Mid 70's no help

squidlydiddly2 · 1 March 2018 at 1:00PM

Thursday 1st March, my wife and I are in our mid 70's and the boiler is not working this morning. I rang my boiler service provider, to whom I pay about £170 a year, only to get the message that because of heavy demand they would not even put my call in a queue and suggested I call back some other time. My wife and I are supposed to be among those in society who are vulnerable, especially in weather like we have today, but there is no provision with my service provider to find out who it is needs help. I have now been forced to go into my loft and luckily have found a discharge pipe is frozen. I have temporarily by-passed the problem and awaiting a reply to my email to them. If I was not able to climb a loft ladder we would be very, very cold by now with nobody to turn to! My rant ends...

Browntoa · 1 March 2018 at 1:02PM

Name the supplier

BorisThomson · 1 March 2018 at 1:25PM

squidlydiddly2 wrote: »

Thursday 1st March, my wife and I are in our mid 70's and the boiler is not working this morning. I rang my boiler service provider, to whom I pay about £170 a year, only to get the message that because of heavy demand they would not even put my call in a queue and suggested I call back some other time. My wife and I are supposed to be among those in society who are vulnerable, especially in weather like we have today, but there is no provision with my service provider to find out who it is needs help. I have now been forced to go into my loft and luckily have found a discharge pipe is frozen. I have temporarily by-passed the problem and awaiting a reply to my email to them. If I was not able to climb a loft ladder we would be very, very cold by now with nobody to turn to! My rant ends...

So not that vulnerable?

In future call a local gas engineer, they'll be very busy but far more likely to get to you than one of the main service providers.

marliepanda · 1 March 2018 at 1:38PM

Look at the weather. Of course any company to do with heating is going to be absolutely swamped. Your age does not entitle you to jump a queue. When you call them you don!!!8217;t input your age to the phone. Even if you got through all their engineers may be already on a call.

Is your boiler service company advertised as an emergency service? I!!!8217;m not even sure a frozen pipe would necessarily come under the services you have. I!!!8217;ve checked a few of the !!!8216;big names!!!8217; and none mention thawing pipes as a service they offer

LadyDee · 1 March 2018 at 3:01PM

marliepanda wrote: »

Look at the weather. Of course any company to do with heating is going to be absolutely swamped. Your age does not entitle you to jump a queue. When you call them you don!!!8217;t input your age to the phone. Even if you got through all their engineers may be already on a call.

Is your boiler service company advertised as an emergency service? I!!!8217;m not even sure a frozen pipe would necessarily come under the services you have. I!!!8217;ve checked a few of the !!!8216;big names!!!8217; and none mention thawing pipes as a service they offer

In some circumstances age does have a bearing - a friend of mine is 84 (thankfully fit & healthy) but when she had occasion to call her boiler service folks a while back she was told she is on their vulnerable list due to her age, and they moved her to the top of their call list.

However, mid-70s IS NOT OLD:)

peachyprice · 1 March 2018 at 4:58PM

marliepanda wrote: »

Look at the weather. Of course any company to do with heating is going to be absolutely swamped. Your age does not entitle you to jump a queue. When you call them you don!!!8217;t input your age to the phone. Even if you got through all their engineers may be already on a call.

Is your boiler service company advertised as an emergency service? I!!!8217;m not even sure a frozen pipe would necessarily come under the services you have. I!!!8217;ve checked a few of the !!!8216;big names!!!8217; and none mention thawing pipes as a service they offer

It's probably the condensate pipe Marlie, if the condensate in it freezes the boiler cuts out.

Alfrescodave · 1 March 2018 at 5:11PM

My dad in his 90's had a similar problem and as he was identified as a vulnerable person (because of his age) his supplier immediately responded. And the name of his supplier is NPower !!! -hard to believe after all the bad publicity they've received.

Its everyone's responsibility to inform their supplier if they wish to be treated as a vulnerable person

benten69 · 1 March 2018 at 5:21PM

marliepanda wrote: »

Your age does not entitle you to jump a queue. When you call them you don!!!8217;t input your age to the phone. Even if you got through all their engineers may be already on a call.

I'm sorry, but get off your high horse. I can't comment for the OPs supplier, but the big 6 (certainly British Gas & SSE) WILL give you priority in the event of power or heating failure if you are over 65 or have a medical condition.

My mum & step-dad are over 65 and my step dad has had a heart attack in the past so they are registered to receive priority in the event of a cut.

I even have the text message here from SSE (they send them to my phone and my mums, as I am a named contact) and it specifically says the following....

SSEN wrote:

We are expecting bad weather this week and you are registered for our priority services. We would like to remind you that you can call 105 or 0800 300 999 if you experience a loss of power. Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks

Even when I have called in the past on their behalf I have specifically been asked if there is anyone over 65 at the property or if anyone has medical conditions that need to be taken into consideration in the event of an emergency.

A fit healthy young male or female will survive a lot longer without some heating than an elderly couple who have medical conditions, so it is only right that hey should take these things into consideration and give these people priority.

agrinnall · 1 March 2018 at 6:18PM

Could be British Gas who it's been reported are having problems as two of their call centres are in the Central Belt and have been closed today, and the others can't cope with the volume of calls.

KeithP · 1 March 2018 at 7:59PM

I too am 'mid-seventies'.

I do not expect boiler service personnel to arrive immediately I've put the phone down.

I have a fan heater sitting in a cupboard just waiting for a situation when I might need it.

OP, can I suggest you get some sort of temporary emergency heating... just in case?

marliepanda · 1 March 2018 at 9:11PM

benten69 wrote: »

I'm sorry, but get off your high horse. I can't comment for the OPs supplier, but the big 6 (certainly British Gas & SSE) WILL give you priority in the event of power or heating failure if you are over 65 or have a medical condition.

My mum & step-dad are over 65 and my step dad has had a heart attack in the past so they are registered to receive priority in the event of a cut.

I even have the text message here from SSE (they send them to my phone and my mums, as I am a named contact) and it specifically says the following....

Even when I have called in the past on their behalf I have specifically been asked if there is anyone over 65 at the property or if anyone has medical conditions that need to be taken into consideration in the event of an emergency.

A fit healthy young male or female will survive a lot longer without some heating than an elderly couple who have medical conditions, so it is only right that hey should take these things into consideration and give these people priority.

So if they called and the line was busy/ closed what would they do? Shout “ I have priority!” at the hold tone until someone answered?

I suggest if you are old and with a medical condition you don’t have a boiler service with a company that closes the lines in times of heavy traffic. Clearly this one did, so they should have gone with one of the big six...

Mid 70's no help

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