British Gas boiler service any good?

Cameron1590_2

Hi all,

We have recently moved into our first house and our mortgage lender nationwide sent us a little gift box, within this was a free boiler service from BG.

Are they any good? We had a gas safety check done before moving in by an idependant gas safe plumber.

Should we use it or are they not to be trusted?

Thanks

Cameron

bridgedino

It's free, use it. At least you'll get a chance to test them before you consider further options

Plumber90

If you had to pay for it I would say no, but seeing as it's free then go for it.

EssexExile

I've used them for repairs a couple of times, they're fine. They went straight to the problem each time, seemed to know what they were doing.

Horizon81

On forums such as diynot and ukplumbersforums British Gas are universally panned. You might get a good guy, you might get a hopeless guy. They've all got targets per day to meet and are keen on condemning things. As for the boiler 'service', it's probably more of a 'safety check' ie quick gas flue analysis then on the way they go.
By all means use it if it's free but I'd be wary of signing up. Perhaps in the meantime seek out recommended gas safe engineers locally.

bridgedino

'Targets' to reach per day is a lie, an urban myth. Zero truth in it whatsoever.

You'll find they will be gas safe registered and have to adhere to the same rules as every other gas safe engineer. Therefore you will be able to report them to their governing body if you find their workmanship sloppy

I've seen many a sloppy job carried out by both BG and non BG engineers

Coedy

When I moved into my house the previous owner gleefully handed over their last 4years worth of boiler service certificates from British Gas.

As I know a gas man I asked him to service it (just in case) before the winter set in.

He had to take photos to show his mates as he didn't believe it had been serviced at all in the last 6+ years.
The grand total was 6 wasps which were black with dust and He found out the controller was held in with tape where presumably the last engineer broke the clip, and a generous smattering of dust almost 1cm thick in places.
Also where the flue goes through the wall it wasn't sealed (probably the installers mistake, but BG didn't pick it up at all in the 4years) The gas guy sealed it all up though. He said that if the wind were blowing towards the flue it could end up blowing the fumes back into the house!

If it's free then go for it, but don't be surprised if they try to sell you a powerflush, fan or pump while they are there.
Also it could still be worth paying for a (good, recommended) independent gas man to give it a service again within 6 months....just in case...

richy999

I have also recently moved house and got the house warming gift from Nationwide.

I used the British Gas free service offer. I have no complaints about the engineer that did our service.

He seemed quite thorough and did not rush through it just because it was a free service.
He did point out to me that the gap around the flue needed sealing, and that the electric cables where too close to the pipework to meet current standards.

Apparently, the boiler was running too rich and he made adjustments to bring in back in spec.

I guess it depends on which engineer you get from British Gas, judging by the post above.

He did a gentle up sell on the free British Gas loft and cavity wall insulation but wasn’t pushy.

southcoastrgi

A free service isn't gonna be free if he decides to turn it off & says you need a new boiler, which they love to do

srm1

I tend to agree with this as there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Worst case could be a boiler shutdown - which of course could be further investigated by an independant Gas safe engineer.
Could be a hard/soft sell of further products and services, likely paid for by direct debit that may be auto renewed on a yearly basis.

Be cautious as BG do have to generate a profit somehow.

27col

BG are a pain with their sales phone calls and emails. But I cannot fault their service calls and their engineers. This is my personal experience. So I can only speak for myself.