Homecare cover being cancelled?

woottonman

From a quick scan of the forums I see I'm not the first to have 'problems' with British Gas Services Ltd ..

First some background info ..

An engineer called on 7th Oct to fix a problem with the my central heating system overheating (my partner was present at the time). He suggested a 'powerflush' was needed to clear any blockage .. he upped the speed of the pump and left. The heating promptly overheated again later that day. I was on holiday several days later so made do in the meantime .. I did my own research and found a powerflush was unlikely to be needed especially as all the radiators were heating up properly.

On my return I arranged for another engineer visit. A different engineer called and agreed with my own diagnosis that a control mechanism had gone wrong. He promptly found the boiler thermostat was broken, ordered a replacement and it was fitted the following day - the system has worked perfectly since then.

Two things then took place which may have some bearing on what happened next. Firstly, I raised a complaint about the first engineer reporting on the bad 'advice' I had been given re the powerflush and the fact he hadn't identified the original problem. One of the engineering managers called me back a few days later to let me know they had started monitoring his performance and suggested that problems with other homes on my estate had been down to circulation problems due to design faults and that would be why he had jumped to the wrong conclusion. Secondly, although I don't intend to replace the boiler at present I arranged for an estimate for a new one to get a feel for the possible outlay. The figure quoted was £3k (around the same as others have reported).

I was called out of the blue last Thursday to be informed by a customer services advisor that my Homecare agreement was going to be cancelled - the reason given was lack of parts for my boiler (Thorn EMI Olympic 38/50F). I pointed out this was nothing new as BG have been informing me of the lack of parts for 4-5 years. Had they suddenly run out of parts for my boiler? The advisor refused to listen so I arranged for her supervisor to call me back later in the day.

The supervisor called back later and we discussed the situation. I was told the engineer who had called on 7th Oct had written on my file that the boiler was no longer serviceable. This was as per the form he had filled out and given me. I pointed out I had the form in front of me and there was no mention of this fact on it. She said the second engineer had also reported the same thing - again I pointed out the form made no mention of it.

I questioned what had changed between now and last month. Had the supply of parts suddently dried up? I also mentioned my complaint and the recent estimate - could these have anything to do with this phone call? I was assured this wasn't the case. We arranged for an engineering manager to phone me to 'explain' about the lack of parts - I said I was quite happy to speak to him and 'explain' the situation from my point of view. I am currently still waiting for the call.

I've made enquiries with friends living on the same estate who have the same boiler as me. Interestingly, none of them have received similar phone calls? It seems strange to me that they are not also having their Homecare agreements being cancelled - I can't understand why?

chrissiesurfergirl123

Well this sounds unusual to me. I had my heating on homecare for 17 years with the same boiler until last xmas when the thermocouple failed. For the first time ever the engineer undid the flue and spotted corrosion and promptly cut off my boiler! To cut a very long story short the part required for the flue was no longer available and had not been for years along with many other parts. No-one told me this at the yearly services nor had inspected the flue in all those years of checks. They just took my money for something they were not going to be able to fix.
I too got a quote from them for a new boiler of £3500 from them. No way!!!!!!

woottonman

That last line of my original post was very tongue in cheek by the way .. I think I know why they are on my case.

I just tried phoning to get an update as I hadn't had any phone call today. Turned out I phoned the wrong group and should have been speaking to the area service centre. But the guy I spoke to said he would send an internal email asking for someone to contact me.

I'll update on here as and when anything happens ..

duggie1982

Well as I work for British Gas Services I can shed some light on this.

When a boiler is put on the reduced parts list (the boiler manufacture stops making parts) we notify the customer by phone and in writing. Now this does not mean we can’t fix your boiler as there are many parts out there that are made by other companies that could fix your boiler. If your boiler manufacture stopped making parts say 10 years ago we COULD and have fixed boilers in that situation. When you receive the letter or phone call you have an option to keep the contract or cancel it. This is in line with any other companies out there that offer the same type of service unless they are insurance, then it’s a lot more complicated.

Hope this explains it a bit better

woottonman

The point is, I want to continue with the cover but at the moment I've been threatened with cancellation (the legality of which I dispute).

As mentioned I've been notified for several years about reduced parts (last engineer checked and quoted 38 out of original 81). I've been happy to live with the possibility of the part I need not being available. But the area service centre seem to have decided otherwise. My initial questions still haven't been answered to my satisfaction ..

Why have the engineers's marked my boiler as not fixable when it still is?
Why didn't they inform me thats what they had added to my file?
Why am I being threatened with cover being removed when people I know with the same boiler are not? (I can guess why!)

duggie1982

Firstly the details on our system is not the same as what’s on your print out. They may let you think that. Like what’s happened with you. A lot of the engineer’s just print out the report then add comments on the 'work request' e.g. code 1-7 (each means different things like new boiler advised or 'not service listed' and a note from the engineer) at our end. The best thing to do in my opinion is call the Area Service Centre on 08459 500 400 and advise them you are not happy and want a TSM visit which is a Technical Service Manager call (engineers manager). This may take a week or so but would be worth the wait as this is normally the most experienced engineer in your area. Hopefully this could get to the route of the problem as alot of engineers do go down the powerflush road.

woottonman

duggie1982 wrote: »

Firstly the details on our system is not the same as what’s on your print out.
.
.
The best thing to do in my opinion is call the Area Service Centre on 08459 500 400 and advise them you are not happy and want a TSM visit which is a Technical Service Manager call (engineers manager).

Thanks for the reply ..

It seems a bit odd that an engineer would update your system differently to what he's informed me of via the form he leaves with me?

I'm still waiting for a call back from the area service centre (busy with work so can't spare the time to call them again myself). I think its a TSM visit that was supposed to be being arranged for me after my phone calls last week.

I'll update this thread again when anything happens.

chrissiesurfergirl123

Gotta say this powerflush business seems to be a regular recommendation-funny that seeing that it is not covered by Homecare and you have to pay.

My aunt had it done by British Gas and it did not solve the problem(cannot remember what that was though!) but they ended up refunding the cost to her.

My mum and my friend have had similar advice even though nothing wrong with their systems-have both decilned. Unsurprisingly!

Jules22

i also got told my contract would be cancelled after a service!!!!

the reson was because i had called them out too many times over a 2yr period and had repeated new parts. this was due to the fact that BG kept replacing the same part that kept blowing and not taking the time to find out why?
eventually one engineer did fully check the boiler and found a split wire. since then we haven't had a problem.

i sent a very long complaint to the area manager who contacted me and told me because this was their fault the contract would still be honoured and left me with their phone number to contact them if i had any more problems.

woottonman

Needless to say I'm still waiting for a call back from the TSM. So I've just been back on the phone to the area service centre asking for someone to phone me (also rang them on Mon and Thu this week). I've been assured someone will phone me in the next hour or so but have to say I'm not holding my breath. Meanwhile I guess my agreement is still in limbo until this mess gets sorted out ..

woottonman

Progress at last. I did get a phone call back at 6:30pm .. apparently my last phone call had been registered as a customer 'complaint' and one of the managers rang me .. presumably to soothe my ruffled feathers When she heard the details of the problem she couldn't understand what on earth was going on (her own boiler is on limited parts like mine). She's promised to look into it on Monday and call me back with any update.