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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think Scottish Power Boiler Cover is a complete rip off- avoid

10 replies

UncannyCat · 13/04/2015 20:37

Hi, I was wondering if anyone else has found the Scottish Power Boiler Cover to be appalling.

I had a boiler service contract with them so when my boiler started leaking slightly I called them about it. An engineer came out and I was told that the "diverter valve" in my boiler needed to be replaced and that they would order and fit a new one. However, after two months of repeated phone calls from me and a series of errors on their part (valve not ordered or engineer arriving with an incorrect valve), it still hadn't been replaced. The leak had become much more severe with litres of water pouring out every day and I was concerned that my boiler was becoming permanently damaged. The experience was made all the more frustrating by the fact that when I phoned their call centre they would say that someone from the mythical “scheduling team” would phone me back to arrange an engineer visit but this didn’t happen.

At the end of January, I finally received a phone call from Scottish Power saying that an engineer would come out to replace the valve on the morning of January 30th. However, nobody came!

As I no longer had any faith in Scottish Power and I was very concerned about potential damage to the boiler, I phoned a local plumber who replaced the valve for me the following day (!) at a cost of £175.

Despite their terrible service, Scottish Power refuse to even refund the cost of the valve. Apparently their engineer turned up in the evening of January 30th (despite me telling them that I couldn't be there after 4 p.m.) and because I wasn't there to "give them access" at this non arranged time it is my fault they didn’t fix the boiler. The fact that I had made it very clear that I would only be at home until 4 p.m. and the fact that I had already waited for two months for them to replace the valve is irrelevant it seems.

I strongly advice everyone to avoid taking this so called boiler cover as it is worse than useless. Thanks to them, my youngish boiler is now like a rusty old one and I am out of pocket.

OP posts:
AntiHop · 13/04/2015 20:44

That's awful. Keep complaining until they compensate you. I think these kind of contracts are fraught with problems. I've had bad experiences with British gas too. But some good experiences with helpful engineers.

UncannyCat · 13/04/2015 21:04

I don't think they will compensate me however much I complain unfortunately unless I take them to court which is a lot of hassle.

I get the impression that so many people complain that one more dissatisfied customer doesn't make any difference to them. In fact the person I spoke to today seemed to take great delight in telling me that the energy ombudsman doesn't deal with boiler care complaints!

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WannabeLaraCroft · 13/04/2015 22:15

My god that's awful customer service!

At least you managed to get it fixed in the end, but it should never have come to that. Really makes you wonder if all the protection crap is worth it, and in the end they deliberately fanny about so that you get someone else to do it for you and they don't have to do a thing!

UncannyCat · 13/04/2015 22:29

Yes they were so incompetent it is hard to believe that it wasn't deliberate. The local plumber said that the leaky valve is a common problem and very easy to fix. He couldn't understand why Scottish Power seemed incapable of sorting it out.

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Pyjamaschocolateandwine · 13/04/2015 22:41

Hi op my friend had an abysmal customer service with them.

Avoid like the plague.

The tradedmen were totally clueless and left the boiler in a dangerous state. After a month of botched visits.

She paid a professional to
Sort and gave them the Bill.

Shocking service.

Pyjamaschocolateandwine · 13/04/2015 22:43

She's still waiting compensation! Dreadful.

Pyjamaschocolateandwine · 13/04/2015 22:44

Ombudsman?

EstRusMum · 13/04/2015 22:46

I would complain on Twitter or Facebook. That usually gets them moving.

Urbanvoltaire · 13/04/2015 22:53

Contact ofgem with the details in the first instance. Then ask scottish power for their complaints dept and tell them you've been onto ofgem.

Try this company for future once you've cancelled scottish power -

www.gilliesgas.co.uk

Hope thus helps!

UncannyCat · 14/04/2015 08:56

Hi, yes I think I will try complaining via twitter or facebook. Unfortunately Scottish Power boilercare cover isn't covered by Ofgem (they took great delight in telling me this even though I hadn't mentioned Ofgem myself).

My experience makes me feel that their claim that their cover offers "peace of mind" is almost fraudulent as they didn't solve the problem after two months whereas phoning local plumbers resulted in the problem being fixed the next day.

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