or attempted to be.  by big reputable companies.

I’ve been without heating and hot water a week waiting for gas engineer on a fixed price job.  he comes tells me the flue is knackered needs to be replaced at a cost of £900 which is not covered.  They can’t do the job for another 2 weeks…

local bloke from two streets away who is a valiant fitter.  turns up same day opens flue replaces a single.perished seal and charges £60 all tested and up and running again.

I mean wtf.  big reputable company not only trying to.rip me off but also happy for my family (3 and 2 yr old) to be freezing and without hot water for 3 weeks….

shall be complaining tomorrow….

Not British Gas was it?

Not an excuse but my mate works for them as a fitter/installer/service person. They are all on the clock per job and have something like 20 minutes per site. Seems mental but they are now all measured by volume of visits and not making sure the job is done properly. If the guy is down on numbers the replacement is probably ‘easier’ as everything is replaced rather than having to find the part. Giving they are now numbers-based for results, it is no wonder the ‘easy’ option for them costs an arm-and-a-leg for the customer.

I’m not suggesting he did his best, with that story I’d also be raging as it most certainly sounds like they are out to rip you off.

It can be deliberate rip off or more that engineers/mechanics aren’t taught to fix things but just diagnose a problem and swap out a whole component as the solution.

It means a call out to diagnose, type in to a computer which tells them what the problem is, then order the component which takes a few weeks, and return to replace. Instead of someone who actually knows what they’re doing, diagnose, fix with a small component they got in the van and job done.

It’s made worse by manufacturers not doing small components. Like with TVs it’s just replace whole motherboards instead of replace a part as you can’t get the individual parts.

On the subject of boiler “servicing” though, in my experience with a certain company, they don’t service them. They wouldn’t know how. They are taught to run through inspection checks, tick boxes and go away. If things fail, they look it up on a computer and it tells them what to order to “fix” it. They don’t clean stuff out or replace things as a preventative measure.

Just had the expansion tank fail on ours, diagnosed over the phone by our friendly plumber who has 2 week waiting list. New tank from ebay for £30, including next day delivery, instead of £110 from the local merchant. Result.

As for servicing, the newer combi are fairly simple when opened up, there’s only one part of the combustion chamber that needs cleaning and the rest of the parts, not much is serviceable or repairable.

Are you suggesting that we should all be opening up our boilers and giving them a quick clean out Neil???

Not BG, SSE

The local guy took one look at the flue and opened up the 90 degree bend and that was where it had failed.  Approx 15mins of being here I would say.

In SSE’s defence the local guy did say it was an unusual flue layout (very long) and that I was likely to have to replace that seal again.

However he recommended a change of flue position to be much shorter and out the roof for about a third of the cost – rather than exactly the same run SSE recommended – despite me asking several times if there was not a better way to do it.  I think like said above they do not try to repair they just buy brand new parts and fit.  A problem with the flue means the whole lot needs doing when in reality is was a £2 bit of rubber…

Anyway I’m now +1 useful local contact.  So I’m happy about that.  And lesson learnt to avoid these companies in the future

Are you suggesting that we should all be opening up our boilers and giving them a quick clean out Neil???

No, just replying to the last para of deadkenny’s post without bothering to quote.

I stay away from fixed price; you’ve already paid, so there’s less incentive for them to do anything. The flexibility to go to whoever is available and appropriate is valuable. Like all insurance, it’s just averaging the risk, plus a profit for them; unless you know you’re going to make more claims than average, you’ll lose in the medium and long term.

Are you suggesting that we should all be opening up our boilers and giving them a quick clean out Neil???

Good reminder, I haven’t done ours in years!

Are you suggesting that we should all be opening up our boilers and giving them a quick clean out Neil???

Yeah of course he is! Then after that he’s going to tell you to put your fingers in the fire, which you’ll obviously do as well 🙄

Sweet! Mamma said neverto put my fingers in no flames, but if strangers on the internet say it’s okay I’m going for it.

Hey, the price for those cans of irn bru was prominently displayed and the postage was free buddy!

I guess that’s the difference between an actual engineer and someone who’s just a fitter.

Hard to find possibly in some areas, but a good local plumber with a good few years of experience is an invaluable contact to have.

As mentioned above, with fixed price contracts they have no incentive at all to actually fix anything, diagnosing an issue that requires further payment is a far better option.

Not saying they are ripping people off, but a good plumber with a good reputation, is a far better option in my opinion.

And if you can find one that does hundreds of Landlords Checks every year, they are likely to be making so much easy money from that, they will not need to inflate your fix beyond what’s actually needed 😂👍

conversely, having been let down by a local plumber, again, as a last resort i got vailant out to my boiler on their fixed price fix. the chap who came out basically ended up replacing pretty much every part he couldn’t remove and clean, did a very thorough job, and despite telling me he didn’t think there was much life left in the thing ( over 12 years old, rarely serviced ), couldn’t do enough for me. even called and asked if he could come back later that day, because he had a nagging feeling he hadn’t torqued up some bolts.

i eventually managed to get ( a different ) local plumber out to do some other work i needed done, but it was like pulling teeth. i had to phone him several times, and having had him out in the end he did great work, but i messaged him last week to ask him when would be convenient to pop round with some money, he hasn’t replied!

plumbers are a different breed. 🙂

I guess that’s the difference between an actual engineer and someone who’s just a fitter.

So true, but that’s not what it says on their badge and if you are caught even mouthing those words

I guess that’s the difference between an actual engineer and someone who’s just a fitter.

I upset British Gas person at a government meeting by questioning her continual use of the term “engineer” by asking her what professional qualifications they had to merit the use of the term and saying it was a bit like calling a nurse a doctor because they both worked in a hospital.

Well full refund and apology so I’m not too out of pocket just a good few hours on hold, cold when we didn’t need to be and a bunch of unneeded stress.  Wife wanted me to have a good rant at a manager but I can’t see that would have made any difference

I upset British Gas person at a government meeting by questioning her continual use of the term “engineer” by asking her what professional qualifications they had to merit the use of the term and saying it was a bit like calling a nurse a doctor because they both worked in a hospital.

If the use of the term “engineer” was actually protected or regulated in the UK, then you may have had a point.

As it isn’t though, rather than being “upset” she was probably just frustrated by the pointless (and incorrect) pedantry derailing whatever was being discussed 👍