Had British Gas in to quote for installation of gas central heating
today. Nice simple job, so they said, 2 bed house, combi boiler etc
etc. 4,400 quid.

Took a look at the first online place i could find selling the precise
model of boiler they itemised on the quote, 578 quid plus vat,
compared to 1911 plus vat from BG. Utterly, utterly remarkable.

Is this sort of mark up usual for BG?

On 29 Jul 2004 06:25:32 -0700, (Andrew) wrote:

Had British Gas in to quote for installation of gas central heating
today. Nice simple job, so they said, 2 bed house, combi boiler etc
etc. 4,400 quid.

Took a look at the first online place i could find selling the precise
model of boiler they itemised on the quote, 578 quid plus vat,
compared to 1911 plus vat from BG. Utterly, utterly remarkable.

Is this sort of mark up usual for BG?


That's on the conservative side.

The manufacturer's recommended retail is probably around £900-1000,
however, it may be that BG included flues etc. in their quote for the
boiler and it would be separate at the online place.

If you go to a local heating engineer for the same package as BG, then
I would expect the quote to be in the £2500-3000 area for the whole
thing.


..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

On 29 Jul 2004 06:25:32 -0700, Andrew wrote:

Had British Gas in to quote for installation of gas central heating
today. Nice simple job, so they said, 2 bed house, combi boiler etc
etc. 4,400 quid.

Took a look at the first online place i could find selling the precise
model of boiler they itemised on the quote, 578 quid plus vat,
compared to 1911 plus vat from BG. Utterly, utterly remarkable.

Is this sort of mark up usual for BG?

I had a verbal quote from British Gas of around 16,000 for a 4 bedroom
house. They said it was so expensive because they had to guarantee that
each room could be brought up to the required temperature within a certain
length of time. I then found an excellent local company who are currently
fitting the same system for 3,800. I don't see how BG can justify the
difference based on their guarantee.

--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

Is this sort of mark up usual for BG?

BG have a reputation for high mark up and this was highlighted in a recent
"WHICH" report.Any electric wiring seemed to a cause for concern along with
the boiler mark up.(Your local library will probably have recent WHICH
reports)

Get the names of good installers - they do exist - and get a few quotes. I
personally would avoid BG.




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"nemofish" wrote in message
news
On 29 Jul 2004 06:25:32 -0700, Andrew wrote:

Had British Gas in to quote for installation of gas central heating
today. Nice simple job, so they said, 2 bed house, combi boiler etc
etc. 4,400 quid.

Took a look at the first online place i could find selling the
precise
model of boiler they itemised on the quote, 578 quid plus vat,
compared to 1911 plus vat from BG. Utterly, utterly remarkable.

Is this sort of mark up usual for BG?

I had a verbal quote from British Gas of around 16,000 for a 4 bedroom
house. They said it was so expensive because they had to guarantee
that
each room could be brought up to the required temperature within a
certain
length of time. I then found an excellent local company who are
currently
fitting the same system for 3,800. I don't see how BG can justify the
difference based on their guarantee.


Were they going to install a boiler in each bedroom?

Had probadly the same British gas rep round has you!
Quoted me £4900, would have to wait 8 weeks and approx a week for the work
to be done!
Got local gas shop to carry out the work, had it all finished within 4 weeks
and saved £2300.
Same boiler, same imersion and the appentice was a woman, nice at that.
"Andrew" wrote in message
om...
Had British Gas in to quote for installation of gas central heating
today. Nice simple job, so they said, 2 bed house, combi boiler etc
etc. 4,400 quid.

Took a look at the first online place i could find selling the precise
model of boiler they itemised on the quote, 578 quid plus vat,
compared to 1911 plus vat from BG. Utterly, utterly remarkable.

Is this sort of mark up usual for BG?

It did seem ridiculous at the time. In fact the salesman (he
certainly wasn't a heating engineer) who provided the quote even suggested
installing 2 smaller boilers to reduce the costs.

Conclusive proof that IMM works for BG!

Christian.

nce based on their guarantee.


Were they going to install a boiler in each bedroom?


It did seem ridiculous at the time. In fact the salesman (he
certainly wasn't a heating engineer) who provided the quote even suggested
installing 2 smaller boilers to reduce the costs. My local heating
engineer who is currently undertaking the work can think of no reason
whatsoever why this might have been a good solution. I have to say that
BG have not left me with a good impression and I would steer clear.


--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

nemofish wrote:
nce based on their guarantee.



Were they going to install a boiler in each bedroom?


It did seem ridiculous at the time. In fact the salesman (he
certainly wasn't a heating engineer) who provided the quote even
suggested installing 2 smaller boilers to reduce the costs. My local
heating engineer who is currently undertaking the work can think of no
reason whatsoever why this might have been a good solution. I have to
say that BG have not left me with a good impression and I would steer
clear.



Two Boilers HAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaaaaaa

"nemofish" wrote in message
news
nce based on their guarantee.


Were they going to install a boiler in each bedroom?


It did seem ridiculous at the time. In fact the salesman (he
certainly wasn't a heating engineer) who provided the quote even suggested
installing 2 smaller boilers to reduce the costs. My local heating
engineer who is currently undertaking the work can think of no reason
whatsoever why this might have been a good solution. I have to say that
BG have not left me with a good impression and I would steer clear.


--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/


That reminds me of the kitchen salesman who suggested to a friend of mine,
as space was tight, that they install a new condensing boiler in the middle
of the units as it was so efficient that it burnt it's own waste and didn't
need a flue! He eventually threw him out at 01:00 by which time the price
had come down from £15K to £4K.

Peter

On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 15:48:30 +0100, "Neil Jones"
wrote:


"nemofish" wrote in message
news
On 29 Jul 2004 06:25:32 -0700, Andrew wrote:

Had British Gas in to quote for installation of gas central heating
today. Nice simple job, so they said, 2 bed house, combi boiler etc
etc. 4,400 quid.

Took a look at the first online place i could find selling the
precise
model of boiler they itemised on the quote, 578 quid plus vat,
compared to 1911 plus vat from BG. Utterly, utterly remarkable.

Is this sort of mark up usual for BG?

I had a verbal quote from British Gas of around 16,000 for a 4 bedroom
house. They said it was so expensive because they had to guarantee
that
each room could be brought up to the required temperature within a
certain
length of time. I then found an excellent local company who are
currently
fitting the same system for 3,800. I don't see how BG can justify the
difference based on their guarantee.


Were they going to install a boiler in each bedroom?

Each bedroom would be equipped with a wizened old person (we have to
work till we drop, remember?) who will continually keep temperature
and humidity under observation and rush about, saying "Don't panic!"
if something goes wrong.

MM

"WHICH" report.Any electric wiring seemed to a cause for concern along with
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Interesting, as local paper yesterday had advert for electricians with C&G
and time served to work for BG.

Dave

On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 15:29:46 +0100, nemofish wrote:

On 29 Jul 2004 06:25:32 -0700, Andrew wrote:

Had British Gas in to quote for installation of gas central heating
today. Nice simple job, so they said, 2 bed house, combi boiler etc
etc. 4,400 quid.

Took a look at the first online place i could find selling the precise
model of boiler they itemised on the quote, 578 quid plus vat,
compared to 1911 plus vat from BG. Utterly, utterly remarkable.

Is this sort of mark up usual for BG?

I had a verbal quote from British Gas of around 16,000 for a 4 bedroom
house. They said it was so expensive because they had to guarantee that
each room could be brought up to the required temperature within a certain
length of time. I then found an excellent local company who are currently
fitting the same system for 3,800. I don't see how BG can justify the
difference based on their guarantee.



They don't need to. As long as enough punters believe that they are
getting a warm and fuzzy by dealing with "the gas board" then this
Turpinesque way of doing business will continue.


..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

In message , sid wrote


Is this sort of mark up usual for BG?

BG have a reputation for high mark up and this was highlighted in a recent
"WHICH" report.Any electric wiring seemed to a cause for concern along with
the boiler mark up.(Your local library will probably have recent WHICH
reports)

Get the names of good installers - they do exist - and get a few quotes. I
personally would avoid BG.



The price includes an allowance for all the knocked off materials used
by their staff for the cash in hand weekend jobs.

--
Alan

On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 16:34:06 +0100, nemofish wrote:

nce based on their guarantee.


Were they going to install a boiler in each bedroom?


It did seem ridiculous at the time. In fact the salesman (he
certainly wasn't a heating engineer) who provided the quote even suggested
installing 2 smaller boilers to reduce the costs. My local heating
engineer who is currently undertaking the work can think of no reason
whatsoever why this might have been a good solution. I have to say that
BG have not left me with a good impression and I would steer clear.

There are some circumstances in which two smaller appliances might just be
the better way forward but they are not likely to be found in the majority
of homes.

I have seen two combi boilers in a 6 bedroom house. A few years ago I did
an 8 bed, 4 bath room house using a combi + a 33kW Conventional.

I am so confident of the mark up of BG that I say to people I'll quote 75%
of BG's price on the basis of their specification, site unseen. If I look
at it I'll likely quote less and/or suggest a better specified system.

I note an article from this month's _Gas Installer_.

Title : BG job cuts are 'part of business' transformation.
....This transformation indicates the move from a customer base growth model
to a model orientated towards growing margins....

I.e. Uptil now they think they have been trying to get as many customers
as possible now they are trying to charge as much as possible.

I find it hard to beleive they have been gaining market share, anecdotally
I would have beleived they are losing it hand over fist. OTHO I'm seeing
the (possible small) fraction of people who are disgruntled with BG.

In which case I'm truly astounded what people are prepared to pay (BG) for
heating.


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at 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

"Dave Stanton" wrote in message
news

"WHICH" report.Any electric wiring seemed to a cause for concern along
with
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Interesting, as local paper yesterday had advert for electricians with C&G
and time served to work for BG.

Dave

Did not mean to imply that standard of work was suspect but the price quoted
for for minor work was well in excess of normal.




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-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

Did not mean to imply that standard of work was suspect but the price quoted
for for minor work was well in excess of normal.

Ok, no prob.

Dave


--

Some people use windows, others have a life.

"Ed Sirett" wrote
| I find it hard to beleive they have been gaining market share,
| anecdotally I would have beleived they are losing it hand over
| fist. OTHO I'm seeing the (possible small) fraction of people
| who are disgruntled with BG.
| In which case I'm truly astounded what people are prepared to
| pay (BG) for heating.

Apart from the trusted reputation they enjoy, and that numpty actor on the
telly telling us they're doing the right thing, perhaps part of the problem
is that in many areas it is difficult to get good independent firms to even
come and quote.

Owain

"Dave Stanton" wrote
| "WHICH" report.Any electric wiring seemed to a cause
| for concern along with
| Interesting, as local paper yesterday had advert for
| electricians with C&G and time served to work for BG.

BG seem to be expanding into general home maintenance contracts, a neighbour
has all his plumbing, wiring, heating and drains covered by one of their
plans. (He's a private rented sector landlord so it may be worth it for him
to keep his tenants happy.) They may be recruiting for electricians for that
rather than working on heating systems.

Owain

"Bodysnatcher" wrote in message
...
Had probadly the same British gas rep round has you!
Quoted me £4900, would have to wait 8 weeks and approx a week for the work
to be done!
Got local gas shop to carry out the work, had it all finished within 4
weeks
and saved £2300.
Virtually the same figures were quoted and paid by a friend of mine
recently.
BGas quote £4.5k.
Local installer did job for £2.3k For that a Corgi guy did gas bits, a
fitter did the rest and apprentice got in the way.

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...

They don't need to. As long as enough punters believe that they are
getting a warm and fuzzy by dealing with "the gas board" then this
Turpinesque way of doing business will continue.


Got a leadlet from them this very morning trying to invite themselves to
quote me on a new heating system. Which seeing as how the nearest mains gas
is 5 miles away would I assumed have been in the 100s of thousands.

In message , Andrew
writes
Had British Gas in to quote for installation of gas central heating
today.

That was a silly idea

--
geoff

In message , Christian
McArdle writes
It did seem ridiculous at the time. In fact the salesman (he
certainly wasn't a heating engineer) who provided the quote even suggested
installing 2 smaller boilers to reduce the costs.

Conclusive proof that IMM

Has a friend who knows someone who met a man in a pub who heard of
someone who ...


works for BG!


--
geoff

In message , sid writes

"Dave Stanton" wrote in message
news

"WHICH" report.Any electric wiring seemed to a cause for concern along
with
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Interesting, as local paper yesterday had advert for electricians with C&G
and time served to work for BG.

Dave

Did not mean to imply that standard of work was suspect but the price quoted
for for minor work was well in excess of normal.

BG's standard of work is as good or as bad as the installer who's doing
the work

I have an ex BG person working for me and it would be inconceivable that
he would ever have done substandard work, however I come across a lot of
ex BG fitters who are disasters waiting to happen
--
geoff

On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 20:00:09 +0100, Owain wrote:

"Ed Sirett" wrote
| I find it hard to beleive they have been gaining market share,
| anecdotally I would have beleived they are losing it hand over
| fist. OTHO I'm seeing the (possible small) fraction of people
| who are disgruntled with BG.
| In which case I'm truly astounded what people are prepared to
| pay (BG) for heating.

Apart from the trusted reputation they enjoy, and that numpty actor on the
telly telling us they're doing the right thing, perhaps part of the problem
is that in many areas it is difficult to get good independent firms to even
come and quote.

There is a huge shortage of plumbrs etc.etc.
Every new customer is a slight risk why bother when there is enough work
from the existing customer base.

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at 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

O
BG seem to be expanding into general home maintenance contracts, a neighbour
has all his plumbing, wiring, heating and drains covered by one of their
plans. (He's a private rented sector landlord so it may be worth it for him
to keep his tenants happy.) They may be recruiting for electricians for that
rather than working on heating systems.

Owain

No, was actually mentioned in ad for heating system installation.

Dave

--

Some people use windows, others have a life.

O
BG seem to be expanding into general home maintenance contracts, a neighbour
has all his plumbing, wiring, heating and drains covered by one of their
plans. (He's a private rented sector landlord so it may be worth it for him
to keep his tenants happy.) They may be recruiting for electricians for that
rather than working on heating systems.

Owain

No, the advert actually said for heating installations.

Dave

--

Some people use windows, others have a life.

"Dave Stanton" wrote
| No, the advert actually said for heating installations.

Well, there's a shortage of gas fitters. Possibly they're going to fit
oil-filled radiators wired in MICC and hope the customers don't notice the
difference between that and microbore.

Apart from the absence of boiler, of course.

And the running costs.

Owain

"G&M" wrote
| Got a leadlet from them this very morning trying to invite
| themselves to quote me on a new heating system. Which
| seeing as how the nearest mains gas is 5 miles away would
| I assumed have been in the 100s of thousands.

On the other hand, if the quote includes 'connecting boiler to gas supply'
then sign on the dotted line before the salesman realises you're gasless.

Owain

"raden" wrote
| Andrew writes
| Had British Gas in to quote for installation of gas central
| heating today.
| That was a silly idea

Hey, there're no good comedy programmes on telly these days.

Owain

On Fri, 30 Jul 2004 10:54:34 +0100, Owain wrote:

"Dave Stanton" wrote
| No, the advert actually said for heating installations.

Well, there's a shortage of gas fitters. Possibly they're going to fit
oil-filled radiators wired in MICC and hope the customers don't notice the
difference between that and microbore.

Apart from the absence of boiler, of course.

And the running costs.

Owain

Never thought of that. You worked for BG then ?

Dave

--

Some people use windows, others have a life.

"Owain" wrote in message
...
"G&M" wrote
| Got a leadlet from them this very morning trying to invite
| themselves to quote me on a new heating system. Which
| seeing as how the nearest mains gas is 5 miles away would
| I assumed have been in the 100s of thousands.

On the other hand, if the quote includes 'connecting boiler to gas supply'
then sign on the dotted line before the salesman realises you're gasless.


Hmm. Would be interesting. Provided there's no clause "for unexpected
additional expenses involved in the installion". Usually covers a flue
extension but I suppose four miles of gas pipe might qualify :-)

Though I expect even the most idiotic salesman (IMM?) would realise you just
don't get gas out where we are.

"Owain" wrote in message
...
"Dave Stanton" wrote
| No, the advert actually said for heating installations.

Well, there's a shortage of gas fitters. Possibly they're going to fit
oil-filled radiators wired in MICC and hope the customers don't notice
the
difference between that and microbore.

Apart from the absence of boiler, of course.

And the running costs.

Owain


Presumably their thinking would be along the lines that the customer
didn't notice he was paying double to have his 'central heating' fitted
so he'd be unlikely to notice his bills had gone up either :-)

"Dave Stanton" wrote
| Well, there's a shortage of gas fitters. Possibly they're going
| to fit oil-filled radiators wired in MICC and hope the customers
| don't notice the difference between that and microbore.
| Apart from the absence of boiler, of course.
| And the running costs.
| Never thought of that. You worked for BG then ?

glare No.

Owain

"Neil Jones" wrote
| Possibly they're going to fit oil-filled radiators
| wired in MICC and hope the customers don't notice
| the difference between that and microbore.
| Apart from the absence of boiler, of course.
| And the running costs.
| Presumably their thinking would be along the lines
| that the customer didn't notice he was paying double
| to have his 'central heating' fitted so he'd be
| unlikely to notice his bills had gone up either :-)

Gas bill would actually go down, of course. Proof that the system is
efficient, "new boilerless central heating system saves you space and cuts
your gas bill 80% - with no irritating pluming!".

And if BG are selling you electricity as well they get extra income from
that.

A win, win, win situation as someone might say.

Owain

In message . uk, Ed
Sirett writes
On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 20:00:09 +0100, Owain wrote:

"Ed Sirett" wrote
| I find it hard to beleive they have been gaining market share,
| anecdotally I would have beleived they are losing it hand over
| fist. OTHO I'm seeing the (possible small) fraction of people
| who are disgruntled with BG.
| In which case I'm truly astounded what people are prepared to
| pay (BG) for heating.

Apart from the trusted reputation they enjoy, and that numpty actor on the
telly telling us they're doing the right thing, perhaps part of the problem
is that in many areas it is difficult to get good independent firms to even
come and quote.

There is a huge shortage of plumbrs etc.etc.
Every new customer is a slight risk why bother when there is enough work
from the existing customer base.

They've all gone off to get degrees in media studies etc.

--
geoff