British Gas quoted £141 for a replacement switch!

prowla

Our heating stopped working and we have a Homecare 200 service plan so we called them out.
The engineer took some time doing his thing and replaced a pump and the timer but still didn't get it working.
He then called back to base and told the wife (I was at work) that we needed a new "fused mains spur", but that it wasn't covered by our plan and he wasn't an electrician, and that it would cost us £141.
When my wife told me, I said how can we need a new mains spur, as the wiring is already in place?
After a couple of calls to British Gas and getting the engineer to call back, it turns out that the "fused mains spur" is just the boiler's isolator switch in the cupboard next to the boiler tank.
Well, it is debatable whether the switch that is solely there for the gas boiler should be covered or not, but asking £141 to replace it is usury!!!!
I called BG back again to say that the engineer had told me that existing switch needed replacing (about a 30 minute job), but I thought they had quoted me the price to install a new spur; they said they need to send an electrician around to do us a quote, in 2 days time.
The phrase "having a giraffe" applies!

penrhyn

Have you tried replacing the fuse?

prowla

Hmmm - turns out that the switch is perfectly alright and there is an electrical problem at the fuse box.
(Yes, the fuse was alright.)

kippen_noedel

You don't say what level of cover you have so also check your buildings insurance policy to see if you;re covered there.

macman

The engineer may not be an electrician, but surely when called out to a non-functioning boiler, the very first thing you would check is whether power is getting to the boiler-not a difficult point to establish.
So why on earth would he first replace the pump and timer? Sounds like he didn't have a clue what he was doing.