British Gas Boiler Service Contract

pops66

I have a £16 a month service contract with British Gas. Covers boiler, pump and water cylinder. There's a "free" annual service and a £50 call out charge for breakdowns. Fine. Over the years I've had two pump replacements and a hot water cylinder replaced - which would have been expensive. I should be a happy customer but I am not. Why?

I dread the annual service visit. I have a 30 year old boiler - described as the Land Rover of boilers which will work for 100 years. Done my sums, new efficient boiler would need about 50 years to pay back the investment.

But every year I get bullied: your flue is too short, your ventilation does not meet current standards, the paint on the flue is cracked, could be DANGEROUS, we could TELL YOU you must have a new boiler...

So I fear their visit. I suspect they are on commission and looking for any plausible excuse to strong-arm me. How must the old(er) and (even more) vulnerable feel about this sort of brow-beating?

Am I just paranoid? Do others share my dread? Is there an alternative to BG where the service engineers are not on sales commission?

pops66

And no, for the nth time, I DO NOT want to buy one of your expensive carbon monoxide detectors that you have in the van.

GRRRRR :mad:

pickledonionspaceraider

A boiler that will last 100 years? Is this some kind of joke

Pops 30 years old is ancient in boiler terms and maybe the BG guys are genuinely trying to advise you on todays safety standards and not brow beat you.

If you are not happy with BG service, why dont you cancel the contract with them

You could always get an independent gas engineer in next year to service and give second opinion

That is if your 30 year old boiler lasts that long lol

pickledonionspaceraider

pops66 wrote: »

And no, for the nth time, I DO NOT want to buy one of your expensive carbon monoxide detectors that you have in the van.

GRRRRR :mad:

May well be a potentially life saving piece of kit which may save you from an untimely demise due to an ancient boiler system - that they keep advising you against running

Magicmerly

Honesly, I would say you're paranoid, we have an "old" boiler that apparently "needs" to be replaced. they've told us that three times and this time we've asked them for a quote just because we can. Their guy came round, took measurements and that was it. No hard sell (yet), was very pleasant and left.

At the end of the day a new boiler would be more efficient, I'm not sure how you've managed to get 50 years before you get any benefit but I digress. I think we've worked out about 10 for ours.

System

pops66 wrote: »

But every year I get bullied: your flue is too short, your ventilation does not meet current standards, the paint on the flue is cracked, could be DANGEROUS, we could TELL YOU you must have a new boiler...

So what should a Gas Safe Registered engineer do:

Gas Safe registered engineers have a responsibility to advise you when they find dangerous gas installations in your home.

Their actions are determined by the requirements of the Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations and the guidance given in the Gas Industry Unsafe Situations Procedure.

When a registered gas engineer identifies an unsafe situation they should try to find the cause and repair any faults. Where this is not possible they should tell you that the fault(s) should be repaired before the installation is used again. If it can’t be corrected immediately they should make the installation safe, after first seeking your permission to do so. This is normally done by disconnecting or by turning off the gas to the affected part of the installation. This will be dependent upon how bad the defects are.

If your engineer has identified a gas related danger in your home they will attach a Danger Do Not Use warning label to the dangerous gas fitting and give you a warning notice. The warning notice should show you a 'defect category'.

macman

Haven't they strongly recommended a £600 power flush as well? BG must be going soft...
Neither water cylinder or pump are actual parts of the boiler itself, so it seems totally reliable and may run for years. However I doubt that the payback period for a new one would be longer than maybe ten years, not fifty.

pops66

Thanks for the replies. I've calmed down - I think it was just the attitude of this particular BG engineer that got under my skin.

In fact there are no safety issues with the boiler. A few years ago they put a notice on it because the ventilation was a tad below new regs, but they now say it's perfectly OK(!). It was a previous BG engineer who said that our type of boiler goes on "for ever". He even recommended keeping it till it finally conks out. Maybe he wasn't on commission. Apparently new condensing boilers don't last anything like as long, so 30 would indeed be very very old for a modern boiler.

The guy yesterday annoyed me by suggesting there were all sorts of issues - which I knew there weren't. When he left he didn't put a notice on it - he knew perfectly well it was just fine.

A new boiler would save about £100 a year, so the payback is a very long time (even infinite if one could earn £100pa interest on what a new boiler would cost).

Thanks for the advice, maybe I will look into an independent guy to service it in future. (Oh, and we already have a CO alarm.)

pops66

pickledonionspaceraider wrote: »

... an ancient boiler system - that they keep advising you against running

No, you miss the point. They have never actually advised against running it. It's that the engineer will say things designed to make you think you should get a new boiler, but it's sly marketing which, when you push back against it, they will reluctantly say well actually it's perfectly OK.

My beef is that older people who are vulnerable to what is in effect pressure selling could well end up getting a new boiler when they do not need to.

BG should take its engineers off sales commission.

Even the guy yesterday, when he finally realised I was not going to be brow-beaten, said "of course these old boilers are so simple there's nothing much to go wrong with them really".

pickledonionspaceraider

pops66 wrote: »

No, you miss the point. They have never actually advised against running it. It's that the engineer will say things designed to make you think you should get a new boiler, but it's sly marketing which, when you push back against it, they will reluctantly say well actually it's perfectly OK.

My beef is that older people who are vulnerable to what is in effect pressure selling could well end up getting a new boiler when they do not need to.

BG should take its engineers off sales commission.

Even the guy yesterday, when he finally realised I was not going to be brow-beaten, said "of course these old boilers are so simple there's nothing much to go wrong with them really".

I see, sorry Pops. I was just surprised really as have never in my life heard of a boiler lasting so long - however that doesnt really mean much as I am far from an expert haha

To be honest I think older people are vulnerable in a lot of ways - financially, but if everyone was as quick witted as you there would be less problems

thozza

pickledonionspaceraider wrote: »

I see, sorry Pops. I was just surprised really as have never in my life heard of a boiler lasting so long

It is quite possible for boilers with a cast iron heat exchanger to last for much longer than 30 years, modern lightweight boilers are unlikely to last that long. The Hamworthy boilers at my office date from 1968, they didn't quite win the competition for the oldest working Hamworthy installation

http://hamworthy-heating.com/news/winner-of-old-boiler-competition

I know that these are commercial boilers, but domestic cast iron boilers are capable of lasting many years if properly maintained, this doesn't necessarily make them cost effective, as they are only likely to be 60% efficient or less.