British Gas - Homecare (reasonable time period)

sgt1256

My water supply pipe has burst and have been without water for a couple of days. I have British Gas Homecare that covers the water supply pipe. They have acknowledged that this is an emergency (due to not having water) but have stated that the earliest time someone can come to repair it is in three weeks time, which I think is pretty shocking for an emergency situation. In the terms & conditions they have a clause stating that they will repair in a reasonable amount of time. Any opinions on what a reasonable amount of time is in this situation? I have a heavily pregnant wife and is due to give birth in two weeks and not having access to water for three weeks is simply not an option. 

If I cannot get it sorted in the next few days I will have to pay someone who can fix it asap and am dreading trying to get British Gas to cover that cost... I would have thought any decent customer service would arrange for an external contractor to do fix it if they do not have the capacity...

Aylesbury_Duck

sgt1256 said:

My water supply pipe has burst and have been without water for a couple of days. I have British Gas Homecare that covers the water supply pipe. They have acknowledged that this is an emergency (due to not having water) but have stated that the earliest time someone can come to repair it is in three weeks time, which I think is pretty shocking for an emergency situation. In the terms & conditions they have a clause stating that they will repair in a reasonable amount of time. Any opinions on what a reasonable amount of time is in this situation? I have a heavily pregnant wife and is due to give birth in two weeks and not having access to water for three weeks is simply not an option. 

If I cannot get it sorted in the next few days I will have to pay someone who can fix it asap and am dreading trying to get British Gas to cover that cost... I would have thought any decent customer service would arrange for an external contractor to do fix it if they do not have the capacity...

In the circumstances described, the priority is to get your supply reinstated.  Speak to your water company to see if they'll help (they probably won't if the problem is on your property) and get a plumber in.  Argue with British Gas later.

davidmcn

This is an example of why these schemes are such a false economy (and on average, not economical in any sense) - if you hadn't already paid the premiums you'd just be phoning around for whoever could come round and sort it.

Have you told them about the pregnancy? During the winter they certainly claim to prioritise vulnerable residents for heating repairs.

sgt1256

Update: After finally speaking with someone who had some authority, they came around within the hour and fixed it within 30 minutes. So I have to give them credit where it is due - just seems there is no point in speaking with the front line staff in a real emergency.
davidmcn said:

This is an example of why these schemes are such a false economy (and on average, not economical in any sense) - if you hadn't already paid the premiums you'd just be phoning around for whoever could come round and sort it.

Have you told them about the pregnancy? During the winter they certainly claim to prioritise vulnerable residents for heating repairs.

I did let them know about the pregnancy - perhaps that is what pushed them to action

Stonesrick

sgt1256 said:

My water supply pipe has burst and have been without water for a couple of days. I have British Gas Homecare that covers the water supply pipe. They have acknowledged that this is an emergency (due to not having water) but have stated that the earliest time someone can come to repair it is in three weeks time, which I think is pretty shocking for an emergency situation. In the terms & conditions they have a clause stating that they will repair in a reasonable amount of time. Any opinions on what a reasonable amount of time is in this situation? I have a heavily pregnant wife and is due to give birth in two weeks and not having access to water for three weeks is simply not an option. 

If I cannot get it sorted in the next few days I will have to pay someone who can fix it asap and am dreading trying to get British Gas to cover that cost... I would have thought any decent customer service would arrange for an external contractor to do fix it if they do not have the capacity...

I had a similar experience. Water leak in my kitchen on 5th September - had to switch off water supply. Contacted Homecare. Earliest they could attend 21st September. Had to call a local plumber. Shocking service, total rip off. Won't be with British Gas ever again.

Undervalued

Whilst I am not defending them in any way, few such schemes have any meaningful guarantee regarding turnout times. Even if the do have a "guarantee" usually it only amounts to a very modest daily pay out for a delay of over X days which is of little help when you have no water.

Then we get on to the difficult question as to whether a pregnant / elderly / vulnerable person should get priority service on a commercial product, when they only pay the same premium as somebody more able bodied?

Realistically, if a company is to have sufficient resources to give an excellent response, even 90% of the time, the premiums would be far higher as much of the time they would be paying staff to sit around drinking tea.

Vaguely related are several debates elsewhere on this forum about the service, or lack of it, from Denplan dentists. Similar issues.