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A new IT system designed to “greatly improve” customer service at British Gas has caused chaos, winning the utilities giant a record number of formal complaints. Energywatch said it received 21,247 complaints about the provider between October 2006 and March this year – compared with 7,644 complaints for the rest of the entire industry. Last month alone, just over 14,000 people complained, mostly about being sent bills for greater amounts of gas or electricity than they had actually used, the energy watchdog said. When they tried to report the error using a helpline set up for British Gas customers, they were met with lengthy delays, and had to talk to several different advisors. British Gas has since admitted to “teething problems” in migrating customer data to a new £430m billing system, which was designed to “greatly improve service.” The roll out of the system follows figures released six months ago that show British Gas has the worst customer service in the industry. Karl Brookes, of Energywatch, said of British Gas: “Since then its service has slumped from bad to worse. “The events that led to chaotic customer services from British Gas could have happened to any company. What consumers find unforgivable is the firm's failure to deal with their problems and turn it around despite promises to do so.” Initially, British Gas admitted its service had not been ‘as good as it should be,’ and it ‘very much regretted’ that some customers have had a bad experience. Speaking to The Financial Times on Saturday, Phil Bentley, its chief executive, offered a direct apology for the problems, which he said were being cleared up. “There have been some teething problems, as is often the case with large IT systems but we are now seeing a reduction in errors – and so, fewer inaccurate bills. “I am sorry that some customers have had to wait a long time for calls to be answered, but the average call waiting time yesterday was 70 seconds, and even on a busy day like today it’s less than two minutes.” Apr 23, 2007 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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