Has anyone attempted to contact British Gas recently? Was your query or problem solved to your satisfaction? Mine certainly was not!

When I received my bill recently I attempted to work out the pricing structure in order to check that it had been calculated correctly - unfortunately this proved impossible to work out.

British Gas had sent me an estimated account, even although the meter had been read by their own reader. I telephoned them and provided the exact reading.

However, instead of sending me a new bill, British Gas followed up with a supplementary bill making it difficult for the customer to actually check it.

On phoning them (thankfully, it is a freefone number, otherwise it would have cost me a small fortune!) I got nowhere. The member of staff I spoke with continually disappeared to supposedly consult others on my question.

Judging by her pathetic replies, I believe this member of staff did not have the slightest idea of what I was talking about.

So what exactly did I want to know? Simply this: how do customers calculate how much gas consumption is charged at the higher rate and how much at the lower rate?

On phoning for the fourth time, this member of staff had the guts to admit that he could not inform me, as the bills are sent out by computer!

Furthermore, the staff member could not tell me how I could find out this information. So how do we check our bills and ascertain as to whether we are being overcharged or not?

I Walker, Dalgarno Gardens,

North Kensington