Awful customer care from British Gas

[felixthelogchopper]

Yesterday morning at 7am, a team turned at our home from British Gas to insulate the loft. Just as they were leaving at 7.45 I discovered water pouring through the bathroom ceiling, having come through from the loft via the main bedroom above. I quickly shut off all the water and they investigated, discovering that they had damaged the pipe between the hot water cylinder and the expansion tank in the loft. By 8am, they had rung their manager and we had been allocated priority emergency status as we had no water or heating. Eventually at 12.30pm, a plumber turned up from DynoRod who investigated and told us he couldn't do the repair as he was a subcontractor and wasn't allocated enough time to do it . He rang the guy who has been dealing with the claim who then arranged another visit, this time by a British Gas engineer, but this wouldn't be until 6pm. I then had a series of phone calls from various British Gas departments, all of whom had no idea of the actual details of the case. One department even thought that we wanted a quote for the repair?!?! Then at 5pm, I got a call to inform me that I wouldn't be getting a visit that day. My response was 'I think I will!' and I again phoned my point of contact to put them straight on the matter. I was then told I would receive a visit to do the repair that evening. Remember that our water had been turned off since 7.45am. When the British Gas engineer turned up at about 6.30, he finally found the source of the leak after speaking to the guy from Dynorod who attended at lunchtime and then told me that he only did heating, not plumbing, and that the original engineer should have done the repair. After he left, I had to spend the night without water or heating. Luckily, we have an open fire so I slept in the living room on the sofa after filling up a couple of water cans from my neighbour's tap. I had persuaded my partner to go to her parents' house as there was no point in us both being there.I'm now waiting for the British Gas office to open at 8am so I can really give them the good news. I just thought I would post this as both a warning to anybody who is wasting their money on Emergency Cover with British Gas and an early apology to anyone within a 1 mile radius of Leigh on Sea for the language I may end up using.

[Stubby]

Yopu curse away bud . That is well bad . You couldn't make it up . Compensation !

[NoRush]

Wouldnt take cover out with any of them big firms total waste of money. We used to pay monthly so my gran would be covered incase anything happened. They messed up the payment once just when my gran need them. Refused to come out even though we had payed for 2 years and she had no heating. We now know a very good and friendly gas fitter/plumber comes out when ever we need him. Hope you get it sorted and get some comp out of them. Keep a record of all your dealings with then you may get on Watch Dog.

[penfold]

Shouldn't this have gone in the watch out theres a thief about thread because that is all BG are nowadays. Sorry to hear this Felix, hope you get it sorted quickly.

[felixthelogchopper]

Wouldnt take cover out with any of them big firms total waste of money. We used to pay monthly so my gran would be covered incase anything happened. They messed up the payment once just when my gran need them. Refused to come out even though we had payed for 2 years and she had no heating. We now know a very good and friendly gas fitter/plumber comes out when ever we need him. Hope you get it sorted and get some comp out of them. Keep a record of all your dealings with then you may get on Watch Dog.

 

I don't have cover with them but this is their attempt at dealing with the damage caused by their insulation team's negligence and incompetence. So far they are looking at 2 ceilings, redecorating bedroom and bathroom, 2 days loss of earnings for me and compensation for the inconvenience once they have actually done the repair.

[Stubby]

I don't have cover with them but this is their attempt at dealing with the damage caused by their insulation team's negligence and incompetence. So far they are looking at 2 ceilings, redecorating bedroom and bathroom, 2 days loss of earnings for me and compensation for the inconvenience once they have actually done the repair.

 

That's how I see it felix .

[felixthelogchopper]

Now they think that after a delay of 24hrs from the initial problem and their 2 abortive attempts at fixing it, I should just get the Yellow Pages and pick a random plumber to fix it, pay them myself and then get my money back from British Gas. The guy I was talking to seemed quite surprised when I told him 'British Gas sodded it up, British Gas can fix it'.

[normandylumberjack]

Have you got onto your house insurance people? They may put a rocket up their arse? Hope this sorts out fast for you.

[felixthelogchopper]

Have you got onto your house insurance people? They may put a rocket up their arse? Hope this sorts out fast for you.

 

Good thinking, Batman.

[Monikieman]

I just can't believe all of the problems you've had.

 

Surely the man in the wee van will just float down from the sky at a minutes notice and fix everything!

 

Or is that a different TV advert!

 

I think a well written detailed letter and stick it out all the way for compensation.

 

Best of luck. Hope you get as much as you can. Oh, have you paid for the loft insulation?