gnargh British Gas!

lama_pdx

We have a service contract with British Gas but I'm finally thinking of switching.

We had a minor problem with the front cover of our boiler not closing properly--a hinge needed replacing. So I called BG and came home early from work to let the engineer in.

He fixed the hinge and then did a long faff with the circuit board, finally saying he'd have a colleague of his come out tomorrow to get the circuit board updated. (We didn't have any problems with it but hey, it's free for us and my husband will be home tomorrow afternoon, so they can knock themselves out if they want.)

About a half hour after he finally left I come down to the kitchen (where the boiler is) and am knocked backwards by the smell of gas coming from the boiler. I turn off the boiler, turn off the gas valve in the basement, and call out the national grid.

How does fixing a hinge turn into a gas leak? Grumble grumble grumble.

lama_pdx

So the National Grid man opened up the boiler and found that the BG repairman had left a screw loose. That's what had caused the gas leak. High five British Gas!

National Grid man fixed that and tested all around the house. He said he still found a small leak in the system, but couldn't say where. That meant he had to cap the gas.

He said that when the British Gas man comes out tomorrow *he* can locate the gas leak and then fix it, and then uncap the gas supply.

Yeah, I'm sure that will work out fine and there won't be any buck-passing nonsense at all.

I typed up notes with exactly what the National Grid man said. My husband will be home tomorrow so he'll be the one with the British Gas second visit.

I regret even calling them out. I will need to research whether there's a viable alternative to British Gas' call out service.

MX5huggy

Self insure, ie put that £30 or what ever it is a month you pay BG in a savings account then use a Local Gas Safe registered plumber to fix your boiler when required.

macman

lama_pdx wrote: »

So the National Grid man opened up the boiler and found that the BG repairman had left a screw loose. That's what had caused the gas leak. High five British Gas!

National Grid man fixed that and tested all around the house. He said he still found a small leak in the system, but couldn't say where. That meant he had to cap the gas.

He said that when the British Gas man comes out tomorrow *he* can locate the gas leak and then fix it, and then uncap the gas supply.

Yeah, I'm sure that will work out fine and there won't be any buck-passing nonsense at all.

I typed up notes with exactly what the National Grid man said. My husband will be home tomorrow so he'll be the one with the British Gas second visit.

I regret even calling them out. I will need to research whether there's a viable alternative to British Gas' call out service.

Yes there is, it's called a local independent GSR RGI.

sunshinetours

Hope you get it sorted and congratulations on your own lightbulb moment. Stopped our Homserve contract years ago after a farce of a series of call outs resulting in a non fixed boiler and some broken fixtures which we succesfully claimed from BG, but not after they tried to sell us a new boiler of course!

They rely IMO on people's apathy and ignorance and their sheer size. I am sure there are of course some good BG engineers

colinsmithathome

Dear st,

there certainly are (good BG tech).
And some smaller firms can be carp.

Moved to new house. Needed boiler service. Called small firm and told them boiler model in booking. Tech. arrives and says, oh we don't do these, recommend you get a BG contract.
Which I did. BG tech. services boiler. Ok so far - touches wood, throws salt over black cat etc.

Yes the BG tech. "had" to recommend a new boiler because the existing installation does not meet current regs. But the tech. did it in such a way as to make it very clear what her opinion of this "offer" was,

regards,
colin

OldFartPlumber

colinsmithathome wrote: »

Dear st,



Yes the BG tech. "had" to recommend a new boiler because the existing installation does not meet current regs. But the tech. did it in such a way as to make it very clear what her opinion of this "offer" was,

regards,
colin

Well done that engineer ! . Lets not slag off BG - let`s all remember that it`s Centrica we`re talking about , hell bent on world domination - allegedly

Cornucopia

I took out a service plan with D&G/Heateam in January, and am quite pleased so far.

£15 per month and they have already done the boiler service for this year without fuss or trying to sell me anything else.

I believe they also have an £11 per month scheme which is breakdown cover without an annual service.

katejo

I use a reputable local firm which has been servicing my boiler and doing landlord safety checks where needed for over 10 years. They don't try to rip me off and say that my boiler is in very good condiion because i have had these annual checks. Should it one day need parts, I will be happy to accept their quote. I had a bad experince with British Gas just as I moved into my current house as the previous owners had a contract with them. It put me off for life!

Gas_Safe

MX5huggy wrote: »

Self insure, ie put that £30 or what ever it is a month you pay BG in a savings account then use a Local Gas Safe registered plumber to fix your boiler when required.

British Gas has the highest complaint ratio of any gas company.. fined over 2 million quid las year alone for poor service..

An independant gas engineer will service your boiler for under £50 and check the whole house for leaks and CO for free...

British Gas people (I won't call them engineers) are on comission for sales... need I say more?

Gas_Safe

colinsmithathome wrote: »

Dear st,

there certainly are (good BG tech).
And some smaller firms can be carp.

Moved to new house. Needed boiler service. Called small firm and told them boiler model in booking. Tech. arrives and says, oh we don't do these, recommend you get a BG contract.
Which I did. BG tech. services boiler. Ok so far - touches wood, throws salt over black cat etc.

Yes the BG tech. "had" to recommend a new boiler because the existing installation does not meet current regs. But the tech. did it in such a way as to make it very clear what her opinion of this "offer" was,

regards,
colin

This sounds like a BG plant.. all boilers are the same.. come on.
No-one is trained and Gas Safe tested on 'some' boilers... get real.