Further chilling tales of nightmare utility companies to make you scream
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A horror story in three acts as more readers do battle with their energy providers …. As temperatures drop, it’s time for some gas-lighting. My ongoing drama series on utilities companies guarantees phantoms, impostors, and chilling suspense. Even death can’t save victims from the tentacles of the energy giants. Read, if you dare, the latest instalment in three acts.
![[Anna Tims]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2018/01/08/Anna_Tims,_L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
On Valentine’s Day in Chorley, Lancashire, PS was informing British Gas of his mother’s death. Over at its probate call centre in South Africa, the team kept him on hold for 45 minutes while they put PS’s name on the account as executor and confirmed a £253 credit. The post soon brought a cheery letter from British Gas, addressed to his late mother, thanking her for asking for a £253 refund and enclosing a cheque in her name, which PS was unable to cash as her bank accounts had been closed.
He was obliged to call South Africa again, and discovered that the death hadn’t been noted, his name hadn’t been added, and the whole process had to be started again. “This was a 61-minute call, with 10 minutes’ hold time, and what appeared to be a party going on in the background,” he says.
He was told that the account was actually £450 in credit. No refund arrived so, again, he called and again was told that his name had not been registered and that no cheque could be issued. He logged a complaint, which British Gas closed without responding, and waited the required eight weeks to take his case to the ombudsman, which ordered British Gas to issue an accurate statement and pay £250 compensation.
