British Gas Homecare

[offroader]

I would question why BG had to come out 10 times in two years after fitting a combi?

I'm guessing its a rubbish combi, lol.

Seriously though, there have been a couple of times we've had to call them back cos once they'd fixed one thing another went wrong, the last engineer to come out said they dont fit this one anymore cos of the callbacks!

The first ever problem with it was 2 days after they fitted it, when a solder joint gave out and leaked everywhere! The guy who fixed that got his blow torch too near the overflow, which he bodged up with a bit of plumbers mait or something, so that ended up leaking, another call out!

Then another leak when a washer went awol! The rest as they say is history, couple of break downs requiring parts.

And with all that I wish we never got rid of the tank, hot waters never been the same, lol.

 

[chrishutt]

I will brace myself for a powerflush from my purse then.

God, BG must love you. Look, BG are much more expensive than anyone else (except the outright rip-off merchants) 'cus they've got loads of suits with Business Studies degrees to support. If you really need a power flush get it done for £300 or less with an independent heating engineer.

 

[cutiecat]

I was kidding Chris. I have taken out the cover so they can fix the things that they will cover. For any additional work I will get them to quote and then ask other heating engineers. I am not a total muppet with a bottomless pit of a purse.

 

[scatmanjohn]

cutiecat wrote:

I have taken out the cover so they can fix the things that they will cover

If you tell them about all these faults on your initial inpection they will charge you for each fault before accepting you on contract.

Beware

 

[rayman66666]

If you tell them about all these faults on your initial inpection they will charge you for each fault before accepting you on contract.

Beware[/quote]

this isnt quite true, when we come for a first inspection we can fix faults as long as the value of the part(s) isnt more than about £60 we,ll fix it and we dont charge labour, and i read into the powerflushing earlier, when a system is believed to need a flush the water is sampled to prove that it needs a flush as for the price it is expensive but if you get leaks and things it wont cost you any more and it will be guaranteed for the life of the system. With 6 million customers on contract we must be doing something right. im not saying we,re good because there are some **** engineers but i think the cover has to suit who ever it is getting it because i go to a lot of houses where the gas valve has gone on a first visit and they try saying it was fine before we arrived!

 

[DP]

Rayman, an average plumber need know nothing about the boiler that he is fitting. His knowledge need only be confined to pipes and flue that are to terminate on the boiler.

I was called to a house where a Netaheat was lying on the floor in bits. This boiler was working as expected week before (when I was called to install a new cooker). The engineer told the client he needed a new boiler as parts were no longer available. Surprise, surprise, I could print a three page list of parts (all Potty one at that) for said boiler.

If you change hundreds of parts everyday, it does not make you a brilliant engineer (if you cannot diagnose a fault), only adept at changing parts which anyone can do.

I am sure there are BG engineers who are very good. Then there are independent boiler faultsmen out there who can I am sure provide superlative service. It goes without saying, there are bad engineer who are unable to carry out any given task with any degree of competence (BG included)

 

[rayman66666]

i agree many engineers just replace parts till it works ive worked with some of them, every BG engineer has fault finding software and all info on their laptop for nearly every boiler ever made and some of them who are still unsure whats wrong just order loads of parts and fit them till it works, this isnt really the way i,d do it cos you should be able to find what the fault is within minutes if youve got any sense.

 

[chrishutt]

order loads of parts and fit them till it works

So what happens to all the unnecessary parts - Ebay?

 

[scatmanjohn]

rayman66666 wrote:

this isnt quite true, when we come for a first inspection we can fix faults as long as the value of the part(s) isnt more than about £60

This isn't quite true either (or so my source says)

Whats a 30/30 job?

 

[rayman66666]

unnecessary parts are sent back to the BG parts centre, as for the "source" you have all areas have different ways of doing things and thats the way we work. 30/30 jobs are things like thermistors, diverter diaphragms, seals the list is endless.

 

[ollski]

Whats a 30/30 job?

£30 or 30 minutes for free.

 

[rayman66666]

all parts, labour isnt charged.

 

[scatmanjohn]

So is it £30 or £60?

 

[rayman66666]

30/30 job could be two parts costing £30 each as long as it isnt any more to be fixed it isnt usually charged for.

 

[ollski]

Its 30 but even BG allow some room for discretion