Gas meter exchange - gas leak

muppetlover

I thought I'd seek the collective wisdom of Forum members following a few weeks of chaos following the exchange of my gas meter.

Apart from the exchange being described as urgently overdue, the appointment was made without any hassle and the engineer from the contracted firm appeared within the first hour of the given 2 hour window.

The engineer was there for under 25 mins, including the time taken to inspect the gas boiler/hob before and after the swap, and to be shown the location of the meter.

I went out for an hour or so and on returning could smell gas from 15 - 20 metres from my apartment - the meter boxes for all of the flats in my block are located in a walled garden area adjacent to the pavement.

I called the gas emergency number, switched off the gas at the meter and left the box open as instructed. The emergency engineer came in around an hour and we spotted that there was a 8 cm crack in the case of the meter - big enough to be clearly visible from a few metres distance.

The emergency (National Grid) engineer did not have a meter of that type to do a new install, so made the site safe and we awaited an engineer from the initial firm.

Whilst awaiting the National Grid engineer to come out I reported the leak to the original firm. Their response was hardly brilliant: it was clear that they weren't listening to what I was telling them; the frustration of being told the answer to a question I hadn't asked and not getting anywhere for ages is all too familiar from dealing with call centres, but no sky signal or slow broadband is not going to lead to an explosion.

Long story short, a new meter was installed and the cracked one taken away; no meter reading left from original meter; original engineer blaming someone else for "*@#$ing around with it" after he left. The firm that did the swap have declined to supply an incident report. Also, it is was clear from watching the second engineer that the first one had been less than thorough in his work - something only obvious with knowledge of the correct follow up procedures.

I have chased supplier and distributor for support (in getting a report) and initially the supplier wasn't taking any responsibility for assisting me to the point of denying that they commissioned the swap. After several calls and emails I have commitment that they will get a copy of the report to me.

The firm that did the swap are very good at talking but not saying much - their last word is to offer me £100 for my inconvenience.

I thought dealing with Clydesdale Bank's mortgage screw up was stressful, but it never had me waking up in a cold sweat. How do fellow members feel I should deal with this going forward?

Terrylw1

Your contract of service is with your supplier, they have appointed their contracted agents, so your supplier has a duty of care to you. They are held responsible for the actions of their agents, especially where customers are concerned.

When a meter operator changes a meter, their deprogramming teams send data flows to your supplier detailing the change. So, they will be sent 2 lots in your case.

If your supplier booked it for you, they send a data flow to the meter operator requesting the work. Sometimes they call them if its an urgent case, but both sides should still make notes.

Could the distributor provide a report taken by that emergency engineer?

Be prepared that given the 2nd meter change engineers attitude, he may have written comments about vandalism which your supplier will get on the data flows. Your supplier may assume this is you, but why would you purposely go through all this hassle and no gas by vandalising your own meter?

Also, the meter operator can prosecute for vandalism so if there aren't they either know its an excuse or have little or no proof who did it.

That meter would be stamped in accordance with the gas standards by the manufacturer which is available on legislation.gov.uk and it would have passed some firm of bench test/calibration check before making it into the van. The engineer should have seen it.

You can always check on the Gas Safe website or contact them for advice. Your safety was greatly put at risk!

chanz4

Vandalism isn't treated so harsh, as hard to prove that is unless you take a hammer to it. In regards to the exchange the fco will put a report in to the mam via the gt of what was found.

The report does not have to be disclosed to a consumer, but don't worry they wont do you as too much time catching meter tampers

chanz4

muppetlover wrote: »

I thought I'd seek the collective wisdom of Forum members following a few weeks of chaos following the exchange of my gas meter.

Apart from the exchange being described as urgently overdue, the appointment was made without any hassle and the engineer from the contracted firm appeared within the first hour of the given 2 hour window.

The engineer was there for under 25 mins, including the time taken to inspect the gas boiler/hob before and after the swap, and to be shown the location of the meter.

I went out for an hour or so and on returning could smell gas from 15 - 20 metres from my apartment - the meter boxes for all of the flats in my block are located in a walled garden area adjacent to the pavement.

I called the gas emergency number, switched off the gas at the meter and left the box open as instructed. The emergency engineer came in around an hour and we spotted that there was a 8 cm crack in the case of the meter - big enough to be clearly visible from a few metres distance.

The emergency (National Grid) engineer did not have a meter of that type to do a new install, so made the site safe and we awaited an engineer from the initial firm.

Whilst awaiting the National Grid engineer to come out I reported the leak to the original firm. Their response was hardly brilliant: it was clear that they weren't listening to what I was telling them; the frustration of being told the answer to a question I hadn't asked and not getting anywhere for ages is all too familiar from dealing with call centres, but no sky signal or slow broadband is not going to lead to an explosion.

Long story short, a new meter was installed and the cracked one taken away; no meter reading left from original meter; original engineer blaming someone else for "*@#$ing around with it" after he left. The firm that did the swap have declined to supply an incident report. Also, it is was clear from watching the second engineer that the first one had been less than thorough in his work - something only obvious with knowledge of the correct follow up procedures.

I have chased supplier and distributor for support (in getting a report) and initially the supplier wasn't taking any responsibility for assisting me to the point of denying that they commissioned the swap. After several calls and emails I have commitment that they will get a copy of the report to me.

The firm that did the swap are very good at talking but not saying much - their last word is to offer me £100 for my inconvenience.

I thought dealing with Clydesdale Bank's mortgage screw up was stressful, but it never had me waking up in a cold sweat. How do fellow members feel I should deal with this going forward?

I would take the £100, as really the supplier doesn't have to do it and gas leaks are the responsibility of the network