British Gas Homecare, a complete joke! STAY AWAY!

[trevk008]

I had a British Gas Home Care agreement with them for going on seven years, I had them out to do their so called "Yearly Service", every year, lasting typically twenty minutes, they were the only ones looking after boiler during that time. Six months ago I had a problem with the pressure valve, it was dripping water outside, they came out and replaced it. But did not look at why it overheated. Six months later I had a leak from an internal valve, so I rung them up to come out.

 

The "engineer" came out and replaced the part, then left. The next morning I went to have a shower, no hot water, the boiler wouldn't fire up, I called British Gas back, they looked at it and said the heat pump needed replacing, and that they would not do it as "Boiler was old and repair was not viable", and that it would cost me, £398.91 + VAT for the part and £270 for labour to replace it!

 

After I had paid them close to £2,000(!!!!!) over the years, they now wanted me to pay near £700 quid to fix my boiler, a boiler that before their "engineer" turned up was working fine, I had hot water and heating before he arrived, none after he had gone!

 

I rang British Gas, told them I was not happy, they then decided that it was not covered under the agreement because I needed a flush, and that this had caused problems, they based this on the valve I had replaced six months earlier, this is despite the HomeCare Checklist that the engineer left not mentioning this at all, and the only comment on there being about the fact that the engineer didn't think it was a viable replacement.

 

I told them I had no hot water or heating, and it was Friday morning, and I was not going to hang up until I got agreement someone come out to fix the boiler, as I didn't want to spend the weekend with no hot water and heating.

 

Eventually we got to a stale mate, they would not escalate to someone directly, an "Engineer Manager" would have to call me back, I insisted it had to be on Friday, so we could have someone in worse case Saturday. They said ok.

 

To make a long story short, I did not hear from their "Engineer Manager" until 20 days(!!!!) later, they expected me and the family to go without heat and hot water for twenty days!!!!

 

I didn't of course, I went to a local Cogi registered guy, got him to fix it on the Monday. When I finally got a call from the manager, he said "well now that you have fixed it, there is nothing I can do" I pointed out that waiting 20days for a follow up, what the hell did he want me to do???

 

People, trust me, I have made this mistake, I have nothing to gain from you buying or not buying the Homecare agreement, but I can tell you from experience that if you do, YOU WILL REGRET IT!

 

Keep far, far away.

[Andy77799]

They are all fine while taking your money and a "quick" call out.

 

I will avoid them thanks for the name and shame!

[rebel11]

Hi Trev

 

Write a Formal Letter of Complaint Mark it as such. Explain whats happened, as much detail as possible, explain what you want to resolve the matter.

Send it to:-

 

Sam Laidlaw, Chief Executive

sam.laidlaw@centrica.co.uk

[ihateyes]

Did you recall being advised a powerflush was requierd??

[MrHandyman]

Hi Trev,

 

If they had not previously told you a flush was required then they should have fixed the fault regardless, as long as the part was available.

 

If you previously weren't told about needing a flush, write a formal letter of complaint and ask for reimbursement for the cost of the local engineer. Keep us informed of your progress on here.

 

Mr H

[trevk008]

Did you recall being advised a powerflush was requierd??

 

I had a chemical flush done after the valve problem, six months previous, it wasn't a power flush, but as I understand it they achieve similar goals. Both "engineers" that visited did not make mention of a flush being required, as they could tell, from my understanding, that a flush had been done, the only thing they were talking about was "Boiler to old, not viable to replace".

 

The only person that decided the problem was because of grunge in the system was the call centre person I talked to when the engineer had left, and once this call centre person had made that decision, it was the story British Gas were sticking to, regardless of what the "engineer" had said when he actually had been onsite.

 

That also does not negate that it took their "engineer manager" 20 days to follow up, expecting the family and I to have no hot water or heating during that period, and the fact that the Boiler was FULLY OPERATIONAL before the British Gas "Engineer" turned up, and didn't work after he left!

 

Be warned, stay away from this lot, you will regret it otherwise.

[MrHandyman]

I had a chemical flush done after the valve problem, six months previous, it wasn't a power flush, but as I understand it they achieve similar goals. Both "engineers" that visited did not make mention of a flush being required, as they could tell, from my understanding, that a flush had been done, the only thing they were talking about was "Boiler to old, not viable to replace".

 

The only person that decided the problem was because of grunge in the system was the call centre person I talked to when the engineer had left, and once this call centre person had made that decision, it was the story British Gas were sticking to, regardless of what the "engineer" had said when he actually had been onsite.

 

That also does not negate that it took their "engineer manager" 20 days to follow up, expecting the family and I to have no hot water or heating during that period, and the fact that the Boiler was FULLY OPERATIONAL before the British Gas "Engineer" turned up, and didn't work after he left!

 

Be warned, stay away from this lot, you will regret it otherwise.

 

I think it is clear BG should have repaired this for you. It is also not good that the field manager took 20 days to contact you.

 

When you write a letter of complaint, include a Subject Access Request as there will be notes on your account indicating why they did not contact you for this time - it should usually be within 48 hours the field manager deals with complaints.

 

The agents in the call centre are not qualified to decide if you need a poweflush or not. Take no notice of what they say when it come to anything technical.

[ihateyes]

The agents in the call centre are not qualified to decide if you need a poweflush or not. Take no notice of what they say when it come to anything technical.

 

Absolutely correct..... The Call Centre agents will have access to the engineers report, and if the engineer has noted in his job notes powerflush is required, that is why the agent would've advised this.

[ashmk]

I think your better off putting your monthly subs in a savings account and using that when something goes wrong. Plus you get the intrest!

[ihateyes]

I think your better off putting your monthly subs in a savings account and using that when something goes wrong. Plus you get the intrest!

 

That will only work for some people.....

some people arent knowledgable of the costs of parts.... and should only do that if they are aware of costs, and have a boiler that doesnt break down.

 

You see the thing is, locals gas men dont come out for free if the initial fault wasnt fixed......

If the repair doesnt work they will charge for anothe visit, and anothe part to be replaced....... ching ching .... the costs are rising!!

[MrHandyman]

That will only work for some people.....

some people arent knowledgable of the costs of parts.... and should only do that if they are aware of costs, and have a boiler that doesnt break down.

 

You see the thing is, locals gas men dont come out for free if the initial fault wasnt fixed......

If the repair doesnt work they will charge for anothe visit, and anothe part to be replaced....... ching ching .... the costs are rising!!

 

I would certainly agree with this. My BG contract has served me well except for on one occasion when I had a useless engineer call for a repair, who i swiftly sent on his merry way in place of another engineer.

 

However I know of local plumbers who do very well fixing simple problems, as their call out charges are pretty steep.