British Gas

Sorry BG but again it’s like every time you make a change is simply swapping one bunch of disasters to the other. You have set the app to have two separate log in screens one for gas and one for electric, you have to log out of one to see the other so clunky and annoying , the pdf bills are hard to read, you have removed the consumption information, but you have made it clear that you want us all to go to direct debit, as nearly a third of the app screen is taken up with a setup direct debit feature. I can tell you what you can do with that feature, stick it where the sun doesn’t shine. I am happy paying quarterly, I always settle the bill in full on receipt; I WILL NEVER allow BG to control MY MONEY, by allowing them to take payments from my bank account to build up “credit” so they can float my cash and use me as a bridging loan whilst the directors and shareholders use it to party in the Mediterranean. It’s interesting that the app has a clear matter reading feature, that’s ironic as that looks like a step backwards to me and the confidence of so called smart meters is waning; wach this space I bet BG will start re-installing dumb meters again to replace the smart meters that are clearly a disaster across the industry and come up with a marketing gimmick to promote what we knew always worked 50 years ago, simple meters and simple pricing. You get 2 stars because the meter reading feature is actually quite a good idea and you can even activate your phone lamp as a torch.

Update on previous review, Had the app for many years had my smart meters changed in April to the new version (Smets2)and then problems, after some time the gas one works shows usage and meter readings the electric one however no useage occasionally will show a smart meter reading not as often as the gas, no usage since switching over smart meters just been told technical dept is working on with no eta on a fix YET the independent app Ivie works fine all the day to day data something is clearly wrong with the BG App and no eta on a fix not great and certainly not a customer focused approach so my recommendation is don’t bother with this for usage (may need to submit meter readings using the app) but download Ivie it’s free takes about a week once signed up to sort itself out you will need some data from you bills meter Serial numbers etc. BG you need to do better

Most organisations learn from their previous attempts with apps and improve them but not BG, the new app seems embarrassed to open up at first and takes ages, at some points it looks like it has frozen but if you wait long enough it will open eventually. The statements are confusing some go to full screen others stay small and can be difficult to read. Before we could see easily charges and payments easily but now it is a confused mass of figures on separate screens, would it help if the developers engaged the help of an accountant to show them how to present accounts properly. Have now been able to access the app, apparently biometric access confuses the app, disable them and you can get in. If you look at one of your accounts either gas or electric you have to exit the app to look at the other account. The statements if you look at your latest statement you leave the app but other statements are within the app but are on a small screen. Previous comments were that it wasn’t a very good app, there is no change to my opinion, it wasn’t properly tested before release, it isn’t helpful for customers to monitor their usage and their bills, so no change to my rating.