british gas service 'extra work' - magnet needs fitting

antunny

[FONT=&quot]I am troubled by a visit by British Gas, a company with whom I have a 3-star (old name – I think they may have changed it) service contract (supposedly covers entire central heating system) costing over £200 per year, in order to protect me from cowboys and unexpected central heating bills.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On 21st June the engineer came and serviced the boiler. From the outset he was urging me to have radiator thermostats fitted to all my radiators, pointing out that in his large new-build house he has 19 radiators, all fitted with thermostats, and his gas bill is £30 per month.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I assumed it was the usual sales talk and ignored him. Then, unusually, he said he wanted to see all my radiators. This is something the engineer used to check in the days before privatisation, but they have not bothered since.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]He was bleeding the radiators as he went and when he reached the upstairs radiators, he started shaking his head, asked me how often I bled them, and said there was a lot of air in the system. Then he said that if the water came out black I was in a lot of trouble. And…………guess what, the water came out black.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]He said this meant the system had to be drained.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]When we came downstairs he showed me a cylinder full of black water he happened to have handy. He asked me if it was dirty water. I said yes. Then he inserted a magnetic rod into the centre of the cylinder and the blackness disappeared – it was metal fragments which stuck to the magnet. He said I needed one of these fitted.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I asked him how much. He said £320 including VAT. He said he had to point out that I was free to have the work undertaken by any plumber. However, typically I imagine, I shrugged and said it was easier to book the work in with him. And he did say that any change to the plans had to come through him, leaving me his mobile number.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot](If I knew a good plumber or heating engineer I would not be likely to donate over £200 a year to British Gas engineers – incidentally, my engineer had just come back from a cruise in the Caribbean.)[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]As he booked the work in on his computer, the engineer pointed out that if I took the opportunity of having the radiator thermostats fitted whilst the magnet was fitted, it would only cost me an extra £160, instead of £260 at any other time. I declined his kind offer.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I asked, as I pay such a lot for a service contract to maintain the central heating system, if this work was necessary, why it was not covered under the contract? He said that it was not maintenance of the system but an improvement to the same.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I must confess the experience has left me with severe doubts.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I have done some research on the Internet and by asking acquaintances, and apparently having black water in your central heating system is not terminal. Furthermore, the engineer did seem very keen to induce me to have extra work done.[/FONT]

custardy

why did you agree to the work?
you strike me as someone with a bit of savvy
for me when they start doing extra checks/work the alarm bells ring
then thrown in a bit of pressure upselling and im defenatly on the defensive

antunny

i agreed because the scene that was hinted at - corrosion causing a pipe to burst - scared me. Which, if it is a scam, is the whole point i imagine.........

also, being old enough to remember when these utilities were publicly owned, i still have the foolish hangover of trusting companies who have retained 'british' in their name................an unfortunate triumph of memory over experience.........

ziggyman99

The black sludge in your heating system is called magnetite (it's just rust) and can cause damage to your heating system. It will block pipes, radiators, heat exchangers. It will cause pumps and motorised valves to fail. Plate heat exchangers in combi boilers will become scrap. It is not a scam. He's offering you a system that could save you a lot of money over it's lifetime. Same with the TRV's. Fitting TRV's will save you money on your gas bill. Again, not a scam.
His sales techniques may not have been the best and the BG prices aren't great either but that doesn't make it a scam and you can always say no.
I get the feeling that his big house and recent cruise have a lot to do with your rant. Otherwise why mention them. The green eyed monster rears it's ugly head once again may be?

kaya

you got sold a magnaclean, about £80 on fleabay to buy, it just a big magnet, my system heat exchanger kept getting full of sludge and it was affecting the performanceof my 7 year old boiler so i fitted one, but if your boiler was performing as it should and you had not noticed or reported a fault then you probably didnt need one, but in the long run as a preventitive maintenance its a good thing to have fitted

Cardew

I also find the OP's post a little confusing.

Firstly Thermostatic Radiator Valves are mandatory on new installations and to supply and fit them to ?? radiators for £160 seems to be very cheap.(remakably for BG). I suggest you ring a few plumbers and get quotes.

The OP surely must have a pretty old system not to have TRVs fitted.

Again to fit a Magnaclean is just a preventative measure.

How disgraceful that a mere heating engineer can live in a big new house and be able to afford a Carribean cruise - whatever next!!!;)

B8YOU

How disgraceful that a mere heating engineer can live in a big new house and be able to afford a Carribean cruise - whatever next!!!;)[/QUOTE]

a British Gas engineer gets over 30k a year plus over time, weekend payments, stand by payments and bouns for hitting targets. They also get "points" for promoting the company by pushing sales like TRVs, Magnacleans and new boilers. i also know a lot of them do work on the side aka "homers", so they can easily make 40k to 45k+ a year!

claire_parker

Fitting a magnetic (or any other filter) will get rid of some of the muck in the system BUT it will not solve the root cause and will not get rid of all muck. If the system was initially corectly flushed and provided with the correct chemical inhibitor and biocide and those chemicals were correctly maintained (required under the maintenance agreement??), then the water quality should still be very good even after 25 years. However, a bit of discolouration of water is quite normal and acceptable.

Am I reading your post correctly - did he bring along with him the sample of black water eg was it not yours? If it was not then he has deliberately and unlawfully mis-sold you the device anyway. eg saying you needed the device based on someone elses (or perhaps even his own doctered) water. He could have readily taken a water sample from your system!! If this is how the device was sold to you then complain to BG and ask for your money back.

I hope he flushed through the system at the same time as fitting the filter and added the correct chemicals, otherwise your system will still be suffereing from corrosive, microbiological and electrolytic attack.

Seems strange to me that you had to arrange for the works to be carried out direct with him and not via BG!!!

Why not try another company for your maintenance - ask around people you know and trust for recommendations. If that fails look at the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineers website. They have a section where you can select heating technicians. CIPHE plumbers and technicians are the only ones who are permitted to call themselves Registered Plumbers. This is no guarantee that you are going to get a good job done but this is probably your best option if you cannot get any recommendations.

claire