British Gas no longer prints their bank acc details on the invoices. They want you to create an online account and force you to set up a direct debit, so they can take money directly from their account. Disgraceful behaviour.
My experiences with British Gas are infinitely worse than anything Ryanair has done....
Did you know that suppliers like British Gas can randomly assign you to another supplier, without you asking or even being told? And the other supplier has to requirement to ask if you want to be a new customer of theirs?
A colleague from work couldn't move house for a year because they would not accept meter reading. Another has his meter in somebody else's name and BG refuse to transfer it. Their support team in a bunch of ladies in Nigeria (kid you not, when you call them you get a message "please note that it may take a while to connect you to one of our support team" this is played after it's your turn to talk to someone). There are good reasons not to create a user account with them online or allow them free access to your bank account via Direct Debit. They are incompetent and disjointed as an organisation.
Not convinced that that, in and of itself, is a dark pattern.
Now using that to essentially get customers to overpay over the year, feels like it might be. Guess it depends on how much you save with them in the first loads using DD.
Bills not paid in time is definitely an issue. Having access to charge you when needed reduces the proportion of upaid bills, so you get more money in time.
> Savings: Gas and electricity unit rates are lower if you pay by Direct Debit, saving you £100 in comparison to paying when you get your bill.
This is a fairly common discount to receive from energy suppliers, as direct debit payments have reduced administrative overhead compared to payment on receipt.
Fair enough, but given how crap utilities are at securing user accounts, I do not want to have an account with them. Just send me the invoice and I'll pay it. End of story.
