I’m looking for advice and to see if anyone has had a similar experience with British Gas HomeCare.
I reported a leak and failed hot water cylinder at a tenanted property in early January. British Gas attended and confirmed the cylinder needs replacing. This is a standard component, but I’ve been told the part won’t be delivered until mid-January and installation isn’t scheduled until almost four weeks after the issue was first reported.
In the meantime, the tenants (a family with young children) do have heating, but due to the leak they have to keep switching the system on and off, and hot water is heavily restricted. This is during sub-zero temperatures. British Gas have agreed to reimburse the cost of temporary electric heaters, which helps, but the overall delay feels excessive.
What’s been most frustrating is:
conflicting information about timescales and communication has frankly been a joke
being told earlier resolution dates that then slipped- which I found out only when phoning for an update
repeated refusal to escalate to a manager because a complaint is open- even though this is a live operational issue
no practical route to resolve what feels like a live operational issue!!!
I’ve considered getting someone independently to fix this (and then seek reimbursement via a complaint and ombudsman as needed) but am worried that this may void any further repairs or warranty.
Has anyone had similar delays with British Gas / HomeCare for “routine” parts? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Not warranty on the existing parts. I have Homecare. I meant rather if anything else goes wrong they may say they’re unable to help as I involved someone else.
so that’s two reasons why homecare seems unfit for purpose. FWIW, I’ve been letting multiple properties since 1998 and have never had any expense or callout that justified packages like BG homecare. I have a good gas engineer that I’ve known for years and they do anything necessary.
Also FWIW, I’d have no hesitation in getting another engineer in to give you an immediate quote and estimate on completion. BG won’t even know you’ve done that. And if that engineer can do it immediately, then I’d get it done and terminate BG immediately and escalate to ombudsman for compensation.
@Nemo I don’t use bg homecare but know others who do - sometimes they send entirely the wrong trade to visit. I had them visit on an ad hoc boiler repair (boiler was 12yo baxi combi) they tried to sell me a story about a whole new boiler needed plus new pipework with a cost of over £3K. An indep engineer inspected for 50quid and said needed a new washer which he got came back and fitted for free. 18 years later the boiler still worked well.
Basically I suspect BG homeserve is good for regular boiler service or simple issues and some people like to buy from a big well known brand as it saves trying to find your own trades or using emergency plumbers (etc). The downside is they are likely to be poorer service than a good small local co.
But even small traders with good checkatrade reviews or which recommended can let you down or take longer than expected especially during busy repair times in winter.
The only difference is you pay for a customer service helpline, a formal complaint process lots of marketing and a better website. The quality of the engineer may well be worse (working for a big company means lower pay but better hours; a small local gas engineer who is good will get repeat business every year with the same LLs) and their ability to get parts will be exactly the same.
Services like bg homecare are more for individuals, not really landlords. They are just a big marketing exercise lacking substance. If an individual faces such a delay they have to suck it up, but as a landlord you have legal responsibilities to tenant. So find the local trades and use them directly.