Where do i complain?

mikeydpippin

I contacted British Gas regarding a smell of gas at my property i isolated the gas at the main gas tap as suggested by them, and within an hour i had an engineer at my house.He did no gas test to check for a leak but did turn off the gas tap to my boiler,(as that is where i could smell gas},and put my main gas tap back on to supply my cooker. I have since paid a gas safe engineer to test my gas supply and he found a leak on the pipe to the cooker.The gas has been escaping through this pipe and will have increased my bill by a significant amount.I have complained to British gas (who i have my dual fuel with) asking for an allowance on my bill and suggesting at the very least their engineers should do a simple gas test on internal pipework via the meter to confirm leak has been isolated,as this could have had serious consequencies.
British Gas advised me Transco is the company at fault and i should complain to them.Transco's website hasn't got a link.
Any ideas?.

TIMMY85

If you call your supplier saying you smell gas they call national grid emergency services (formerly transco) - the number on your meter "If you can smell gas call 0800 111 999' is who the BG agent will have called on your behalf. If the engineer who turned up did not make the supply safe then it is a National Grid engineer and British Gas cannot really do much.
As gas smells though I wonder how much gas could have escaped from the cooker without you noticing?

TIMMY85

Our complaints process


Good customer service is a high priority within National Grid and when our customers tell us they are unhappy with any aspect of the service they have received, we do our best to take action to put it right.

This page tells you what steps to take if you find yourself in this position and wish to draw a matter to our attention by making a complaint. This service is free to all our customers.

So that we can address your concerns we may need to disclose your information to our employees, professional advisers or contractors. We will respect your privacy and comply with the data protection and privacy laws that govern these situations.

!
Step 1. Making a complaint or checking progress of a complaint.
Please contact us by phone, email or in writing.

Phone: 08450 700203 select Option 2 (All calls are recorded and may be monitored for training purposes)

Minicom for consumers with hearing difficulties: 0800 371787.

Email: box.complaints at uk.ngrid.com

Post: National Grid
Customer Support
Brick Kiln Street
Hinckley
Leicestershire. LE10 0NA

HappyMJ

mikeydpippin wrote: »

I contacted British Gas regarding a smell of gas at my property i isolated the gas at the main gas tap as suggested by them, and within an hour i had an engineer at my house.He did no gas test to check for a leak but did turn off the gas tap to my boiler,(as that is where i could smell gas},and put my main gas tap back on to supply my cooker. I have since paid a gas safe engineer to test my gas supply and he found a leak on the pipe to the cooker.The gas has been escaping through this pipe and will have increased my bill by a significant amount.I have complained to British gas (who i have my dual fuel with) asking for an allowance on my bill and suggesting at the very least their engineers should do a simple gas test on internal pipework via the meter to confirm leak has been isolated,as this could have had serious consequencies.
British Gas advised me Transco is the company at fault and i should complain to them.Transco's website hasn't got a link.
Any ideas?.

How much gas do you think escaped? Gas normally leaks quite slowly and has a very strong smell added to it as natural gas really has no smell at all. A few cubic metres would have been quite dangerous switching a light on would have ignited it. That's only a few pounds worth.

C_Mababejive

Gas escapes in domestic properties are so insignificant as to have nil effect on bills.

With regard to your leak..well its one word against another.

"Tranco" man tested and isolated..job done.

Your GSR says..oh no it was leaking here.

Transco man attends for free and has no agenda other than making safe.

GSR man is self employed and needs to generate income.

SwanJon

As above, British Gas engineers don't respond to Gas Emergencies, and haven't done for around 15 years. Transco changed their name to National Grid about 5 years ago, so the BG agent could dowith bveing caught up too.
If you have a metric meter one unit is equivelant to 1 cubic meter of pure gas. This is around 11kWh, so probably around 50p.
In the kitchen, this would easily be ignited and cause an explosion, but you'd smell it well before this (as you did).
All pipework after the meter is the responsibility of the homeowner - your landlord if you rent, this could be a possible course of recompense (although the GAsSafe engineer would have cost more than the gas).

undaunted

I would have thought the fact that according to your post the gas was left in a more dangerous state after their visit than before they arrived was more the issue than any extra bill you may have incurred myself?

barrychoc

If it was British Gas you contacted in the first place, shouldn't that mean your complaint should go to them? As they did supply the engineer who didn't identify your problem correctly.

eurmalian

barrychoc wrote: »

If it was British Gas you contacted in the first place, shouldn't that mean your complaint should go to them? As they did supply the engineer who didn't identify your problem correctly.

If you were staying in a hotel, they courtesy called a taxi for you to save you some time (from the only taxi company in the town, so it can't be blamed on them making a bad choice) and that taxi then crashed, would you consider it the hotels fault?

The National Grid emergency engineer has nothing to do with BG. Technically the OP shouldn't have actually called BG in the first place as they can do nothing about a gas leak. However, as there may have been gas spilling into the house and a risk of explosion, the agent there called National Grid for the OP rather than waste time giving them the number and asking them to call it instead. That doesn't make anything that the engineer then does on the call out in the slightest bit related to BG...

C_Mababejive

undaunted wrote: »

I would have thought the fact that according to your post the gas was left in a more dangerous state after their visit than before they arrived was more the issue than any extra bill you may have incurred myself?

But is it a "fact" as you say?

Transco man has no hidden agenda. He is there free of charge and has sufficient time and better equipment to seek and find escapes.


The independent guy..well..not so well equipped. He has turned up because he is there to make money.

It isnt that clear cut.

Sometimes people tell porkies to justify their work and repair bills.

mikeydpippin

Excellent replies many thanks.I am disappointed more for the lack of gas test than the cost of the wasted gas.
Surely as a matter of course the simple u tube gas test would have confirmed no leak at property now, over to me as the householder to employ a gas safe engineer to repair gas leak.
Thanks all again very much,Mike