British Gas & Power Flush

KazMartin

I have BG Homecare. In recent weeks I have had the pump replaced and their MagnaBooster fitted. When the pump was replaced the engineer told me I needed a power flush. He showed me the black stuff inside the old pump. The quote is £1004!!! He also said that if anything goes wrong before I have the power flush done it will not be covered under the Homecare. Is this correct?

What happens if I get another company to do the power flush? Is my Homecare then invalid?

How will I know if the new pump and the magna booster did actually solve the problem and I don't actually need the power flush?

Anyone any success in haggling with BG over the cost of this? It seems so high.

ollski

KazMartin wrote: »

I have BG Homecare. In recent weeks I have had the pump replaced and their MagnaBooster fitted. When the pump was replaced the engineer told me I needed a power flush. He showed me the black stuff inside the old pump. The quote is £1004!!! He also said that if anything goes wrong before I have the power flush done it will not be covered under the Homecare. Is this correct?

What happens if I get another company to do the power flush? Is my Homecare then invalid?

How will I know if the new pump and the magna booster did actually solve the problem and I don't actually need the power flush?

Anyone any success in haggling with BG over the cost of this? It seems so high.

Do you live in a particularly large house?, sounds like either you've been quoted for 2 days of work or some system alterations. Phone and ask for another quote and see the best they can do.
No your homecare will still be valid as long as the system is properly cleaned.

KazMartin

Thank u for replying.
I live in an average sized town house with 3 floors. 14 radiators. The quote is for 3 hours work! And is only for the power flush! You can see why I am querying it!

I will call them back I think. Still worried I don't actually need it though as having the new pump has solved the problem of Luke warm radiators.

ollski

Hi, it sounds like it's a full day plus another 3 hours the following day. You could always hold on to your money and accept the powerflush the next time you have a sludge fault.

fyreshaman

Just had BG engineer to service my boiler. 'Advised' within seconds that we would benefit from a Magnabooster. Suddenly this became something I must have or any Homecare claim due to magnetite etc would be invalid.
He pointed to record of a valve we had replaced years ago, yet at that time and since then for years no other engineer has mentioned this.
Seems like heavy arm-twisting sales tactics to me - is this their latest scam? Last time the sales push was for a completely inappropriate system for control of the heating using my mobile phone.
When is the Ombudsman going to put a stop to this demanding money with menaces? Is my Homecare now worthless?

ollski

It's nonsense, the engineer has to show you there is debris in the system, he cant use something from the history unless you were advised then that the system needed cleaning. Bg dont cover sludge and scale but will give you the first and only repair for a sludge fault as goodwill.
Magnabooster or some other filter is always a good idea, pretty much in the same way as an oil filter on an engine.
The hive remote heating is a good bit of kit and is a current bg push, but to be honest its a very competitive price.

Cardew

fyreshaman wrote: »

Just had BG engineer to service my boiler. 'Advised' within seconds that we would benefit from a Magnabooster. Suddenly this became something I must have or any Homecare claim due to magnetite etc would be invalid.
He pointed to record of a valve we had replaced years ago, yet at that time and since then for years no other engineer has mentioned this.
Seems like heavy arm-twisting sales tactics to me - is this their latest scam? Last time the sales push was for a completely inappropriate system for control of the heating using my mobile phone.
When is the Ombudsman going to put a stop to this demanding money with menaces? Is my Homecare now worthless?

It would be interesting to see the pattern of BG's commission payments to their fitters.

fyreshaman

Thanks guys.
He certainly left looking very disappointed he hadn't made a sale.
I explained that right now my priority was new tyres for the car, which is far more important.
He replied: 'The repair bills could kill you too'.
He also tried to flog me a new boiler when every other engineer had told me to keep it as it was a really good model. Even tried to tell me that new condensing boilers only produced steam into the environment, as opposed to my dirty old one.
I swear I didn't have on my Gullible Fool t-shirt but he talked as if he was truly convinced that burning gas produces steam. Hmmmm

annie42

I have a service contract with BG for a rental property A tenant called them out to fix a fault on the boiler. I then received a letter fro BG saying the engineer had recommended a power flush and quoted, from memory, around £700. I asked my own heating engineer to do it which he did and found it wasn't needed. It cost less than a quarter of what BG quoted but it was money that I didn't need to spend and suspect their engineers are instructed to tell customers it's needed whether it is or not. It's immoral to fleece their customers in this way and I'm looking into using a different company for service contracts.

ollski

Alot of people think there is some sort of amazing commission scheme for bg engineers, there really isn't. When I worked there I would say the average for me and most other guys I spoke to was about 1% of salary. They aren't measured on it or forced to sell and very few engineers care in the slightest about it. They do have a legal obligation to advise of efficiency improvements to be made to a system however.

I have to wonder why the system was flushed by the independent engineer in annie42's post if it was not needed, I presume his diagnosis was the same before he started? as it appears he was the only one to charge for work not required. Bgs flush charge includes a contract lifetime guarantee so could include several flushes and if you're doubtful I would ask to see a water sample in a special tube which measures the particles in the sample.