I have to get this off my chest

[peterb]

BG servicing

I used to have a service agreement with BG. It covered labour charges, but not parts. Then BG wrote to say that they were discontinuing labour-only agreements, and would now be having only labour plus parts agreements. Two days later I had another letter from BG to say that because my boiler was of an old type, they could no longer provide parts. But they still insisted on a labour plus parts agreement.

They didn't get an agreement. I found another source for the parts, and another fitter who could do the servicing.

 

[Stingo]

Re: Terminology

[ QUOTE ]
... British Standard on fire terminology uses "flammable" and deprecates "inflammable".

[/ QUOTE ]Don't confuse them by saying "inflamed".

 

[cliff]

Re: You need a dog for this...... a very (& entirely unwarrantedly)....

[ QUOTE ]
..expensive one.

Steve Cronin

[/ QUOTE ]
Why?
----------

 

[plombier]

You are very wise in not having a service contract with BG. Your friends won't think it strange when they call on BG to fix a fault to be told either "you can't get spares for that unit any more" or "it's beyond economical repair" and "can we sell you a new boiler".

I make a nice living out of their "statements". I can still get most spares for most boilers and have only twice in the last two years had to change the boiler cause I couldn't (both units being over 40 years old).

The other point to bear in mind is that BG now get their spares from the same places as we do (they used to have huge warehouses full of spares) and if your boiler goes "pop" on a Saturday lunchtime, the earliest the parts can be got is Monday morning (if they remember).

 

[misterg]

[ QUOTE ]
... So following his logic, you will not be allowed to garden in future without suitable protective equipment ( mask, air supply, chemical warfare suit) and a 16 week course on biohazards.

[/ QUOTE ]

You don't know how close to the truth you are....

Do a search on the "carcinogens directive". The Common Market (EU now) are attempting to include sand (silica) as a carcinogen. I know this sounds like something to do with the date, but it is true. This could potentially mean that building sand-castles on the beach is illegal without a written risk assessment, mechanical extract ventillation, personal protective equipment and regular health monitoring. Please don't pass this over - they're MAD!

Incidentally, tyres are classes as "special waste", and can't be disposed of in landfill, hence attitude of Dump-Meister. (Landfill Regs). Don't worry, however, true chaos will reign from mid summer this year when the next bit of the waste legislation kicks in. It will ban a lot more waste from landfill, but there are not yet viable alternatives - current advice from the Environment Agency is for people to 'hang on to the waste' .

I want a "None Of The Above" box on the ballot paper in this election!

Rant over!!

Andy

 

[ashanta]

Great story but give some details on your profile. it gives a little impression don't you think!
I understand you angst.. their trying to recruit more plumber's( of the female type) because lad's just don't want to train.

Regards.

peter,.

 

[webcraft]

After past experiences I:

a) wouldn't ever have mains gas (it can explode and seems to do so with alarming regularity . . .)

b) might have lpg in the house and do have it on the boat but wouldn't let a Corgi fitter anywhere near it in either location

c) will probably continue to run the house on electrickery and do anything I want myself - or get a mate in - without giving a toss for the new legislation . . . will I go to jail? Frankly I doubt it.

- Nick

 

[BrendanS]

Re: British Gas?

That doesn't compare to the £54k plus VAT that I was quoted. The nearest Gas pipe being less than a mile away. When I asked the question, was told I couldn't be given a quote unless they sent out surveyors. Told them not to waste time. They sent out surveyors anyway, and a month later was sent a letter asking when they should start work. The letter in reponse was rather blunt.

 

[Sgeir]

Hey, wait a wee minute there!

How can someone called Plombier make a dispassionate comment about <u>plumbers</u> or CORGI installers. Or have I misunderstood?

And thanks again Brendan - you never fail.

 

[Yachtmaster]

I contract to British Gas, What I am findingin most cases is, you people will think nothing of spending £5,000 on a holiday,£20,000 on a car or £50,000 on a boat, But when it comes to spending a couple of hundred pounds on your house,which you live in, you moan. As a Corgi installer if you show me the door when I have explained to you that your appliance is dangerous, I.D. in the trade, I am required by LAW to politly leave your property, and then I phone TRANSCO and wait outside your property until they arrive, and under my instruction they will then DISSCONNECT you gas meter and take it away. What you MUST remember is that we are trying save your lives and that of your children, Carbon Monoxide is a Killer, ( Have you chained your cooker to the wall)

 

[Nauti Fox]

Your lucky with the car tyre. We pay for "commercial waste" to be taken away by the council, but they won't take tyres, nor will they take them at the local council tip, so we talked to the envionment agency to be told that the nearest place is eighty miles away!
So we have to pay a company to take them away.
We also have a problem with fly tipping (industrial estate) so when the rubbish was still here after 3 weeks I put it in our bin, when they came to empty our bin the head binman said " thats not your waste is it", so I told him what I'd done and he said he could refuse to take it and don't do it again.
Oh and we just got a letter saying that the cost is going up by 20 percent!

Oops, now I'm having a rant!

 

[AlexL]

Hmm

Sounds like the "Engineer" (actually gas fitter, unless he has a degree and is a member of the engieering council or one of the engineerin societies) has no idea what he is doing. The 'seal' over the roof tile stops the rain coming in and has nothing to do with CO. Either this is an honest mistake by a complete F**kwit or it is a BG money raising tacktick.
I installed my own central heating and did all the plumbing myself, had a blazing row with BG when they came to fit a meter as I am not corgi regsitered, hell I'm not even a plumber. However I did point out that nowhere in the law or regulations does it say a Corgi plumber actually has to do the work. The words 'Competant person' are actually used. Eventually they conceded and hooked it all up.
Having renovated a few houses and done the plumbing in them myself, and having seen some of the crap workmanship by so called corgi experts, I would not deem myself to be any less competant than anyone else in this field.
I always service my own boiler and have found a good local shop to supply all the parts needed if anything goes wrong.

I quite agree that gas and electricity are dangerous if you don't know what you are doing, but with a little knowledge you definiately don't need these rediculous service contracts, especially if the people doing are exhibiting such a fundamental lack of knowledge!

 

[BenchHead]

Thanks everyone.
I've had a butchers at the offending bit of kit from the inside and for the life of me can't see what the problem is. I think I'll ask for a second opinion after I've checked it from the roof especially if the seal really is to keep the water out. Mind boggling...
Oh yeah - and I'll be telling BG that they can put their service contract where the sun don't shine.

 

[LittleShip]

Re: BG servicing

There seems to be many who complain when B Gas or the local gas engineer turns off an appliance due to a faulty installation or poor ventilation.

I would just like to say without trying to offend anybody here…………………

If you know better than the trained engineer why are you calling on their expertise, do it yourself............. and I’ll look forward to you asking for advice about dealing with the courts when you have “cocked up”

How many of you would complain if the Gas engineer came into your workplace and passed comment on your business ethics.

Remember that these laws are passed to protect individuals from their own stupidity? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Otto]

Every year the gas man comes around and spends an hour reorganising the artificial coal in the fireplace and complains to my wife that it has to look exactly like in the picture. I find it quite incredulous!

 

[AlexL]

Re: BG servicing

You are quite right, except for:

[ QUOTE ]
If you know better than the trained engineer

[/ QUOTE ]

How about gas fitter not engineer, and not all that well trained either with some of these service schemes. An 'Engineer' is someone who has spent 4 years gaining an engineering council accredited degree, a furhter 2 years on a regognised industry graduate training scheme followed by anywhere upwards of 5 years of experience.
A 19 year old who's spent 2 weeks on a BG training course is NOT an engineer.
[ QUOTE ]
Remember that these laws are passed to protect individuals from their own stupidity?

[/ QUOTE ]
What Laws? There is no law saying that you cannot service your own boiler. There is no law saying that a BG service guy HAS to cut of the service if he finds something wrong (which in this case doesn't sound like a real problem). In fact there probably is a service agreement somewhere which says they MUST NOT cut your service off. They would certainly have to pay compensation, just the same as BT etc have to when they deny service.

 

[l'escargot]

I had a BG one up until about ten years ago. At that time it include an annual service and was a reasonable price. Then the annual service became a safety check - instead of a fitter taking the thing apart a spotty youth stuck a probe into the vent, read off a digital display, ticked a boxed and handed me a piece of paper. Had the cheek to charge more as well. Cancelled it there and then.

It seems that as we get more and more regulation, the people doing the work are becoming less skilled and the cost goes up to pay for the regulation required because they are less skilled - it is self promoting.

 

[graham]

ReService Engineers duty of care.

If the Service engineer .Finds something which is on the list of things made up by the HSE (its not up to his discretion) which constitutes an immediate danger. He must ask your permission to disconnect .And issue paperwork and warning labels.

If you refuse permission he then must contact Transco who will if neccessary force entry to make it safe.They do have the authority and will use it if common sense fails.Transco give the engineer an incident number which he records to protect himself should anything else go wrong.

Lesser problems can be classified as "at risk" and He then has to turn off the appliance but not disconnect and label it issue paperwork etc.

Imagine living in a flat with some nutter with a gas leak in the flat downstairs.The laws are there to protect the rest of us from buffoons.

This all comes from a course I had to do 6 years ago and may well be slightly different now.

 

[Cantata]

Re: ReService Engineers duty of care.

I have not let BG into the house since several years ago they charged me 180 quid to fit a crude device of shaped and riveted tinplate to the top of the boiler flue, job-time 5 minutes.
Their 'servicing' is a complete rip-off as others have pointed out - amounts to doing a flue check and, if you're lucky, poking a vacuum cleaner nozzle inside the boiler. Again, in and out of the house in 5 minutes.
I now use a local fitter who appears to care.

 

[AlexL]

Re: ReService Engineers duty of care.

Thats fine. However one would assume that the list of things that the HSE promulgate as 'imediate danger' would be very limited indeed, and would not include loose flue cap slates! However having personally dealt with the obsessive morons in the HSE in another field, I doubt it. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
I would have thought also that if a BG service fitter finds something wrong, then the no 1 priority would be to fix it, not running around playing little hitlers with lots of threats and paperwork. I would be quite willing to accept someones point of view that my boiler was dangerous and needed turngin off, I would also expect and insist that it was fixed within a few hours, certainly on the same day.

Also I must point out again that they are not service engineers. A receptionist in a Law firm is not a solicitor, a porter in a hospital is not a doctor, and a British Gas boiler inspector is not an engineer.