British Gas - Poor Systems

I have to just release this, because if I don't vent, I'm going to blow... The payment and billing systems at British Gas must be so archaic it's untrue, they seem to have different systems doing separate different parts of the same job, and these separate different systems don't share information, so they're out of sync or slow or just so fucking annoying.

I've commented to them directly about this several times and they've simply ignored me, but now I figure its beyond a joke.

Last night, I had a reminder to submit my meter readings, so I popped onto their website to put them in, as I logged in I noted last months bill was still not paid, so I checked and made payment in full.  Submitted the new readings and had an instant bill...

Here's my first beef, if my bill was a reading last time and a reading this time then the values are consecutive and they calculate a bill instantly, and I paid it instantly....

However, the previous bill went unpaid for a month because the bill prior to that was estimated, and they waaaaaaay over estimated, so the readings went in and they were lower than even the estimates that had been put in.

The system immediately has a brain fart and doesn't give a bill, so after waiting all weekend for it I clearly gave up and didn't pay all month, because their system is just so shit, I figure a human had to intervene somewhere and reconcile their stupid estimate bullshit and issue the bill, and I can say this happens because more than once I've had to call them and correct a bill, to have to manually intervene and call an Indian call centre just to get a bill is wholly unacceptable in my book, it's the online equivalent of standing up and waving for the waiter in a restaurant and him giving you the finger.

So what did the website do last night?... Well, luckily this time it generated a new bill, and so I paid the first, submitted and paid the second... right done?... All cool...

NO!!!!!!

Because fucking hours later another system at British Gas decides to e-mail me and tell me I need to submit my readings....

Time runs upwards here, earlier messages are lower...

I'm tempted to go give them a reading which is like 1kw/h different and watch their system's brain drop out... Or even, I might start submitting individual readings each time the gas and electricity meter changes value... You know proper spam that sucker, I've read their billing small print there's nothing which says how few readings one has to make, just that one has to submit a reading or allow access to the meters by reading taking staff at intervals...

So, I use say 301Kw/h of electricity per month, lets submit 301 readings, their system asked me to submit a reading 5 hours after I'd done just that for the month!