British Gas- The Consumers Complaint List

In the 8 years we I have had a service contract on my central heating system, I have only ever needed to call them once. I have paid over £1350 in this time.

The engineer called to make a routine service, and broke the boiler. We had an engineer every day for 5 days after that, every day the boiler did not work.

The boiler not only heats the house, but also is the only means of hot water, hence the service contract.

On the fifth day with no heating and hot water, in February, with a 14-month-old daughter, I rang the call centre that, after being passed around for 25 minutes they refused to send anyone to fix it, as it was not an emergency. Even though I mentioned that it was freezing in the house, and we had no hot water, conditions were hazardous to the health of a 14 month old. The Service Manager told me a child, when wrapped up warm will sustain its own body temperature.

I even offered to pay for the engineer call out. After having to push this problem through their system, every step of the way, eventually the fault was cleared the next day.

After writing to their customer services department, I have received a "sorry". This took me three letters to even get this. They have shown that they can fail at every level of service, they are the only people I can find who will provide this type of service, and I think they know this. Please help me to not let them get away with it.

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Editorial Comments

Were we told British Gas was finally getting its act together, or is that just a myth?

A Right of Reply letter will be issued in the next 24 hours. We will keep you posted. Meanwhile, let us have your comments, both positive and negative of experiences with British Gas.
14 August 2001

update on 28 August 2001
British Gas has contacted Mr Parry details below:
" They have received your letter on the 24th of this month. All hell has broken loose. I have received two letters, one from their head office in Southampton, the other from the area office in Stockport. The one from Stockport is a "we are really sorry, here's £30 off your yearly contract costs." The head office letter says that they are going to conduct a full investigation."

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