The direct debit system has a requirement that a disputed amount should not be debited. So if you recieve an over estimated bill you have every right to dispute it and tell them that it should not be debited to your account. This is one of the reasons that a 14 day notice period is essential.

Smartiesxxx

alexmcred wrote: »

Flo gas supply the domestic market have them for the business I manage and they have been fine so far and are 10% cheaper than BG for business anyways.

Thanks for that alexmcred - I just switched to Flo Gas. To be honest I would have paid twice as much for my Gas if it meant I didn't have to deal with Bord Gais but it turns out for domestic customers that choose to pay by Direct Debit there is an 8% saving so yeay!!!:):):)

alie

Got a shock last week when i received my gas bill, ther were 3 payments missing, im still waiting for them to trace them:mad:

Greyfox

dub45 wrote: »

The direct debit system has a requirement that a disputed amount should not be debited. So if you recieve an over estimated bill you have every right to dispute it and tell them that it should not be debited to your account. This is one of the reasons that a 14 day notice period is essential.

The only way of it not been debited is to cancel the direct debit but convenienely you only know about the incorrect charge when you recieve your bill which will prob be after the money has been taken . Their billing system and their customer care are rubbish but to be honest their not much worse then the telecom companies.

mossie

I switched to Bord Gais for my electricity. My next bill will be the first from them and is well overdue. The meter was read about 2 or 3 weeks ago and all my neighbours who are with ESB have received their bills but I have received none yet. Not very good service, really.

foggy_lad

Fnergg wrote: »

I got my answer over in the Accommodation & Property section. A poster wrote:

Then I got my first bill and it was 400euro (I live by myself)!!! I rang them, they said it was estimated so I checked the reading and i was over stimated by miles!!! I rang them AGAIN to get an adjusted bill and they said they don't issue adjusted bills because of the cost that I had to pay the bill and it would correct itself the next time when they got a reading!!! I couldn't believe it! I'm went back to the ESB with my tail between m legs - no savings are worth that. At least ESB know what they are doing!!!!


And my response was:

That is incredible. How can BGE hope to get away with that approach? A customer has a right to have an over (or under) estimated bill adjusted to his/her own reading. Given that large numbers of customers will have switched on a direct debit basis, BGE will now be taking their overestimated charges out of their bank accounts even though the charge may be many multiples of the true amount. Absolutely appalling service.

Regards,

Fnergg

nothing unusual from most companies tbh and bord gais will no doubt keep any interest they earn by having your money in their account for a month or two! this is just a way to claw back the saving you make when switching to them.

also i had a bill delayed by more than a few weeks with bord gais and i made a formal complaint as they seemed to ignore all my emails and my calls to them were not handled very well at all. i ended up getting a payment of €35 from them as they did not meet their own complaints handling targets in their customer charter!

alexmcred

Have switched over to airtricity due to the delay in getting BG bills last one only gave a weeks notice of DD due to come out.

diceyreilly

Hi

Thinking of swiching over to flo gas from Bord Gais, i am just after moving into a new apartment (renting) and they are looking for €400 security deposit for 14 months.. (the interest they must be making on this is sick)

Do flo gas look for this huge amount..

dmaxontour

With Flogas, we arranged direct debit where they take a set amount (say 80euro) out a month. But we didn't pay any deposit with direct debit.

diceyreilly

And what if ya don't use that amount, during the summer my bill will be next to nothing,

dmaxontour

It gets reassessed as you go, but if you leave you either pay the owing balance or get refunded what's paid over. But double check with them first.

foggy_lad

my latest bord gais bill arrived yesterday but is dated 7th of june!!

i rang to ask why they are not sending my bills out on time and they basically blamed the post office and then my address then said they did not have to give 14days notice of direct debit payments.

i just rang my bank to stop the direct debit and will be making a formal compplaint to bord gais as well as to IPSO as they are required to give proper notice of direct debits.

angel01

foggy_lad wrote: »

my latest bord gais bill arrived yesterday but is dated 7th of june!!

i rang to ask why they are not sending my bills out on time and they basically blamed the post office and then my address then said they did not have to give 14days notice of direct debit payments.

i just rang my bank to stop the direct debit and will be making a formal compplaint to bord gais as well as to IPSO as they are required to give proper notice of direct debits.

Why not just sign up for electronic bills and view them all online?

foggy_lad

angel01 wrote: »

Why not just sign up for electronic bills and view them all online?

to make life easier for a company that is failing to provide the service they should be? why should i do that? i have signed up for them two years ago but they were often as late as the bills or did not come at all so it is better when dealing with bord gais to have everything on paper!

Our man in Havana

foggy_lad wrote: »

my latest bord gais bill arrived yesterday but is dated 7th of june!!

i rang to ask why they are not sending my bills out on time and they basically blamed the post office and then my address then said they did not have to give 14days notice of direct debit payments.

i just rang my bank to stop the direct debit and will be making a formal compplaint to bord gais as well as to IPSO as they are required to give proper notice of direct debits.

angel01 wrote: »

Why not just sign up for electronic bills and view them all online?

foggy_lad wrote: »

to make life easier for a company that is failing to provide the service they should be? why should i do that? i have signed up for them two years ago but they were often as late as the bills or did not come at all so it is better when dealing with bord gais to have everything on paper!

Not everyone has access to computers. I recently left BG for Airtricity. BG always print their bills a week before you get them. Of course the 14 days runs from the date of the bill not the date you actually receive it. This is not the fault of an post or anyone else. It is 100% BG's fault.

At least with Airtricity, my bill arrives and I has the full 14 days to pay.

foggy_lad

i just got a written reply from Bord Gais Customer Care in the post!

it acknowledges the complaint and gives a reference number. there is also an apology for "inconvenience caused in a delay in my bills being received."

the woman also goes on to state "I have tried contacting you by telephone on numerous occasions to discuss the matter further but have been unsuccessful to date."

the only calls i have got in the last few days were from 016021000 and the caller only let my phone ring for a few seconds before hanging up. this was most annoying as i received many of these nuisance calls and went so far as to report the malicious calls to meteor! i have since found out this is a bord gais number. this seems a good way to register attempts to contact a person that you do not actually want to talk to!

this woman then went on to pass the buck to an post who threw it back stating there were no delays or issues in this area! she also said an post advised that the majority of post addressed to my estate is addressed as Beech Rd, Rivercourt, O'Brien Rd. while the address bord gais have on file for me is Beech Rd, O'Brien Rd. but i can not see postmen with many years experience making a mistake with post misaddressed like this!

she then asked me to contact her which i have tried to do but each time i get her voicemail:rolleyes: edit:now her number goes straight to voicemail without even ringing!

maybe an post have been holding back metered post? or more likely the incompetants in bord gais never posted the bills?

Our man in Havana

the only calls i have got in the last few days were from 016021000 and the caller only let my phone ring for a few seconds before hanging up.

I had the same problem with MBNA. They would only allow the phone to ring once and they hung up. Cue a snotty letter saying we tried to call you.

maybe an post have been holding back metered post? or more likely the incompetents in bord gais never posted the bills?

I doubt an post are the villains here. I reckons there is a delay between the bill being computed and the bill being printed and posted. The bills could be sitting around for a day or more before being posted. Of course the 14 days runs from the date of computation. What needs to be done is to allow extra time so that the customer has the full 14 days from receipt of the bill to raise a dispute.

edellc

we moved into a property earlier this year we where esb customers in out last place but a bill came "to the occupier" from bord gais....EA said he would set us up but never bothered got on to landlord he wasnt bothered either so ended up having to ring ourselves no problem
however BG have a problem they are saying we are making the BIG SWITCH which we are not the house is supplied by them anyway we just wanted to put our name on bill gave the reading back in april heard nothing
rang back in june felt it was taking a bit long for a bll to come they logged our call but didnt take reading wtf no problem took a reading again had deleted the text with last reading so we shall go from june all was grand until they said we had to pay 400euro deposit for gas and 300euro deposit for esb :eek: what the f**k seriously thats 700euro without even paying for anything else surly this cant be right is it??
they said have to pay by DD but as im unemployed at minute that just wont work i have no problem going to post office every week and paying bit off bill do this with ntl and no problem always paid on time in this day and age i find BG out of order

Our man in Havana

BG don't want people that won't pay them by DD. They want ESB to take on all the risky customers.