Last Wednesday i had a pre payment electric smart meter fitted as trying to be good and energy costs are rising i thought it was a good idea and whilst PAYG is more expensive i dont have to worry about my DD being upped by 50-70% a month
So old meter taken out, a key payment meter, and the new super doopper smart meter installed and the balance from the old put onto the new one and a nice shiny in house monitor to see usage and 1 nice new smart card to top up in shops if online/app is not working, all good so far.
So yesterday i thought about topping up online, system down, tried the app, system down we will get it sorted soon we are aware of the problem
So today i tried again online/app system still down so no worries i will go to the shop and top up there. No that didnt work network error contact your supplier
So a web chat when i got home went pretty much like this once email/address details confirmed.
Me: I cannot top up my smart meter online/app or in a shop it says network error
Them: You do not have a smart meter you have a key meter
Me: No i have a smart meter my smart card number is xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Them : Are you sure there is not a slot for the key on the meter?
Me: No i have a smart meter and a smart card
Them : Are you sure ?
Me : Yes it was exchanged Wednesday 1st of June i have an in home usage monitor, never had that with the old meter.
Them : Can you give me the serial number of the meter, it starts with an F
Me: No number with an F but in home monitor connected to meter gives S/N as xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Them: Not the S/N of the monitor the S/N of the meter
Me: The meter has a bar code that starts BGSM that means British Gas Smart Meter, the serial number given from the in home monitor matches the number on the meter but does not begin with an F
Them: So you cannot top up your meter?
Me : No if i could we would probably not be having this chat, can you help me top my meter up ?
Them: You don't have a smart meter at your property it is a key type according to our records
Me: Well i have the engineers name/employee number/work order stating it was exchanged on Wednesday 1st of June, what happens if i run out of electric.
Them: I have escalated this to our team to investigate and you will receive an email update within 5-9 hours, rest assured they are aware of your situation and you will not run out of supply.
Well you try your best to do the right thing and get left in limbo, they sent me the smart card, it even lets me go online and accept i have the smart card and sent me letters to tell me how to top up, yet they don't accept i have a smart meter
Yes this is the shortened version of a 52 minute web chat and i held my cool and didn't say why would i have an in home smart monitor connected to a meter if it was not a smart meter
Rant over, guess/hope it will be sorted but FFS
Colin
