British Gas & Power Flush

Grumlethegoat

We have BG300 HomeCare Flexi. Called a BG engineer out in August because the pump had gone for the hot water. Replaced and while he was here suggested we had a Powerflush at £695.00 as it would make the sytem work better. He said he recommended it, he did not say we needed it. On Wednesday the pump that works the central heating started making a noise and was incredibly hot to touch so I phoned BG again and paid my £50 and an engineer came out on Thursday morning. By then the pilot light kept going out on the boiler after about 20 seconds so we turned the whole system off. He said that the system was clogged up and either we needed to have the system flushed out which would be free or he would fit a new pump and valves and remove clean air seperator at a cost of £248. We said that we would have the system flushed out then, oh he says but your pipes are under a cement floor and if we flush the system out it will find 100's of flaws in the pipes (in 9 years we have had 2 tiny leaks which took 1/2 hour to fix each) and you will end up with having to dig up all your floors to repair them. He said I think you should go for the changing of the pump/valves etc. We said O.K. He said I'm just going to the van to phone my manager, he came back in 10 minutes later with 2 fan heaters and a yellow 'AT RISK' label for the boiler. Said his manager says we need a new system. He said we can't do the power flush as you have had leaks and spending the £248 would be a waste of money, you should really have a new system we're arranging for a quote this afternoon, it will be better to spend 3 grand on a new system, you really shouldn't use the system anymore. We were a bit taken a back but thought he is a professional he must be right.
The BG guy came out to quote for a new system.....£7000!!!
So for my £50 I have two fan heaters and no heating. Luckily I have the option to heat the water with the emmersion heater.
I went to work yesterday afternoon and I kept thinking that BG must think we are stupid. First we can have a flush, then not, then he can repair it for £248, then not and now they want £7000.
I phoned BG yesterday and spoke to a call centre lady who I insisted I would stay on hold until I could speak to a manager. I spoke to a manager who romised me that he would get the engineers manager to call me this morning....Guess what???? No call. I called again this afternoon and again insisted I spoke to a manager, the girl put me on hold twice and then promised me the manager would phone me back in 10 minutes Guess what???? No call. BG have ripped me off big time.

ollski

Just get another callout, I suspect there's a bit of a mix up:

Your system won't be flushed for free...no chance. It would be minimum 600 but if you have pipes buried in concrete they will probably blow apart as concrete eats away at copper if it isn't protected. You would pay for the flush and may be left with a totally unworkable system.

You were probably left to get the quote while you decided how you would like to proceed and I suspect they are waiting for a call to decide if you want the new pump. If you were previously told the system was dirty and advised a flush you would then have further sludge related work charged for.

The 'at risk' notification has to be left on a non operational boiler as it cannot be tested, that is all that means.

The 7k quote sounds ridiculous and the no response from a service manager sounds typical and indefesible.

Hope this helps.

Grumlethegoat

I suspect that they think we are going to buy a new system so they have decided not to fix it, if they fix it we won't have to get a new system and they will have lost a sale. ....plus.....why have they quoted us £248 in the first place when it should be free? valves and pumps are covered under the 300flexi system.
They have still taken my £50 and done nothing.
How can one guy quote us £695 for a flush and then another say it is free?
How can one guy recommend it and another one say we shouldn't have it as it will cause a lot of damage? Weren't they trained in the same systems?

ollski

Grumlethegoat wrote: »

I suspect that they think we are going to buy a new system so they have decided not to fix it, if they fix it we won't have to get a new system and they will have lost a sale. ....plus.....why have they quoted us £248 in the first place when it should be free? valves and pumps are covered under the 300flexi system.
They have still taken my £50 and done nothing.
How can one guy quote us £695 for a flush and then another say it is free?
How can one guy recommend it and another one say we shouldn't have it as it will cause a lot of damage? Weren't they trained in the same systems?

nothing damaged by sludge or scale is covered under the contract after you have been advised of it on a previous fault ie first one free.
A flush isn't free unless you have an engineer in a generous mood who fancies removing and blasting a rad or two through in the garden or unless you have previously paid for a powerflush and it needs another in which case a reflush is done f.o.c
One guy recommended it and one not because one is more of a gambler than the other...chances are it will flush fine but guessing the second guy felt the preferred option would be a system replacement so arranged a quote to see if it was a viable option.

almdudler

I discovered the bathroom radiator leaking the other day.
It was a pinhole leak and a tear of water was trickling down the radiator from a faint orange coloured spot (corrosion).

I placed a bowl below it to cath the drips and called British Gas as we have Homecare 400.

They sent out an engineer the next day and he isolated the leaking rad and ordered a new replacement. He told me that we really needed a powerflush and that if we decided not to have one and another radiator starts leaking, that we could not use our homecare 400 policy as their terms and conditions exempt replacement if a powerflush has not been carried out by them.

He then quoted £695 for a powerflush, to which I laughed and said you must be joking mate.

I was under the impression that the Homecare package is advertised as a "Peace of Mind" policy, but that is false advertising as there is nothing "Peace of Mind" about £695 !!!

I am going to contact Watchdog about this.

Gerrard_8_lfc

almdudler wrote: »

I discovered the bathroom radiator leaking the other day.
It was a pinhole leak and a tear of water was trickling down the radiator from a faint orange coloured spot (corrosion).

Limescale and Corrosion is not covered under and homecare agreement as stated in your T&Cs.

ollski

almdudler wrote: »

I discovered the bathroom radiator leaking the other day.
It was a pinhole leak and a tear of water was trickling down the radiator from a faint orange coloured spot (corrosion).

I placed a bowl below it to cath the drips and called British Gas as we have Homecare 400.

They sent out an engineer the next day and he isolated the leaking rad and ordered a new replacement. He told me that we really needed a powerflush and that if we decided not to have one and another radiator starts leaking, that we could not use our homecare 400 policy as their terms and conditions exempt replacement if a powerflush has not been carried out by them.

He then quoted £695 for a powerflush, to which I laughed and said you must be joking mate.

I was under the impression that the Homecare package is advertised as a "Peace of Mind" policy, but that is false advertising as there is nothing "Peace of Mind" about £695 !!!

I am going to contact Watchdog about this.

Seriously?, why would you imagine bg would walk in and remedy the negligence your system has suffered during the prior years they didn't know it exsisted?.
They are changing one rad even though it falls outside of t&cs, advising you how to prevent further system deterioration and quoting you. You don't need to accept the quote but neither are bg going to offer to guarantee someone elses work.
Bg powerflushes are fixed price and also include pipework alterations if required and a lifetime guarantee if you stay on any level of maintainance cover.

rdg9795753

Was told by a BG engineer that my system was bolcked and it needed a powerflush @ £680.

Had a local plumber to have a look, he laughed and called it a rip off. Sorted my heating system out after BG had left it not working for 3 days (with 2 children in the house). The cost £20.

Now works better than it ever has.

Dont mind paying a fair price, but dont rip me off.

Frs_2

Here is my experience I want to share about 2 companies.

One month ago had problem with boiler. Water started to go colder after running shower and taking ages for heating to heat the house.

I had cover with Homeserve emergency service and called and gave up after 40 minutes because had to pickup kids from school. So tried again for 50 minutes and got through. Reported the problem and lady said they will get someone out to me.

I got call from a company PH Jones and lady said nearest appointment was 7 days later on Friday and if I had a problem with that then go back to Homeserve and I accepted that appointment as didn't want to wait that long getting through to homeserve. I was give the afternoon slot between 12-6:00pm.

I booked time off and waited till 8:30pm tried calling and emailing ph jones but no luck. Finally gave up and went to Christmas meal.

My wife left the baby sitter and went out to get meal. She got call to come back at 9pm ad an Engineer turned up. He suppose to call mr 1 hour before arrival and he didn't.

My wife came home and the Engineer was playing Playstation3 with my kids.(don't laugh, it's true). He said we had old heating system and old pipe, old radiators and it has been done by cow boys.
Ok my wife did best to convince him that only 4 radiators were bit old rest were brand new fitted 4 years ago.

I had new heating system installed, new pipes . Vaillant Ecomax 835 boiler and my contractor said I did not need to replace 4 radiators as they were very good radiators especially the one fitted the curve of bay window.

Well engineer said we have got problem with heat exchanger plate and need to replace it. This has been caused by slug therefore not covered by my insurance homeserve. He said if we dont tell his company he will do it for £800 on the side as he will be doing us favour because his company would charge us £1500.

Once the engineer had gone worried wife decide to spoil my Christmas dinner by telling me all about it.

Well I contacted homeserve they told me that heat exchage plate was covered by insurance but need to have slug removed by PH Jones first and it was best to have it removed by PH Jones only at the cost of £390.

Well once I agreed that price and they cooked up a plane and said I wasn't covered at all and I will have to pay for Heat exchange plate as well. I was really annoyed and asked them to formally reject my claim in writing and I will take serve court papers and asked for postal asters as well. Finally got call from a manager approving my claim and asked ph jones to carry out work. I didn't hear anything from Ph Jones and called them today and asked to speak to a manager but he didn't speak cnd passed the message on to me that the cost will £570 and will not be done this side of Christmas.

Sorry about long explanation but just invade anyone else had same experience with these companies.

Does anyone know if slug can cause heat exchange plate to act like this.
Does any one recommend any decent person to carry out this work and not rip me off...

johnnyhc

i also have bg home-care, last year my boiler cut out several times but was easy to reset, however i called bg and asked them to take a look, i was told it was a motherboard that was faulty and was covered under policy...result, until it did it again in December, had got engineer out who opened my boiler and told me it was due to sludge and needed a power flush £750 and if i didn't get it done they would no longer fix my boiler, scare tactics???? my boiler cuts out but when resets house heats up great and so does hot water.. its a combi boiler any help would be great before they come