British Gas Electricians

wealdroam

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

It's no different to hearing "crackling" sounds coming from a light switch. You wouldn't just turn this switch off and assume that it was safe and couldn't cause a problem. You would totally disconnect the supply to the suspect item and then repair or replace it.

A faulty RCD had been identified.

"Totally disconnecting the supply from the suspect item" can be achieved by simply turning of the main switch.

shaun_from_Africa

A faulty RCD had been identified.

Identified by whom? Someone who shouldn't have been doing the job, and may well not have had a clue what they were doing.

I was also told the first man who came and never returned was not qualified to remove the fuseboard cover and should not be touching anything in there

As I stated earlier. If the wiring inside the unit had been arcing, it may well have burnt the wiring on the main switch, or damaged the switch itself.
This possibility was indeed confirmed by the 2nd engineer who visited. (the qualified one).

They came about 5pm and fixed it saying it was melted and a big risk of fire

If something had melted, it must have been getting fairly hot, which means that other wiring such as the main switch wiring could easily have been damaged).

Over the past 35 years, I've seen enough damage caused by poor electrical connections to know exactly what can happen when there is a problem with arcing and overheating.
I'm an aircraft electrical engineer and not a household electrician, but electricity is electricity, and the problems and dangers are the same wherever it's used.

squeaky

I'm with shaun on this one.

Again I'm an ex services apprentice trained electrician and after serving my time moved into production engineering which has elements of "house standard" power usage and, of course, heavier industrial usage.

From the OP's description of events the first "engineer" was wrong. Full stop.

SandC

If the second chap who came out said the first one was not qualified to remove the fuseboard cover then that is an admission that they did indeed have a record of the first call out. Otherwise they could be accusing you of doing it yourself eh?

Tot up everything in your freezer and hand them a bill. Lobster and all sorts in there I bet what with that big party you've got coming up this weekend?

ankspon

Thanks for your advice and support

British_Gas

@davidhwdn Hello - very sorry to hear you've had these problems.

Please could you email me your house number and postcode to customernews@britishgas.co.uk and I would be more than happy to take a look at your account and see what we can do.

Thank you.

ankspon

British_Gas_company_representative wrote: »

@davidhwdn Hello - very sorry to hear you've had these problems.

Please could you email me your house number and postcode to customernews@britishgas.co.uk and I would be more than happy to take a look at your account and see what we can do.

Thank you.

Thanks for your post,i have sent the details as requested.

ankspon

I have received a call from BG and they are looking into the matter,great customer service,thanks.

ankspon

Amazing call from British Gas,from me reading the BG reps reply to my post and me forwarding my details i have received a call and resolution within 8 eight hours.BG have offered me money to cover my freezer food and will not charge for the actual repair of the fusebox.Brilliant customer service and very much appreciated,well done British Gas

squeaky

Great

Thanks for coming back to let us know.