Customer service - it ain't no gas

Modern day customer service - my tale of woe regarding EoN

- by reader Lord T

I have a prepayment meter, as I like to keep track of what I spend. On Sunday, the 11th I put a card in with £100 on so that I would have to worry about the gas over Xmas. 

The meter cut my gas off and very helpfully said 'CALL HELP' which I did but nobody came to my aid. Maybe I didn't shout loud enough so I went inside and dialled EoNs number, out of hours message where an emergency number was provided. 

I rang it all afternoon and didn't get an answer. So much for an emergency phone line. 

That night was one of those in the cold snap last week and I'd obviously caught a chill and was freezing despite being wrapped up in bed. 

On Monday it took hours to get someone on the normal line. They listened to my tale of woe and arranged an engineer to come out within 2 to 4 hours. Which made it about 1400 to 1600. 

No sign of anyone so I called again at 1700 and it was answered at 1740. I was told an engineer was almost there and would be there is 20 to 30 minutes. 

No sign of anyone over an hour later and I was back on the emergency line until my phone battery went flat. 

Another night of sub zero temperatures and I was well wrapped up buy feeling poorly heading towards hypothermia. 

Next day another wait for a few hours and I eventually spoke to someone who arranged another engineer. I didn't get a call back to confirm as I had asked and I called again to be told at 1230 one was scheduled with an SLA of 1458. 

The engineer arrived in less than an hour later. He stuck a card in the meter and 30 seconds later it was back online. Before he left I insisted that I put in my card so if there were any issues. It shut the gas off again. 

He checked the logs and it seems the meter thought the card was corrupted. So it cut off the gas even though there was £60+ of my cash on there because of a corrupt card. 

Why not a 'CORRUPT CARD' message and leaving the gas on? Who thought that would be a good idea, and who approved it. If I ever find out they will be kicked to death in the street. 

As I will be unable to get satisfaction that way, they should all be sacked. Anyway I was told a new card would be ordered and sent to me and be with me in two days and I would also have to send this card back to get my £100 back. 

So, 50 Hours after my gas was cut off, I was back burning fossil fuels again. Whoo Hoo. 

It seems that these companies have an obligation to get people with no gas back in 4 hours. On one call, the handler said that she was sorry but they prioritised the calls. I asked how they did that? How did they know that me hanging on the line awaiting an answer was a lower priority than someone else? Were they ESP trained or something? 

Three days later, no card. I called again, another torturous [sic] wait and when I got through, I was told that the engineers don't order these cards, I was expected to phone up, wait an hour on the phone to order a new one myself. 

She said she would get one sent out. I insisted on an emergency one as I didn't want to wait another three days. She gave me a number and said wait two hours and go to a provider who will give you a new card. Only thing was all the providers I went to didn't have cards to issue.

I went further afield and got one late Friday. I had to put £50 on it. When I got home I thought about trying it but though if it went wrong I would be all weekend without gas. Kids would be freezing again. So I waited. 

At midday, I plugged the card in and the meter clicked off. 'CALL HELP'. I was expecting it. Back on the phone. A wait while I typed this and eventually an answer and an engineer is on his way. 

This is the worst customer service I've every had and I've had a lot of sub standard service in my life. Many caused by office staff making decisions and not having any impact from the consequences. The call staff are all nice and polite but they all say the company lines such as my customer experience isn't what it should be and they are overrun by calls. 

It is just bad management. They build these delays into the calculations for service staff and it works out cheaper than having people available to fix the issues. 

In the meantime, people freeze. 

I have no doubt that people died last week in that cold snap simply because there was an issue with their gas. 

So currently, I have less than £19 on the meter. No way to top it up and £150 on cards I can't use. So fingers crossed. not just to keep them warm as I await. 

Engineer arrived with plenty of time to spare. Put his card in and reset the meter. Gas back on. We discussed what had happened and he checked the cards. 1st was corrupt but nothing seemed wrong with second. Guy reset the meter wiping out my credit. 

He then put my £50 on gas from the card. Said I would need to claim the original £100 plus the £10.38 wiped from the meter. 

Still, got to check the card is OK and I'll do that tomorrow by putting a further £50 on it and putting it in the meter which will test the card while the weather is mild and take me into the new year. 

So, still got to test the fix and claim my £100 back. Apparently there is compensation for missed appointments and they clearly missed the 4 hour SLA for restoring gas, several times. 

Till tomorrow. Fingers crossed.