Watchdog tonight 19/04/12

jalexa

Lgas wrote: »

Watchdog managed to find 3 complaints out of 7 million visits a year,

What is your point? That there are only 3 dissatisfied customers?

a paltry £15 before tax

Given that there is now documentary evidence on the £15, why did the BG manager respond so evasively?

Most customers get letters when their boiler goes on the reduced parts list.

Most customers? Given that you deal in small numbers (3), how many don't?

C_Mababejive

I visited a customer yesterday in the course of my work and she had one of the later model GW Spacesaver BF boilers fitted in her garage. The lady told me she now lived alone as her husband had died a few years back. She was a lady of a certain age,quite genteel and presumably comfortable as she lived in a small detached house. GW have been making this boiler for a very long time and im not up to speed with my versions. It was the BF model with the honeywell square green button valve,permanent pilot,obligatory big white case and slide off brown tray.

Anyway she was in a bit of a flap as she had been told on numerous occasions during her annual service how inefficient it was and how soon they might no longer be able to get the parts etc etc. She had been quoted just over 3 grand to replace it.

Note that i am not attacking BG or its staff. I am simply relating a tale 100% truthfully. Now i dont believe that money is a motivating factor here. As Olski says, £15 is neither here nor there. No..i believe that BGs engineers are subject to a certain level of intimidation by their managers to sell. They are targeted and cross compared with other engineers,set targets and there is an expectation that they will meet them. If they dont,presumably they are subjected to some kind of finger wagging interview.

In short,they are not left to be engineers,they are more or less bullied into selling.

Plushchris

Lgas wrote: »

Anyone who thinks an engineer would go to the trouble of cutting off a boiler, capping off, tightness testing, and upsetting a customer for a paltry £15 before tax is misguided.

The way I saw it was that £15 is for every lead they send through, send through two or three a day and that "paltry" £15 becomes a lot more money in the wage packet.

I'd say anyone who underestimates the allure of extra money in a wage packet is misguided personally..

Cardew

From my experience, and the many posts on MSE, it is difficult not to conclude that BG’s emphasis has changed from ‘Service’ to ‘Sales’.

It obviously makes commercial sense for BG to pressurise customers into getting a new boiler/CH system. Given their installation quotes are way more than those of smaller firms, there is a large ‘instant’ profit to be made.

The pity is that many people are conditioned to think of BGas the trustworthy ‘Gas Board’ of yesteryear, instead of a hard-nosed commercial organisation driven to maximise profit.

Lgas

Plushchris wrote: »

The way I saw it was that £15 is for every lead they send through, send through two or three a day and that "paltry" £15 becomes a lot more money in the wage packet.

I'd say anyone who underestimates the allure of extra money in a wage packet is misguided personally..

I've yet to meet an engineer who puts through 2 or 3 CH sales appointments a day. More like one a week, honestly. I average one a fortnight, if you're interested, and I see many boiler over 15 yrs old every day. If a boiler is on the reduced parts list, but I know the major parts are readily available, i'll be honest with the customer every time. I'm sure there are sharks out there but i've not come across any personally in my team.

In response to Jalexa, I say 'most customers' because I don't personally send out letters. I'm going by what customers tell me.

I'm just dissapointed that BG engineers are now seen as 'sales people'. It's called Best Advice, and it should always be that.

george1939

mike_the_bike wrote: »

Ok thanks for that.. And I don't doubt your integrity.. This is where it gets interesting. I assume you work for them..I've been told yesterday that a BG are saying to a customer under contact that a heat exchanger for a worcester highflow 3.5 b/f is obsolete/unavailable from central warehouse and that a replacement boiler is required as the boiler cannot be repaired. Could you maybe look this up under your system and confirm this?

British gas told me the same for my 20 year old 4.5 high flow two weeks ago so I rang worcester and they told me it is still in stock and if it would not have been other stockists had it. British Gas also said it did not pass the high emissions co2 criteria I informed Worcester, their technical department advised on how to remedy it British Gas had said it could be related to the heat exchanger I informed British Gas after talking to Worcester. The following day another engineer came out cleaned it properly [Problem solved now co2 within the limits]and heat exchanger was okay the first engineer was talking about the need for a new boiler which was rubbish and is service and advice was very poor