British Gas homecare...a warning before winter!

pulliptears

I thought as winter is approaching and BG are pushing their homecare service again Id post this as a small warning for you all.....

Last year the radiator in my hall stopped working, all the others were getting hot but the one in the hall remained cold, while the dining room one was cooler. We had homecare cover so I called BG and out came engineer number one....

Number One replaced the pump. Hall radiator was hot! He left, hall radiator went cold.

Number Two bled all the radiators and balanced them. Hall radiator was hot! He left, hall radiator went cold.

Number three decided to drain down a "blockage" we obviously had. He informed us our pipe needed cutting away and the whole sytem needed flushing. He told us the entire system was full of dirty water and crap. Funny that as Id seen the water he had drained out and it was crystal clear. Price for this? £635. Remember that figure folks!

Number four came after we demanded a second opinion. Something wasnt right. If we really had a blocked pipe upstairs then surely ALL the downstairs radiators wouldnt work? We were sure it was an airlock, almost 100% positive and we told all 4 engineers this. None listened. Engineer number fours price? £450. Almost £200 cheaper than number three. Surely we are all batting for the same team here guys! Why the difference?

We still refused to let them carry out the work, not believing what they were telling us. Grudgingly number four took a water sample from the hall radiator. What number four didnt know was that we also took a sample from the hall radiator.....

6 weeks later and we hadnt heard a peep. As expected our sample had come back clear, nothing in the water, no blockage.

Finally 7 weeks after taking the sample we got a call from BG. The sample had come back clear, surprise surprise. The reason it had taken 7 weeks? The engineers wife had opened his post and binned it (results go directly to the engineer).

At this point, furious I cancelled the cover. What was the point of paying all that money only to find when you need something doing you arent covered!!?

BG wanted £700 to powerflush a system and did not at any point consider that the problems might be anything other than a blockage. Had we listened to them we would be £700 out of pocket (or £400 depending which engineer you get!!). Had engineer number one looked properly he would have seen the reason for the dining room rad staying cold was a faulty TRV. The hall was airlocked. It was only the fact that we badgered the engineers for a water test that made them do it.

So with all the reassuring TV ads that are on at the moment telling you how good BG homecare is,trust me, it isnt!
Jane
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jess123_2

Sounds similar to an experience we had a few years ago. We wanted our gas fire and back boiler serviced. The first man came and took things apart and did the cleaning, then spent ages trying to put it back together. He couldn't manage it so called for backup from another "engineer." This one couldn't do it either so they had to send for a third one. Several hours later and with three vans parked outside, they somehow managed to get it all working again.

pulliptears

The whole thing is a disgrace. What is more annoying is that firstly they assure you that "Everything" is covered when it isnt, and when something does go wrong that isnt covered you HAVE to have it repaired by BG. They say you can get your own engineer to fix the problem, and it will usually be a heck of a lot cheaper BUT should anything go wrong with your system again they will almost certainly blame your engineer and charge you anyway!

DampProof

pulliptears wrote:

The whole thing is a disgrace. What is more annoying is that firstly they assure you that "Everything" is covered when it isnt, and when something does go wrong that isnt covered you HAVE to have it repaired by BG. They say you can get your own engineer to fix the problem, and it will usually be a heck of a lot cheaper BUT should anything go wrong with your system again they will almost certainly blame your engineer and charge you anyway!

Thats why they are top of the recent MSE 'Worst Companies In Britain' survey.
I recently took them to court when they placed an at risk sticker on my boiler.Had it checked by an independant CORGI registered engineer and it passed !!!!
I would rather burn floorboards than have that shower anywhere near my appliances.