British Gas Boiler repair plan

JemmaA1

Hi, Im looking for some advice please. My Mum has a monthly plan with British Gas for her boiler, and she smelled gas in the house. She reported this to British Gas and they sent a company called Cadent to the house to secure the gas supply and stop any leaks. After Cadent had finished they sent a Gas technician to the house to fix the fault, and so my mum assumed this was through her repair plan. The gas installation guy did not mention any cost of works and there was no written or verbal discussion about payment and he did not say he was an independent contractor, and my elderly mum assumed he was working for British Gas under her plan. After finishing the works he handed her an invoice for £180 and insists she pay! We contacted British gas for an explanation and they said its not there fault as it was Cadent who referred the gas engineer to my mum so they are not willing to help, but they sent Cadent to her home and so she thought this was all part of her repair/ breakdown service that she pays for monthly. I just wanted to ask if this had happened to any one before and to ask advice about whether she has to pay. I refused payment as there was no mention of invoicing or cost when the contractor came to the house, he just did the work without any mention of costs or the the fact that there would be a charge, so i feel its unfair that my mum is lumped with a bill when she really did think it was all being arranged by British Gas who she has the plan with and to whom she reported the fault in the first place. Can a company arrange for a contractor to do work to your house without any explanation that there will be a charge until after the work is carried out? Any advice would be very much appreciated. Many thanks

Lochmaben

Try your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau. They will help

t0rt0ise

I'd make a formal complaint to British Gas. Write a letter, not phone, and send it with proof of posting from the post office.

Euphoria1z

What's the name of the company that carried out the works? I doubt that cadent would have arranged an independent engineer to carry out repairs.


Cadent would have attended to make the property safe. If the leak was internal (after the gas meter) they would have referred the occupiers to an independent gas safe engineer via the appliance repair helpline who would have given the caller 3 independent local engineers to carry out repairs.


Is it possible the occupier called this number and arranged for a private gas engineer to attend?