Praise and Vent - Dyno-Rod and British Gas

Gingernutty

Last night, I was staying up late to prepare for a night shift.

I noticed the bathroom clock had stopped but could still hear a ticking noise. :huh:

I traced it to the bath taps. :eek:

After pulling away the bath panel and pulling out the fibreglass insulation, I found a catastrophic leak to the taps. :eek::eek::eek:

The bathroom is plumbed from the mains not supplied by a cold water storage tank so to stop the leak, I had to stop all the water.

After panicking and looking up emergency plumbers, I remembered that I have drains and plumbing insurance with British Gas.

When I called, they told me that the first appointment would be between 08:00 and 13:00 today.

I stressed that I had no water. At. All.

They told me that they would make a note on the workmens' roster.

I filled several bowls of water with dripping residual water from the pipe.

After getting a 'phone call at 09:28 from Dyno-Rod (British Gas sister company) confirming the appointment and again stressing to them the lack of mains water, come 12:30, two lovely guys came in and fixed the problem in under 20 minutes.

They told me that it hadn't been stated that it was a priority call and that if it had, they'd have been much earlier as it was clearly a priority call.

So praise to the two Dyno-Rod guys who fixed the leak with the minimum amount of mess and fuss.

Vent about the people in the call centre who fail to pass on messages and understand the urgency.

I'm off to bed now the water's hot enough for a shower.

mattyprice4004

We had a main burst and were without water for 3 days in the coldest part of winter 2010 - so couldn't use our central heating either.
I'm sure less than 24 hours with mild weather can't be too hard!

keyser666

So you were without water for nigh on 12 hours and you are moaning? unbelievable

Gingernutty

What's irritating me is the lack of communication between the 'office' and the 'work' side.

I was repeatedly told that they understood the situation, I was a priority, the workmen had also been told this and that they'd show up as early as possible.

None of which was true.

The plumbers did a great job once they arrived. At the furthest end of the time slot I was given.

They even told me that if they'd known, they would have prioritised the call and shown up closer to 0800 than 1200.

If I had known they were going to show up after 1200, I'd have had four extra hours in bed.

I was knackered.

TUL105

We paid for emergency cover with swift cover home insurance a few years ago. Our electricity supply failed so we called the emergency line. They sent a grumpy electrian out at 4.30 on a Saturday afternoon. He glanced at our fuse box and said we needed a complete rewire, then he packed his tools and left. Our daughter's spare insulin needed refrigerating so I had to ask my neighbour for room in her fridge. Swift Cover refused to acknowledge they had a responsibility to help us and we were without electricity for nearly two weeks. We resolved the problem ourselves after calling a local spark who.told us the wiring was fine, we just needed a new consumer unit. He fitted it quickly and when we tried to get swift cover to pay the bill, they refused. Moral of the story is don't buy emergency home insurance from swift cover.

hollydays

When in a pickle I find ringing up twice and grilling them about what notes are written on the file ( surrepticiously of course) does help.