However, "due to Covid" the service for 2020 was not carried out and, although this contract year started in February, no service has been offered this year either.......
When I switched the boiler on earlier this month, it lost all power. I checked all fuses, etc., but no luck - so I arranged a visit - advising I had no heating or hot water. Three days later, an engineer arrived. He got the power back (though he wouldn't say how...), but as soon as the heating tried to cut in, the power went again. Eventually, he diagnosed a failed diverter valve, but said the part was no longer available..... so it was time to renew the boiler
At first, he said BG didn't offer a floor-mounted boiler, but when I said I was unhappy with the idea of changing to a wall-mounted boiler (due to the amount of refit required post-installation), he said they might be able to.....
He then arranged a visit from a BG surveyor.Said surveyor arrived 3 days later. He immediately gave many reasons why a replacement floor-mounted boiler was a bad idea, my mains flow-rate was below what the boiler could produce, it would cost more, blah, blah. He then spent over an hour specifying for a boiler I didn't want - refused to produce more than one quote for alternate options and did not provide a quote for the floor-mounted boiler. I reminded him of this at the end... and he said he would talk to his manager to see if they could offer said boiler. Since then, I've heard nothing, even after an emailed reminder.
Th BG quote was £4,300 altogether, for a boiler I didn't really want which had a flow rate 1 litre per minute LESS than their measure ofmy mains pressure.... and includung a 5 year guarantee with a "reduced" homecare subscription. This for a boiler that would leave my utility room needing a complete refit, once BG had done their work.
So I checked the comparitive price of a floor-mounted boiler against the wall-hung boiler specified and found that the former was about £600 dearer to buy, but that it would be like for like installation, so would require minimal refit (and additional cost). So I spoke to the regional agent for the boiler manufacturer and they offered to quote for the work. Their surveyor came out within 2 days. He immediately checked my flow rate and said it was actually 3 litres per minute MORE than BG had claimed (so therefore their boiler would be significantly underspec'd), that there was no issue fitting a new A-rated replacement floor-mounted boiler to replace mine which would come with a 10-year Parts and Labour Warranty, subject to an annual service. He also discussed installation options and pointed out issues that the BG guy had glossed over. He said their quote would cover everything required and it included the required things BG added as "extras" on their quote - and that the parts would all come from the boiler manufacturer.
Then the quote arrived by email less than an hour later....... under £4000, for a boiler that was better than BG's offer, that actually cost £600 more to buy as a unit and that meant there would be no need to pay through the nose for a maintenance contract (and that's a lot of money over 10 years!).
Guess which one I'm going with
So, BG failed to do what they were contracted to do (and then charged me £50 to tell me my boiler was kaput), lied about the replacement availability, specified an underpowered "alternative", produced a complex quote with required items shown as "add-ons" and, basically, tried to sell me what THEY wanted to install rather than what I wanted (or needed), at an inflated price and with a continual trickle-feed for maintenance.
But how many people would go elsewhere.....??
