British Gas caused long term damage to home costing thousands. What can I do?

hithere123

Back in October, our boiler got written off. The tech from British Gas said he would shut the boiler off and cap it. However, we were told that British Gas would not cover the new boiler due to something in the paperwork that I still haven't had explained to me 6 months later. We decided to just save up and get a new one (credit issues so no payment plan but I'm working on it).

Then we're trying to get through winter with electric blankets and just as we have enough money for the boiler, the power to the whole house shuts off. Just our house. We get an emergency electrician in, they say the issue is in the second bedroom so they remove that room from the mains, get the rest of the house powered up, and say they'll come back and rewire the second bedroom.

They come back and say the issue is that the electrics in that room have been exposed to an excessive amount of moisture. Boiler is in that room. We ask if it could be that. They say no, so long as the guy who shut it off did it properly, that wouldn't be a problem. They ask if there's a leak in the roof or something because it would take the plug being basically constantly soaked to do this level of damage. There isn't. We jot it down as a mystery and move on, despite having to spend half our boiler budget on the call outs and still being without heating.

Then today I'm sorting out the garden because a guy is coming over to quote us on a new boiler and he needs to access the flue and output valve on the exterior wall. I see water damage along a huge part of the back wall which we didn't see sooner because we've just not been out in the back garden and it was all overgrown until today, when I cleared it. This water damage has eroded the plaster on the wall so I post on a DIY forum asking for advice on fixing it.

I get told it's coming from the output valve because the British Gas tech didn't shut it off properly, like he said he did back in October. Then someone says are the electrics alright with that water damage. That is when I put all this together, and text the electrician to ask if this checks out. He says it does.

So British Gas have shut off our boiler incorrectly back in October, told us they can't help us out with a new boiler due to some issue with paperwork, the incorrect shut off caused water damage, and the water damage caused multiple electrician call outs and a partial rewire of the house to the tune of almost £2,000.

What do I do here? Do I have a leg to stand on? What should my next steps be?

Section62

hithere123 said:

....
I get told it's coming from the output valve because the British Gas tech didn't shut it off properly, like he said he did back in October. Then someone says are the electrics alright with that water damage. That is when I put all this together, and text the electrician to ask if this checks out. He says it does.

So British Gas have shut off our boiler incorrectly back in October, told us they can't help us out with a new boiler due to some issue with paperwork, the incorrect shut off caused water damage, and the water damage caused multiple electrician call outs and a partial rewire of the house to the tune of almost £2,000.

What do I do here? Do I have a leg to stand on? What should my next steps be?

Has anyone checked the boiler to confirm that is the source of the water?  And what exactly do they mean by "output valve"?  Is it a combi boiler?

If you are going to make a claim against BG you'll need to be able to demonstrate the boiler is the source of the problem, and that what the BG technician did is the cause.  This would need to be more than just being able to quote some random person on the internet who claims that is what it is.

If you can share some more details and maybe some pictures then people here could probably suggest whether it is worth getting an expert in to give you a report that would stand up in court, or if you might be better off saving your money.

MattMattMattUK

hithere123 said:

Back in October, our boiler got written off. The tech from British Gas said he would shut the boiler off and cap it. However, we were told that British Gas would not cover the new boiler due to something in the paperwork that I still haven't had explained to me 6 months later. We decided to just save up and get a new one (credit issues so no payment plan but I'm working on it).

Then we're trying to get through winter with electric blankets and just as we have enough money for the boiler, the power to the whole house shuts off. Just our house. We get an emergency electrician in, they say the issue is in the second bedroom so they remove that room from the mains, get the rest of the house powered up, and say they'll come back and rewire the second bedroom.

They come back and say the issue is that the electrics in that room have been exposed to an excessive amount of moisture. Boiler is in that room. We ask if it could be that. They say no, so long as the guy who shut it off did it properly, that wouldn't be a problem. They ask if there's a leak in the roof or something because it would take the plug being basically constantly soaked to do this level of damage. There isn't. We jot it down as a mystery and move on, despite having to spend half our boiler budget on the call outs and still being without heating.

Then today I'm sorting out the garden because a guy is coming over to quote us on a new boiler and he needs to access the flue and output valve on the exterior wall. I see water damage along a huge part of the back wall which we didn't see sooner because we've just not been out in the back garden and it was all overgrown until today, when I cleared it. This water damage has eroded the plaster on the wall so I post on a DIY forum asking for advice on fixing it.

I get told it's coming from the output valve because the British Gas tech didn't shut it off properly, like he said he did back in October. Then someone says are the electrics alright with that water damage. That is when I put all this together, and text the electrician to ask if this checks out. He says it does.

So British Gas have shut off our boiler incorrectly back in October, told us they can't help us out with a new boiler due to some issue with paperwork, the incorrect shut off caused water damage, and the water damage caused multiple electrician call outs and a partial rewire of the house to the tune of almost £2,000.

What do I do here? Do I have a leg to stand on? What should my next steps be?

It is not exactly clear what you think BG have done, from reading between the lines it sounds as if they shut off the gas to the boiler and left it, in which case I cannot see what they have done wrong. 

WIAWSNB

And, do you have Legal Protection in your house insurance?

I suspect you are on weak ground with this, as it begs many questions. For instance, this section of wall was very wet, which seemingly led to a 'plug' being 'constantly soaked'? I don't understand how that could have led to ~£2k's worth of sparky bills? 

The electrician identitfied the constantly wet 'plug', and isolated that bedroom's circuit in order to allow the power to be turned back on, and then - what? They surely wouldn't have done anything remotely resembling a 'partial rewire' until you had ID'ed and sorted the cause of the wet? So, how are they charging you ~£2k? And, had they waited until you had sorted the cause of the wet, then a replacement 'plug' would surely only have been a couple of £undred at most, even with a few call-outs?

I would suggest that the damage discovered to your house - failed electrics due to water ingress - could well have been a legitimate insurance claim for you to have made, once you could dismiss the cause as having been lack of your general house maintentance. And, if it could have been demonstrated that the cause was an incorrectly isolated valve by BG, then very possibly your insurance co would help recover the repair cost from them.

Currently, I don't understand the sequence of events - how a ~£2k electrical bill could be accumulated when surely no-one would rewire a wet wall. Am I missing something?

A completely separate issue is BG's seeming refusal to cover or contribute towards the cost of a new boiler. I presume this means you had a service contract with them, and that they would contribute/cover the cost of replacement should your current boiler be deemed Beyond Economical Repair? They cannot simply refuse to explain their refusal, so you need to oblige them to do so; you either escalate this to a formal complaint, or - again - you ask your LegProt for guidance. Or, Citizen's Advice if you don't have LP.