rant
Oh well... I booked British Gas to change my gas meter from token to
quarterly in my new flat, who delegated to Siemens who apparently now
own the things.

They sent someone around on Wednesday the 13th between 1800 and 2000.
He never turned up, claiming nowhere to park. I can't prove this to be
incorrect, but it seems incredibly unlilely at that time of night and
he didn't ring me to check where he could park.

He was rescheduled to the following Tuesday...no show.

He was then rescheduled to this Friday evening between 1800 and 2000.
At 1945 I phone up to be told that he couldn't find anywhere to park
and the door intercom gave no answer. The former seems unlikely, the
latter is verifiably false - my intercom is very loud and working
perfectly. They have my address and phone number correct on file,
which means the only explanation is he was never here at all.

I hate to cast dispersions but this bloke has to be fibbing his head
off - and yet Siemens will still only reschedule for the middle of
next week and say a complaint will take 10-14 days to process. I know
they have a 24 hour service section for dealing with emergencies - I
don't see why they can't dispatch one of them to do they job their day
man has so repeatedly failed to do. Grrrrr....
/rant

On Mar 16, 8:09 pm, "Ben" wrote:
rant
Oh well... I booked British Gas to change my gas meter from token to
quarterly in my new flat, who delegated to Siemens who apparently now
own the things.

They sent someone around on Wednesday the 13th between 1800 and 2000.
He never turned up, claiming nowhere to park. I can't prove this to be
incorrect, but it seems incredibly unlilely at that time of night and
he didn't ring me to check where he could park.

He was rescheduled to the following Tuesday...no show.

He was then rescheduled to this Friday evening between 1800 and 2000.
At 1945 I phone up to be told that he couldn't find anywhere to park
and the door intercom gave no answer. The former seems unlikely, the
latter is verifiably false - my intercom is very loud and working
perfectly. They have my address and phone number correct on file,
which means the only explanation is he was never here at all.

I hate to cast dispersions but this bloke has to be fibbing his head
off - and yet Siemens will still only reschedule for the middle of
next week and say a complaint will take 10-14 days to process. I know
they have a 24 hour service section for dealing with emergencies - I
don't see why they can't dispatch one of them to do they job their day
man has so repeatedly failed to do. Grrrrr....
/rant

He's probably doing cash in hand work during this time.

On 16 Mar, 20:23, wrote:
On Mar 16, 8:09 pm, "Ben" wrote:



rant
Oh well... I booked British Gas to change my gas meter from token to
quarterly in my new flat, who delegated to Siemens who apparently now
own the things.

They sent someone around on Wednesday the 13th between 1800 and 2000.
He never turned up, claiming nowhere to park. I can't prove this to be
incorrect, but it seems incredibly unlilely at that time of night and
he didn't ring me to check where he could park.

He was rescheduled to the following Tuesday...no show.

He was then rescheduled to this Friday evening between 1800 and 2000.
At 1945 I phone up to be told that he couldn't find anywhere to park
and the door intercom gave no answer. The former seems unlikely, the
latter is verifiably false - my intercom is very loud and working
perfectly. They have my address and phone number correct on file,
which means the only explanation is he was never here at all.

I hate to cast dispersions but this bloke has to be fibbing his head
off - and yet Siemens will still only reschedule for the middle of
next week and say a complaint will take 10-14 days to process. I know
they have a 24 hour service section for dealing with emergencies - I
don't see why they can't dispatch one of them to do they job their day
man has so repeatedly failed to do. Grrrrr....
/rant

He's probably doing cash in hand work during this time.

The strange thing is when British gas found that the token meter
wasn't charging properly when they first came to read it, they had a
man round within the hour to replace it - but unfortunately at that
stage they would only replace like for like. How about a bit of that
efficiency now...

Ben wrote:
rant
Oh well... I booked British Gas to change my gas meter from token to
quarterly in my new flat, who delegated to Siemens who apparently now
own the things.

Hah. Some months back we waited all afternoon for Gritish Bass to come
and service the boiler (Yes, I know, sorry).......

At 6:01pm a card dropped through the letter box with the BG logo. I just
happened to be in the hall at the time, so opened the door, but the guy
must have been an Olympic sprinter, there was nobody to be seen. The
card stated that he was unable to gain access as "the householder was
not present"......

Might have had better luck if he'd actually rung the bell and waited, a
point I made to the call-centre muppet the following day. Unsurprisingly
his script didn't contain an answer to that.....

Alan

They sent someone around on Wednesday the 13th between 1800 and 2000.
He never turned up, claiming nowhere to park. I can't prove this to be
incorrect, but it seems incredibly unlilely at that time of night and
he didn't ring me to check where he could park.

Might I suggest asking for compensation under the guaranteed standards.

This is an old version of the document, so the amounts payable may have
changed in the interim, but a missed appointment is a missed appointment
- it's not your fault your supplier uses subcontractors, it's THEIRS !

http://www.coreutilities.co.uk/Guara...s_17-12-03.doc

See pages 8 onwards (it mentions transco, and that the standard for
missed appointment excludes meter work, but i'd try it regardless - it's
probably been added in since). Pages earlier than that refer to
electricity supplies.

You might also want to check out the http://www.energywatch.org.uk
website as they might have more up to date information there.

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:56:23 +0000, Alan Vann
wrote:

Ben wrote:
rant
Oh well... I booked British Gas to change my gas meter from token to
quarterly in my new flat, who delegated to Siemens who apparently now
own the things.

Hah. Some months back we waited all afternoon for Gritish Bass to come
and service the boiler (Yes, I know, sorry).......

At 6:01pm a card dropped through the letter box with the BG logo. I just
happened to be in the hall at the time, so opened the door, but the guy
must have been an Olympic sprinter, there was nobody to be seen. The
card stated that he was unable to gain access as "the householder was
not present"......


Council workmen do a course on this "carding" technique.
The trick is to have a squeaky gate and ensure it's always shut. This
gives you enough notice to spring out on the buggers and catch them in
the act of not knocking.


Might have had better luck if he'd actually rung the bell and waited, a
point I made to the call-centre muppet the following day. Unsurprisingly
his script didn't contain an answer to that.....

Alan

For the OP I recommend ringing and asking the person to add a note to
the job notes stating how to get parking. I know comet engineers have
to ring in to get permission to get a parking ticket and it's at the
managers discretion whether they're allowed to park where they might
get one.
Once you've got someone to add a note ring back and ask the new drone
what note is written on the job to ensure it's correct.
If they can't park easily then it's always worth getting a note added
that you can get them safe local parking.

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:56:23 +0000 someone who may be Alan Vann
wrote this:-

At 6:01pm a card dropped through the letter box with the BG logo. I just
happened to be in the hall at the time, so opened the door, but the guy
must have been an Olympic sprinter, there was nobody to be seen. The
card stated that he was unable to gain access as "the householder was
not present"......

The post office and couriers are also good at this. I agree with the
other poster that a squeaky gate is a good way of getting advance
warning so one can catch them.

Delivery people also have a knack of turning up just when someone is
going to the toilet or something.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54