Scottish Power Home Comfort

CashStrapped

You think Scottish Power's service was bad...try British Gas!

They tried to force me into replacing my boiler using really underhand scare tactics, just before winter.

We have a 35 year old boiler, which chugs away fine. Yes, parts are obsolete and British Gas warn us every year when they do a service/safety check.

Anyway, this service was taking much longer than previous years, no problem we thought, he's just being through. He was just about to go when he decided to do a quick final carbon monoxide test. Then he calls us in saying he has to cap it off as he got a reading of Carbon Monoxide. Fair enough, carbon monoxide is dangerous, but surely he would try to diagnose/repair it.....nope.....no questions nor any options nor attempts to diagnose and repair.... nothing.

When pushed he had a guess that it could be the inaccessible asbestos rope seal (which he said was not produced anymore and therefore could not repair). To access to the rope seal he made it clear that the whole boiler would have to come down, and it would be impossible to re-attach due to age. So a new boiler or something like that was the only option in his mind.

We called the area manager who re-iterated what the guy told us. He then left us two fan heaters for the winter until we made our minds up what to do. There was no hard sell at that point but it was made clear how quickly they could respond as a company to fit a new boiler.

I, unhappy with this resolution, called an independent local gas repair man. He came round, said he could not promise anything but would have a look. He accessed the rope seal within 5 minutes. It looked fine, but to be on the safe side, he replaced it with a modern rope seal (one that did not contain asbestos). Found that British Gas had not been properly servicing it all these years as the heat shield was in poor shape and there was a lot of muck in there. He then did a bit of further sealing on the flue just to be sure. It fired it up first time and not a jot of Carbon Monoxide was detected. Charged £200.

After a four page letter to British Gas they very quickly paid the repair costs for me.

I have since cancelled my policy!


As a further note, along with saving money every month, most people can add a boiler heating cover on their home insurance for a small addition to the premium. This is much cheaper than paying for something like homecare. Most allow repairs up to £300 or something, a few go up to £1000.

All of these types of repair services are a bit of a con in my opinion.

Most people are much better off putting the money into a separate savings account and let it build up ready for an issue if one arises. Ok, there is a period at the beginning where you do not have much of a safety net, but I think it is a good alternative.

shammyjack

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

The SP rep no longer post to this forum and have not done so for a very long time.

Simply because he or her cannot handle the grief that they will get from the customers of this complete areshole of a company !