24 November 2006
Carshalton-based William Evans, 81, was left without gas for five days because he could not get through to the British Gas helpdesk.
Mr Evans, who is registered blind, started to notice something was wrong when he continually put coins into his meter with no effect.
After attempting to get hold of British Gas on his own, he enlisted the help of his neighbour and friend, George Day, with the pair spending up to 47 minutes on hold each call.
When an engineer was finally sent out, he disputed the claim, stating that all the gas appliances were working correctly.
Mr Evans told the Sutton Guardian: "I feel angry about all of this. My neighbour and I were phoning British Gas for days without getting through and he is now going to have a huge phone bill.
Mr Day added: "We must have called about 20 times a day. We just wanted to tell someone what was going on and it was just impossible. My neighbour's house was freezing."
British Gas has since apologised but maintains its claim that the engineer found all of the appliances to be working on November 6th, adding that "the meter battery was merely flashing as low, not failed".
A spokesman told Newsquest media: "We have arranged a cheque for £25 to go out to his neighbour Mr Day to cover his costs in phone calls and a second cheque for £50 has been arranged for customer, Mr Evans.
It's not all bad news – switching suppliers using uSwitch.com is free, quick and could save you up to £170 a year on your bills. No need for new pipes or meters either, in fact, the only difference will be smaller bills! See how much you can save.
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
Content for the uSwitch.com market news service is provided by a third party, Adfero Ltd. Whilst uSwitch.com makes reasonable efforts to check the reliability of this content, uSwitch.com does not guarantee the accuracy thereof or endorse the views or opinions given by Adfero Ltd, unless expressly stated otherwise.