Hi,
I was just wondering if there is anyone that can give me any kind of advice in my situation. Basically, my 78 year old grandfather who is half-blind and recovered relatively recently from pneumonia was left by British Gas last night with no gas, meaning no heating, no hot water and unable to cook. This happened because the gas had to be turned off during his annual service on his boiler as they found a small part that needed replacing. However, the engineer was apparently a little on the large side and therefore did not wish to climb up a ladder to access the boiler to replace the part and decided that the boiler was inaccesable despite British Gas being able to access it just fine to read his meter whenever they come. As a result of the engineer's unwillingness to climb up a ladder, he told my grandfather that for British Gas to do anything to fix the problem, he would have to remove a built-in kitchen unit that has electrical wires running through it to allow them to access the problem from somewhere else, or something like that. He was unable to do so, so the engineer simply left and left the gas turned off. This happened yesterday morning and has therefore been left without power for over 24 hours. Today they delivered him some convection heaters and a hot-plate, but even then they left these outside his front door and didn't tell him that they had done so. His neighbour from the downstairs flat came to have a look and showed my grandfather that it was perfectly possible to access the boiler safely using a ladder. British Gas were informed of the situation several times since the power was turned off and they have refused to send a different engineer to offer a second opinion on the situation and they have essentially told him that they won't do anything until he has ripped out half of his kitchen in a dangerous manner.
Essentially, I was just wondering if there is anyone that can advise us on what rights my grandfather may have and any other ideas or information would be really helpful in what, as I am sure you can imagine, is an incredibly stressful time for his family, especially his wife who is currently unable to travel home to assist him.
Thank you.
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Comments
In the meantime contact BG advising them that they are under an obligation to provide a reasonable level of service as part of the maintenance contract he presumably has with them and that any additional reasonable expenses incurred as a result of their breach will be passed in on to them.
If you can get the engineer to state that access was unrestricted that would be very helpful should you need to chase BG for payment.
I had a guy come out to fix a fire yesterday very reasonable and i got him off a gas safe register. they are based in Plumstead. i can gve you the details if you want but i dont know about British Gas business. Tho this guy told us to cancel the direct debit i had just set up with BG as they would do nothing for me if it meant too much hard work. Waste of money.
Thanks so much for your suggestions so far. I have just clarified with him and the problem is that the 'target regulator' needs replacing and this apparently is a part of the meter. So from my understanding, British Gas are willing to stand on a chair to read the meter but National Grid, who the engineer worked for, are not willing to stand on a ladder to replace a part in the meter. The meter is above the cupboard so can be accessed via a ladder but they are insisting that he rips the cupboard out.
I was mistaken when writing the original post and it is the gas meter that he was unwilling to fix, not the boiler. Sorry for the confusion.
I have it all cleared up now. Sorry for the mistake but I was so angry when I heard that I just needed to see if there was anything that I could do then and I was slightly mistaken in terms of the problem. The issue is that National Grid, who the engineer told my grandfather were working for British Gas, were unwilling to climb up a ladder to replace the part as the ladder would not have faced the meter straight-on, so they have made him rip out built-in kitchen cupboards and refused to allow a second engineer to give his opinion on whether he could carry out the work. They did not attempt to offer a different solution and instead left and told him that they would not do anything until he had ripped part of his kitchen out.
Does anyone know if there is anthing that we can do if he ends up being out of pocket significantly?
Many thanks.
Can never be that a direct employee for one of these firms is terrified of getting caught out by a busy manager when he's not got his helmet and chinstrap on getting out of the van
Fact my arse
Skive my arse.
I am glad you managed to sort it, I am somewhat confused as the British Gas Engineers on the Service and Repair side who do service the boilers side do not contract out to other large companies , however there are some trusted one off contractors that are used in the Greenwich area. I can only presume that it all got a bit mixed up as to who was calling to do what.
If you have concerns over the boiler servicing side please post a work request number and I will get a manager to contact you tomorrow to see how we can help.
Unfortunately anything to do with Gas Meters is not my span of control
Hope your Grandfather is OK
Steve
Operations Manager Greenwich
British Gas Service and Repair
Nice one
If anyone wants anything done, use the local one man bands!
He left i brought a thermostate form a shop in New Eltham £26 and fitted it myself----stopped the Bgas service same day.