British Gas Homecare - Pulling a fast one?

Muppet81

Had BG Homecare for 10 years and they have serviced my IDEAL boiler every year. The only thing ever pointed out was a non standard flue which they said was not a problem as such.
had a letter a few months back that IDEAL no longer supported the boiler and parts may not be available.
Annual service today. Engineer walked in and before even opening it up said " it is old and parts may not be available, have you thought of having a new one". I said whilst it was working NO!
15 mins later he had called his manager who appeared in his own vehicle, must have been nearby, and they said there was a part missing which meant IMMEDIATE DANGER so condemmed my boiler. I asked why if this was the case this had not been picked up over the last 10 years of servicing. He smiled nicely and said it should have been and he "assured me he would follow it up but that this IMMEDIATE DANGER was the case and as they had picked it up they could not ignore it". I think they were waiting for me to agree to a new boiler.
I asked them to make enquiries about the missing plate and they eventually rang IDEAL whilst I was also there. The part is available and they are coming to fit it tomorrow.
BUT, I anticipate them turning up and saying they cannot fit it for some reason. Call my cynical!
Would you feel you were being had here? I do.
If they say I need a new boiler, I will get an independant enginer to come in first but once BG have condemmed a boiler, can they reconnect it?
Any advice much appreciated. If you have had a similar experience i would be interested to hear.

jcr16

omg sounds like what happened to me on friday.

We have bg homecare. never had a problem. boiler sailed through, carbon monoside thingy passed etc.

then he came to cooker. passed everything then said when you close the lid and the gas ring is one it doens't cut out. and while the lids is close you can turn the knob. ( 3 of them you couldn't, 1 you could).

i said oh um ok. had to make a dash as little boy potty trainning needed my attention. seeing to him and also saying good bye to midwife. so was a pretty hectic moment. to walk back in kitchen and find he was disconnecting the cooker with immdiate effect as it was immdeiate danger to life ( said could explode if lid fell down while gas ring was lite) while i understand that i think perhaps a little extreme.

he showed me his computer thingy and it said if had to be disconnected. i asked it if could be mended he said he couldn't identify it from the model on the back and no part availble. tbh i was so in shock by what he said i didn't know weather to laugh or cry at being told my cooker was suddenly dangerous. he then removed the pipe from the back, turned gass off to building and removed the bayonet from the wall and plugged it.
he left it tagged up saying condemmed.

he said he was sorry to leave me cooker less but he had to do it. and if i wanted any gas cooker installed again i had to have corgi registered in to reconnected the bayonet thingy.

anyway i dragged the cooker out and got the model number, 5 minutes of being on the internet i found the part for £79. but it was gonna cost £190 to get bg back out to confirm that was the right part as they coulndn't confirm it was without checking the cooker again. plus then if they were to re-connec the bayonet it would of been extra cost, or if i was to get another corgi person out that was more cost, plus then getting it fitted. it worked out cheaper to buy new cooker. this time electric.

last fri was a completey bizarre day . i do understand it not maybe the engineers fault as he has to follow the procedures and if anythign was to happen because he didn't follow them then it just not worth it.

but surely if i can find th part in 5 minutes then maybe there parts catalogue needs to be sorted out on their little laptops they have with them, as it could of saved alot of problems.

anyway after he left i thought this is just crazy ( my cooker is 6 yrs old). but at the time i couldn't take it in to ask any sensible questions like HAng On !!!

Muppet81

Hi jcr

Sorry to hear about your experience. What a good thing you did a bit of research yourself rather than pay BG without question.

I did not mention it in my earlier post but they did in fact also condem my gas hob as well. Said twice the limit for any gas leaking. I did not really question this as happy that they did spot a gas leak and possibly saved an explosion. They mentioned £170 for them to do it but I said NO and rang a local man who I know will be a lot cheaper than that.

I was impressed with Home care when I first took it out but think I will look elsehwhere now for service. feel BG engineers have been turned into salesmen. Not their fault I know and I suspect they hate doing it but have no choice.

phill99

There are numerous posts on here about BG along the same lines as your post(s). Just because a company stops making a boiler doesn't mean they stop making parts. Parts are usually available years (and sometimes decades) after a manufacturer has ceased making the actual boiler. 10 years for a boiler is ridiculous. You should get many more years out of it.

BG are very good at using scare tactics to encourage people to change their boilers when it is completely unnecessary. It well known that the engineers are on commission to get people to change their boilers.

If they refuse to fit the part for some reason, I would tell them to take their part and shove it, then get an indepemdent Gas Safe engineer in to fit the part. I would then cancel the Direct Debit for Homecare and kick the schemers into touch.

jcr16

i must say overall we have always been highly impressed with bg homecare. any time our boiler has had problems they have come round to fix it and given us great service.

we now only have the boiler registered with them our boiler is also only 10 yrs old. and have been serviced every yr without fail. and we will continue to do so. we personally feel it isn't worth not getting it done yearly.

However on the subject of the cooker, i do feel they reacted very over the top. but as said before i do fully apprecaite it isn't down to the engineer and he has to follow his guideline. but if we didn't have the option to ge a cooker the next day then i'm not sure how a famiyl could of coped without a cooker until they could get one. 4 days without one was hard enough.

keystone

jcr16 wrote: »

he said he was sorry to leave me cooker less but he had to do it. and if i wanted any gas cooker installed again i had to have corgi registered in to reconnected the bayonet thingy.

Did he really say that?
Cheers

jcr16

yes, because he had to be turned off at the mains in the gas box and to ensure it was all done safely thats how it needed to be done, as there is a cap in the wall where the bayonet once was.

Now it may be that it doens't have to be done by a corgi chap, but perhaps it is something they have to say so you dont' get a cowboy in and you end up blowing up your house. i don't know.

BaldPlumber

Just to clarify, you're paying for a gas safety inspection and object when they decommission an appliance that is not safe they are obliged to by law and probably consider your lack of a cooker a better bet than the sack or a prison sentence.

Do you seriously think they have every available part for every available appliance? if they can't buy it wholesale then it's obsolete, unless of course you think they source their parts from eBay - which I have to often do BTW.

If you want personal service, then employ a local gas safe registered person who actually gives a toss about you and your families safety and/or budget.

macman

Did he really say that it had to be replaced by a CORGI registered person? If so he is either unqualified or incompetent, or both. CORGI has been obsolete for 2 years now, all persons working on gas appliances need to be GSR (Gas Safe Register)-that includes your engineer.
Obtain the part yourself if necessary and get a independent local GSR installer to fit it.

Muppet81

Well, following the chaps grim warning yesterday that it could take most of the day and require the boiler coming off the wall, affecting tiling and decorating, a young chap turned up today and 20 mins later I heard him ring someone to say " I have done it, only took a minute, just sat it on top and scewed bolt up, seen loads like this, don't think they could have came with the panel in the first place" He then dissapeared for over an hour and shut himself in the back of his van before reappearing and shouting up to me to say he had finished the job.

Whilst obviously I am relieved that no major work/damage was required, I am angry that they gave me such a difficult day yesterday.

Not impressed at all!

If they could have yesterday, they would have talked me into a new boiler. I like to think I am not gullible but feel angry that this could have been someone older than me and living alone who could easily have fallen into the trap.

Just need to wait and see what my nice local man can do about the gas leak on the hob. Whatever it is, I doubt very much it will cost me over £170.

fivetide

Devil's advocate - if the part is available BG include it in the cost of the plan. Our boiler, a Valiant, has had BG out twice in the last year or so, needing about £600 of bits for which we haven't been charged, not to mention labour on top so if the boiler is a production model then they don't work out too bad, especially with the service thrown in.

Agree on the rush to condem things before trying to find a solution though. And yes, the OP would need a gas safe person to do the connection if they ever weant another cooker. Actually, i think anyone can install a system like this, it is the final connection to the gas that has to be done by a Gas Safe person as they should make sure all the rest of the work has been done properly.

5t.