British Gas - a new height for customer non-service. Just venting.

Angilion

Angilion

Angilion

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I had a boiler service visit booked for tomorrow because I am off work this week.

I got a voicemail today telling me that it had been cancelled because British Gas don't have enough engineers to handle the workload, that a new appointment had been made for a random day in January and giving me a phone number to ring if that didn't work for me.

I work on demand 7 days a week, with no fixed days off. So there's no way I can know whether or not I'll be working on some random day a couple of months away unless I have booked a week off.

I phoned the number. I got 4 minutes of automated messages and repeated requirements to talk to a voice interpretation program that didn't work very well. I eventually wrestled my way through that to be told that they might answer my call if I stayed on hold for 30 minutes. By this time I was stubbornly insistent on doing this, so I stayed on hold. 6 minutes later British Gas just hung up on me. Not so much as a "hahaha sucker, go to hell!".

I'm paying for this. Paying every month. I'm now wondering why.
 
paradigm said:
It's times like this (and only times like this) that I actually log into social media platforms. Bad publicity on Twitter is more likely to get you a call back than sitting on hold for hours on end.

Works even better if you can spin it as "Young family going to freeze over winter due to ineptitude of <company name>"
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I'd rather have the clap than social media. The clap is curable. Also, I wouldn't lie to spin something. That's for dodgy politicians and tabloid rags.
 
Hades said:
We've noticed a major drop in service from them too. During March/April we had to call them several times and they repeatedly cancelled appointments and sent people rount without the part they previously promised to bring. Their excuse was COVID at the time but I can't imagine that's the reason now.
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They didn't bother with an excuse, but they did talk a lot about COVID so maybe they're just assuming that by now any mention of COVID serves as an excuse for everything.

I think I'm going to "speak" in the only effective way I can - find another company that provides boiler insurance and servicing. British Gas can't be the only one.
 
touch said:
If it's venting you should call their emergency gas leak number :p
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I once called the emergency gas leak number and was initially knocked back because I wasn't calling from my home (this was before mobiles became omnipresent). I explained that the first thing I did when I could smell gas was to leave the building because there was a risk. I tried not to sound like a parent telling a toddler something stunningly obvious to anyone who isn't a toddler. They then suggested that an engineer might be round in a couple of hours. That's when I hung up and called the fire brigade (who arrived in a few minutes and made the place safe).
 
theone8181 said:
Why? We've never had our boiler serviced, and it's cost ~£500 in repairs over 11 years. How much is your service contract every month?
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It's a gas boiler. I have a service contract primarily to get it serviced. Because it's a gas boiler. If things go wrong, they'll probably fail in a safe way. Probably. But maybe not. I don't cross my fingers with things that might kill me. I also have 3 carbon monoxide detectors. Why? Because I can't detect carbon monoxide. I doubt if I'll ever need them, but spending maybe £80 every 10 years is small price to pay in case I do.

My boiler service contract will also cover repairs and replacement, but that's not the main reason I have it. I'm not even sure how much it costs and that's not the point. I'm paying for peace of mind. Or I would be, if BG actually provided the service I'm paying for.
 
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