Service lottery

BRITISH Gas is getting a bad name for customer services and I’m not surprised.

When my supplier went bust I was transferred to British Gas. I tried to set up an account and direct debit but after two months I heard nothing on how much my direct debit would be.

I phoned and after about 15 minutes I was able to talk to a British Gas employee. After some discussion I was told they could not help me and was put through to another department. After ten minutes I was told it was to the wrong department and transferred again. On outlining my problem I got the message: ‘The other person has cleared.’ I tried again, got through almost right away and the person I spoke to was very professional, set up my direct debit and answered two more problems I had.

Later I got an automated call to rate the service and a little later a call from a British Gas employee asking me to outline my dissatisfaction with my first attempt. What a pity good service should be something of a lottery.

JOHN L. RIMMER, Hamilton, Lanarkshire