British blooming Gas!

MadmadamMym

Been lurking a while but really need advice


So unimpressed with british gas. Booked from 9.00 a.m. til 1.00 p.m. wait in to get our new "smart meter" fixed for gas and electric, allegedly for OUR convenience.

Didn't arrive til minutes before the 1.00 p.m. deadline, THEN came with an assessor checking his work.

Were told it would take about 1 hour in total . 2 1/2 hours later they finally did the leccy meter. Said they could not do the gas meter as shut off valve was seized, guy with us checked the boiler and okayed it and then left with a call for ANOTHER man to come unseized the valve. They manage to Released the valve, insists on checking in the boiler AGAIN and this one writes it off as dangerous, CUTS the pipe and caps it to ensure it cannot be used and bogs off leaving us surrounded by snow, with no heating or hot water and telling us to book an appointment to pay them to come and replace the boiler. :eek: :eek: :eek:

So now what do i do? i have young children in the house the youngest only 8 months and no other heating in the house.

Apparently though if i phone them tomorrow and pay ex amount of £££££££££ they will fit me a brand new boiler

Well a brand new boiler would be lovely but there was nothing wrong with the old one when it was serviced by them not 4 months ago :mad: :mad: :mad:

Gillyx

I don't know whats actually wrong with your boiler but I remember a similar thing happening when I was younger, if they deem it unsafe they will cut it off so it can't be used.

I don't know if it would be worth getting an independent gas engineer out to have a look at the boiler, but even if he could say it was indeed safe, I'm not sure where you'd go from there.

Did they offer to bring you electric heaters round or anything? They usually do if you have cover x

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Official complaint?


After all, somebody's going to get the commission for the new boiler, aren't they?


(BTW, boilers are usually half the price from an independent, if it was actually unsafe, which sounds doubtful).

tesuhoha

I think you should try contacting these people for advice.

http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/help/make_a_complaint.aspx

MadmadamMym

Thank you for your replies, no they didnt leave us with anything heat wise and its a combi boiler so we have no hot water either.

We have had to beg and borrow from family and friends some oil radiators.

I just want to sit and cry, i cant sleep its worried me that much.

tesuhoha

My husband is a Gas Safe plumber. I'll ask him for some advice in the morning. British Gas make him very angry.

gregg1

MadmadamMym wrote: »

Thank you for your replies, no they didnt leave us with anything heat wise and its a combi boiler so we have no hot water either.

We have had to beg and borrow from family and friends some oil radiators.

I just want to sit and cry, i cant sleep its worried me that much.

British Gas are notorious for this sort of behaviour, they were featured on Watchdog not long ago for it.

We have cancelled our boiler cover with them and moved to another supplier because every single time they came out they made out something was wrong and if we didn't pay for this or that they would turn off the gas/heating.

The last time they reckoned we needed to fork out thousands for new pipes on the outside of the house and were threatening to shut off our gas if we did not agree there and then to get the work done by them. I managed to get them to agree not to and I then had it checked by an independent expert who confirmed there was not a problem.

If I were you I would be taking your complaint to the highest level you can.

tesuhoha

My husband says first of all British Gas uses the name of British Gas to try and fool people. It is in fact an extremely ruthless private company that tries to fool people into thinking that its on the customer's side whereas what motivates them is profit. They have no right to cap off your gas without your consent and as the boiler was serviced by them four months ago it is extremely unlikely that it has developed a fault that is immediately dangerous.

He thinks you should ring them and tell them to come back, reinstate your boiler, otherwise you will get an independent engineer in to assess and then you will be taking legal advice.

It seems that the ultimate purpose of them capping off your gas is to sell you a boiler which will be vastly overpriced compared with getting a local plumber.

Not all plumbers are crooks as most of the media would have you believe. Many of them are hardworking conscientious people trying to make a living and he suggests that you go to a site like Trustatrader to find a plumber.

Like all double glazed salesmen once they have a foot in the door they try to make a sale.

tesuhoha

Please update us to let us know the outcome.

building_with_lego

From the OP it sounds as though it's not BG who've capped off the gas, it'll be the utility company (formerly Transco, now regional.)

What does the paperwork say, MadMadamMym? Where it says that the appliance is Immediately Dangerous it should give the reason. (And please understand that if an appliance *is* ID they cannot leave it, because it could at any time leak CO and kill you and your children.)




(I used to work for this company and have a gas technical engineer standing beside me!)

tesuhoha

building_with_lego wrote: »

From the OP it sounds as though it's not BG who've capped off the gas, it'll be the utility company (formerly Transco, now regional.)

What does the paperwork say, MadMadamMym? Where it says that the appliance is Immediately Dangerous it should give the reason. (And please understand that if an appliance *is* ID they cannot leave it, because it could at any time leak CO and kill you and your children.)



(I used to work for this company and have a gas technical engineer standing beside me!)

Do you think that the British Gas plumber that serviced the boiler four months previous could have missed a fault that was immediately dangerous? If not can you think of any fault that could have developed within four months to make it ID?

Secondly the first engineer who inspected the boiler found no fault. Is it possible he missed an immediately dangerous problem with the boiler?

If the answer is yes to both of these, there is a problem with British Gas engineers.

This leaves me thinking British Gas salesmen are under pressure to sell. Is it possible this is what motivated the capping off of the boiler? As you have worked for British Gas I would be interested to know your thoughts.