Latest Flogas Contract

AndyAshton

My first post here.

I was a reasonably happy customer of Countrywide LPG until they went out of business after selling their LPG arm to Flogas. Last Autumn I got a letter from Flogas increasing the LPG price by more than I was happy with, so shopped around and found a very good deal offered by Calor. As soon as Flogas got notified by Calor of the change of supplier I got an email from Flogas with a better price guaranteed for two years. My mother and brother live nearby and we always combine forces when buying LPG as we all have 1200litre underground tanks. For his own reasons my brother did not want to change to Calor, although as a matter of principle, and based on previous dealings with Flogas in the past, I did not want to stay with them, and would have foregone the extra half penny saving and switched to Calor anyway. In the end we accepted the Flogas bribe and 'signed-up' a new contract via email. I got a pdf copy of a single-page letter via email from Flogas with the new prices and guarantees in it.

This spring the 'upop' valve on the tank activated (first time ever in 33 years of having LPG). I didn't know what the problem was at the time and rang Flogas and was talked through the re-set process. No problems for a couple of weeks and then the valve activated again, and has gradually got worse so it activates nearly every time the boiler cuts in for the hot water. I called Flogas after a few resets and asked them to come and fix it as the valves and pipework have always been the property of the gas supplier. I was told that I would have to pay (several hundred pounds!)  'as per my new contract'. I told them that there was nothing that I could see in the letter about this, and discovered that the letter should have been accompanied by 'Terms and Conditions', which they hadn't actually sent me at that point, although I received a copy of them by email later when I requested it. In the terms and conditions it states that the 'pipes' (which includes valves and regulators) are now my responsibility. This despite them never actually being owned by me, and were replaced by Countrywide LPG at their expense just a couple of years ago. Obviously I am not happy, and Flogas are aware of this! They have stopped responding to my messages. The Gas-Safe heating engineer who installed our new boiler last year says that he is not qualified to deal with the valves and pipework, and it appears, from the Gas-Safe website that no-one other than the LPG suppliers themselves has the qualifications either. What should I do next?