British Gas has seen the number of customer complaints more than double in a year, the energy watchdog said today.
Between October 2006 and March 2007 the company received 21,427 complaints, compared with 8,012 between October 2005 and March 2006, Energywatch said.
Last month alone, more than 14,000 people complained about British Gas, a new complaints record for a single company.
British Gas is the UK’s biggest energy provider, and with 12 million domestic customers represents 30% of the gas and electricity market. However, it accounts for more than 70% of complaints.
The majority involve billing problems, with 6,600 customers disputing the amount they had been charged. Other problems included incorrect meter readings and out-of-date account details, energywatch said.
While most other energy companies have seen a fall in complaints over the past two-and-a-half years, British Gas has seen a steady rise.
It put the latest increase down to the introduction of a new billing system, which it said would ultimately improve service, and said it had taken on 800 extra staff to answer customers’ calls.
Under the new system, instead of having their meter read customers will receive an estimated bill calculated by computer.
Unforgivable service
Adam Scorer, director of campaigns at energywatch, said that while any company may have experienced problems with a new system, many customers found the way British Gas handled the situation “unforgivable”.
“energywatch reported six months ago that British Gas had the worst customer service in the industry. Their service has gone from bad to worse,” he said.
“Their inability to deal with customers’ problems is inexcusable – customers should not be left hanging on the phone or having to explain their circumstances to several different advisers.”
British Gas’s new managing director, Phil Bentley, admitted there had been “some teething problems” with the new system and apologised to customers who had been let down, but he said the situation was improving.
“We issue well over 1m bills each week and we read many more meters than our competitors to ensure accurate bills,” he said.
“I am sorry that some customers have had to wait a long time for their calls to be answered, but to put it in perspective the average call waiting time yesterday was 70 seconds, and even on a busy day like today it’s less than two minutes.”
Mr Bentley added: “As we bed in our new system, I thank our customers for their understanding and patience and I am personally committed to ensuring we deliver a clear improvement in customer service by the summer.”
Geoff Slaughter, energy product manager at the price comparison website uSwitch.com, said he could not remember a time when the company was not promising to improve customer service.
“British Gas has promised yet again that they’re going to turn a corner soon and address their poor levels of customer service, but this must be the longest corner in history,” he said.
Industry wide
energywatch said complaints about utility companies typically involved problems with billing, the transfer of accounts, and difficulties obtaining refunds from companies that have either taken too much money from an account or continued to collect a direct debit even after a customer has switched provider.
However, no other company came close to receiving the same level of complaints as British Gas, the watchdog added.
Powergen, which between October 2004 and March 2005 received 6,600 complaints, almost as many as the 7,492 for British Gas, received just 1,383 in the last six-month period under review.
Over the same two-and-half year period, npower reduced its number of complaints from 5,692 to 2,535, and Scottish Power has gone from 4,295 complaints to 1,858.
Mr Scorer said he would like to see all companies adopt the highest British and International Standards of complaint handling and customer service.
Hilary Osborne
Friday April 20, 2007
Guardian Unlimited