HiI 1mper1um I guess this falls to what exactly what is detailed on the document that you signed. If your signature is on a form whch says you'll pay a set sum of money, then they will probably enfore that and you'll probably end up paying. If however your signature is on a form which details no specific charge, only 'upgrade', then I'd suggest you have a chance of the amount being written off. In the case of your situation falling into 'no specific charge detailed' I would email the CEO of Centrica detailing your complaint, and tell him that you have no where agreed to this specific charge. Confirm that the paperwork does not detail this charge, and that you will take them to court and win. Sam.Laidlaw(at)centrica.com is the CEO email. (substitute the '(at)' for @. Mr H

Hi Robypr, Unfortunately this is an all too common story with British Gas. I suggest you contact their call centre and raise a complaint of poor advice against their engineer. Request a visit from the area Service Manager, and go to the property yourself to meet them. When the Service Manager attends, they usually bring along one of their senior technicians and look over the whole situation. Otherwise, you may end up with a never ending list of recommendations and advice, none of which actually resolve the issue. Mr H

I don't believe there is any specific way to counter/cirrcumvent forcing a pf. The individual case will need to be considered, as will the insurers individual T&Cs and where in the country an individual lives (as some areas have harder water, thus resulting in build up of lime scale, and the more frequent need to flush out a system). I have seen systems where when drained, the water is black with dirt. Likewise, I have seen parts of heating systems scaled to the point of no longer functioning. These are generally tests administered. I am unsure of why this would be taken to court, never mind stand up under examination.

Libertas - You answered your own question - "As my current boiler (ideal HE30) is no longer manufactured, they want to replace it with the closest model (Ideal Logic 30HE)." Example, if you crashed your Ford fiesta, your insurance company won't give you a Porsche to replace it just because it is a better car. Similar principal applies - BG replace your boiler with as equivalent a model as is available. I understand your options are take the replacement, or leave it. There are arrangements in place where BG will claim money back from the boiler manufacturer for replacing your broken system, hence why they won't just give you cash to do with as you please. Surfer01, the local Energy Efficiency organisation for your area can usually help. There are schemes in place (definitely in Wales and Scotland, not sure about England) where in some cases the Government will pay for a new heating system and energy efficiency improvements where certain criteria is met

Coolbreeze, Sorry to hear about your poor experience, sadly this is not uncommon with British Gas. I am an employee of British Gas and have seen first hand the sort of service you are talking about. My own boiler was classified as "Parts Obsolete" on HomeCare...this is a 6 year old boiler which the manufacturer advised every single part was still available. Contact the top man at BG - phil.bentley(at) britishgas.co.uk (replace at with @) with your complaint, and inform him you want compensation for this or you will refer the matter to regulators / Financial Ombudsman. The cost of an FOS complaint to a company is large, so they will be happy to pay you not to go there. You are quite correct that the BG engineers are now also salesmen who are on commission for pushing powerflushes, and generating new boiler "leads" for the Central Heating arm. Sadly sales now come before service Mr H

Thanks for your replies guys. I emailed the CEO of Scottish Power, and was contacted with a resolution to my complaint by a Customer Relations Manager. As it transpires, I was correct and I am with EON, and have been for 9 months. Scottish Power have re-estimated my final bill leaving me £20ish in credit, but have refused my request to refund the £100 I was forced to pay, which was based on misinformation. They did however offer £50 compensation. I have refused their offer and requested my £100 forced payment to be refunded along with the £50 compensation, to which I am awaiting a response.

Folks, Thanks for the input. I have now been able to confirm through speaking with someone at the IGT who supplies my property that EON have supplied my property for the last 8 months, contrary to what SP are After the service from SP (the demanding letters, people at the door demanding payment or a prepay meter is going in, forcing me to pay £100 to avoid action, refusing to put a hold on the amount until investigated) I plan to take this to OfGEM and consumer focus, as these practices are shocking. I will keep this topic updated, as it will be interesting to see how long it takes to get my money back. Marie@SP, I will email you with my details later today, thanks.

A strange one here folks, not sure what to do.... Moved into my house a few years ago, and Scottish Power supplied the Gas, EON supplied the electric. In December 2011 I switched the Gas to EON, and have been paying them for Dual Fuel since then. July 2012 I receive a letter from Scottish Power demanding ~£350 for Gas. I call them, raise a dispute and someone says they will look into it over a few weeks. August 2012 no response from the dispute, but another letter demanding ~£500, and a few days later a letter from an SP agent who visited while I was at work, and gave me a few days to sort payment before a warrant for entry / prepayment meter was applied for. I had to pay £100 to SP to stop this action, and set up a payment plan. SP are adamant i'm with them, EON have confirmed i'm definitely with them, so i'm now paying for Gas on 2 direct debits while both companies and their agents and Team Managers seem unable to help. SP also tell me that my property is supplied by an IGT, so I cannot even confirm with XOServe. Can anyone advise what to do...

Citizen B, Not sure where you found the details of bg-group but they are not associated with British Gas. Sam Laidlaw (sam.laidlaw@centrica.co.uk) is the CEO of Centrica, the parent company of BG. Phil Bentley is the Managing Director of British Gas (Phil.Bentley@britishgas.co.uk). You can write to Phil Bentley at - Lakeside House, The Causeway, Staines, TW18 3BY.

BankFodder is right - read the small print. There are agreements out there which will replace your boiler, but under certain strict conditions. For example. British Gas will only replace your boiler if they cant repair it if the boiler itself is under 7 years old, or 10 years old if BG originally fitted it. If you have quite an old boiler, you likely won't get this type of cover from anyone, or at least from anyone who would actually deliver on the new boiler promise when it was needed. Mr H

Hi Donny I think it may be because this is classed as a "non essential" job. Over the winter period, suppliers generally try and free up as much time as possible for emergency jobs. I imagine if you made enough of a big deal they would honour the original appt, however it's likely that most of the big 6 are doing this Mr H

Hi Ann My apologies I misread your initial post - i didn't realise you had no cold water either. That is unacceptable, they cannot leave you in a situation like that. They should have found a way to restore water but cap supply to the water tank. I would write a formal letter of complaint to the company demanding compensation for this, and also mention that if you don't receive an adequate response you will be contacting the gas safe register to inform them of the shocking situation in which you were left. Mr H

Hi Ann, In situations where parts are required they are not always available straight away. This holds true for all companies which provide repair services. The "emergency" usually refers to a situation such as an uncontrolled leak causing damage - in this instance an engineer would make the leak safe, which would count as resolving the emergency. Your friend was likely put up in a hotel at the expense of their landlord, as this is not normal practice for the repair companies except in extreme circumstances. It may be worth calling to try and speed them up, but these types of repairs are rarely sorted as quickly as repairs where they are replacing a pump, for example. Mr H

Hi Surrey Sorry to hear about your situation. Was your boiler disconnected during a service or repair visit? The engineer will have left you some paperwork with an indication of whether the boiler is "Not to current standards", "At Risk" or "Immediately Dangerous" - can you tell me which is selected? With regards to a new boiler, the best option to secure one without a hefty up front cost is on credit, however if you're credit rating is poor you will need to pay up front. There are likely some grants available, and sometimes local authorities can offer crisis loans. Also, if you meet certain criteria you may be eligible for a credit of around £120 on your meter for winter. Call BG energy on 0800 048 0303 and ask about this. Mr H

Hmm...the Service Managers can sometimes be like that, as they want as many additional upgrade jobs (i.e. powerflushes) as possible. Sometimes they do tag along on jobs where there have been multiple visits in a short period without the customer having to ask. It does seem odd that you get hot water, and then it goes warm. If you have a "cover" agreement, then you could certainly look down the route of a complaint to the ombudsman. These complaints are generally treated differently by BG, as they are seen as "high level". If BG have not provided you with a decent level of service then that is certainly grounds for complaint. Mr H

Hi Flashay Sorry to hear about your problems. A friend of mine had a similar issue where they got only warm water, not hot. The way they found around it was to run the hot taps only at half power, to reduce the demand on the boiler. After a few mins this always gives them boiling hot water. Sadly i'm not an engineer so can't diagnose further! If you are unhappy at the engineer's resolution you can always request a visit from the service manager by calling the call centre and raising a field complaint for a 2nd opinion. Mr H

Hi CMT I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I would suggest naming and shaming the company - the reps will not take it personally, as it is their job to help you resolve any issues. As an employee of one of the big 6 energy companies, I would be interested if any of my staff were telling you nonsense as like this. The Ombudsman generally deal with mediation between companies and customers only when the customer initiates it, and only when they are unhappy with the companies resolution, so i am sure the repayment info you have been given is incorrect. I would also suggest writing a complaint to the CEO or someone at the top of the company, as this usually helps complaints move along a bit quicker. Mr H

Hi Wellybob, The 2 options you have been given are likely everything you will get fro BG BG say you are entitled to an annual safety check, but that it is not their responsibility to contact you to arrange. I would suggest just taking all your money back for the 3 years if you feel wronged, and contacting an independent engineer as they will essentially say they sent you 3 years worth of renewal documentation and you did not contact them. Mr H

Hi Panther From what I understand the deposit is kept for a year as long as you are with BG. It is essentially to ensure that if you fall in to debt (having not passed the credit check) they are able to recoup money by retaining the deposit. I am sure there would be no issue with refunding the deposit if you moved supplier within a year, as they no longer need to ensure your payments are made. Mr H

Hi Pablo, BG Plumbing cover has never included the Water Supply Pipe. A few years ago BG introduced a seperate cover plan for the supply pipe which has been sold seperate to Plumbing cover. BG detail the plumbing cover to include all hot and cold water pipes within your home, up until the internal stopcock. Unfortunately this would determine that there is no case here as your supply pipe is up until the stopcock. Mr H

I would be asking the agent and his supervisor to borrow his crystal ball, as clearly they can see in to the future to force you to keep your DD the same. It may well be a better use of your time just to switch supplier...I hear there are some great deals around just now with other suppliers Mr H

Hi S As Rebel has said, you should tell them that based on your previous usage your direct debit should not be increased to this amount. I reviewed my direct debit a few days ago, and reduced it by 50% and they were only too happy to do so. You most likely got a crap agent on the other end of the phone....it seems to be hit or miss with BG agents these days. Try again, and if unsuccessful ask to speak to a manager. If all else fails, refer the matter to Ofgem and they will raise a complaint to BG head office on your behalf. Mr H

From my understanding Metering related appointments are the only ones that sometimes come with rules regarding compensation for this. Even then, its around £20 per missed appointment. How many appointments were missed, just out of interest and under what circumstances? Mr H

Hi Ida I know sometimes the suppliers can help, however I remember a situation like this where OnStream (A National Grid Company) were able to assist. From memory, I think the supplier / OnStream will move a meter for free as long as it is not further than 1 metre, and it is in the same room and on the same wall. Not 100% certain on this though, but OnStream's contact details are on the link below - you should give them a call and see. https://www.onstream.co.uk/contact Mr H

I disagree, maxgas. I accept that the BG agreement may not be for everyone, but a vast majority of people make good use of it and get their money's worth. A £400 per year agreement with British Gas is likely a plan which includes much more than just the boiler and central heating. If the customer did not have a powerflush then it would only be repairs relating to hot water parts which are not included and the rest of the agreement would still be honoured. Also, a standard Central Heating agreement includes a yearly service which has a value in itself - it is incorrect to advise the full charge from BG is only for the repair cover.