Was talking with my brother last night & talk turned to an interesting
conversation that he'd had with a BG heating engineer.

At the moment he's in a rented house, whilst he renovates another place.
The boiler in the rented place is covered by a BG 3star contract & it was up
for a yearly check (lets leave aside the whole question of BG service
contracts - adequately covered here in the past). In a conversation with
the engineer, brother is asking about the cover, and what happens if
something goes wrong with the boiler, as it has in the past. To which
question the bloke replies "well, we're not legally able to repair this
boiler now - it's not Part L compliant. You'd have to have a new boiler
fitted".

To which, I was speechless. Well not, actually - my reply was that he was
speaking out of his arse, and the rest of the response would have made
Gordon Ramsay blush. There is always the possiblity that brother got it
completely wrong, but he was quite definite about what BG bloke had said.

Am I right, and the BG engineer is on a commission-fuelled sales mission
that would shame even the worst excesses of our financial services industry,
or is there any truth whatsoever in this?



--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk




--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 09:44:27 +0100, "RichardS"
wrote:

Am I right, and the BG engineer is on a commission-fuelled sales mission
that would shame even the worst excesses of our financial services industry,
or is there any truth whatsoever in this?

Yes. British Gas Engineers get a basic salary and receive commission
on top for everything they sell.

That's why, when you have your boiler serviced they say something like
"It'll need replacing real soon" in the hope the customer asks for a
quote.

sponix

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 09:44:27 +0100, "RichardS"
wrote:


Was talking with my brother last night & talk turned to an interesting
conversation that he'd had with a BG heating engineer.

At the moment he's in a rented house, whilst he renovates another place.
The boiler in the rented place is covered by a BG 3star contract & it was up
for a yearly check (lets leave aside the whole question of BG service
contracts - adequately covered here in the past). In a conversation with
the engineer, brother is asking about the cover, and what happens if
something goes wrong with the boiler, as it has in the past. To which
question the bloke replies "well, we're not legally able to repair this
boiler now - it's not Part L compliant. You'd have to have a new boiler
fitted".

To which, I was speechless. Well not, actually - my reply was that he was
speaking out of his arse, and the rest of the response would have made
Gordon Ramsay blush. There is always the possiblity that brother got it
completely wrong, but he was quite definite about what BG bloke had said.

Am I right, and the BG engineer is on a commission-fuelled sales mission
that would shame even the worst excesses of our financial services industry,
or is there any truth whatsoever in this?


The statement is, of course, complete crap. There is nothing that
dictates that an old boiler can't be repaired as long as it can be
done within the dictates of the various gas safety legislation.

If he looks in the BG contract at the small print, he will discover
that they are committing themselves to virtually nothing in terms of
repair. To be honest, I am surprised that they have not been pulled
up under unfair contract terms legislation. I made a complaint about
their advertising some while ago to the ASA.

AIUI, the repair guys do receive something for new sales. What would
be interesting to know is whether this guy has made up this story on
his own or whether this is a spin given to him by the company. If I
were on the receiving end, I would certainly push to find out and then
go to Trading Standards (and if organisationally inspired, the press
as well).

I am not sure that the service business is regulated in any way (I
believe not), but this really is an abuse of market position and the
FUD factor.



--

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 09:44:27 +0100, RichardS wrote:


Was talking with my brother last night & talk turned to an interesting
conversation that he'd had with a BG heating engineer.

At the moment he's in a rented house, whilst he renovates another place.
The boiler in the rented place is covered by a BG 3star contract & it was up
for a yearly check (lets leave aside the whole question of BG service
contracts - adequately covered here in the past). In a conversation with
the engineer, brother is asking about the cover, and what happens if
something goes wrong with the boiler, as it has in the past. To which
question the bloke replies "well, we're not legally able to repair this
boiler now - it's not Part L compliant. You'd have to have a new boiler
fitted".

To which, I was speechless. Well not, actually - my reply was that he was
speaking out of his arse, and the rest of the response would have made
Gordon Ramsay blush. There is always the possiblity that brother got it
completely wrong, but he was quite definite about what BG bloke had said.

Am I right, and the BG engineer is on a commission-fuelled sales mission
that would shame even the worst excesses of our financial services industry,
or is there any truth whatsoever in this?

Absolutely none.

There is no question of an existing boiler not being repairable,
economic and practical consideration being favourable.
Rightly so, the regulations take into account that unnecessary boiler
replacement would waste more energy than it saved!

Non-condensors fitted within the last three years may also be replaced
in their entirety with non-condensors under warranty.


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 10:56:11 +0100, Andy Hall wrote:

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 09:44:27 +0100, "RichardS"
wrote:


Was talking with my brother last night & talk turned to an interesting
conversation that he'd had with a BG heating engineer.

At the moment he's in a rented house, whilst he renovates another place.
The boiler in the rented place is covered by a BG 3star contract & it was up
for a yearly check (lets leave aside the whole question of BG service
contracts - adequately covered here in the past). In a conversation with
the engineer, brother is asking about the cover, and what happens if
something goes wrong with the boiler, as it has in the past. To which
question the bloke replies "well, we're not legally able to repair this
boiler now - it's not Part L compliant. You'd have to have a new boiler
fitted".

To which, I was speechless. Well not, actually - my reply was that he was
speaking out of his arse, and the rest of the response would have made
Gordon Ramsay blush. There is always the possiblity that brother got it
completely wrong, but he was quite definite about what BG bloke had said.

Am I right, and the BG engineer is on a commission-fuelled sales mission
that would shame even the worst excesses of our financial services industry,
or is there any truth whatsoever in this?


The statement is, of course, complete crap. There is nothing that
dictates that an old boiler can't be repaired as long as it can be
done within the dictates of the various gas safety legislation.

If he looks in the BG contract at the small print, he will discover
that they are committing themselves to virtually nothing in terms of
repair. To be honest, I am surprised that they have not been pulled
up under unfair contract terms legislation. I made a complaint about
their advertising some while ago to the ASA.

AIUI, the repair guys do receive something for new sales. What would
be interesting to know is whether this guy has made up this story on
his own or whether this is a spin given to him by the company. If I
were on the receiving end, I would certainly push to find out and then
go to Trading Standards (and if organisationally inspired, the press
as well).

I am not sure that the service business is regulated in any way (I
believe not), but this really is an abuse of market position and the
FUD factor.

I have along with a number of others complained to the ASA about the
'talking flame' ad which implies that independent (i.e. non BG) gas
fitters are incompetent and expensive.

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

"Ed Sirett" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 10:56:11 +0100, Andy Hall wrote:

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 09:44:27 +0100, "RichardS"
wrote:


Was talking with my brother last night & talk turned to an
interesting
conversation that he'd had with a BG heating engineer.

At the moment he's in a rented house, whilst he renovates another
place.
The boiler in the rented place is covered by a BG 3star contract &
it was up
for a yearly check (lets leave aside the whole question of BG
service
contracts - adequately covered here in the past). In a
conversation with
the engineer, brother is asking about the cover, and what happens
if
something goes wrong with the boiler, as it has in the past. To
which
question the bloke replies "well, we're not legally able to repair
this
boiler now - it's not Part L compliant. You'd have to have a new
boiler
fitted".

To which, I was speechless. Well not, actually - my reply was
that he was
speaking out of his arse, and the rest of the response would have
made
Gordon Ramsay blush. There is always the possiblity that brother
got it
completely wrong, but he was quite definite about what BG bloke
had said.

Am I right, and the BG engineer is on a commission-fuelled sales
mission
that would shame even the worst excesses of our financial services
industry,
or is there any truth whatsoever in this?


The statement is, of course, complete crap. There is nothing that
dictates that an old boiler can't be repaired as long as it can be
done within the dictates of the various gas safety legislation.

If he looks in the BG contract at the small print, he will
discover
that they are committing themselves to virtually nothing in terms
of
repair. To be honest, I am surprised that they have not been
pulled
up under unfair contract terms legislation. I made a complaint
about
their advertising some while ago to the ASA.

AIUI, the repair guys do receive something for new sales. What
would
be interesting to know is whether this guy has made up this story
on
his own or whether this is a spin given to him by the company. If
I
were on the receiving end, I would certainly push to find out and
then
go to Trading Standards (and if organisationally inspired, the
press
as well).

I am not sure that the service business is regulated in any way (I
believe not), but this really is an abuse of market position and
the
FUD factor.

I have along with a number of others complained to the ASA about the
'talking flame' ad which implies that independent (i.e. non BG) gas
fitters are incompetent and expensive.


Pot calling the kettle black then, isn't that how some on this group
describe BG (not that I'm in favour of BG service contracts)?

"RichardS" wrote in message
...

Was talking with my brother last night & talk turned to an interesting
conversation that he'd had with a BG heating engineer.

At the moment he's in a rented house, whilst he renovates another place.
The boiler in the rented place is covered by a BG 3star contract & it was
up
for a yearly check (lets leave aside the whole question of BG service
contracts - adequately covered here in the past). In a conversation with
the engineer, brother is asking about the cover, and what happens if
something goes wrong with the boiler, as it has in the past. To which
question the bloke replies "well, we're not legally able to repair this
boiler now - it's not Part L compliant. You'd have to have a new boiler
fitted".

Send him around to the electric caber ******* house. He will have a field
day.

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 19:38:10 +0100, :::Jerry:::: wrote:


"Ed Sirett" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 10:56:11 +0100, Andy Hall wrote:

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 09:44:27 +0100, "RichardS"
wrote:


Was talking with my brother last night & talk turned to an
interesting
conversation that he'd had with a BG heating engineer.

At the moment he's in a rented house, whilst he renovates another
place.
The boiler in the rented place is covered by a BG 3star contract &
it was up
for a yearly check (lets leave aside the whole question of BG
service
contracts - adequately covered here in the past). In a
conversation with
the engineer, brother is asking about the cover, and what happens
if
something goes wrong with the boiler, as it has in the past. To
which
question the bloke replies "well, we're not legally able to repair
this
boiler now - it's not Part L compliant. You'd have to have a new
boiler
fitted".

To which, I was speechless. Well not, actually - my reply was
that he was
speaking out of his arse, and the rest of the response would have
made
Gordon Ramsay blush. There is always the possiblity that brother
got it
completely wrong, but he was quite definite about what BG bloke
had said.

Am I right, and the BG engineer is on a commission-fuelled sales
mission
that would shame even the worst excesses of our financial services
industry,
or is there any truth whatsoever in this?


The statement is, of course, complete crap. There is nothing that
dictates that an old boiler can't be repaired as long as it can be
done within the dictates of the various gas safety legislation.

If he looks in the BG contract at the small print, he will
discover
that they are committing themselves to virtually nothing in terms
of
repair. To be honest, I am surprised that they have not been
pulled
up under unfair contract terms legislation. I made a complaint
about
their advertising some while ago to the ASA.

AIUI, the repair guys do receive something for new sales. What
would
be interesting to know is whether this guy has made up this story
on
his own or whether this is a spin given to him by the company. If
I
were on the receiving end, I would certainly push to find out and
then
go to Trading Standards (and if organisationally inspired, the
press
as well).

I am not sure that the service business is regulated in any way (I
believe not), but this really is an abuse of market position and
the
FUD factor.

I have along with a number of others complained to the ASA about the
'talking flame' ad which implies that independent (i.e. non BG) gas
fitters are incompetent and expensive.


Pot calling the kettle black then, isn't that how some on this group
describe BG (not that I'm in favour of BG service contracts)?

I don't think that I generally describe them as incompetent (although some
of the sales reps are). They are however very expensive for a so so job.


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html