British Gas HomeCare Ads Banned

[Rod]

British Gas adverts for what it claims is a 365-days-a-year home maintenance service have been banned by a watchdog.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said customers might not get a visit from an engineer on weekends or public holidays because of staff cuts.

The TV and radio commercials said the HomeCare service was "there for you 365 days a year" but the ASA ruled that the ads were "misleading".

British Gas said it was disappointed by the decision and it planned an appeal.

In its verdict, the ASA said: "We concluded that, without qualification to make clear that a skeleton service operated at weekends and on public holidays, the claim 'HomeCare is there for you 365 days a year' could mislead."

Rest of story at

[Adrian]

Rod gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I must have imagined getting a visit from them, three hours after the initial phone call, on a Saturday, a month or so back.

[Mark]

When I used them many years ago their initial call out time was great. It's a shame it always took many visits before they actually fixed the problem. Once it took 13!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That was my brother's experience too. Fitters who hadn't a clue about fixing the actual fault so used the shotgun approach when it came to the electronics in the boiler. None of which they actually carried with them.

[Adrian]

"Dave Plowman (News)" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

The fitter diagnosed the fault in about ten minutes, didn't have the part, but arranged it and a return visit for the Tuesday - and temporarily got the boiler back into service there and then. He was only here about 30min total.