A.A. cover or British Gas cover.

[nickso]

I have a Vokera Flowmatic 20/80 Boiler for the last 12 yrs and have always had a full cover contract with BG.

For approx the last 6 yrs i have called them out for a breakdown roughly once a yr and though they have told me many parts are obsolete they have always arrived either that day or the next and only twice have they had to return next day with a part.

It's always been a BG engineer and never a subbie.

One is actually working on the boiler now and had difficulty with , i think a v/v in or out of the calorifier ( chewed up its been removed so many times ) The part is obsolete and i've heard him making many calls to colleagues to track one down , which he did , went to get it and is now finishing the job.


I've often wondered whether to " jump ship " especially when the yearly price hike in my cover arrives , but i've always managed to haggle with them and currently pay just under £18 p/m .

As a service engineer in an unrelated industry i appreciate all the demands placed on them and i think i've had good value.

I know that at some stage i'll have to bite the bullet and replace the boiler. At that point i might decide to hold off the service contract until it's a few years old or consider a separate repair fund.

In the mean time it would be good to know what " obsolete " parts for my boiler BG don't carry and see if i can source them independently but i'll post that request elsewhere.

you were doing so well until you wrote obsolete as "obsolete". i'm assuming you don't believe the engineers word on what is and isn't available.

i see this every week almost with boilers older than yours. everytime they get a visit they get a warning for one reason or another about parts availability, if i give it it's because i'm moderately concerned they are heading for a disappointment, some will give it cos they want to sell a new boiler. despite this when you tell them the part is unavailable you get a look like you are telling them this news at gunpoint and are clearly a liar. even customers that you have gone a hundred miles out of your way to help in the past treat you like an idiot. don't become one of them.

 

[namsag]

Nickso join and have a look it can be quite funny sometimes, 7 pages once on whether a vent either side of a wall was actually classed as two seperate vents.
Same on how to fill in a landlord cert .
And then you get the really complicated ones like what is working pressure and standing pressure, have a word with any transo guy and he will tell you of all the timeS he will have been called out because the water blew out of someones gauge so there must be too high a pressure in the main or governor is bust.
Don`t get me wrong there is some really clued up guys in there but they are not in the majority .

 

[Steaminboot]

Reading my post back i could have phrased it better

I am NOT having a go at the engineers. In my own industry there are parts that manufacturers say are now not being produced so our parts dept then don't hold them .

Of course that is not to say that varying numbers of those parts are not available on the wider market from distributors who have accrued their own stock prior to the end of production or it might be an " off the shelf " part bought in from the manufacturer and freely available elsewhere. Though i do accept that some parts just don't exist any more, in which case it' time for a new boiler.

It's usually a letter with my contract renewal that says that " some " parts are obsolete. The engineers have never tried to sell me a new boiler

 

[nickso]

Nickso join and have a look it can be quite funny sometimes, 7 pages once on whether a vent either side of a wall was actually classed as two seperate vents.
Same on how to fill in a landlord cert .
And then you get the really complicated ones like what is working pressure and standing pressure, have a word with any transo guy and he will tell you of all the timeS he will have been called out because the water blew out of someones gauge so there must be too high a pressure in the main or governor is bust.
Don`t get me wrong there is some really clued up guys in there but they are not in the majority .

fabulous.

TBH the only thing really stopping me is i don't know who the mods are so don't want them having my details.

 

[nickso]

Reading my post back i could have phrased it better

I am NOT having a go at the engineers. In my own industry there are parts that manufacturers say are now not being produced so our parts dept then don't hold them .

Of course that is not to say that varying numbers of those parts are not available on the wider market from distributors who have accrued their own stock prior to the end of production or it might be an " off the shelf " part bought in from the manufacturer and freely available elsewhere. Though i do accept that some parts just don't exist any more, in which case it' time for a new boiler.

It's usually a letter with my contract renewal that says that " some " parts are obsolete. The engineers have never tried to sell me a new boiler

the only NLA parts i can think of off the top of my head are the modureg and associated bits. next time you have someone in just ask him to show you the parts list. the new software for the laptop is utter ****e but you will still get a reasonable overview of what's missing.

of course parts will be lying on shelves somewhere and the argument always is BG must be ripping you off with their "buying power" somehow meaning they have access to every shelf in the country. BG probably have the biggest stock of parts in the UK but in reality they will pretty much always run out of stock of an obsolete part first simply due to the 5000 engineers they have bleeding the shelves dry very quickly.

 

[Gasman77]

Why?

 

[nickso]

Why?

beacuse i don't know who they are.

 

[Gasman77]

Why?

beacuse i don't know who they are.

What details will you give that are sensitive?

 

[nickso]

Why?

beacuse i don't know who they are.

What details will you give that are sensitive?

name and address mainly.

 

[Gasman77]

Why?

beacuse i don't know who they are.

What details will you give that are sensitive?

name and address mainly.

What do you think they may do with that info?

 

[nickso]

Why?

beacuse i don't know who they are.

What details will you give that are sensitive?

name and address mainly.

What do you think they may do with that info?

i'd rather not say, i certainly don't want them having it anyway.

 

[Servotech]

A lot of these schemes are a bit like a used car warrenty, ie they cover everything that never seems to go wrong and exclude everything that does go wrong.

well **** me, you have BG nailed there. an amazing insight into the freely available terms and conditions of a contract held by thousands. i expect BG will now fold due to the weight of this statement and it's wide reaching implications.

I find your post to be both arrogant and patronising and hope for a subseqent improvement in all your future postings.




















Tithead!!!

 

[Servotech]

Servotech are you saying that making money is a scam? Or that independents don't make any money from boiler breakdowns?

No I'm just pasing on some advice.
If you don't take it that's up to you.

Infact I now recomend you pay for the top 5 star cover plan from BG that way you can contribute even more to Phil Bentlys present million pounds/year wage packet.

 

[nickso]

A lot of these schemes are a bit like a used car warrenty, ie they cover everything that never seems to go wrong and exclude everything that does go wrong.

well **** me, you have BG nailed there. an amazing insight into the freely available terms and conditions of a contract held by thousands. i expect BG will now fold due to the weight of this statement and it's wide reaching implications.

I find your post to be both arrogant and patronising and hope for a subseqent improvement in all your future postings.

Tithead!!!

At least you found something.

It was meant to be patronising. I hope you also improve your future postings, try using facts for example.

 

[Gasman77]

Why?

beacuse i don't know who they are.

What details will you give that are sensitive?

name and address mainly.

What do you think they may do with that info?

i'd rather not say, i certainly don't want them having it anyway.

Very mystic, and odd