To give the poor phone rep at British Gas hell

[santascupcakes]

Well I am going to vent so I dont do just that but I am fuming.

On Friday my boiler switched itself off. I tried to switch it off and it started to shake and made a huge noises like a truck or moped starting up. I phoned BG explaining I had young children including a newborn and they said someone would be out saturday 8-6pm.

No-one came. On saturday we had snow and it is about 1 inch deep. I phoned up at 6pm and after 3 hours of trying to get through, they apologised but said it would now be Monday between 8 & 6pm. And that is priority.

Still no visit and they have 1 hour left. Phonelines are jammed.

I have had NO hot water or heating since friday and my house now feels damp as well as cold.

BTW I pay for homecall too. The snow is bad but this is terrible.

Ohhh knock knock at door

Be polite to the person at the end of the phone - it is not their fault.

Did you get sorted?

You see, it was the reverse-jinxing from your posting here -- well done!

You've probably got a frozen pipe somewhere. Any of the pipes outside?

Hope the guy arrived and sorted it

Our one year old boiler (just out of guarantee of course) cut out today and wouldn't restart - making loud noises like yours. Turns out the pipe putside was frozen. DH defrosted it and boiler happily working again. Just as well as britih gas engineers only coming out if you are a priority customer and our co op insurance engineers (whom we rang at 2pm) will 'be in touch within 24 hours and cannopt say when they can get out to fix it as they are very busy' - even though we have two small children (inc a baby). Worst time of year for a boiler to cut out!

sorry for typos, was trying out all the christmas drinks in case they had gone off (ahem)

Check out your local heating engineers. BG are too big to care when you really need them. My local guys fixed a problem unrelated to the heating system on Saturday - busiest day they'd had in 25 years, but they still found time to fit me in - came and looked and fixed within 3 hours. Service? You bet!

AGree with elbow. See if you have a local guy who people would recommend to you.

I LOVE my local heating bloke. So cheap, so helpful, so available.

My mum is 70 and had the same problem with her boiler. So far, BG have refused to come out to her and told her to sort it herself, by climbing up a ladder to a first floor window.

Sadly, none of us live close - we've all been called away through work/family etc, she's lived in the same house for 50 years. When she explained this to the phone person she was told to go and find a friendly neighbour. The lady also very kindly explained how my 70 year old mother could go to the DIY centre in 6 inches of snow and then insulate her pipe which comes out of the 1st floor all the way to the ground. She then spent 2 hours pouring kettles of hot water out of an upstairs window over the pipe, and her boiler is now working again, but she's panicing over it happening again.

If it does happen again she has strict instructions to phone me and I will chase up BG and ask them how they will explain any deaths caused by their attitude!

yabu, its not the persons fault that answers the phone. I work for a heating company (not bg) and get sick of people ranting at me when all im trying to do is get something sorted for them. Please appreciate that with weather conditions like this the demand for heating engineers is very high. Unless your in a contract with bg then id recommend trying a local company.

I think most people referred to in this thread DO have a contract with BG and this is the treatment they are getting. My mum has a contract with BG Homecare.

extending, it still doesn't justify having a go at a telephone operative though, even if you do have a contract.

Who exactly do you have a go at then? When you're cold and desperate? At least the phone operative has some control ie passing up the line, rather than just trotting out the same patter!

The point is that if you pay to be a british gas priority customer then they guarantee to come out to you within 24 hours so they are actually breaking their promise.