My 84 years old Mother's boiler has stopped working and I have been trying to get through to British Gas to get them to come out and fix it.

I have been trying now to contact British Gas for over 48 hours but their lines are always busy and despite waiting for over 30 minutes at a time have never once been able to get through.

I know with the current cold spell there are going to be people after their services more than normal but 48 hours is border line ridiculous.

What's the point of paying for a service and repair plan with them when you cannot get through to them when you need them.

She's living with us at the moment and we have put some thermostatically controlled heaters in her place to make sure the pipes don't freeze.

Just feel let down by them.

Anyone got any suggestions about how to complain to them.

 

What's the point of paying for a service and repair plan with them when you cannot get through to them when you need them.

 

 

Anyone got any suggestions about how to complain to them.

There is no point of any contract with a big company, because they will always be stretched during periods like this. Their engineers will travel long distances to cover massive regions,

Better to seek out a largish local company that offers service contracts.

You will have to wait until next week I suspect until a BG engineer can come out. In the meantime see if you can find an email address for their head office complaints.

I have sent this tweet

@BritishGasHelp 84yr old woman heating broken. Unable to contact British Gas - Very cold. please help - http://cag.tw/26gr

Try copying it and sending it as well

Already sent @BritishGasHelp a longer message.... Probably get lost in the deluge of email and tweets they are probably having right now

" What's the point of paying for a service and repair plan with them when you cannot get through to them when you need them."

Hence the reason not to use their service...which is vastly overpriced anyway.....stay local

My 84 years old Mother's boiler has stopped working and I have been trying to get through to British Gas to get them to come out and fix it.

 

I have been trying now to contact British Gas for over 48 hours but their lines are always busy and despite waiting for over 30 minutes at a time have never once been able to get through.

 

I know with the current cold spell there are going to be people after their services more than normal but 48 hours is border line ridiculous.

 

What's the point of paying for a service and repair plan with them when you cannot get through to them when you need them.

 

She's living with us at the moment and we have put some thermostatically controlled heaters in her place to make sure the pipes don't freeze.

 

Just feel let down by them.

 

Anyone got any suggestions about how to complain to them.

She is lucky she can stay with you currently, there are others who don't have anyone to stay with who's heating is broken, and awaiting contacting a heating engineer.

The whole country is in choas, even BG has staff who cannot get to work so telephone services etc are understaffed.

Just be thankful your mum is safe with you. Stay patient, and keep trying.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/bills-and-utilities/gas-electric/british-gas-make-customer-services-listen-complaint/

most issues in this type of weather are related to the condenser pipe outlet being frozen

get a watering can of hot water and pour it over the outlet.

keep doing it till it unthaws.

if the boiler has any kind of display or lights

look up the code its giving you on the internet.

bet its the above

I've done 4 over the last few days alone

very simple fix

Also water pressure is the curse of Combies ...check the pressure and top up if necessary/possible and that there are no problems with water supply

if she is of that age she should already be registered with the careteam?

try this number

08000728625

On many boilers there is a drain condensate pipe that allows water to drip out to the outside. This freezes up and shuts down the boiler. May be worth checking. To solve the problem just pour boiling water over it and then reset the boiler. Maybe an idea to get a bucket for the water to drain inside during the cold weather. I got this from another forum as I am not an expert on gas boilers etc.

British Gas

@BritishGas

Due to the extreme weather conditions, we are currently only able to respond to our most vulnerable customers. If you are of pensionable age, disabled, chronically sick, or on means tested benefits with children under 5, please DM us with your name, address and account number.

Contact them via twitter

Thanks for all the replies...

Condenser pipe drain was clear

Water pressure was just a little over 1 bar (which was just has it should be)

Fuse on ignitor board was fine and tested good for continuity

Been on twitter and not got a reply yet (same for Facebook as well)

Cancelled the company who we had managed to get through to when they didn't turn up at the time they said (and we did wait an additional hour longer)

Called another plumber/gas boiler fitter who said they were very busy but would try to get someone out that day (it was 2:00pm when we called)

He gave us a call at 8pm to say he could get there at about 9pm. He turned up at 8:30pm so credit to him.

He looked the boiler over and put it through a diagnostic test which indicated that both the main startup board and the ignitor boards were faulty.

(these boards new were about £400.00 (I had already suspected them to be the problem and had taken the time to look them up))

As the boiler was already 16 years old we asked for the price of a new one and he contacted his boss who then talked to me and asked a few questions

about number of radiators, how she turned it on etc and he quoted us £1350 all in for a new boiler, thermostat and installation which was a fair price in our opinion.

Given that the original company we had asked to come out wanted £250 inc vat just to come out for up to 1 hour and testing would have been extra + knowing

that the boards would have cost another £400, £1350 seemed like a steal given that she would then have 2 years guarantee and peace of mind + save the

money by cancelling the British Gas Service Plan + with the advancement in technology the new boiler would be more energy efficient so give some savings.

The gas safe fitter is coming back this Tuesday to fit the new boiler so hopefully by Wednesday all will be well.

Again thanks to all who made suggestions and gave us advice.

Great news!