In message , Brian G
writes
raden wrote:
In message , Grumps
writes
"Brian G" wrote in message
...
Grumps wrote:
My mother has a 37 year old hot-air central heating system. She has
been paying regularly for BG maintenance. This year, during the
annual inspection/safety check, they condemned the system as
unsafe. It has been 'capped off' and now has a nice red warning
label on it.
The reason for this was due to;
1) The safety cut-off valve being faulty (something that stops the
gas if the flame goes out).
2) The flame is yellow (should be blue).
3) The flue has cracks (these are in the loft space).
All 3 items cannot be repaired or replaced.
[some of my rant snipped]

I've had the three star service with BG now since 1986 and the only
time that they ever failed to carry out a repair was when the parts
were not available any more (knackered cast iron balanced flue
spigot on a wall mounted Potterton Neat-a-Heat) - and they
condemned the boiler because of that (although only after a week of
trying to get the part).

If you look under their Terms and Conditions, you will see that
they will repair a boiler/heating system until the parts become
unavailable and then you have to pay for a new boiler, they won't.

Thanks. Yes, I know. But if they are aware that replacement major
components cannot be obtained, then should they still be taking
maintenance premiums?

They are also very good at not looking very far for spare parts

I've had a few people phone me up explaining that e.g. a Potterton
Netaheat control pcb is no longer available and thank goodness they
found me.

I point them towards e.g. HRPC proving that they are and warning them
of BG's policy

(Of course, I nearly always get the sale because of the price
difference)

Raden,

In my case, I was glad that they finally condemned the boiler as BG were
attending at least once a month for nearly 18 months because the damned
thing kept breaking down.

BTW, that was not through lack of knowledge or care, but purely and simply
wear and tear and an odd-ball installation - you have to see it to believe
it and the whole estate was the same at that time - we virtuall had British
Gas camping here because of the repair frequency.

At the time, I was working for the local authority as general foreman on
housing repairs and became involved with these problems generally and know
that BG had a rough time with them right up until they ended their contract
with the council.

But in general, they have a (well deserved) bad reputation for trying to
fleece the public

--
geoff