The RAC will do exactly the same in the wrong circumstances. Neither organisation seems to have any consistent set of size/ weight standards. Both organisations will consistently tell you the other does *not* recover your vehicle. Earlier this year the AA happily recovered my LDV400 LWB 3.5 tonner without demur. They always sub out van recovery anyway, and the subbie invariably sends at least a 10 tonner. Last RAC rep trying to get me to switch said I should do so because AA wouldn't touch it and they would.
What Andy says. Some of the stunts they pull are bordering on the criminal and certainly way beyond the ethical. BG is *not* somebody I want to give my money to again.
Nono, it's because they're the biggest name in the market and more people use them.
If I go "Billy Jones, the local plumber, short-changed me!" none of you are going to give a stuff since you're unlikely to ever use him. By "bleating on" about BG's bad practice, we exercise our rights as dissatisfied customers by discouraging friends and others from making the same mistakes we did.
Fortunately, the average plumbing clue in here is higher than in yer average cross-section of the populace so we're more likely to *know* that powerflushing is often a con and that paying three grand to replace a gas boiler is NOT good value.
Exactly,freedon of choice. A practice I'd encourage.
I totally agree with you. Powerfulshing is a cash cow,i often read how profitable it is in the trade mags. Cures the symptoms,not the cuase,just like the NHS. I visited a BG boiler change the other day,pipework was like a Euphonium that had been run over by a car,boiler depressurising,wouldnt work,its amazing what the public put up with. Cards on table,i used to work for BG when it was a better and professional operation which employed competent engineers. Oh but that was a while ago now..!
When publicly owned the service side was only meant to draw even. It was a "service", as the main profit was from the sale of gas. An emergency gas escape call would be the first half hour free, if chargeable to the customer. In the 1960s, "all", cooker servicing was free labour (depending on area board).
How things change. Maggie, Maggie, Maggie...you all know the rest.
They would only employ people who had a City & Guilds in gas engineering. Now you could be a plumber who has mainly done gutters and drains and took a CORGI course, and BG will employ you. They would never touch plumbers as it was a different trade with different skills.
AFAIK CORGI neither run courses in gas fitting or administer ACS exams in gas fitting. The whole point about ACS exams is that they are Nationally Acreditted and so the standard _should_ be much the same at which ever college you do them, clearly the standard is higher than it was under the ACOPs scheme.
If BG [1] offered the going rate for the job they might attract the more capable and conscientious segment of the workforce.
[1] The guy who comes to your house to do a boiler check hardly only gets about £20 (even for a back boiler unit). AFAIK.
-- Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter. The FAQ for uk.diy is at
When a system is nationwide and a monopoly it should be run by the people. Private monopolies are a no, no. BG under public ownership was far better, and far more customer focused.
Private greed ruined their service side which they wanted to make lots of money from rather than run it as a service to say thank you for buying gas.
It should be run by people who know how to run a business.
That is why we have the Competition Commission. It's a great pity that it doesn't deal with with state run megaliths as well.
There was little or no choice . That is never far better.
Lack of a state bankroll and having to compete in the commercial world with incompetent management and a culture from a bygone age has ruined the service business.
It's perfectly reasonable to provide a good service and charge a profitable commercial rate for it. Charging inadequate money to provide good service and a return for shareholders is pointless. Clearly it is unnacceptable to charge a lot of money and then not deliver.
As to greed, there is nothing wrong with that either. It is one of the main motivators and drivers in economies that work.
"The point is, ladies and gentleman, is that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind."
"IMM" wrote | > >How things change. Maggie, Maggie, Maggie...you all know the rest. | > The real world rather than the cloud cuckoo land of state run | > industries. | When a system is nationwide and a monopoly it should be run by the people. | Private monopolies are a no, no. BG under public ownership was far better, | and far more customer focused.
Was it looloo. I can remember multiple visits from The Gas Board to repair a boiler, all of whom has the same thing to say: "it needs to be someone with a ladder". No matter how many gasfitters said that it took them ages and ages to get around to sending somebody with a ladder. Oh, the wonderful days of having to buy your cooker from a Government Department.
Consider that people in Scotland pay more for water from a public sector supplier than people in E&W from the private sector.
And I haven't forgotten the power workers strikes of the 1970s ... how customer focused was that.
And BG don't have a monopoly, even on retailing gas, any more. (And if you don't like Transco, there is always Calor.)
"IMM" wrote | > >How things change. Maggie, Maggie, Maggie...you all know the rest. | > The real world rather than the cloud cuckoo land of state run | > industries. | When a system is nationwide and a monopoly it should be run by the people. | Private monopolies are a no, no. BG under public ownership was far better, | and far more customer focused.
Was it looloo. I can remember multiple visits from The Gas Board to repair a boiler, all of whom has the same thing to say: "it needs to be someone with a ladder". No matter how many gasfitters said that it took them ages and ages to get around to sending somebody with a ladder. Oh, the wonderful days of having to buy your cooker from a Government Department.
Consider that people in Scotland pay more for water from a public sector supplier than people in E&W from the private sector.
And I haven't forgotten the power workers strikes of the 1970s ... how customer focused was that.
And BG don't have a monopoly, even on retailing gas, any more. (And if you don't like Transco, there is always Calor.)
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