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| British Gas staff mis-sold deals, says regulator Ofgem | British Gas staff mis-sold deals, says regulator Ofgem |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The UK's biggest energy supplier, British Gas, mis-sold energy deals by making exaggerated claims to potential customers, the regulator has said. | The UK's biggest energy supplier, British Gas, mis-sold energy deals by making exaggerated claims to potential customers, the regulator has said. |
| Ofgem said British Gas sales staff did not make accurate comparisons between suppliers' deals, and so made overblown claims about savings for switching. | Ofgem said British Gas sales staff did not make accurate comparisons between suppliers' deals, and so made overblown claims about savings for switching. |
| The cases involved British Gas staff working in Sainsbury's stores nationwide between 2011 and 2013. | The cases involved British Gas staff working in Sainsbury's stores nationwide between 2011 and 2013. |
| An average of £130 compensation has been paid to 4,300 affected customers. | An average of £130 compensation has been paid to 4,300 affected customers. |
| The company has been unable to contact another 1,300 affected customers, so their compensation will also go into a fund to help vulnerable customers. | |
| 'Poor behaviour' | |
| The total compensation bill is £566,000, with a further £434,000 being paid into the same fund as part of the penalty. | |
| The payout is modest in comparison to some mis-selling penalties handed down to some energy companies in recent years. | |
| In May, E.On agreed to a record £12m penalty for phone and doorstep mis-selling, in addition of compensation payments of between £3m and £8m. A number of other energy suppliers also faced bills for this type of mis-selling. | |
| "Ofgem expects all suppliers to put this poor behaviour behind them and really start acting in a way that will help consumers trust energy suppliers. Where they don't, Ofgem will act," said Sarah Harrison, of Ofgem. | |
| 'Swift action' | |
| In the British Gas case, staff failed to make it clear to potential customers that Sainsbury's Energy was actually being supplied by British Gas. | |
| They also compared monthly direct debit bills to those for people who made quarterly payments. As a result this exaggerated the potential savings available. | |
| Other potential customers were approached by sales staff at the Westfield Shopping Centre, at Shepherd's Bush in west London. | |
| British Gas said that it had discovered the issue through its own internal checks, then took "swift and decisive action" to contact and compensate customers, before contacting Ofgem. | |
| "We are very sorry and have ensured no customer will be out of pocket as a result," said Ian Peters, managing director of British Gas Residential. |