British Gas faces furious backlash after calling customers in the middle of the night asking for...

British Gas has made its customers in the United Kingdom extremely angry by sending an automated message in the middle of the night, requesting them to conduct a survey to give feedback.

The power company disturbed people in the British Isles from 2.30am until 4.30am by sending a notification inquiring: 'We are British Gas and we would appreciate it if you would take a moment to answer our survey on our performance.'

A number of clients said that the phone conversation caused them to worry that their aged parents had passed away, whereas some stated that it disturbed their entire household and made it impossible for anyone to return to slumber.

More individuals were enraged because they were contacted after British Gas had supposedly disregarded their requests for assistance regarding a certain issue through letters and emails.

After the mistake on March 12, the organization attributed the error to a 'technical problem' and maintained that just a 'minority' of clients had been impacted, but refrained from disclosing the exact number.

One of the clients who experienced the impacts was Rebecca Ringshall, a 63-year-old woman. She informed the Telegraph that she was anxious that the call was from her mother's nursing home to convey that she had passed away.

British Gas CEO's Pay Jumps To £8.2m

The head honcho of Centrica, the company that owns British Gas, experienced a nearly two-fold increase in his salary in the past year due to the surge in energy bills which led to a rise in the company's stock value.

The CEO of Centrica, Chris O'Shea, received a salary of £8.2 million in 2023, which is significantly higher than the £4.5 million he earned the previous year. However, he recently mentioned that the latter amount was not reasonable.

The head of the company, Mr. O'Shea, who started working there in 2020, received a salary of £810,000. Additionally, he was awarded approximately £1.4 million in bonuses per year and £5.9 million in bonuses which are related to long-term achievements.

In the year 2023, the latter number escalated due to its correlation with the FTSE 100 company's share price growth during the previous three years. The firm's shares experienced an increase due to the surging costs of household energy bills during the challenging economic period.

In the years 2019, 2020, and 2021, Mr. O'Shea declined to receive any bonuses.

Centrica's annual report has exposed that the boss's salary has increased, despite him refuting his £4.5million payment for 2022, labeling it unjustifiable in an interview with the BBC just two months ago.

Ms Ringshall and her husband were roused from their slumber at 3:15am. She explained that they had previously discussed with the facility their mother's wishes. If her mother begins to deteriorate, she has expressed that she would like to have her two children by her side.

When the telephone rang, I was briefly filled with dread. I had a passing thought they might deliver heartbreaking news such as "your mother has passed away peacefully in her sleep."

I couldn't believe it was British Gas when I found out. I felt very annoyed and frustrated and I ended up hanging up the phone.

Last week, she had already spoken to British Gas on the phone about an overpayment of £30 that was taken when she closed her mother's account last October.

Another customer who was impacted was Derek Smith, an 85-year-old individual who shared with Metro.co.uk, "I was not happy with receiving a phone call at 3:30 in the morning and my reaction was quite angry... I ended up not giving the rating they requested."

He also made a guess that the message was created by a call center located in India, where it would have been an appropriate timing to make a phone call.

On March 12, some customers used social media to share that they were disturbed from their sleep during the night.

One person involved in the incident was Phil Shieber, hailing from Telford in the county of Shropshire. He shared on his Twitter account that his phone rang at 3am, causing him and his spouse to feel alarmed due to their elderly parents. However, upon answering the call, they discovered it was an automated message from British Gas, requesting their participation in a survey.

He stated that when he looked at the company's timeline on X, it was evident that they were not the only ones involved. He then expressed his confusion and disapproval by asking, "What is the purpose of your actions?!"

Deborah Page, hailing from Suffolk, expressed her frustration by posting a tweet that highlighted the company's lack of response towards her letters and emails. What's more, she was disturbed by an automatic survey call made to her at an ungodly hour of 3.34 am. This call further aggravated her distress as she was seeking help for her vulnerable brother, and felt that this kind of treatment was unacceptable.

Charles Cracknell from Hull expressed his dissatisfaction with British Gas for their inappropriate act of carrying out a customer feedback survey at 3:10am. He added that this action by British Gas was not at all amusing and it disturbed their sleep.

Simon Harrison, who is from Leamington Spa in the county of Warwickshire, posted on Twitter about his experience with British Gas. In his tweet, he suggested that British Gas should adjust their survey robot caller's settings to prevent it from calling customers at 2.30am to ask about their satisfaction with the company's service. He also added the hashtag #goodreviewunlikely, implying that receiving positive feedback after such a disruptive call is unlikely.

According to Sheila Fell from the North East, she received an automated survey call from the company at a very inconvenient time, which was 4.32am on Tuesday, March 12. She expressed her dissatisfaction with the timing of the call, suggesting that the company should have called her during a more reasonable hour.

Caroline Grimble posted on Twitter expressing her gratitude for being woken up at 3:49am by a survey phone call, as it caused a disturbance to her household who are now struggling to fall back asleep. Additionally, she shared that the issues discussed during the call have not yet been resolved.

Alex Wright asked, "Why am I getting calls from your survey line at 3am?"

According to an official from British Gas who communicated with MailOnline, they expressed regret towards the disturbance caused to Mrs Ringshall and empathized with her concerns that receiving a phone call during the night can be distressing.

We mistakenly made automated calls to a few customers on March 12 because of a technical problem. We immediately resolved the issue once we found out about it.

We are also working on giving Mrs. Ringshall the £30 she asked us to refund, and we'll send it to her shortly.

On March 12, British Gas expressed regret and acknowledged a 'technical problem' as the cause of the mistake (reference to a prior incident).

According to a source within the company, MailOnline was informed that the employees quickly deactivated the automatic call and began addressing the issue.

Which? has recently identified three energy suppliers, including British Gas, that need to enhance their customer service urgently. In a recent survey, it was found that these suppliers have the poorest record in responding to issues proficiently and efficiently.

The organization responsible for monitoring business practices declared that customers frequently experience prolonged waiting times, get stuck in repetitive chatbot conversations, and are frequently shifted from one department to another without receiving a meaningful response or satisfactory solution to their issue.

A British Gas patron shared her experience of struggling with a billing problem for over a year. She spent a total of 43 hours conversing on the phone and sending 24 emails to resolve the issue. Sadly, she felt that the company representatives were unfeeling because they failed to comprehend her situation. It was quite distressing for her because she had to narrate the circumstances of her husband's death numerous times.

One individual had difficulty locating any telephone numbers for British Gas customer service and ended up being stuck in the 830th spot in the online chat queue.

According to British Gas, they've decided to put over £50 million towards enhancing their customer service experience. They plan to achieve this by hiring an additional 700 experts in their UK contact centre towards the end of last year, and extending their call centre's operating hours.

If you received a phone call from British Gas in the middle of the night, you can send an email to [email protected].