British Gas - Cancellation Advice

wallaroo

My mum has paid a £200 deposit for a new boiler to be fitted. British gas came to the house and surveyed the job and all was well, however when they turned up to actually do the job the guy said he can't do it because the flue is too close to an opening window (?) and she has to get a new smaller window fitted. She can't afford the extra cost so wants to cancel. Any ideas on where she will stand getting the deposit back, as they are the ones who can't do the job they said they would?

dogshome

Hi walleroo - As you have stated, BG gave you a price after a survey on which to base their quote, but now can't do the job because their surveyer failed to notice an opening window close to the flue exhaust - Yes, you are entitled to cancel the job and get your deposit back.

BG's prices are not exactly competitive and they seem to trade on the basis of "We are the experts so it's worth paying us more to get a good job" - However there reports on this site of BG doing an extremely poor job and then taking months to sort the problems out.

It's still Summer so you have time to get several quotes in from local tradesman - when you have one who you think is right, ask him for the names/addresses of his last 3 jobs and phone them for a reference
The Exhaust/ Window problem will still have to be dealt with, but depending on the layout it could be done by simply making the Opening window a Fixed window

penrhyn

What if the Window was screwed shut?

Cornish_Piskey

No, the window cannot be screwed shut. Building Regulations require the flue to be 300 mm (horizontally) away from a window opening. If the window was changed at any time, the building regs would be broken.

Plume management kits are available to overcome this problem.

spiro

Cornish_Piskey wrote: »

Plume management kits are available to overcome this problem.

DOn't know what one of these is but if it will solve the problem without having to get the window change why not contact BG and tell them they have quoted and surveyed the job and that they should fit one FOC as they failed to notice the window was too close.

macman

Get your deposit back and get a decent independent GSR to do the job instead-you'll probably save a thousand or so that way, and get a better install and a better boiler.