British Gas Homecare

Harrrrrrry

My heating broke down in my rented property and the landlord said he had homecare so to phone them.

They gave me a 12-6 appointment yesterday afternoon

By 5 he had not turned up so I phoned them and they said he was on his way and would be there within 15 minutes

At nearly 6 he was still not there so I phoned and they said the engineer had called and not been "able to get access"

Which is untrue (my doorbell is the loudest craziest horrible music thingamy)

I took the afternoon off work for this (losing me money) anyway I can get compensation do you think?

dangeroussports

I waited in between 12 and 6. Phoned them up at 5:30 and the customer services rep said that the engineer was an 'idiot' and had arrived at 1130 and because I wasnt in hed left.

Lies!

Anyway got a new appointment. If they mess be about again I'll cancel it. Now I took the afternoon off just to get the first assesment. God knows what theyll be like if my boiler broke!

cattie

[QUOTE=Harrrrrrry

I took the afternoon off work for this (losing me money) anyway I can get compensation do you think?[/QUOTE]

You'll be lucky, On 3 seperate occasions I had phone calls cancelling bg service appointments after having taken time off work & already hanging around for hours waiting for said engineer. I got absolutely nowhere with British Gas despite phone calls & letters in protest at doing this to me on 3 occasions & making me lose 3 days of work. British Gas are a law unto themselves. :mad:

_gav_

They are farcical!! We cancelled our Homecare cover after the last fiasco with them failing to turn up. Having taken time off from work etc they offer you the massive sum of £20 compensation! :mad: Not happy. I have now taken out cover with a local company who charge much the same, but are small enough to care about their customers.

[Deleted User]

I don't think you can. They did the same thing to me, i was furious! Eventually when they did turn up, they complained that the boiler was in a dark spot up in the loft (even if the ceiling light was on and it was beside a window!) and told me I had to add more light above it to make their job easier next time blah blah, so annoying, so I got rid of them.

zed650

Guys,

Been with the Scottish Gas service care for 8 years now and it has saved us a packet on repairs and regular servicing. The engineers are always polite and knowlagable and very often we get a phone call about 1/2-1/4 hour before they are likely to turn up (which is usually within the window which we were given).

I would advise anyone (who has gas) to sign up.

Cheers

louisephill

I have British Gas Homecare and have been troubled with a leaking boiler. The engineer who came out yesterday explained that he needed to order a part which would arrive and be fitted by a different engineer today. The engineer arrived and on inspecting the boiler stated that there wasn't enough room between the boiler and the wall to replace the part as the boiler had been fitted incorrectly. They have told me I need to pay for half a day's labour at £300 as they need to remove the boiler from the wall to replace the part!! As any customer of 'Homecare' knows, BG send an engineer to inspect your system prior to you being able to take the cover out.
Does anyone know where I stand on this one? I am waiting for a 'technical supervisor's' callback tomorrow.

Cardew

An extract from their "Standards of Service" in the latest 'Terms and conditions' booklet(Oct 2005) for 'Initial Inspection' on Homecare 100, 200, 300, 400. states:

This checks your central heating appliance is working safely and efficiently and makes sure we are able to carry out necessary repairs by finding available and approved spares.

A further statement is:

2. Check they can get access to the appliance for service and repair.

As they inspected it, they must fix it within the terms of your agreement. I would 'call their bluff' and threaten them with ofgem or legal action if they refuse. I think an engineer is just trying it on.

However I suspect you might not get your contract renewed next year.

louisephill

Thank you for that.
The 'Technical Supervisor' is coming out tonight to assess the situation. I have the 'Terms and Conditions' printed with relevant parts highlighted! I will let you know how I get on.

KathrynPenguin

In their defence (although I have not always been entirely happy with callout times etc) these policies are worth their weight in gold for the right things. I had them out to fix a leaking toilet at 10pm one night, although they did a temp fix to stop the leak and came back the next day it would have cost me a fortune to call someone out without the contract. We have also had them out about 4 times on Christmas Day, over the years this itself has paid for the contracts.

smartie1976

To make life easier, make sure that BG has an up to date contact number for you. You can call them first thing and confirm the appointment for that day, and ask them to call you half an hour before they are due to arrive.

The only issues I've had with not turning up is through untied util on meter replacement, and that's not down to BG.