Heads up for any landlords relying on the BG landlord gas cover

dizziblonde

Might be of use to someone out there so I'll throw it out.

Although we've finally bought, we're still in our notice period for the rented house, so basically living between two houses still somewhat. LL had the gas cover policy from BG that covers the gas safety check and the like along with the usual boiler cover (we'll come along, tut a bit and tell you it's borked but we'll sell you a new one malarky) and we got the "your safety certficate is running out and we need to do a new one please book it" reminder through last month - booked it for yesterday, 8-1.

I'm sure you can guess where this one ended up - a no show, then a corporate cover up as the appointment mysteriously disappeared from the system (it was showing as still to go ahead when I rang at 1.30 to check what was going on... had vanished by 2.30 when I rang again) and was rescheduled for February 2011. No joy from them at all - they're basically happy as heck to leave a property without a safety cert, unable to be let out for two months - we're fighting it because a) I don't appreciate being mucked around like that, b) it makes us look bad tennants when we did everything correctly and c) it's actually not fair on the landlord (even though he's not exactly one who'll make it onto my Xmas card list) for him to be paying out for cover for these things and then to be dropped in it like this. He's now going to have to pay for someone else to come out and do the checks - in essence paying for something he's already paid for, in order to be able to re-let the place in January (and he's already got a tenant lined up for when our notice period runs out)... I might not like the guy - but I like seeing people screwed about even less!

Apparently they had NO line managers they could escalate the calls to, no complaints proceedure and their system allows changes to be made without any footprint in customer accounts at all - according to call centre blokey... funnily, when hubby rang straight through to the top line complaints - they found the whole debacle straight away.

Just a heads up for the LLs on here in case anyone else gets mucked about by it all. Thankfully we're 99% moved into the other house - otherwise our LA WOULD have made us leave the property when the certificate expires (they've got many flaws but their zero-tolerance thing on gas safety is one I wholeheartedly agree with).

dizziblonde

Apologies if this posts twice - my net is being somewhat erratic today!

poppysarah

dizziblonde wrote: »

Apologies if this posts twice - my net is being somewhat erratic today!

Mine too. Been so flakey I've almost dug out the number to ring them up!

G_M

Thanks for h heads up. If you search on 'British Gas' you'll find endless threads either praising or critisizing BG and their boiler cover. As a big company their quality varies and posts reflect individual customers' own experience - though naturally more critical customers tend to post.

The snow probobly had them running around like headless chickens, failing to get through, and building up a backlog of jobs. Not an excuse - just an explanation.

our LA WOULD have made us leave the property when the certificate expires

Impossible. It's not a legal reason for eviction, though the attitude towards safety is commendable.

theartfullodger

You might be interested in...

http://blog.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/2010/12/boiler-birthday-blues.html

(Sorry, MSE apparently insists on censoring any links to

wubwubwub.p-r-o-p-e-r-t-y-h-a-w-k.co.uk/index.php?page=magazine&id=468

.. not what my old man went through WWII for.... )

&

http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/index.php?page=magazine&id=468

(various comments from LLs on boiler insurance and is it/isn't it worth it & the problems with modern boilers - don't get me wrong, providing working CH etc. if quote clearly LL responsibility and if it breaks he should fix it: Problem is sometimes, how does he fix it.. but LL's problem...)

In particular...(re boiler insurance and should landlords use it...)...

Martin Lewis of moneysavingexpert has advised that rather than paying out a regular monthly payment for your boiler insurance you should just put the cash in the bank. The problem is how many of us are that disciplined to create our own boiler sinking fund.

I've been to a few Landlord events (forums, exhibitions...) and various dodgy gents. have been very keen to recommend BG's schemes.. I'd already assumed something funny was going on (nope, I don't bother with boiler insurance, just call out the local handyman...)

Cheers!

Artful

PS Is it just me?? If my tenants have problems, specifically heating then I arrange for temporary heating (eg some oil-filled rads) and write a letter agreeing to a rental drop. Seems the obvious gesture to make in the circumstances

clutton_2

a smaller local gas engineer is what i have used for 11 years... much more reliable.. the food on their table is reliant on their customer service.....

dizziblonde

Took us going to the top complaints line plus the big-boy letting agency in the area to get it resolved and miraculously a check booked in for next week (I gather it took the letting agency playing absolute merry hell for most of the day to get some sense out of them). Annoyed on the LL's behalf really since he's obviously been suckered in with the "no worries for your rented house" claims and they just took the piddle yesterday completely... so I get to spend 6 hours sat waiting in in an almost empty house next week again - woo yay!

Thankfully for all concerned - we've pretty much moved out already (in notice period for the end of the tenancy/mass tidyupathon) so it's not really a problem, but I know the LA wouldn't let us stay in a place with an expired certificate (runs out today) - so we could potentially have been out on our ear short-term thanks to their ineptitude! I just had to laugh at the lying and wriggling on the call centre's behalf - for an appointment to mysteriously disappear in the middle of the day takes some skill or screw up!

missdee85

We had called them out on the emergency cover thing as my LL has this also as one of our radiator pipes had burst, we specifically asked them on the phone does our LL's agreement with you cover this, answer back every time was yes it does.

So arranged them to come out the next day between 8am and 1pm and they would call 15 mins before arriving, phone call in the morning sorry we are running slightly behind today, not a problem as it was only slightly behind. So we were still sitting waiting at 5.30pm, thinking they would be knocking off soon we called and were told oh they finish jobs at 6pm and they reassured us that they would be showing up at some point but didn't know when and didn't know why they hadn't been when we had been promised a morning slot but slightly late?

Guy turns up at 5.50pm and tells us oh i can only make it safe cos they cover doesn't cover the pipes - great fantastic to know that when we had asked several times if it was covered only to be told yes it does. Thing that really annoys me is that if they had said no from the start we could have got someone else in to do the job as we did in the end anyway and it would have free'd up more time for the engineer.

Doesn't make sense to me!