My journey to a debt free life

Cherryfudge · 2 March 2018 at 1:42AM

You really have had quite a day! Well done on sorting that pipe out, I would not have known what to do. Good to hear your DMP payment has gone out too.

...and that you are £27 a month better off from not having to pay the gas money, though I suspect you will have to find an alternative. When I had the gas boiler installed a few months ago, the independent plumber told me that British Gas only has a limited number of engineers which are not enough to cover everyone's needs. He did tell me how many but I can't remember. Anyway that's why they are overwhelmed, I guess.

I do hope your walk to work and your shift go okay tomorrow.

Onebrokelady · 3 March 2018 at 5:01PM

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

My mum had exactly the same issue with her boiler and the condensate pipe. She phoned British Gas and could not get through to book a visit. The emergency engineer came out and shut the boiler down leaving my 83 year old mum and 85 year old stepdad with no heating. Luckily my stepdads daughters partner is a plumber so he came out tonight and thawed out the pipe and got the boiler working again.

We have told my mum to cancel the British Gas contract.

That’s awful considering how easy it is to sort out,I only called them because there was water dripping out the bottom of the boiler and I thought perhaps there was something else wrong besides the condensate pipe but once I had spoken to a the man my friend recommended and was told it was still the same problem I was able to sort it myself so surely the engineer should have been able to sort it out went on a FB Page that deals with complaints about this service and there were lots of people on there saying that their elderly parents had been left without heating and hot water and that’s despite British Gas telling people that they were prioritising vulnerable customers

enthusiasticsaver · 3 March 2018 at 5:07PM

Onebrokelady wrote: »

That’s awful considering how easy it is to sort out,I only called them because there was water dripping out the bottom of the boiler and I thought perhaps there was something else wrong besides the condensate pipe but once I had spoken to a the man my friend recommended and was told it was still the same problem I was able to sort it myself so surely the engineer should have been able to sort it out went on a FB Page that deals with complaints about this service and there were lots of people on there saying that their elderly parents had been left without heating and hot water and that’s despite British Gas telling people that they were prioritising vulnerable customers

I quite agree. My mum said the BG service hotline were not even answering phone calls so she had to call the emergency hotline. All they do apparently is check there is no gas leak and in fact he turned the boiler off. It was a total waste of time him coming out. Lots of people were able to sort it out themselves. Unfortunately we live 250 miles away and they were cut off by snow anyway so it was difficult for any family members to get over to them to help. We don't use British Gas, just a local plumber.

Onebrokelady · 3 March 2018 at 5:24PM

Cherryfudge wrote: »

You really have had quite a day! Well done on sorting that pipe out, I would not have known what to do. Good to hear your DMP payment has gone out too. ...and that you are £27 a month better off from not having to pay the gas money, though I suspect you will have to find an alternative. When I had the gas boiler installed a few months ago, the independent plumber told me that British Gas only has a limited number of engineers which are not enough to cover everyone's needs. He did tell me how many but I can't remember. Anyway that's why they are overwhelmed, I guess.

I do hope your walk to work and your shift go okay tomorrow.

It was quite a day :eek: I only knew what to do about the pipe because it has happened so many times in the past and after the first time I learned how to fix it myself to be honest because I’ve been on my own for so long I’ve learned to fix quite a lot of things and if I don’t I look on youtube, last year I learned how to pick a lock after breaking my key off in my front door and how to put a new flex on my Hetty Hoover,I order parts from espares because they are really cheap and sell most things,I’m a bit funnny in that I didn’t mind wasting money on useless stuff but if something needs fixing I really begrudge paying for it if I think I can do it myself :rotfl:, I’m going to keep that £27 a month and put it in a boiler repair fund,I know it won’t be enough to replace the boiler but I’m hoping if I have it regularly serviced it will last a longish time,it’s about 6 years old now though so it’s a bit of a gamble, the first year I had the insurance I called them out 4 times but that was mainly because of shoddy workmanship when the boiler was fitted then probably once the second year and none since then apart from for a service,you can get cheaper insurance but I’m not sure trust any of them now,I spoke to my friend who recommended the heating engineer to me and he charges £65 for a service so I think I will just pay for a service for now and then just out the money away for repairs
The walk to work was hard and took me 1.5 hours,luckily work wasn’t too busy so they let me go homemade ant 5pm instead of 8pm as my boss didn’t want me to walk home in the dark,it then took me another 2 hours to get home again, I slept really well last night though

System · 3 March 2018 at 5:35PM

Onebrokelady wrote: »

It was quite a day :eek: I only knew what to do about the pipe because it has happened so many times in the past and after the first time I learned how to fix it myself to be honest because I’ve been on my own for so long I’ve learned to fix quite a lot of things and if I don’t I look on youtube, last year I learned how to pick a lock after breaking my key off in my front door and how to put a new flex on my Hetty Hoover,I order parts from espares because they are really cheap and sell most things,I’m a bit funnny in that I didn’t mind wasting money on useless stuff but if something needs fixing I really begrudge paying for it if I think I can do it myself :rotfl:, I’m going to keep that £27 a month and put it in a boiler repair fund,I know it won’t be enough to replace the boiler but I’m hoping if I have it regularly serviced it will last a longish time,it’s about 6 years old now though so it’s a bit of a gamble, the first year I had the insurance I called them out 4 times but that was mainly because of shoddy workmanship when the boiler was fitted then probably once the second year and none since then apart from for a service,you can get cheaper insurance but I’m not sure trust any of them now,I spoke to my friend who recommended the heating engineer to me and he charges £65 for a service so I think I will just pay for a service for now and then just out the money away for repairs
The walk to work was hard and took me 1.5 hours,luckily work wasn’t too busy so they let me go homemade ant 5pm instead of 8pm as my boss didn’t want me to walk home in the dark,it then took me another 2 hours to get home again, I slept really well last night though

What a good boss. A friend of mine had to drive home last night in heavy snow as it came on so suddenly. Its scary.

Onebrokelady · 3 March 2018 at 5:39PM

I didn’t post yesterday because I was too busy with work,I managed to walk to work in 1.5 hours and home again in 2hours,they let me go home at 5pm instead of 8pm so I didn’t have to walk home in the dark,I stopped off at all the supermarkets that were open on the way home for bread and milk but all the shelves were empty,I got some soya milk but it’s Mr S own brand and not the best tasting in the world,I did panick buy two individual apple crumbles and two chocolate melt puddings though as I fancied a treat after my hard day:rotfl:DD and her DB ate the chocolate puds and I had one of the crumbles,I’m having the second one tonight,my diet has gone out the window since it’s been snowing :eek::rotfl: I will have to get back on it or else I will have to pay which is not MS at all
Today I had a lovely lie in this morning then I spent the morning cleaning the house,I also went out and cleared my steps from the house of snow,there is also a path leading to our houses so I cleared that as well, we have an elderly neighbour and I was worrried she would fall over if she came out,she shouted thankyou to me from her window

I’m now settling in for the evening with no plans to go anywhere,I might do some sewing later
Tomorrow we are all going out for DD birthday lunch which I am paying for this from the birthday fund and DD boyfriend has Tesco vouchers we can use so hopefully it won’t be too expensive,we are going to Zizzi so it’s not expensive anyway

Cherryfudge · 3 March 2018 at 11:46PM

I think all that walking in the snow will have used up plenty of extra calories, though you may have put on muscle!

Is it another day off tomorrow? Have a relaxing day!

Poppy1984 · 4 March 2018 at 12:16AM

Hiya one broke lady, I've just read your diary from the start and subscribed. You're doing so well! I completely feel your pain on the not sleeping for worrying. I love that you panic bought crumble and puddings on the way home you sound like my kind of person

x

Onebrokelady · 4 March 2018 at 1:07AM

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I quite agree. My mum said the BG service hotline were not even answering phone calls so she had to call the emergency hotline. All they do apparently is check there is no gas leak and in fact he turned the boiler off. It was a total waste of time him coming out. Lots of people were able to sort it out themselves. Unfortunately we live 250 miles away and they were cut off by snow anyway so it was difficult for any family members to get over to them to help. We don't use British Gas, just a local plumber.

I tried phoning the helpline and got a message saying the service had been suspended while they concentrated on helping the most vulnerable customers but how do they know who is vulnerable if people can’t phone,it was sooooo frustrating, I will not be using them anymore,I will just phone a local plumber next time,that policy was costing me over £300 a year and it definitely wasn’t worth it

Onebrokelady · 4 March 2018 at 1:12AM

Cherryfudge wrote: »

I think all that walking in the snow will have used up plenty of extra calories, though you may have put on muscle!

Is it another day off tomorrow? Have a relaxing day!

Im hoping I used some calories or I’m going to be in trouble when I go to weigh in on Tuesday:rotfl:
Yes I have the day off tomorrow as well,I’m having a lie in in the morning then just pottering about at home ,we are going out for a birthday lunch for DD as well so that should be fun,it’s not actually her birthday until Monday but I’m at work and she is at uni on Monday so we are doing it tomorrow instead

My journey to a debt free life

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