Friend of mine ended up in a £10 taxi to nearest vendor that would or could redeem them.
His local shops and off licenses flat at refused to accept them.
Just re-enforces what a shit show prepayment meters are.. I have helped a few people where I live with sorting theirs out but some are still waiting to receive the voucher in the post.
Also you need either photo ID or a document (bill, council tax etc) to redeem the voucher at your local paypoint (which depending on your local area, is usually a post office or small shop) which is explained on the back of the letter you receive.
They are valid for three months. I’ve not claimed mine yet. This is on purpose as before the price rise I loaded my meter to keep paying the old price. As soon as I top up again I will be onto the higher tariff. I need to wait to claim it until nearly all the credit I currently have is used up.
[deleted]
For chrissake, give us a bloody minute.
I’m using mine closer to lump-sum as much as possible, because 1) The pennies we’re being given for this aren’t much, 2) This is what everyone on smart meters got, calm down, and 3) Like someone else here, I pre-loaded my meter before the price explosions, and am not in a hurry to update to the new prices any time soon, given it now costs me an unholy fortune to get my normal shopping, among other things.
90 days you say? Then you will allow me to top up on day 89, and not a second sooner, you money-grubbing little twats. Mind your business and shut up with, “Hurr durr, I guess people don’t need the money!”
Seems like it’s hard to use by design by the sounds of it…
Similar situation here – As with the April increase I was able to frontload my meter so my intention was to start using the vouchers shortly before Christmas. However I recently had to pop into my local post office branch and there’s a sign on the window saying they’re not accepting the vouchers. I asked and was told that it’s “too much hassle and not worth the cost”.
Because British Gas are only allowing redemption via the post office that means waiting for a good day physically and mentally and taking a 40 minute round-trip to the next nearest post office and hoping they’ll take it.
Admittedly, I forgot about them and kind of expected them in the post and figured it’s just late until I accidentally checked my old e-mail and it was there.
Won’t be surprised if people not ever claiming it is a desired government outcome. Universal Credit, disability benefits, training support schemes, low income support with water bills, low income support for prescriptions/dental care and low income support with broadband are examples of things that exist on paper in the UK, but have a bunch of hurdles in the way so people don’t claim them. I’m sure there’s more, since I only heard about a couple of those recently. Everything is so decentralised (sometimes because it’s outsourced to private companies) and requires enough prior research and paperwork to make services as good as non-existent.
9 comments
Friend of mine ended up in a £10 taxi to nearest vendor that would or could redeem them.
His local shops and off licenses flat at refused to accept them.
Just re-enforces what a shit show prepayment meters are.. I have helped a few people where I live with sorting theirs out but some are still waiting to receive the voucher in the post.
Also you need either photo ID or a document (bill, council tax etc) to redeem the voucher at your local paypoint (which depending on your local area, is usually a post office or small shop) which is explained on the back of the letter you receive.
They are valid for three months. I’ve not claimed mine yet. This is on purpose as before the price rise I loaded my meter to keep paying the old price. As soon as I top up again I will be onto the higher tariff. I need to wait to claim it until nearly all the credit I currently have is used up.
[deleted]
For chrissake, give us a bloody minute.
I’m using mine closer to lump-sum as much as possible, because 1) The pennies we’re being given for this aren’t much, 2) This is what everyone on smart meters got, calm down, and 3) Like someone else here, I pre-loaded my meter before the price explosions, and am not in a hurry to update to the new prices any time soon, given it now costs me an unholy fortune to get my normal shopping, among other things.
90 days you say? Then you will allow me to top up on day 89, and not a second sooner, you money-grubbing little twats. Mind your business and shut up with, “Hurr durr, I guess people don’t need the money!”
Seems like it’s hard to use by design by the sounds of it…
Similar situation here – As with the April increase I was able to frontload my meter so my intention was to start using the vouchers shortly before Christmas. However I recently had to pop into my local post office branch and there’s a sign on the window saying they’re not accepting the vouchers. I asked and was told that it’s “too much hassle and not worth the cost”.
Because British Gas are only allowing redemption via the post office that means waiting for a good day physically and mentally and taking a 40 minute round-trip to the next nearest post office and hoping they’ll take it.
Admittedly, I forgot about them and kind of expected them in the post and figured it’s just late until I accidentally checked my old e-mail and it was there.
Won’t be surprised if people not ever claiming it is a desired government outcome. Universal Credit, disability benefits, training support schemes, low income support with water bills, low income support for prescriptions/dental care and low income support with broadband are examples of things that exist on paper in the UK, but have a bunch of hurdles in the way so people don’t claim them. I’m sure there’s more, since I only heard about a couple of those recently. Everything is so decentralised (sometimes because it’s outsourced to private companies) and requires enough prior research and paperwork to make services as good as non-existent.