British Gas Complaint

smayers

We have Brit Gas homecare 200. Sat 7:30am our boiler stopped working. Phoned straight away and they said an engineer would be out between then and 6pm. 2:30pm they phone and say nobody can come til Monday between 8am and 10am. Monday 8:45 am they turn up - take over an hour to diagnose the problem and then say they have to order a part which will be in next day. Today they come at 2:45 ( should have been between 8am and 12:45) and finally fix it. I have been without heating for almost 4 days and have a 2 and a 5 year old.

Do I have grounds to complain? 4 days seems a long time to be without heat and proper hot water with 2 young kids.

1carminestocky

Don't see why you shouldn't complain, tbh. That's the reason we get such [EMAIL="!!!!"]!!!![/EMAIL] service in this country, the consumer is way too forgiving. Have a look at this thread to give you ideas on the best way to do so:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1234191&highlight=high+level+complaint

smayers

Thanks - yeah I did read that thread. I shall complain I think as it is pretty poor.

Cardew

You have grounds for complaint.

You want to try and quantify what sort of financial compensation you require. e.g. has to go out and buy some heaters, extra cost of electricity etc.

You might find they will be prepared to offer compensation that doesn't cost them cash - e.g give you 6 months Homecare 200 free.

I was with BG Homecare for many years and only stopped because it was getting ever more costly. It seems that the level of service you get varies across the country. Mine was always excellent, and others on MSE state the same; whilst others have horror stories to relate. Your case isn't the worst by a long way.

littletommytucker

Hey. I work for British Gas... the situation that your in is an all too common unfortunate circumstance... you will probably just get a written apology. The best thing for you to do is call up and ask to speak to the home care cancellation team.... tell them you want to cancel your agreement and they will ask you to stay offering a 20% reduction for 12 months.

smayers

I was thinking about cancelling anyway so will do this!!!

furndire

You were lucky ~ earlier this year (coldest weeks of the year) and our boiler went. Ended up 3 weeks later having to have a new boiler, it had every possible spare part, but still could not be fixed properly. They said they would keep coming out and fixing it, but would be better to have a new boiler. Blackmail really. We did however get a new boiler fitted by them for £1000 (after we haggled) - also meant we cancelled the service contract for 2 years (so I suppose we gained a bit back there as well.) They loaned up some little fan heaters while we had to wait.