British Gas servicing ?

Pixbarmy

Pixbarmy

Messages
718
Name
Mike
Edit My Images
No
I've had BG for ages, with good service and no problems, however, over the past year, problems are surfacing. My last service was done (late) in May. The "service engineer" was in the house for about twenty minutes. He stuck the probe in the flue outlet and said that the CO levels were fine. He asked if all the radiators were working and checked the thermostat by turning it up and down. He then spent the rest of his time on his tablet and phone, gave me a service form, then replaced the out of date CO alarm. I asked if he was going to clean and lube the inside of the boiler and he said that they don't do that any more! He then left, to sit in his van, on the phone for another twenty minutes. I pay just under £32 a month for that!

I've just had call to say that the service is due. I said it wasn't as it was done in May. The lady insisted that it was due in the current "renewal year"! I told her that I didn't get my car serviced when it wasn't due and to ring back when it was.

Last week, I had to ring to get an engineer out to mum's boiler. The system to get to speak to someone takes ages on the phone and/or the internet ( I am no fool either!).

I'm thinking of going back to a local plumber. They seem to be more efficient and much easier to talk to a real person rather than a "bot"!

All views appreciated please. I am at the end of my tether!
 
We had a great deal with them. Think it was about £10 a month and our boiler needed to be cleaned each year else it broke. They fully rebuilt it too. But my local plumber did my new boiler for £60
 
£32/month?!

I pay £110 every year for a full service on my oil boiler which usually involves replacing the nozzle and filters as well as a general clean and test. Our local plumber (lives about 100m away) does it and is usually here for around 45 minutes.

I have no idea what’s involved in servicing a gas boiler but damned if I’d be paying £400 for a 20 minute visit.
 
Last edited:
I just had central heat installed by a local firm about 3 years ago no monthly charge just a yearly charge to service the boiler and gas fire of about £110 no problem booking juast a txt or email as a reminder then a quick call no queue and arrange a time and date with the owners wife. Plus I know where they live lol
 
We used to have BG service our boiler on a service plan. One year a young lad turned up to do the service - he very snottily ticked me off "you haven't had this serviced for a long time, have you?". He shut up pretty quickly when I told him it was done one year ago by BG.

We had a combined gas and water plan. Our downstairs loo stopped flushing so we called them in to fix it. Not an emergency they said because you have another toilet. No problem - I can see that. So three days later a gas engineer turned up, who seemed puzzled when I showed him to the toilet. "I'm a gas engineer - you'll have to get on to BG to tell them to send a plumber, but it's not an emergency so it'll be three days...". He got quite shirty when I pointed out that we'd already waited three days...

We moved to a local plumber shortly afterwards.
 
I had a yearly home emergency cover plan with Homeserve covering any gas, plumbing, electric and drainage issues including an annual boiler service, for about £28/month. On renewal they pretty much doubled the price so I switched to the cheapest at the time similar alternative, BG, same cover etc for £32/month.
When I had the Homeserve plan, I had to call them in for a pipe that started leaking and coming through the kitchen ceiling. They came quickly, did a great job cutting a neat ceiling hole and fixing the leak - in fact I had two similar leaks in the same year, same experience, so I was very happy with that. Their boiler service seemed very thorough too.
This year, I tried to arrange the BG service; I had the same problems getting through to a person I could speak to as the website and bot were just useless loops going nowhere. So when I did speak to this person, after a long wait, I was told it couldn't be done until after 1st March as all their engineers were busy fixing emergencies during the winter period.
I did at one point a few years ago use a local heating/plumbing firm, who did a service for £65, but that was it, and I wanted the emergency tradesman cover, hence the monthly payments. I wouldn't renew with BG though, if I wasn't moving house shortly.
 
Pixbarmy said:
The "service engineer" was in the house for about twenty minutes.
Click to expand...
I would definitely complain; if they don't know there's a problem they can't fix it.

The last British Gas visit we had turned into more of a whole morning job, when he found that the pressure valve was still leaking after a previous repair. As he had the parts on board, he did the job there and then. He said he didn't think it was his colleague's fault, as they'd had a couple of faulty spare parts and had been told to look out for such issues in particular. No additional charges and it's been fine ever since.

It only takes one engineer who's not up to standard to bring the business into disrepute and too often, the guys who "go above and beyond" don't get the praise they deserve.
 
Last edited:
AndrewFlannigan said:
I would definitely complain; if they don't know there's a problem they can't fix it.
Click to expand...
I mentioned all the above to the lady on the line and she said that I was disrespecting her and the company. I pointed out that I was the one being disrespected and that my tone and conversation was based on facts. I shall vote with my feet. Company profit and internal efficiency were being satisfied rather than the wishes of the customer.
 
I have a local company provide full cover 24h at 11.99/month for about 5 years now i binned homeserve and went with them
they came and "serviced" my boiler 4 years ago and the guy said servicing isn't really a thing with gas combis, they burn so clean there is nothing to do
he said main things to go wrong is diverter valved (mine has had 2) and the heat exchangers will gum up and that will just show up as lower temp hot water.
 
Problem with getting someone local for the service would be fine, but trying to find someone reliable to come out when you had an issue may be difficult.

My uncle was a corgi registered gas engineer and used to look after our boiler, when he retired we tried to get someone else to come and have a look at our boiler and they kept changing times, would not come or answer their phone. In the end we just went with BG.

I agree the service this year was not like the ones that we have had in the previous years.
 
The engineer said that the management was hopeless, compared with a few years ago. The "local lads" were being sent way out of their usual area, for "efficiency"! BG, commited to being environmentally friendly? How does that work? Next job for me, find a local, cancel my contract and move on. Enough is enough.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nod
ecoleman said:
£32/month?!

I pay £110 every year for a full service on my oil boiler which usually involves replacing the nozzle and filters as well as a general clean and test. Our local plumber (lives about 100m away) does it and is usually here for around 45 minutes.

I have no idea what’s involved in servicing a gas boiler but damned if I’d be paying £400 for a 20 minute visit.
Click to expand...
The £32 a month is presumably for insurance cover as well as the annual service?

Even so I wouldn’t touch BG…as the OP says, nowadays they just stick a gas analyser in the flue but don’t touch anything inside the boiler, even for a visual inspection or to clean and empty the condensate trap (if it’s a condensing boiler) which is the absolute bare minimum for a proper service.
 
As is always the case in these matters, different people have different experiences.

It would be interesting if large organisations were required to publish lists of complaints received along with their outcomes. Such a rule should persuade the organisations to take customer satisfaction more seriously than shareholder dividends or board members' pay.
 
sep9001 said:
Problem with getting someone local for the service would be fine, but trying to find someone reliable to come out when you had an issue may be difficult.

My uncle was a corgi registered gas engineer and used to look after our boiler, when he retired we tried to get someone else to come and have a look at our boiler and they kept changing times, would not come or answer their phone. In the end we just went with BG.

I agree the service this year was not like the ones that we have had in the previous years.
Click to expand...

when i say local i should have said they are an established company and I pay for 24hour callout in fact the last time i called they were there same day as there are only about 4 miles away in cleckheaton its 11.99 a month on DD

First Call Gas

www.first-callgas.co.uk www.first-callgas.co.uk
 
I was with Homeserve at £32.00/m then I replaced the boiler using a local well regarded company.
I now have a boiler with a 10 year manf warranty and pay £60/pa for service the installer who will come out and fix any probs within 24hrs
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
As is always the case in these matters, different people have different experiences.

It would be interesting if large organisations were required to publish lists of complaints received along with their outcomes. Such a rule should persuade the organisations to take customer satisfaction more seriously than shareholder dividends or board members' pay.
Click to expand...
You only have to see some of the complaints that Ryanair get to see it is often the customers fault. Like they turn up late for a flight and complain.

Also you would need to see complaints v transactions. 50 complaints on 100 sales is far worse than 500 complaints on 10,000 sales.
 
Pixbarmy said:
I'm thinking of going back to a local plumber. They seem to be more efficient and much easier to talk to a real person rather than a "bot"!

All views appreciated please. I am at the end of my tether!
Click to expand...
Ever since my father had Northern Gas install a new gas CH system in 1971, who then returned in 1972 to tell him the "cowboys that installed this CH, did so illegally under the Gas Act 1969" and needed rather expensive & unsightly remedial work, Northern Gas and their heirs haven't been allowed near an appliance belonging to any member of our family.

Local gas engineer for the win (there was no remedial work needed doing at the time).

When I moved into a new build and only BG would touch the boiler fitted - judging by the nightmare issues neighbours have had I did the right thing in switching it for a Worcester-Bosch before the service became due and gained the entire airing cupboard space back which was previously occupied entirely by the noisiest boiler imaginable.
 
I usually get local gas safe engineers to service the boiler, but last year after we'd moved house I was unable to reach the usual guy and BG had been offering a discounted charge for boiler service so I got them in....eventually......after they cancelled twice.
Anyway, dunno how long they were here but what I did notice was the certificate they left was one side of A4 with like 4 box ticks to dumb questions like -
BOILER NOT LEAKING.....tick
HOT WATER WORKING.....tick
RADIATORS REACHING TEMPERATURE .....tick
Can't remember the actual questions but they were something akin to those.
I do remember the certs from the gas safe engineers, they were 3 pages long and full of technical test results and measurements detailing gas/air mixtures, gas/water pressures, co emissions, and signatures to memberships of regulating bodies and wot not, the BG one was pizzle in comparison, probly not worth a fart.
So that's them knocked on the head..:)
 
I don't have a gas boiler but my concern would be on these plans if there is any pressure out on the engineers to say they can't repair it e.g. can't get the parts, not economically viable etc but let me quote for a new boiler
 
taxboy said:
I don't have a gas boiler but my concern would be on these plans if there is any pressure out on the engineers to say they can't repair it e.g. can't get the parts, not economically viable etc but let me quote for a new boiler
Click to expand...

i suppose people do have to be reasonable about there heating boilers now adays
firstly anything that is "non condensing" will be horribly inefficient and if you are battling on with one of them you're nuts
and enjoy burning money I will say that would be over 16 years (ish)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top