Old boiler dispute!!!

SouthernBellE*

Sorry if i've confused you all (this is why I rarely complain..too bloody complicated!!!
Boiler condemned 27.12.06 Would not let engineer disconnect because needed heat & hot water. Told UNSAFE,POSSIBLE RISK TO LIFE,MAYBE ILLEGAL etc.etc.
Told to replace ASAP,made to buy CO detector & told if breakdown occured it would NOT be repaired as we were advised of dangerous condition and in need of replacement.
Did not cancel D/D as 2 more payments were payable for that year and cancellation would have been breach of agreement. Had assumed some communication within British Gas servicing & billing would have taken place

neilmcl

It's still doesn't change the fact that it was YOUR responsibilty to inform BG that you no longer wanted the service agreement after the minimum period had expired. Also YOU chose to ignore the engineer's recommendation to disconnect and continued to use the unsafe boiler, therefore there would be no reason for the engineer to contact servicing or billing.

RadoJo

I don't understand why you assumed that there had been some contact with servicing and billing when you knew you hadn't had any contact with them? Or do you mean that you assumed their engineer would take it upon themselves to cancel your cover for you? If so, I'm not even sure that that would be possible, as they would need authorisation from you to confirm that you no longer needed their services.

To be honest, I think this one may rest at your door - if you weren't proactive in informing BG that you had a new boiler, and were still paying the direct debit (and they weren't to know that you hadn't checked) then there's not only no way of them knowing that you had installed a new boiler, but also no way of them knowing that the installation happened when you said it did and you haven't just now decided to cancel your policy with them. I can completely understand how frustrating this is, but I'm not sure there's much you can do other than throw yourself on their mercy - if they're offering you £50, that's a good start, but I wouldn't hold out for a huge amount more unless someone there is feeling very sympathetic.

pimento

And you said that you binned the letters they sent you without reading them. I reckon those letters were probably to make an appointment to have your annual service (computer generated).

SouthernBellE*

Agreement I had taken on was 3* and I used to receive pre-made appointment date from BG. (if not convenient customer to phone & cancel).The boiler also had to undergo an Initial Inspection before agreement was accepted.
Considering report in DEC06, agreement end date Feb 07. Why did they continue to take payments?
Although errors in their servicing we felt responsible for the terrible condition of the boiler, I did not make complaint but did not intend to set up a new agreement for the new boiler.(Luckily found all letters & service reports for what I thought was a dead contract which verifies it all)
Unable to fund replacement until April 07. Old boiler DID break down end Jan while still within cover period but did not report fault as already told it would not be repaired.
Name & TOC have changed by now & it is now down to the customer to phone when an inspection is due when you recieve a reminder from BG.
This change is one of the reasons I was unaware of still being charged.
BG defense is that the old boiler was deemed AT RISK & according to their belief, my old boiler would have still been given a yearly service & parts & labour if I had phoned and asked! AT RISK does not NORMALLY mean the contract would be terminated. ALL TOTAL NONSENSE & ALL WARNINGS FROM ENGINEER CONTRADICT THIS STATEMENT. The response letter states because they can see how a lack of communication on their part led me to believe the contract would have been terminated but because they would have sent a new agreement each year and a letter to remind me an inspection was due (2 letters per year) they conclude that they carried out the agreement in accordance with their standards of service.
They are also trying to say that the engineers visit on 4/01/10 is evidence of that. All my evidence proves the agreement was NEVER maintained as it should have been and considering the written warnings left by the engineer any suggestion that it wasn't condemned is insane! an AT RISK label was put on the boiler but what that means as far as BG seem to be concerned is whatever the hell they want it to mean.:mad::mad::mad::mad:

SouthernBellE*

Why am I so misunderstood?LOL

neilmcl

You're not misunderstood, you're just in the wrong as explained but you seem to be the one who doesn't understand that.

fluffnutter

neilmcl wrote: »

He's agreeing with me. "+1" = "I concur".

Ta, neilmcl. I'm quite new to this and I don't always understand the lingo.

pollsdolls

SouthernBellE* wrote: »

Why am I so misunderstood?LOL

LOL I don't think you are. I think you need to learn at least 2 things from this.

1...... Always check your bank statements
2...... Don't asume all 'junk mail' is junk

RadoJo

The thing is Southern Belle, it's not down to the engineer to cancel your contract for you - declaring a boiler unsafe or risky is a recommendation to you, meaning that you have to take further action to resolve it. As they said, they would have been happy to provide the service you were paying for had you asked, and sent you letters which you yourself aknowledge you didn't bother opening I can't really see what more they could have done.

Given that you say yourself that the contract was valid for another two months after this happened, I can't see why you wouldn't contact them yourself. Even if their engineers were authorised to cancel cover on behalf of customers, it would still be good practice to check that this had taken place, and so I think that your failure to contact them, combined with their letters to you and your failure to notice that they were still taking the money, means that you had ample opportunity to see what was happening and deal with it.

If you believed that the damage to you boiler was done by the BG engineer, then that's a separate issue, and one you should pursue independently from this situation.