I had the all singing/dancing cover with British Gas on a BTL years back. Bath was leaking. Source of the leak was waste pipe under the bath (one of the joins.) The 'fix' involved 1/2 tube waterproof silicon liberally applied ...
24/7 Home Rescue -Fail
- Thread starter Harry Bloomfield
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I'll believe it when she tell me it's fixed. She had to ring them this morning to arrange an appointment for them to turn up, I've no heard the outcome of that yet, but I convinced her last night to begin ripping the sopping wet laminate up from the floor, to check what state the floor was in under it and give it a chance to dry out. It's her only toilet, and I have told her not to use it until it is properly sorted.
They suggested it was the bath leaking, when they visited the first time and walked away. The terribly poor standard of workmanship, is why I don't trust anyone. Obviously not a qualified trades person, not even a half decent DIY bodger. No one with any experience would expect blathering silicone sealant around a pipe to last, yet they claim expertise and professionalism - charging accordingly.
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What I don't understand is if they thought the bath was leaking, why didn't they fix it?
Because I would suggest they are bl^^dy useless. The tale is a little confused and second hand, but they said something about not wanting to disturb the floor covering and other fittings. Yesterday, she herself removed the bath panel, and the fitted unit covering the toilet cistern, plus then finding the source of the leak. This morning she ripped up all the laminate, to hopefully salvage the floor timber underneath.
She hasn't flushed it since, and suggests it is now drying out - which suggests it is either the flush pipe leaking, or the toilet discharge pipe.
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Oh, I think I may have forgot to mention - She had somehow got (or had the idea put) into her head that the problem was so serious, that she would need her entire bathroom ripped out, and a whole new bathroom suite installing in order to fix the leak. She even rang me to ask me about an over-priced bathroom suite she had been offered, that was surplus to the requirements of the seller.
I've just asked her the outcome of her ringing them to make the appointment for the 'engineer' to visit. She says no appointment has been made, they just asked if the 'engineer' would have easy access to repair the leak. What a shower of shyt, they want the job done for them.
I've managed to get to the bottom of this - It was her idea that she needed to replace the entire bathroom suite, not 24/7's.
Today's episode is....
They are still refusing to believe the 'engineer' will have access, despite all the ripping out she has done on their behalf. She has rung them to say they do have access, but they still insist they want photos. She has pointed out out she no longer has any access to email or ability to send them photos, but without photos they will not send an 'engineer' out.
I have told her to say 'Unless they send an 'engineer' out and they fix the leak, that she will stop the direct debit immediately and will see them in court'. She's a bit of a timid character, so whether she will have the courage to say that, I don't know - I will find out soon, next time she rings.
What sort of company insists on their customers sending them photographs of problems? Sometimes they are a 'nice to have', but to insist before they will turn up?
She does seem to have worked out that the leakage is from the toilet discharge pipe, at the back of the toilet.
[EDIT] The outcome of yet another phone call - An 'engineer' will ring within 24 hours, make an appointment, and if he turns up and there is not good enough access he will simply walk away. She chickened out on saying what I suggested above.
They are still refusing to believe the 'engineer' will have access, despite all the ripping out she has done on their behalf. She has rung them to say they do have access, but they still insist they want photos. She has pointed out out she no longer has any access to email or ability to send them photos, but without photos they will not send an 'engineer' out.
I have told her to say 'Unless they send an 'engineer' out and they fix the leak, that she will stop the direct debit immediately and will see them in court'. She's a bit of a timid character, so whether she will have the courage to say that, I don't know - I will find out soon, next time she rings.
What sort of company insists on their customers sending them photographs of problems? Sometimes they are a 'nice to have', but to insist before they will turn up?
She does seem to have worked out that the leakage is from the toilet discharge pipe, at the back of the toilet.
[EDIT] The outcome of yet another phone call - An 'engineer' will ring within 24 hours, make an appointment, and if he turns up and there is not good enough access he will simply walk away. She chickened out on saying what I suggested above.
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Keep in mind I am struggling to get exact details myself, but from what I have managed to gather - It was installed several years ago, she seems to be a bit over halfway through the contract period and the full cost of which will be around £3500. It seems to include an annual boiler inspection and a worse than useless home breakdown service.
I did ask her to ask them how much they would accept as a get out of the contract payment, and she said they wanted something like £1200.
£1200 isn’t that bad to get out I suppose, but what i would do is ask them to deduct monies off for not being fit for purpose as they clearly haven’t fixed any problems and are just using excuses to get out of doing it.
Speak to consumer advice , likely the contract is in breach of one or more consumer laws. If it’s insurance backed you can take to
Financial Ombudsman Service.
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There are a whole load of hypothetical reasons why a customer of such an 'insurance' policy might not be in a position to take pictures. Indeed, they might not even know someone who could do it on their behalf.
Based on what you're saying, they seem a right shower. Like many companies these days, anything to get out of actually delivering a service.
Based on what you're saying, they seem a right shower. Like many companies these days, anything to get out of actually delivering a service.
FOS do cover these sort of things, I just asked.
Latest news is that she now has an appointment for a visit on Tuesday morning - The text message from them states - 'We require you to be present, a parking space to be provided, and easy access to the fault. If she misses the appointment there may be a £30 charge.'
I wonder what their idea is of easy access to the fault? Were I the 'engineer' I would expect to do what ever might be necessary to find and gain access to fix it, within reason. If there was something not within reason, then I would expect it to involve some negotiation with the customer. I would never just walk off and leave the job undone.
I've found out she had to call them out on a previous occasion. Something about a terribly slow draining sink. They turned up, looked at it, made some excuse for not being able to fix it and left her to it that time too. She has invited them to again look at fixing that too.
Latest news is that she now has an appointment for a visit on Tuesday morning - The text message from them states - 'We require you to be present, a parking space to be provided, and easy access to the fault. If she misses the appointment there may be a £30 charge.'
I wonder what their idea is of easy access to the fault? Were I the 'engineer' I would expect to do what ever might be necessary to find and gain access to fix it, within reason. If there was something not within reason, then I would expect it to involve some negotiation with the customer. I would never just walk off and leave the job undone.
I've found out she had to call them out on a previous occasion. Something about a terribly slow draining sink. They turned up, looked at it, made some excuse for not being able to fix it and left her to it that time too. She has invited them to again look at fixing that too.
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