British Gas servicing

[Robert Tyrrell]

Don't want to put this on the general forum in case anyone on here is, or is related to, a BG engineer.

We moved into our house 10 years ago and have always had a BG service contract as the wife used to work for BG, then NG, before she took early retirement.
for eight of those ten years I was working as a teacher, but now have gone back to what I used to do and have recently qualified as Gas Safe so I cancelled the service contract with BG and decided to do my own servicing.
Yesterday I serviced our boiler (Range Powermax 155x) and it took 2.5 hours to do it (Bi-annual service) as required by the MI.
BG always took around 20 minutes to service the boiler and, after reading the MI, I have noted that it's never been serviced properly in the 10 years we've been using it.
I have [watched] every service that was done, being previously in the trade and interested in the developments, so I know that they never once removed the burner or replaced the burner gasket, which is required on the annual service.
During my service I noted that two of the baffles had corroded so much that they are too far down the HE tubes to remove and I cannot get them out via the sump plate either.
on reflection it appears that BG only ever checked the programmer controls and the WP. only one engineer actually went into the garden to look at the meter or look in the loft to check the flue but none of them removed the cover on the flue in the boiler cupboard to check the upstand.

My question is, after the lengthy description of how bad the servicing was, is how do I get my money back from BG for the last 10 years of poor service, especially bearing in mind that I am probably going to have to replace the boiler before its' time is due owing to the poor (Read non existent) servicing.

 

[Ermintrude]

That's usual for NG

 

[mountainman]

I agree that a full service will take a considerable amount of time.
The problem is that the allocated time for the job will be far less than the required time to do the job as per MI's.
Now that you are back on the tools; you may find customers reluctant to pay 2.5hours labour plus materials for a boiler service.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

+1 bg will always cut things off there stnd service is stick the fga in and maybe top up the pressure they don't even take the case off

 

[Robert Tyrrell]

you may find customers reluctant to pay 2.5hours labour plus materials for a boiler service.

I tell them first that I'm going to do a proper service as per MI, and how long it will take/cost. If they don't like it they can always get a cowboy and risk their safety/bank balance when it all goes wrong.
I do the same with oil and I've had very few customers that decline my services

 

[Robert Tyrrell]

you may find customers reluctant to pay 2.5hours labour plus materials for a boiler service.

I tell them first that I'm going to do a proper service as per MI, and how long it will take/cost. If they don't like it they can always get a cowboy and risk their safety/bank balance when it all goes wrong.
I do the same with oil and I've had very few customers that decline my services

 

[gassafe]

Sorry but if you knew they spending 20 minutes at the property then you must have known what kind of service you were getting ( or weren't as it turns out )

The powermax is one of those boilers that everyone hates, nobody wants to take on & I doubt very much BG will warrant a refund...

 

[hammers4spanner]

I had a customer other week who got some money back after i picked up defects .

She never got much but some from what i gather but some is better than none.

 

[plumbdoctor]

I think if you read Bg terms and conditions it's not a service they are doing its called a safety check or something which is basically a lgsc without the tightness test. Many people have tried to argue this with Bg

 

[AWheating]

Part of a safety check on these would be to inspect the baffles etc..... There's a tech bulletin on them I think from memory.

BG engineers seem to more like sales men from my experiences. They are not all bad guys, far from it, just the nature of there job.

 

[goz666]

Rip it out fella.........have a pump on order for a Range Powermax 155x. Nobody else local to me would even look at it for him saying its an obsolete boiler.
Must admit, I've half convinced him to rip it out this winter and let me put a decent combi in.

Edited to Add : The replacement Wilo pump is on order at £190.

 

[AWheating]

Speaking of BG had a customer that had a WB junior fitted by BG and even serviced by them. His pressure kept dropping and he has called them out a few times. He was told he had a leak on the system. It turned out the expansion vessel was not connected up inside the boiler. Feekin twonks.

 

[Geyser]

Powermax are dogdy and have to very thorough with them. I'm sure there was deaths from bg serviced one once! burner gasket leaks and needs changing, turbulators nightmare to get out and flue rots out. Its been a while but I'm sure it took me about 3hrs to service

 

[firemant]

BG do a "generic service". : case off / not necessarily inner cover / BP or GR / FGA./ visual on aiiring cupboard. OF appliances should have a "proper" strip down. Takes longer too input on laptop. NO TT.

Contractors get paid (18 months ago) £20.02 per appliance inc deisel, expenses and extensive travel time. About 10% less via agency and 10% more for London weighting. Direct labour expected to do 8 jobs a day. So a powermax will never get serviced properly.

 

[dave1]

BG do a "generic service". : case off / not necessarily inner cover / BP or GR / FGA./ visual on aiiring cupboard. OF appliances should have a "proper" strip down. Takes longer too input on laptop. NO TT.

Contractors get paid (18 months ago) £20.02 per appliance inc deisel, expenses and extensive travel time. About 10% less via agency and 10% more for London weighting. Direct labour expected to do 8 jobs a day. So a powermax will never get serviced properly.

It's the same with most social housing contracts, nothing gets serviced properly and rates vary between 17-21 per job

 

[hammers4spanner]

Cant remember what i use to get from Mears but think it was around 18-19 and they would have you travelling around all over .

 

[bewsh]

You took the sump off? You must have had fun getting that back on!

You can get some long double hinged pliers which work a treat to get baffles out of them.

 

[Robert Tyrrell]

Sorry but if you knew they spending 20 minutes at the property then you must have known what kind of service you were getting ( or weren't as it turns out )

The powermax is one of those boilers that everyone hates, nobody wants to take on & I doubt very much BG will warrant a refund...

At the time, I wasn't Gas Safe and hadn't worked on anything to do with gas for 25 years so I had no way of knowing that they weren't doing things correctly. Now that I can work on gas I do it properly and I expect the same from anyone else, especially a major company like BG.
BTW - I didn't find it a particularly onerous job to service it. It's just a pain that I couldn't remove the broken baffles (2 off) but at least it isn't making the high pitched whistling sound now, and each of the BG engineers told me that it was a normal thing with these boilers. All it needed was a good clean out and the broken bits of baffle removing (Those that I could get to that is.

 

[Robert Tyrrell]

I think if you read Bg terms and conditions it's not a service they are doing its called a safety check or something which is basically a lgsc without the tightness test. Many people have tried to argue this with Bg

All their adverts say 'Servicing from £****" so I think that the product they are supplying is a service, especially as the engineer always stated that he was there to carry out the annual service of the gas boiler.

 

[Robert Tyrrell]

All these comment regarding how hard it is to complete a service in the time allowed by BG and other contractors are all well and good but in the end the contractor, or BG operative is breaking the law by not servicing to the MI and if something goes wrong you can bet it won't be the directors of the company taking the blame.
I paid BG a monthly amount of money every month for 10 years assuming, because I knew no better at the time, that they were completing a proper service. It states in the MI that the burner must be removed and the gasket replaced when a service is carried out. If BG didn't do this then they are breaking their agreement with me so I should get a refund.
If their 'Agreement' states that it's only a safety check then I was mis sold because I was most definitely sold it as an annual service and breakdown policy.
If they don't allow their engineers enough time to service my boiler properly then that's their problem and not mine. When you pay for your car to be serviced and subsequently discover that they haven't replaced the oil & filter I think that you'd be asking for a refund as well - the same principal applies only it's more dangerous with gas.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

Don't want to put this on the general forum in case anyone on here is, or is related to, a BG engineer.

We moved into our house 10 years ago and have always had a BG service contract as the wife used to work for BG, then NG, before she took early retirement.
for eight of those ten years I was working as a teacher, but now have gone back to what I used to do and have recently qualified as Gas Safe so I cancelled the service contract with BG and decided to do my own servicing.
Yesterday I serviced our boiler (Range Powermax 155x) and it took 2.5 hours to do it (Bi-annual service) as required by the MI.
BG always took around 20 minutes to service the boiler and, after reading the MI, I have noted that it's never been serviced properly in the 10 years we've been using it.
I have [watched] every service that was done, being previously in the trade and interested in the developments, so I know that they never once removed the burner or replaced the burner gasket, which is required on the annual service.
During my service I noted that two of the baffles had corroded so much that they are too far down the HE tubes to remove and I cannot get them out via the sump plate either.
on reflection it appears that BG only ever checked the programmer controls and the WP. only one engineer actually went into the garden to look at the meter or look in the loft to check the flue but none of them removed the cover on the flue in the boiler cupboard to check the upstand.

My question is, after the lengthy description of how bad the servicing was, is how do I get my money back from BG for the last 10 years of poor service, especially bearing in mind that I am probably going to have to replace the boiler before its' time is due owing to the poor (Read non existent) servicing.

get a cleaning brush,cut a bit off the end and make a tight hook,wind it round the baffle from the top and it should pull out

 

[solutions]

You took the sump off? You must have had fun getting that back on!

You can get some long double hinged pliers which work a treat to get baffles out of them.

I use sparkys cable feeding rods to hook at the baffles takes seconds.

 

[Aquazone]

All these comment regarding how hard it is to complete a service in the time allowed by BG and other contractors are all well and good but in the end the contractor, or BG operative is breaking the law by not servicing to the MI and if something goes wrong you can bet it won't be the directors of the company taking the blame.

BG are not breaking any laws, as they will always cover basic safety checks. This issue has recently been highlighted by a Which? Report into servicing which stated that amongst other companies BG didn't service to MI but always completed the bare minimum safety checks.

I'm afraid BG set their own policies and procedures, just look at the whole Isar PCB issue.

I think your right in the wider point your making, that a service should be completed as per MI, but I think your weeing into the wind trying to get a refund.. Better to take it on the chin and do what all other gas engineers do..........never service their own boilers and replace it with whatever is lying about when it dies on its knees :innocent:

 

[solutions]

BG are not breaking any laws, as they will always cover basic safety checks. This issue has recently been highlighted by a Which? Report into servicing which stated that amongst other companies BG didn't service to MI but always completed the bare minimum safety checks.

I'm afraid BG set their own policies and procedures, just look at the whole Isar PCB issue.

I think your right in the wider point your making, that a service should be completed as per MI, but I think your weeing into the wind trying to get a refund.. Better to take it on the chin and do what all other gas engineers do..........never service their own boilers and replace it with whatever is lying about when it dies on its knees :innocent:

So true.... lol.