British Gas trying it on?

My boiler is 25 years old and I have no trouble getting parts from the local dealer.

Reply to
Bob Martin
Loading thread data ...

What happens when someone is exposed on Rogue Traders? They just go on trading in exactly the same way!

What happens when a company gets exposed on Watchdog? Spokesperson comes in with some lame excuse and a promise to correct the problem - and the company carries on trading in the same way.

Reply to
Alan

...

That was my wonder too.

I recently mailed a comment to BT about the way The Phone Book was delivered. I had a genuinely concerned long telephone reply and was told that a new one would be sent - I refused that because it wasn't necessary. It was explained that agents are employed to deliver the books and that it would be looked into immediately, the agent was paid to do a good job.

Very shortly afterwards I had another call from someone who said he was ringing on behalf of BT about the matter. For some reason I was suspicious and said that I'd already spoken to BT about it and asked who he was. He persisted in implying he was from BT so I was less restrained than I had been in the first (genuine) call and let him know why I had reported the matter, that the process had been unacceptable and illegal.

Afterwards I did 1471 and got a landline number, BT withholds numbers. I rang the number and someone simply said, "Hello", BT would never do that. I suspect that it was the delivery agent who had rung, but he should have said that in his call and not claimed to be ringing on behalf of BT.

Something like this might have been the case in the poster's story. It's unacceptable but not the responsibility of the company, BG in his case, BT in mine.

I have never had any complaints about genuine BG or BT processes, in my experience they both have been courteous, efficient, not pushy or any other unacceptable actions. I'm very happy to continue as a customer with both.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

I always think the same as well - the catchment area for a 'rogue trader' must be fairly small. What do you reckon, 5% of the population watch it? Of those who do watch it, how many can even remember the name of a rogue a week later? 2 or 3? Maybe 20 tops. Of those, who are likely to need their services anyway - maybe 1?

That doesnt seem too much of a disincentive to carry on ripping people off - if they are making £500 a day by overcharging, they cant really have too much of a conscience, and their appearance on TV would probably inflate their ego even more, and not really act as a deterrent. Alan.

Reply to
A.Lee

One has to look beyond the immediate costs of materials plus labour.

They would argue that they are not overcharging on the basis of big organisation, good service, reliable, safe and secure, peace of mind, blah, blah.

Some people are willing to buy that argument and pay for it.

If they had no competition, then it would be a different matter.

However, if they are proactively calling and saying that vital parts are unavailable but here's a great deal, then that's crossing the line of reasonableness.

Reply to
Andy Hall

Reply to
fred

My point was that if you search for Glowworm Micron 50FF you get pages like that from Gritish Bass's "marketing partners"

Reply to
Andy Burns

Really Andy? Are such practices restricted to 'ex-state-owned' companies?

Try Curry's and the lies they tell when trying to sell you an extended 'warranty'. Etc.

To my mind any sales which produce a commission for the person doing the selling are likely to have the sales pitch shall we say 'embellished'.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

No problem but without following an AD sponsored link there's no way to tell you were you were talking about.

I was not suggesting you were gaining from the clickthro'

Reply to
fred

Ah, I presume it originally planted a cookie for me then, I don't see a clickthrough page.

Reply to
Andy Burns

formatting link
. . +adurl . . +tradedoubler . . +track in the expanded URL gave me a hint ;-)

You won't see the clickthrough if you have automatic redirection enabled.

Reply to
fred

"Sla#s" wrote in news:fia0dc$cbd$ snipped-for-privacy@energise.enta.net:

engineer who

that some

discount on a

online of

I think the Glow-Worm Micron 50 is on the BG top10 hit list of boilers they would preferably not cover under service insurance.

Anyone reading this who has recently had one of these fitted should read this.

formatting link

Reply to
John

Yes - I rang the number (08706060825) back and the automated reply said it was British Gas Customer Service.

Slatts

Reply to
Sla#s

Not at all. However, the ex-state-owned companies have brand value that they exploit that covers their incompetence.

Oh certainly. I purchased a Miele washing machine for my parents that came with a 10 year manufacturer's warranty. Currys still tried to sell their 5 year one on top. Just for sport I called them and asked them to explain how they could justify it. They struggled with that one.

That's a bit jaundiced. It depends on the product, service and market and of course the seller.

Commissions don't automatically mean that the sales person is less than straightforward, although those on packages with little or no base and/or a high target may be tempted.

It is less true in an environment where the product/service is more specialised and/or higher ticket because the sales person has a reputation to maintain in order to be able to sell to that customer in the future, perhaps in a new company.

It is more true with competitive, commodity products and services.

Reply to
Andy Hall

Their shareholders, just the same as any other commercial company.

Reply to
Another Dave

Yes, and the shareholders can be very influential.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Maybe a little misleading of them if they are telling you lies.

But I guess the mind-set that they are using is that since their customers trust them and are happy to pay a premium for the service that they offer (normally 3x an independent heating engineer) then they will also be happy to spend the extra money on keeping their hardware up to date.

So, since their services are aimed at the "discerning" consumer at the top end of the market, replacing a boiler after 4 years wether it needs it or not may seem quite reasonable.

At the end of the day, you're buying peace of mind - and British Gas customers all agree that you can't put a price on that. And they are actually saving you money by offering you a discount on their retail price!

Mark.

Reply to
mark.hannah

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.