British Gas caused home damage !

ps130951

Hello All

This is my 1st post on this forum, its quite detailed, I'm sorry. Please bear with me.

I have a HomeCare100 contract with BG. Last week my hot water began fluctuating between hot/cold so I called out BG. The engineer who attended determined that the Secondary Heat Exchanger required replacing. After the usual 'system require powerflush' he agreed to replace the part at no cost as this was the first instance. Part ordered he returned the next day to replace it. Now considering that this is a BG engineer one would imagine due caution would be taken. I offered him a bucket to catch any water from the boiler but he ignored me. He proceeded to open the pipe connectors and there was a gush of water from the boiler that quickly went through the floorboards. He made no attempt the cleanup the mess. Now the boiler is in an airing cupboard on the landing and it wasn't long before water began leaking down into the lounge via a light socket. I immediately alerted the engineer who then got some floorboards and after much soaking with towels we managed to stem the flow. He then fitted the part and closed up the boiler. Switched it on and nothing. He then asked for a hairdryer and began drying out the boiler's circut board that had gotten wet when the water gushed out from the boiler. After a while he had it all back and the boiler was back on again. He did a quick check and left. No sooner had he left that I checked the heating/water and though the water was fine, the central heating refused to switch on. Another call to Bg and another engineer who determined that the circut board needed replacing. He speculated that the damage was caused by the water however stopped sort of confirming it. Another part has been ordered for replacement on Tuesday. In the meanwhile I have no CH, one of my floorboards in my lounge has started sag which I'm sure has been caused by the water and I'm afraid to switch on the light incase something gets shorted.

I have already raised a complaint with BG and have been promised a Customer Manager will be in-touch. I have never been in such a situation and would like to know if anyone has been in a similar situation with BG? What action can I expect from them? Am I in a position to complain to trading standards and if so how do I go about it? Any comments/suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Phillip

1carminestocky

ALWAYS insist on being given the full name of the person you spoke to (and in this case the full name of the 'Customer Manager' who is allegedly going to ring you) and also INSIST on email confirmation of your telecon and what action they plan to take. I learned this from painful personal experience, BG will promise you the earth verbally but IME unless you have email back up the chances of them carrying it out are remote...

Cardew

You could contact Energywatch in the first instance. Even if they can't intervene, they will be able to advise you who could help.

Alternatively ask for advice from your Household insurer.

However nobody will do anything yet as you don't even know if you are going to have a dispute with BG as they might deal with matters satisfactorily.

SwanJon

As this was a servie, not to do with Energy supply, energywatch (or the ombudsman who is picking up the complaints as of 1 Oct) won't be able to do anything.
You could try Corgi, but I'm not 100% sure if this comes under their remit either.
Keep at them, give them all the details, and it never hurts to put it in writing.

ps130951

Thanks all for the replies. I have a Customer Manager visiting my property tomorrow. I shall post updates