***kin British Gas! Rant

[Martin]

Been having a new gas central heating installed over the past few days. The original system was installed by a complete Cowboy, and has been a right pain in the ... so as I'm now partially disabled and getting to the age where I need my comforts etc. I went to British Gas for new system; BIG MISTAKE! I don't believe I was stupid enough to actually believed their promises! BG sub'd it out to local installation firm who turned out to be.... well, to give you an idea, whenever one of them picked-up the circular saw, he went "Yee Haa", every ***kin time; I don't think I have ever heard anyone go "Yee Haa" and genuinely mean it! I had to ask then to fill in the holes they left in the brick-work (they still haven't done all or them), the house is a right mess ("We leave your home as you would!"!). The gas pipe has been run outside, even thought I asked them not to. In spite of repeated promises, the electrician still hasn't been to fit the lecky supply to the boiler, and the earth bond to gas pipe. So I still don't have any heating or hot water.

It may well be a good system, and I'd like the opportunity to find-out!

My advice, keep clear of BG, they are heavy with the promises "We charge more because we fit the best", "We leave your home as you would", but light on delivery!

[BigWallop]

A good example of how they've allowed the BG Group to go to pot. Complain as hard as you can, and don't back down no matter what. And also make them wait for the full payment and then ask them how it feels to be left with an incomplete job.

[Martin]

I terminated all my business with the AA last summer after they left me standing at the road side for well over 3 hours, and finally subed out the recover to a local company, who wanted to charge me £120 + Labour for a diesel stop valve that only required adjustment. And then for a car insurance quote £80 more than I could get through a local broker, for the same policy!

I think I need my head examined (again) after trusting Centrica!

Just wait till the quality guy comes in for his inspection next Tuesday....

[BigWallop]

Tuesday....

Oh boy !!! Would I love to be a fly on your wall. :-))

[Peter Ashby]

Once the AA demutualised there was no longer any reason to think of them as anything other than just another company and judge them accordingly. For the record when swmbo called them out last Friday due to a flat tyre (women!) the chap was apparently very nice, especially about the complications (don't ask).

Peter

[James Hart]

You don't need to be a fly on the wall to see what happens, from the sound of it you could stand outside and listen through one of the holes they left :)

[BillR]

Why do the BBC etc still turn to the AA when they want a view on motoring matter? Do they think the AA still represents motorists views when they are just another Centrica cash cow?

[Witchy]

Mrs Witchy just got a quote from the RAC to renew her subs....even after being with them for 9 years and having a no-call-out discount they still want over £160 for a year's membership.....THAT's a rip-off, I think.

cheers

witchy/binarydinosaurs

[Brian]

witchy,

Be careful about even thinking of cancelling the RAC subs. My wife was once trying to persuade me to cut the old motoring costs and cancel our subscription as we had not used it for god knows how many years.

No sooner than those fateful word were out of her mouth thab a car came screaming around the corner on a single lane country road, the back of beyond and after I had stopped him, we found out that he had shortened the front of my car by over a foot (Montego). This ultimately required a suspended recovery to the garage by the very company that I was being persuaded to leave.

To this day I believe that the great RAC god had been listening and sent that car to teach us a lesson - and to this day if we discuss leaving them we go into a soundproof room and certainly don't talk about it in the car - just in case LOLL>

Brian

[mike ring]

Don't start me on the BBC or the rant will go onfer weeks

mike r

[Witchy]

Heh! Sorry about that incident - I'm just glad nobody was hurt unless you 'had words' with the other driver :)

If there wasn't an alternative we may be stuck, but there are breakdown type agents such as More Than who will do everything the RAC does for more than a third of the RAC cost. This is also worth doing because Mrs Witchy only really drives to and from her job every day and doesn't do distance stuff; since I was made redundant nearly a year ago I don't do distance stuff either unless someone offers me a particularly interesting computer for my museum - Apple Lisa anyone?

Having priced some others up the RAC is well expensive.....

cheers

witchy/binarydinosaurs

[Richard Faulkner]

In article , Martin writes

Presumably you havent paid the full amount - If not, give them a chance to put things right when the quality control guy comes. If they dont - dont pay them and either:

let them sue you and let a judge decide.

or:

get someone in to put it right - pay them, and then pay BG the balance of their price.

If they sue you for the witheld money, let a judge decide.

If you have already paid - give them a chance to put it right and, if they dont, get it put right and sue them for the cost.

It may be a load of hassle, but i would go for this as a matter of principle.

[Brian]

quite agree about the expensive bit but I used to do a very high mileage and some sort of cover was essential. My bill runs at around £110 which includes a free hotel and car hire for a few days plus a number of other little benefits.

I have looked for a cheaper like for like cover but have yet to find one. The "problem" there is that the level of cover I now have has been "discontinued" (been on it for twenty years) and by time you add up all the extras with the other companies for the same cover level, I would have to pay around £140 - £160 a year.

To be fair to the RAC, over the years I have had to use their rescue and recovery services a few times and apart from the wait for them to get to me they have generally been very good.

After saying that, I hope the great RAC god will now forgive me :-)

Brian

[Dave Plowman]

Last year my old Rover decided to break its fan belt at Shepherd's Bush early one Saturday morning - about 00.30. It took almost half an hour to get through to the RAC, and then half an hour of holding on - expensive on a mobile. I was then asked the most stupid questions and told my car model didn't exist - despite it having been registered with them for the past 15 years or so... I was told it could take up to 120 minutes for them to get a breakdown to me. Not 2 hours, oh no, but 120 minutes. I also asked if they would bring a spare fan belt or a vehicle which could lift the car as being an auto I wasn't going to allow it to be towed on its wheels. I was told that decision would be made by the mechanic.

I waited for almost two hours with no sign of them and decided to drive home since there was now no traffic, and if I could keep up about 30 mph, the airflow would turn the fan and the waterpump, and I'd stop at the first sign of overheating. I got home in about 1/2 hour stopping twice.

I'd been in a while and was having a bedtime drink when they phoned my mobile saying they couldn't find me. Well over 3 hours from first trying to contact them. In Central London - not miles from anywhere.

I wrote to them complaining and got a reply about 6 weeks later. Their logged times were over an hour out from mine. So now I know how they say they will respond within a certain time on average - they lie through their teeth.

[Gnube]

I might well join in too! They "aint my mate" right now! ;O)

Take Care, Gnube {too thick for linux}

[Witchy]

Idiots - don't they realise that all mobile calls get logged?

w

[stuart noble]

BG recently told my elderly neighbour that she couldn't have a combi boiler because the pressure wasn't sufficient (despite the houses either side having them) and quoted £4K to replace the existing boiler. They seem to be the ultimate rogue traders.

[Dave Plowman]

In article , stuart noble boiler because the pressure wasn't sufficient (despite the houses either

It's got to be cheaper to simply replace a boiler in a working storage system than to convert to a combi. Wonder what they would have quoted for that?

I suppose it's just possible the flow of mains water was insufficient even although the neighbours were ok, but wouldn't the water board fix this for free?

[Paul Mc Cann]

Snip

snip

So at todays rates you have paid 20 x £110 = £2200.

Has it been worth this much to you?

I always consider insurance like gambling. The insurance company/bookie knows the odds better than the average punter and so are always going to win.

Our house insurance currently runs at £850 per year and we have been paying house insurance for over 35 years. In that time we have had one claim for carpet damage of a couple of thousand pounds. The insurance industry is well in pocket. Pity is I can't convinve swmbo

[Ed Sirett]

The amount of water that the supply Co. consider to be sufficient is not sufficient to run a combi boiler, or a storage system in a 3 storey house let alone an unvented storage system.