Energy supplier claims punishment for mishandling customer complaints is ‘disproportionate’ British Gas believes that its regulator is disproportionate in finding the company in breach of regulations relating to customer complaints. The energy company has been fined £2.5m by Ofgem for failing to deal properly with customer complaints. The fine follows a year-long investigation into the company which found it breached regulations on how energy companies should handle disputes. Ofgem found: • British Gas failed to re-open complaints from customers who indicated they felt the matter was not resolved adequately. • It failed to provide sufficient information to complainants about the energy ombudsman service. • It failed to deal properly with complaints from micro-businesses because it had not implement the necessary processes and practices. Ofgem said the fine should be regarded as a warning that all energy companies must take complaint handling seriously and treat their customers fairly. Complaint handling by mpower and EDF Energy is currently under scrutiny by the watchdog. A spokeswoman for British Gas said the company accepted the criticism about its handling of micro-business compaints and actually took the initiative to notify the regulator about its failings in that area. But the company felt that finding it in breach of rules for failing to provide adequate information to consumers about the energy ombudsman was “disproportionate to the mistake”. The spokeswoman said that the company had failed to provide information about the ombudsman to a few customers making complaints, but added: “It didn’t prevent anyone getting the redress they needed.” In a statement, British Gas said: “At British Gas, we look after half the homes in Britain and we take great pride in our customer service. Recently, Consumer Focus awarded British Gas the top four-star rating for complaint handling and we’ve won European call centre of the year for the last two years. Therefore Ofgem’s finding us in breach on a minor point when we have 16m accounts, is, we feel, totally disproportionate to the issue. “However, specifically for our micro-business customers, we acknowledge our service fell short of what they should expect from British Gas, for which we apologise. We knew we had an issue here which is why we flagged it to Ofgem. After a £4m investment, we are now confident we meet all of our regulatory requirements”. Ofgem is also investigating Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy, EDF Energy and npower for misselling and is carrying out two investigations into Scottish Power for potentially misleading marketing and the difference between its standard credit and direct debit tariffs. Sarah Harrison, Ofgem’s senior partner for sustainable development, said: “We warned the industry in March that we would be backing up our plans to reform the retail market with a tough approach to enforcement. This £2.5m fine against British Gas, and the other £10m of fines imposed on the energy industry so far this year, sends a clear message to energy companies that they must abide by the rules.” Audrey Gallacher, director of energy at watchdog Consumer Focus , welcomed the fine: “Frustrating the attempts of customers to get complaints sorted out is unacceptable. It adds to the lack of trust in energy companies and it denies British Gas important insight into customer service problems. “The importance a company gives to solving customer complaints is a good indication of how much they value their customers. British Gas deserve some credit for being open about its failures and taking action to put them right. But the experience of its customers when they make a complaint in the future will be the real test.” This is the second time this month British Gas has been fined by Ofgem. British Gas Business was penalised £1m after the regulator’s investigation found the company had misreported the amount of electricity supplied under the government’s renewables obligation. British Gas claims it spotted the problem – it said an over-reporting of the amount of renewable energy it was supplying caused by human error – and notified the regulator. Richard Lloyd of Which? said: “Suppliers should always tell customers that they can take an unresolved complaint to the energy ombudsman. It’s well worth people pursuing this as the majority of complaints assessed by the ombudsman are upheld, and seven in 10 include financial compensation. “Which? also wants the regulator to provide much clearer information about complaints in the energy industry so that everyone can see how customers are being treated. It says Ofgem should now follow the lead of the financial services industry and regularly publish data on complaints, broken down by each company.” Customers with a complaint must give their energy supplier a chance to solve the problem – within an eight-week deadline – before approaching the energy embudsman . Energy bills Consumer affairs Household bills Energy industry Gas Jill Insley guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Bank’s profits down 21%, in part due to £538m cost of mis-selling insurance – potentially delaying float of its UK arm A £538m provision to cover compensation for customers mis-sold payment protection insurance in the UK knocked a dent in the profits of Spanish bank Santander, which has been hoping to float the UK business on the London stock market. The bill revealed by Santander on Wednesday means that all the major players in PPI – which was supposed to pay out if customers lost their jobs or fell ill but often failed to do so – have now admitted the financial cost of mis-selling the insurance during the past decade. Bailed out Lloyds Banking Group kicked off the process after setting aside £3.2bn in May, while the Royal Bank of Scotland is providing £850m , Barclays £1bn and HSBC £270m. Profits at Santander fell 21% to €3.5bn (£3bn), in part because of the provision. Ana Botin, the head of the UK business and daughter of Santander chairman Emilio, complained about the impact of regulatory changes on the bank’s business. She stressed the UK arm was beating its pledges to lend to small businesses, as set out in the Project Merlin agreement with the government in February. “We continue to be a consistent lender to homeowners, despite weak demand, and to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to which our lending grew by 27% and where we continue to exceed our lending commitments made under the Merlin agreement,” she said. The fall-off in mortgage lending was stark, after rapid expansion by Santander in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 banking crisis when other players pulled out of the home loan market. However, the Spanish bank is now no longer able to keep up with the pace at which home loans are being repaid. Net lending – which takes account of mortgages repaid – was negative by £400m in the first half, falling 11%. However, for small businesses the stock of lending was up 27% and gross lending – which adds up loads repaid and new ones granted – reached £4bn, some £2.1bn of which was for SMEs. The Bank of England is due to publish an official six-month update on Project Merlin on August 12, to show if the banking industry is meeting the pledge to lend £76bn to SMEs and £190bn to businesses generally. While the bank’s parent company has said it wants to float the UK arm this year, the City now believes such a move is unlikely until 2012, when there will be a clearer view on the regulatory changes imposed by the government following the recommendations of the independent commission on banking (due on September 12). Botin is already concerned about the impact of requirements to hold more liquid instruments such as government bonds on overall profitability. Over the past 18 months, the bank has built up its hold of liquid assets by £30bn. Banco Santander Banking Payment protection insurance Insurance Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Justice secretary reacts to MPs’ report showing only a quarter of probation officers’ time is spent in direct contact with offenders The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, has vowed to end the “tickbox, bean-counting culture” of the probation service after MPs revealed that officers spend as much as 75% of their work time on administrative duties rather than dealing directly with offenders. Clarke expressed dismay after reading in a report, published on Wednesday by the Commons justice select committee. The panel of MPs said they accepted that probation officers had to do a certain amount of work that does not involve dealing directly with offenders, but were “staggered” to find that could be as much as 75%. “No one would suggest that it would be acceptable for teachers (who also have to do preparatory work and maintain paperwork) to spend three-quarters of their time not teaching,” they said. “The value which really effective probation officers can add comes primarily from their direct contact with offenders.” The rest of the probation officer’s time is split between computer activity, drafting correspondence and reports, meetings and dealing with other red tape, the report found. The MPs took evidence from one chief probation officer who said it was true that a routine offender in the middle of their probation order might be seen for only 10 minutes, but a serious violent offender who was coming out of prison would mean several hours a week contact time. They said a “tickbox culture” imposed by the advent of the national offender management service (Noms), which took over prison and probation a decade ago, was part of the root cause of the growth in bureaucracy. The committee’s report was highly critical of the impact of Noms on the probation service, describing it as a prison service takeover. The MPs said they wanted to see an external review of the future of Noms, saying its creation had not led to a joined-up treatment of offenders and had not proved itself proficient at handling national contracts for services such as for bail accommodation and facilities management. Clarke said he “entirely” shared the committee’s analysis, but insisted changes had been made to Noms since he took over as justice secretary. He said he intended to use the report to address the problem, but made it clear there would be no additional money for the service. “We knew it was a problem,” he told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme. “We’ve been addressing it. It goes back to the failed system of management where you pile targets, and micromanagement and stipulate to people what they should do, which we are getting rid of. “I’ve already started addressing this. We have reduced the number of targets, we have streamlined the national standards, we have said we are going to give probation officers their professional discretion.” The justice secretary refused to say how much time officers should spend dealing directly with offenders, saying he was opposed to “microtargets”. “What I want to measure the probation service by is what works, what output are they producing,” he said. The justice select committee report also called for the government’s “payment by results” proposal to open probation up to competition to be looked at again. The MPs argued that, while there is a lot of scope for new organisations to provide probation services, there is a danger that payment by results will overlook the rights of victims and offenders’ obligations towards them. Clarke indicated plans to bring “outside organisations” into the system, and said he wanted more “professional discretion” in the service. He said it was “simply not feasible” to put more money into the system, but that changes to the service could save money “if you do it properly”. “The one I’m keenest on is community payback – unpaid work,” he said. “You make people work for no pay on something that is of value to the community. It’s a very good idea, which I’ve inherited, but it’s not properly organised.” Harry Fletcher of the probation union Napo, said: “The report confirms that Noms has been a major problem from the start. Napo warned in 2004 that Noms would be a bureaucratic nightmare. “It is scandalous that probation staff now spend 75% of their time on form-filling and responding to centrally driven emails. Even Daniel Sonnex, who brutally murdered two French students three years ago, was seen for just 20 minutes a week. “The last 10 years have witnessed a massive rise in the constant government monitoring of probation staff to the detriment of face-to-face contact with offenders. “This does not enhance public protection but undermines it. This flawed historical trend must be reversed.” Kenneth Clarke House of Commons Prisons and probation Hélène Mulholland Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
ITV announces interim dividend of 0.4p and plans to launch payment systems for its online ITV Player ITV is to launch its long-awaited TV micropayment system in January, as the broadcaster forecast an end to its summer advertising slump in September with television ad revenues expected to be “broadly flat”. ITV, which announced its first payment to shareholders since 2008 with an interim dividend of 0.4p in results for the six months to 30 June, said it intends to launch a range of pay systems for its online television ITV Player. The broadcaster added that total revenues were up 4% year on year to £1.03bn in the six months to the end of June. Within this the broadcasting and online division grew revenues by 3% to £887m. Online revenues increased by 33% year on year as the ITV Player recorded a 19% increase in average monthly unique users and “long-form video views” – essentially whole TV shows watched via PC or handheld devices such as phones and tablets – rose 64% to 180m. “Our pay mechanism will launch at the turn of the year; we have picked our partners,” said Adam Crozier, chief executive of ITV. “We are working on the consumer proposition, what people are prepared to pay for and what will work and won’t work.” Crozier said ITV would probably run a number of different [payment] models in the first few months after the launch. The broadcaster has been experimenting with different online viewing models with “register-to-view trials” for Champions League matches, Indian Premier League games, The Only Way is Essex and webisodes of Coronation Street. ITV originally announced plans to launch a micropayment system for the ITV Player in August last year, with a launch timeline of the fourth quarter this year , a delay that Crozier downplayed. “We originally said there was a possibility of doing it then [in the fourth quarter],” he said. “From a technical point of view we could do it but we want the consumer proposition right. We want a softer launch.” ITV, which has experienced a tough early summer , reporting the first fall in TV ad revenue in 18 months in May, said TV ad revenues will be down 2% in July and 4% in August. Looking ahead to September, a key month for the broadcaster, ITV is tentatively forecasting TV ad revenue to be “broadly flat” year on year. The broadcaster said that overall TV ad revenue across the third quarter will be “slightly down” year on year, but ahead of the market. Commenting on the level of the dividend, Crozier said that the aim was for a “dividend that was sustainable” and that ITV has adopted a “progressive policy” for future payouts. ITV will be particularly pleased with what analysts at UBS described as a “stronger than expected” performance at ITV Studios, the broadcaster’s in-house production arm, which grew total revenues by 4% year on year to £264m. The performance was primarily driven by ITV Studios international production operation, which helped boost the division’s “external revenues” – commissions for broadcasters other than ITV – by 11% to £140m. “While there’s still a long way to go, we’re starting to see potential in the level of new work coming through ITV Studios with 68 new commissions so far this year, of which 29 are international,” said Crozier. Crozier pointed to the success of Prime Suspect, which is being remade for the US in a co-production for NBC, and Titanic, which has been penned by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and already sold to 15 broadcasters. Earnings before interest, tax and amortisation at the division fell by £5m, to £38m, but Crozier said this was primarily due to a strategy of investing in new talent and more pilots. Asked about looking at making acquisitions to boost the production division – ITV has just £52m in debt and has access to almost £1bn in cash – Crozier said that the real issue was looking to organically fix ITV Studios. Crozier also said that ITV is not working on any plans to potentially buy back the TV rights to Formula One motor racing, which the BBC is widely expected to drop when the current deal expires. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook ITV ITV Digital Digital media Television Television industry Media business Mark Sweney guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Teen, 14, given three-year jail term for murder and organised crime in Mexico
July 27, 2011 No Comment
‘El Ponchis’, a US citizen who confessed to working for South Pacific drug cartel, given maximum sentence allowed for a minor A Mexican judge on Tuesday sentenced a teenage US citizen to three years in prison for homicide, kidnapping and drug and weapons possession. Authorities say the teen confessed to killing four people whose beheaded bodies were found suspended from a bridge. Edgar Jimenez Lugo, known as “El Ponchis”, was given the maximum sentence allowed for a minor in the central state of Morelos, said state prosecutor Jose Manuel Serrano Falmerol. Jimenez, 14, was tried in a state court because Mexico does not have a justice system to try minors at the federal level. Authorities say the teenager confessed to working for the South Pacific drug cartel, led by reputed drug lord Hector Beltran Leyva. When he was handed over to federal prosecutors, the boy calmly said in front of cameras that he participated in four killings while drugged and under threat. The bodies were found in the tourist city of Cuernavaca. In November, stories of a hit boy, maybe as young as 12, spread after a YouTube video appeared with teens mugging for the camera next to corpses and guns . One boy on the video alleged that “El Ponchis” was his accomplice. Jimenez was born in San Diego, California. He and a sister were arrested in December as they tried to board a plane to Tijuana, where they planned to cross the border and reunite with their mother in San Diego. The teenager has been in a juvenile detention centre in Morelos since his arrest and will serve his time there, Serrano said. The two siblings allegedly worked for Julio “El Negro” Padilla, a reputed drug trafficker who authorities say has been fighting for control of the drug trade in Morelos. Morelos was formerly under the control of the Beltran Leyva gang, which broke up after alleged leader Arturo Beltran Leyva was killed in a shootout with Mexican marines a year ago. The battle among remnants of the gang has caused an unprecedented spike in violence in Morelos and in neighbouring Guerrero state, where the resort city of Acapulco is located. A relative has said Jimenez was nicknamed “Ponchis” by his family because he was a pudgy child. Mexico Drugs trade United States guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Embarrassment for Congress speaker John Boehner after budget office finds $350bn hole in his original proposal The US debt crisis has escalated after Republicans were forced to rewrite their proposal to lift the debt ceiling, because they miscalculated how much the original plan would cut spending. In an embarrassing development for John Boehner, the Republican Congress speaker, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) ruled on Tuesday night that his bill would have only cut spending by $850bn over the next decade, not the $1.2tr he had aimed for. Republicans are now racing to rewrite the legislation, and have pushed back a Congressional vote on the plan from Wednesday to Thursday at the earliest. Although Boehner was already struggling to find support for his package, the delay increases the risk that Washington will fail to agree a deal to raise the debt ceiling before 2 August, when the federal government is expected to run out of money. The dollar dropped against other currencies on Wednesday morning as investors faced the possibility that America could default. Several economists believe the country will lose its AAA credit rating within months, which would push up its borrowing costs, even if the $14.3tr debt ceiling is increased in time. The White House said on Tuesday it was working with Congress to devise a “Plan B” that might attract enough support. The two sides have been deeply divided for weeks, with Republicans demanding deep spending cuts and Democrats anxious to include tax rises as a major part of the deal. The US people may be losing patience with their political leaders. The Congressional telephone system was swamped with calls from the public on Tuesday, coming close to collapse. The websites of several members of Congress have crashed this week, after president Obama urged Americans to make their voices heard. Across the globe, there is growing astonishment that the world’s biggest economy is on the brink of a technical default because its elected leaders cannot hammer out a deal. Nouriel Roubini, the leading economics professor, said there was disbelief in China. “Biggest concern in meetings in Hong Kong: will the US default on its debt? Folks here are shocked by the dysfunctional US political system,” he tweeted from Shanghai. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 39 points at the start of trading to 5890, following widespread losses in Asia overnight. Traders are braced for the debt ceiling negotiations to go right to the wire. “Equity markets remain on the back foot as the US debt impasse continues to dominate the agenda. The political spat continues and as a result the expectation is that negotiations will be ongoing into next week, right up to that August 2nd deadline,” said Chris Weston, Institutional trader at IG Markets. Complacency rules, ok? Analysts have suggested that America may have more time to resolve the crisis than the government has admitted, with Barclays Capital calculating that the country might be able to function until 10 August before needing to borrow again. The yield, or interest rates, on US 10-year bonds remained below 3% on Wednesday – meaning America still enjoys some of the cheapest borrowing costs of any country. There are indications, though, that investors are becoming more anxious, with the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) volatility index, which tracks Wall Street confidence, rising by 4.5%. “We are finally seeing a little bit of risk priced in, but not a lot is being priced in yet,” said Louise Cooper, markets analyst at BGC Partners. “There’s still complacency … I don’t think anyone expects this to go wrong.” One possibility is that Obama could approve a short-term rise in the debt ceiling while Congress wrestles with a long-term fiscal plan. “The can would then be being kicked down the road in the States as well as in Europe,” said Cooper, referring to the Eurozone’s own debt problems. The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that banks are now holding onto more cash, bolstering their liquidity levels in preparation for a US credit rating downgrade that could potentially prompt a second credit crunch. “We’ve been here before, post-Lehman Brothers, and we don’t want to be there again,” commented Cooper. The wrangling over the debt ceiling could do long-term damage to America’s economic credibility, warned Christopher Molumphy, chief investment officer of Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group. “The lack of a credible long-term solution would likely raise questions about the creditworthiness of the US, push up the cost of capital for private and public borrowers and thus prove a further impediment to economic recovery. There is still time for a deal to be reached on raising the debt ceiling, but continued doubts about a longer-term solution to the US’s federal deficit may well threaten the country’s AAA credit rating and the status of US Treasuries as assets previously perceived as virtually ‘risk-free’, and against which many other products are gauged,” said Molumphy. US economy Economics Global economy Global recession John Boehner US Congress United States US politics Republicans Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Expert believe two creatures found alive in Christchurch survived due to bacteria and algae growing in their tank There were no Scooby snacks to eat – but at least they had each other for company. Two goldfish, named Shaggy and Daphne after characters from the animated television show Scooby Doo, have become the smallest survivors of the devastating earthquake in Christchurch that killed 181 people in February. The fish spent four and a half months trapped in their tank in the city’s downtown area, which was made off-limits after the quake. The creatures had no one to feed them and no electricity to power their tank filter before they were discovered and rescued. “It’s certainly an incredible story. I wouldn’t have guessed that fish could survive on their own for four months,” said Paul Clarkson, curator at the Monterey Bay aquarium in California. “Goldfish are very hardy critters.” Luckily for the fish, they lived in a large 26-gallon (100-litre) tank and had seaweed to munch on. According to Clarkson, the fish may also have gleaned some nutrition from eating algae growing on the tank’s rocks and walls. He said naturally growing bacteria may have helped keep the water clean enough to sustain life. There were six goldfish in the tank when the earthquake struck, but by the time the survivors were found, no trace remained of three of the fish. A fourth was found floating in the tank. Goldfish are, after all, omnivores. The fish had been on display in the reception area of Quantum Chartered Accountants on Christchurch’s high street. Company director Vicky Thornley said she was about to step into the elevator when the quake hit and she grabbed on to the wooden tank surround, to steady herself and stop the tank from falling. “I was clinging on for dear life,” she said. She and her three co-workers made it out of the building as masonry and bricks crashed through a skylight. Thornley’s first thoughts were for the safety of her 5-year-old son, Joshua, who was unharmed. It wasn’t until 6 July that authorities finally allowed her back into the office, escorting her to collect belongings. Her office was in a particularly hard-hit part of the city. Thornley said she didn’t want to look in the direction of the tank because she was sure the fish would be long dead. But Thornley was astounded when an earthquake recovery worker shouted to her: “Hey there are fish here, and they’re alive!” The fish looked dull in colour but otherwise appeared fine, Thornley said. She scooped them out and took them home in a bucket. She gave them to Joshua, who loves goldfish and already had two of his own, Scooby and Fred. It was Joshua who then named the survivors. Thornley said she was nervous about putting Shaggy and Daphne in with her son’s fish, given that they may already have developed a taste for their own kind. But nothing happened and all four are now swimming happily together in a new tank. Although none survived as long as Shaggy and Daphne, hundreds of pets were rescued within the first two weeks of the quake. Carolyn Press McKenzie, who runs the Huha animal sanctuary in Wellington, said she has since found homes for most of the 115 dogs, cats, roosters and turtles she helped rescue from Christchurch. New Zealand Natural disasters and extreme weather Animals guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Bomber detonated explosives in corridor of Ghulam Haidar Hamidi’s office in volatile southern Afghanistan city The mayor of Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar city was killed in a suicide bomb attack on Wednesday, officials said. The incident occurred just two weeks after the controversial and powerful brother of Afghan president Hamid Karzai was assassinated in the same city. Mayor Ghulam Haider Hamidi was killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a corridor near his office, said Zalmay Ayoubi, the spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor. “It appears the bomber was carrying the bomb in his turban,” Ayobi added. Kandahar police chief Abdul Razaq said the mayor was meeting some elders from a district of Kandahar city when one of them got close to the mayor and detonated a bomb hidden in his turban. Hamidi’s death comes at a time when there is a dangerous power vacuum in volatile Kandahar province, the Taliban’s birthplace and a focus of recent efforts by a surge of US troops to turn the tide against the insurgency. Karzai’s brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, one of the most powerful and controversial men in southern Afghanistan, was assassinated by a trusted family security guard at his home in Kandahar city on 12 July. At a funeral service for Ahmad Wali Karzai, a suicide attacker who appeared to have concealed his explosives inside a turban killed a senior cleric and at least four other people in Kandahar. Kandahar was the site of more than half of all targeted killings in Afghanistan between April and June, a UN report found. Afghanistan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Bomber detonated explosives in corridor of Ghulam Haidar Hamidi’s office in volatile southern Afghanistan city The mayor of Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar city was killed in a suicide bomb attack on Wednesday, officials said. The incident occurred just two weeks after the controversial and powerful brother of Afghan president Hamid Karzai was assassinated in the same city. Mayor Ghulam Haider Hamidi was killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a corridor near his office, said Zalmay Ayoubi, the spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor. “It appears the bomber was carrying the bomb in his turban,” Ayobi added. Kandahar police chief Abdul Razaq said the mayor was meeting some elders from a district of Kandahar city when one of them got close to the mayor and detonated a bomb hidden in his turban. Hamidi’s death comes at a time when there is a dangerous power vacuum in volatile Kandahar province, the Taliban’s birthplace and a focus of recent efforts by a surge of US troops to turn the tide against the insurgency. Karzai’s brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, one of the most powerful and controversial men in southern Afghanistan, was assassinated by a trusted family security guard at his home in Kandahar city on 12 July. At a funeral service for Ahmad Wali Karzai, a suicide attacker who appeared to have concealed his explosives inside a turban killed a senior cleric and at least four other people in Kandahar. Kandahar was the site of more than half of all targeted killings in Afghanistan between April and June, a UN report found. Afghanistan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Energy watchdog said firm breached rules by failing to re-open cases when customers indicated issue was not resolved British Gas has been fined £2.5m by the energy watchdog for failing to deal with complaints correctly. The company, which serves nearly half of the UK’s households, failed to re-open cases when customers indicated their complaint had not been resolved, Ofgem found. The regulator also said the company failed to provide key information about the energy ombudsman to customers when complaints were not resolved or put in place a process to deal with businesses with 10 employees or fewer. Ofgem said British Gas breached regulations setting standards for complaint handling which came into effect in October 2008. More details soon… Gas Energy bills Commodities Consumer affairs Household bills guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …