smart51
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 posted on 21/2/08 at 08:21 PM |
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British Gas Rant
My central heating boiler blew up this morning. It sounded like someone shaking a bucket of spanners. We have a service contract with British Gas,
so I phoned them. The earliest appointment was Monday. After complaining to the manager, they put it down as an emergency, brought the appointment
forward to Saturday and sent out an emergency technician to check it out. 12 hours later, he does a gas test, finds a slight leak, locked off the
whole house and left. Now we have no cooker or gas fire either. I phoned British Gas again but we have the earliest available appointment and they
can't bring it forwards.
The monthly cover isn't cheap and I thought that it provided a 24 hour response time. Is this typical or should I be complaining harder?
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speedyxjs
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| posted on 21/2/08 at 08:30 PM |
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Keep complaining.
If they find a small leak they should be able to do a temp fix. When our walk in freezer broke down, caused by a minor leak, he manager to patch it up
with no problems so why cant they
[Edited on 21-2-08 by speedyxjs]
How long can i resist the temptation to drop a V8 in?
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mookaloid
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| posted on 21/2/08 at 08:32 PM |
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They only Guarantee too come out in 24 hours - not fix it in 24 hours 
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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smart51
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| posted on 21/2/08 at 08:38 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
They only Guarantee too come out in 24 hours - not fix it in 24 hours
Their earliest appointment is 48 - 58 hours after I rang them. I know that they won't fix it on their first visit.
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DavidM
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| posted on 21/2/08 at 08:39 PM |
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If you've got kids, then I don't think they are allowed to cut off the supply if you've not paid the bill.
I would have thought it would be the same in the case of a fault.
Rant at them, the technician should have fixed the leak while he was there.
David
[Edited on 21/2/08 by DavidM]
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RickRick
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| posted on 21/2/08 at 09:14 PM |
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yup i can go along with that! they came out to my old boiler, under there 3star service contract, told me it was unsafe, turned it off and left!
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paulf
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| posted on 21/2/08 at 09:37 PM |
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My wife once called them out whilst i was at work because she could smell gas by the cooker turned out to be a very small leak at the
flexible hose behind it, engineer fixed that and then asked when the fire was last serviced.Because the wife said it hadnt been for at least a year he
turned it off and put a sticker on it not to be used, I actually used to service it myself but the wife didnt know I removed the sticker and put it
back on and never heard anymore from them.
Paul.
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Hellfire
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| posted on 21/2/08 at 09:42 PM |
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I cant understand why anyone is still with Britsh Gas anymore...
after making a 500% profit two weeks after increasing fuel prices kind of sticks in my throat - glad I moved years ago!
Steve
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Schrodinger
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| posted on 21/2/08 at 10:05 PM |
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I don't know what you are complaining about I can't get gas connected
Keith
Aviemore
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JoelP
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| posted on 21/2/08 at 10:27 PM |
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its understandable them capping it for a small leak, it can take a while to locate. However it is a bit galling that they are meant to fix it, but cap
it anyway to fix at a later date.
Ive had this situation, where we fit a gas hob and then cap the lot due to a leak elsewhere.
The gasman is bound by the regs, they are responsible for it as the professional on site, and if there is more than 4mb pressure drop in 2 mins, they
cannot leave it connected.
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02GF74
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| posted on 22/2/08 at 08:38 AM |
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You should know better that you cannot make obcenely massive profits and provide decent customer service at the same time, something has to give.
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smart51
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| posted on 25/2/08 at 10:09 AM |
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After asking British Gas on the phone on Friday if they could come out to the leaky pipes, something like 10 times, and getting the answers
"your service contract only covers your boiler" and "there's someone coming out on Monday to look at your boiler"
I've got someone else in to fix the leak. They're here now. I phone BG to rearrange the boiler visit for Tuesday. Guess who turned up
to fix the leak just now? British Gas. Not only wouldn't they agree to come out and fix it, they supposedly canceled the appointemnt.
Aaargh!
To make things worse, they said "a 4mb pressure drop is OK. Its only new installations that have to be zero." So we've been
switched off since Thursday for nothing.
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DIY Si
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| posted on 25/2/08 at 06:54 PM |
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I do similar stuff for there electrics. If there is a fault the bloke is only allowed to work on certain bits of the system. For example, if
there's a fault on the fuse board, I can fit an isolator and fix my side of things, but I not allowed to leave a faulty system in operation. I
can tell you how to switch it on, but that's up to you. He should have left you with a safety notice too, suggesting what you should do or
what/where the fault is.
Otherwise, I agree, they are a bunch of muppets. Which is why I'm glad I don't have to actually speak to them at all. They just pay me. I
really don't know why people still pay them for anything given the shocking customer service they have.
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MkIndy7
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| posted on 25/2/08 at 07:53 PM |
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If he was working on the boiler then he should have sufficient qualifications to find the leak. Although re-reading the thread he didn't get an
engineer he got "an emergency technician" aka a Toffo!
You have to have CCN1 Core Domestic Safety to do anything and then additional qualifications for appliances such as boilers.
Althought this is British Gas were talking about so they write there own rules, just the same as all the other "de-nationalised"
industries.
I'd still like to know how they can aprk on the roadside for free, along with BT and the electricity board etc, where they are now just a normal
company like anybody else.
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DIY Si
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| posted on 25/2/08 at 10:25 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MkIndy7
If he was working on the boiler then he should have sufficient qualifications to find the leak. Although re-reading the thread he didn't get an
engineer he got "an emergency technician" aka a Toffo!
They should be the same people. They are on my side of things, as I'm the one on call this week in the Midlands. Although there are differing
levels of skill and customer service between workers. I try to be nice and do what I can, but I can get away with charging them lots of OT for it.
Others are on a job and home version, so will be trying to naff off sharpish.
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