British Gas sold 86 year old pensioner £3k boiler

1carminestocky

darktrader wrote: »

Forgive me if I am not sure what I am supposed to be outraged at here. Though no fan, in general, of BG or other Big Energy companies

British Gas sold 86 year old pensioner £3k boiler

Reads like a Sun Headline.

Is the problem:-

1) The lady bought a boiler she did not need?
2) The lady bought a boiler she may/may not need but paid too much.
3) The lady bought something she now regrets? (And if so, was this before or after others told her she had made a mistake?**)
4) Or that anyone should have sold an 86 year old anything without another adult be present. (**As much of the media, unlike myself, assumes everyone over 60 is senile.)

1) Almost definitely.
2) Almost definitely.
3) Almost definitely.
4) DEFINITELY!

* Doesn't appear that she consulted anyone else regarding the purchase but maybe the OP could confirm/deny this?

** No-one is suggesting she's senile but the fact of the matter is IMO NO company should sell something costing anything like £3,000 to someone of her age WITHOUT asking her to get the deal checked out beforehand.

DirectDebacle

darktrader wrote: »

Forgive me if I am not sure what I am supposed to be outraged at here. Though no fan, in general, of BG or other Big Energy companies

British Gas sold 86 year old pensioner £3k boiler

Reads like a Sun Headline.

Is the problem:-

The lady bought a boiler she did not need?
The lady bought a boiler she may/may not need but paid too much.
The lady bought something she now regrets? (And if so, was this before or after others told her she had made a mistake?)
Or that anyone should have sold an 86 year old anything without another adult be present. (As much of the media, unlike myself, assumes everyone over 60 is senile.)

You have nothing at all to be outraged about.

If your 86 year old mother had her boiler inspected and the engineer gave her some safety notifications without a clear explanation of what they meant.

Your mother worries about this so contacts the company saying she thinks she needs a new boiler.

A salesman arrives and is shown or has his own copy of the engineers report. He tells your mother that she doesn't need a new boiler but that some maintenance work is advisable. Seems fair.

Instead he tells her that she needs a new boiler. Must be one helluva boiler to cost £3000 to replace.

Of course you are very happy that your mum spent £3000 on a new boiler she didn't need and accepted the first quote she was given. Reassuring for you to know that your mum is able to put absolute trust in anything a salesman tells her and that she knows she is getting the best possible price and advice.

No-one is suggesting she was senile. The fact of the matter is that people of that age tend to be very trusting particularly when it comes to matters of their own safety and may be panicked into making decisions which they later regret. Of course salesmen are aware of this vulnerability and would never dream of taking advantage of that.

I hope when you are 86 you are treated with the same honesty and integrity as this person was. Other adults need not be present as we can absolutely trust salespeople and others with commercial interests to be totally fair and honest in their dealings with people, whether they are vulnerable or not, can't we.

No need for anyone to be outraged is there?

1carminestocky

Of course I am going to be accused of having it in for utility company employees posting on here again but I frankly don't care. I do note that the one person who has thanked darktrader's post IIRC works for BG. By inference, that means they see absolutely no problem with an 86 year old woman being sold a vastly overpriced boiler installation on the premise that her current boiler was issued with a "Safety Warning / Advice Notice" note - not immediately dangerous, not at risk, but not to current standards. Just an illustration of why YES I do have a bee in my bonnet about these utility company workers posting here in defence of their companies/the industry (and NEVER declaring their financial interest). With a few notable exceptions on here, these people, like the organisations they work for, are in it solely for the profit/commission/salary. Disgusting.

tallmum

1)The lady bought a boiler she did not need? - Definitely - her existing high efficiency boiler was only 8 years old. The BG homeserve service (which she signed up for this summer, having always had it serviced by a local CORGI registered fitter) left her with the "warning" note stating that standards had changed. She then interpreted this as being dangerous and therefore she ought to have a new one. The service engineer passed her details to the salesman (she says they were both very nice men) who then signed her up for the replacement boiler.
2)The lady bought a boiler she may/may not need but paid too much. - I believe a bill of £3k (after deduction of £700 seasonal saving and £300 warmfront) for a "like for like" installation of a boiler for a 2 bed bungalow is excessive (Greenstar 28i?)
3)The lady bought something she now regrets? (And if so, was this before or after others told her she had made a mistake?) - She now feels she may have been foolish replacing her other boiler without consulting anyone else.
4) Or that anyone should have sold an 86 year old anything without another adult be present. (As much of the media, unlike myself, assumes everyone over 60 is senile.) - And neither do I assume this - in fact this is the reason I haven't before intruded. However she does struggle to understand some things (like why the low energy bulb was not giving out any light - answer becasue it had failed and needed to be replaced, like keeping track of timing of events, like). Social Services believe she will be entitled to attendance allowance for her confused state (as witnessed by them when they were discussing another issue with her last week)

Fundamental issue is whether it is ethical to "allow" an 86 year old single lady to sign up for a replacement boiler to replace a fully functioning equivalent boiler only 8 years old - without suggesting that she may wish to get a second opinion (when the only reason she considered it was because she thought it was unsafe as a result of the notice supplied by BG)

darktrader

I don't know Perhaps I'm missing something, but I find it hard to see BG as a latter-day !!!!!! Turpin robbing 86 year old people just because they are easy prey.

All organisations are only collectives of individulas, I know. So if the BG rep has done something they should not have, then I am sure the original poster will be able to sort it out amicably.

As for BG specifically, I have only ever had good and professional service from them. I recall the "you mug" comments from friends and family when I bought my heating system from them 7 years ago. Doubtless I could have bought the same thing cheaper, but I preferred to have people I could trust. Nothing they have done to me, personally, or anyone I personally know since has changed that view.

And of those "you mug" callers. Since then I have felt only slightly smug when one was told - by both a BG engineer and an independent CORGI fitter - that the system fitted by another CORGI installer would "never be powerful enough to properly heat the whole house."

Nor when another "It was a real bargain - half the price of those BG robbers" was told by everyone he rang that, although the boiler had only been fitted five years ago, the parts were simply "no longer made..."

Oh, and I still think there is an element of underlying ageism creeping in...

DirectDebacle

darktrader wrote: »

I don't know Perhaps I'm missing something, but I find it hard to see BG as a latter-day !!!!!! Turpin robbing 86 year old people just because they are easy prey.


Oh, and I still think there is an element of underlying ageism creeping in...

Only missing a couple of things.

1. An ability to understand this thread.
2. The meaning of the term 'ageism', unless you are referring to practising it yourself.

Farway

I remember similar outrage when some banks refused to discuss products with older people unless another, younger, adult / relation was present

Seems you just can't do right for doing wrong

darktrader

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Only missing a couple of things.

1. An ability to understand this thread.
2. The meaning of the term 'ageism', unless you are referring to practising it yourself.

Ah, didn't think it would be long :rolleyes: Been a while since I posted here. How quickly I forgot the "rules."

"When Bashing any/all Large Organisations, regardless of evidence, all posters must agree, without question, with US. Failure to do so will result in insults being thrown, as appropriate." :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I sincerely hope the elderly lady in question is content with any eventual outcome to her (or her relatives) complaints against BG. There is, I assume, always the Ombudsman?

cowbutt

tallmum wrote: »

1)The lady bought a boiler she did not need? - Definitely - her existing high efficiency boiler was only 8 years old. The BG homeserve service (which she signed up for this summer, having always had it serviced by a local CORGI registered fitter) left her with the "warning" note stating that standards had changed. She then interpreted this as being dangerous and therefore she ought to have a new one. The service engineer passed her details to the salesman (she says they were both very nice men) who then signed her up for the replacement boiler.

Her old boiler may have been working, but you haven't told us what the content of the warning note was. I've recently had to replace a six year old boiler which was working, but had a few problems that would have cost nearly the same as a new boiler to fix.

2)The lady bought a boiler she may/may not need but paid too much. - I believe a bill of £3k (after deduction of £700 seasonal saving and £300 warmfront) for a "like for like" installation of a boiler for a 2 bed bungalow is excessive (Greenstar 28i?)

£3000 doesn't strike me as particularly out-of-line; vhsdirect.co.uk has the boiler for sale for £816 inc VAT, leaving 2200 for sundry materials and 3-4 days of British Gas labour (probably priced at something of a premium compared with an independent CORGI-registered installer because of the value of the BG brand to many consumers). I recently paid about £2300 for a slightly more expensive boiler to be fitted (£900 for the boiler, £900 for about 30 hours of labour).

Fundamental issue is whether it is ethical to "allow" an 86 year old single lady to sign up for a replacement boiler to replace a fully functioning equivalent boiler only 8 years old - without suggesting that she may wish to get a second opinion (when the only reason she considered it was because she thought it was unsafe as a result of the notice supplied by BG)

In the absence of a Lasting Power of Attorney to the contrary, it's hard to see what alternative there is, other than patronisingly assuming everyone with grey hair to be incapable of giving informed consent. Perhaps now this situation has brought the matter to light it would be worth seeking to establish an LPA for her future welfare? If this is successful, then it would certainly put pressure on BG to 'do the right thing', even though the events preceeded the grant of an LPA.

1carminestocky

Woooahhh...has this thread been linked to on BGs intranet or summat? :rotfl: