Brit Gas to do my central heating

They would be last on my list.

Just don't. They really aren't good.

And expensive. They quoted me £3800 for a flush, new boiler (undersized too), new rad valves, new pump. Offered £600 off 'loyalty discount'.

Local man did more than all that and charged £1900.

Just don't.

. [am in pessimistic

A quick google tells you where they're at. In short, just say no.

NT

They will be virtually double the cost of any other Installer. That's fine if you get the good customer sevice they 'supposedly' have. But you won't get it, you have a problem, you talk to a call centre, who will fit you in in 3 days time, but that won't be to fix it, but to see what is wrong, then the parts will be ordered, then someone else will come round to fix it. And he/she will say it isnt that part, it is this, then order the parts, then a different person will be round to repair it, and so on.

Get a small, local Company to give you a quote. It will be cheaper, and the service from them will be better.

Overpriced (*very*) and the service isn't exactly great anyway from people I know who have used them...

Where are you? Post your area and someone on here might be able to suggest someone local to you who is recommended?

Darren

Bottle of Valium? Brian

I was going to say, always use a locally based contractor. A friend did this and it was far less hassle than someone else who got Brit gas in, as they obviously just get any old contractor and you do not have a direct line to the person who knew what they did, so when a person comes around half his time is wasted figuring out what the installer fouled up. I am all electric, nuff said. Brian

Nah, they should be first on the list, you get them out (they will turn up for the appointment - unlike some) they give you a quote and then you know to expect a price that is around half of that from as reputable local.

I've lost count of the number of times I've heard, get BG out and my quote will be half that, fixed price.

Whoever gets the job, maker sure you know where pipes are going to run. The BG fitters I last had dealings with ran a couple up the wall next to the front door, through the ornate Victorian cornice. It transpired they were sub contractors being paid a relative pittance.

They wouldn't be on my list at all.

You must have more faith in them than me. They wouldn't even be *on* my list! ;-)

Consider choosing a boiler - and then use the boiler manufacturer's web site to see if they have any approved / trained installers in your area. I was impressed with a fitter I used. He did many checks and got in contact with the boiler manufacturers to confirm a couple of aspects - then uploaded them some data and got the warranty sent to me for the boiler. For a complete system I would certainly spend some time planning where "I" would want to run the pipes before letting a plumber loose.

My quote for a system boiler (Vaillant) with BG was £4000. LOcal plumber did job for £1800. Mind you BG wanted to fit filters etc.

In my experience, any sentence containing the words "British Gas" also needs to contain "barge-pole"!

If you have a look on the central heating bit of the "ultimate handyman" website's forum they'll tell you all about what they think of BG for fitting central heating and some of the experienced gas fitters on there might be able to recommend someone local.

I've found the bloke on there called The Scruff very helpful

Very sound advice. I worked out what capacity (combi) boiler we needed, then selected the nearest equivalent Vailant and WB units, then asked two installers chosen from both manufacturers websites for detailed estimates based on a spec that I had drawn up.

The quotes from the two Vailant and WB installers who impressed me the most during site visits (a mixture of business like approach, the questions they asked me and the solutions they put forward to deal with some quite complex re-piping) were within £150 of each other, so I chose the one who offered the best guarantee.

Because they're lying, incompetent, thieving scum?