7 Jul 2015

Chinese SPAM and British Gas - NOT amateur radio, just amateurish

I am sorry to report that most of my SPAM messages (deleted at the earliest opportunity) come from the Far East and most are from China. I am now getting expert at spotting these, which have no relevance to the actual post. Most want to advertise a link. Sorry, you are wasting your time as these comments rarely get
as far as being published even. Many are probably generated by computers anyway.

By the way, weeks after waiting in for British Gas to install smart meters I have received many emails but no explanation why no-one turned up in the agreed 5 hour slot. British Gas seem hopeless, but so are many energy suppliers here in the UK. "Arse and elbow" comes to mind: they only seem able to communicate with customers by computer and they do not seem to know what other divisions in the same company are doing.  Despite billing me at the new QTH for 2 years, they have my wrong details on their system. I can only change this if I say I've moved house. Doing this would probably just throw their system into total confusion, so for now I am still awaiting a phone call from a human being. Smart meters? Oh I forgot to mention that their system says smart meters will not be available here for several years to come.  Despite this, it was British Gas who contacted me to arrange the date for installation that never happened. Basket case? You bet they are! I can remember when you could actually talk to people who knew. Same with my bank. You used to be able to talk with a  local bank manager. Nowadays you get a call centre 5000 miles away. We have moved backwards.

In my business life, people would have been retrained or even sacked for the sort of customer service that seems to be the norm these days. Does no-one really care about customers any more? I guess not.

British Gas - more like British Crap based on my recent dealings with them. British Gasbags maybe?
Barclays - your friendly local bank?  Only if you want to talk with people in India who have no idea who you are at all.

4 comments:

G1KQH said...

We had the same things going on when we changed over to EON for dual fuel a few years ago, their system was saying out meter was not live, hence no bill! It took 18 months to sort it out, the problem was found that the data flow when the meter reader took a reading and sent it down the line was still going to BG. We had no real apology either?

Then recently we moved the Mother inlaw into her new dwelling, the problem here the previous owner had not shut the old account down, well how could one she was deceased. The problem then came to light when the Mother inlaw ended up with two bills on two seperate accounts? It took ages of calls to Npower being put on hold, folk at the other end not really understanding the problem. This went on for well over two weeks until I got on to the right person to sort it.. Again no real apology?

Everything is a problem today.

Have fun!!


73 Steve

Roger G3XBM said...

This is the problem Steve. They are all as bad as each other. There is no doubt that we are moving backwards in many ways.

I am reluctant to switch energy suppliers as I think the next energy supplier will be just as pathetic. Maybe things will swing back to REAL customer service with the customer actually mattering? As it is, I feel like I am taking part in some big computer game played by total idiots who could not care less. Thank goodness no money is involved. I really would not know where to start. If I was a "little old lady" I would be totally confused.

G1KQH said...

I agree its a total pathetic situation with all of them, there is no gain once you have switched to a dual fuel bill, its just not worth another switch for another dollop of trouble and a measley saving of £50..


Maybe they do it to wind us all up and shorten our life span?

Roger G3XBM said...

I also get annoyed with insurance policies: surely if someone is loyal and makes few (or no) claims you would want to keep them? Doesn't seem to work this way at all. You get sent a policy and price, look on the internet for a better price and haggle. Crap.