British Gas says customers prefer chatbots. A reader says: that's because you made calling nearly impossible.
Centrica's chief executive claims nine in ten customers choose digital channels over a phone call. A letter writer argues the company's own call barriers are driving that number, not genuine preference.
Key points
- Centrica, the company that owns British Gas, announced on 23 July the cut of 1,300 call-centre and back-office jobs.
- CEO Chris O'Shea cited a 90% customer preference for digital channels and a 20% fall in customer calls as justification.
- Charles MacKinnon, writing in response to the announcement, disputes the claim that this reflects genuine customer choice.
- Critics argue the difficulty of reaching a human at British Gas is itself inflating the chatbot-usage figures.
Centrica, the energy company that owns British Gas, is cutting 1,300 jobs from its call centres and back-office teams. Its chief executive, Chris O'Shea, says the move reflects how customers actually want to be served: nine in ten, he argues, choose a digital channel before they ever try to speak to a person. Calls to the company have also fallen by 20%.
That sounds like a clear customer signal. But Charles MacKinnon does not buy it.
Writing in response to the story, first reported by The Guardian, MacKinnon argues the numbers say less about what customers want and more about what Centrica has made available to them. Finding a phone number on the British Gas website, he says, is already a challenge. Once you locate it, a series of automated menus, recorded prompts and deliberate delays push callers toward digital options while they wait on hold at their own expense.
Does it matter why customers use chatbots?
Yes, and the distinction is significant. If customers genuinely prefer typing to a bot over speaking to a person, cutting phone staff is a reasonable business response. But if customers are being funnelled toward chatbots because the human alternative has been made deliberately slow or hard to find, then the 90% figure measures friction, not preference.
Think of it this way: if a shop locks its main entrance and puts a side door at the end of a car park, foot traffic through the side door will be high. That does not mean customers prefer the side door.
What does this mean for British Gas customers?
For the roughly 7 million British Gas households in the UK, fewer call-centre staff means longer waits and fewer human options when something goes wrong. A chatbot, which is an automated text-based assistant that answers questions using software rather than a person, can handle routine tasks: reporting a meter reading, checking a bill, booking a routine service visit.
What chatbots handle badly is the unexpected. A disputed charge, a gas smell, a vulnerable customer struggling to explain their situation: these are precisely the moments when the gap between a bot and a trained human agent is felt most sharply.
Centrica has not published figures showing what types of queries are now handled entirely by automated systems, or how customer satisfaction has changed since it began reducing its human workforce.
Common questions
Do companies have to offer a human option by law?
In the UK there is currently no general legal requirement forcing energy companies to provide a telephone line staffed by a human agent, though Ofgem, the energy regulator, sets service standards that suppliers must meet.
How can I actually reach a human at British Gas?
Search for "British Gas contact us" on the official British Gas website, look for a "call us" option, and try calling early in the morning on a weekday, when hold times are typically shorter. Stating that you are vulnerable or that the issue involves a safety concern may also route your call to a human faster.
