| Product: |
British Gas HomeCare |
| Date: |
03/02/07 (225 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: None
Disadvantages: See article
Do you have a British Gas Homecare agreement?
In the British Gas HomeCare Guide, British Gas tell their customers that they
• Give you peace of mind
• Keep their promises with you
• Make your life easier
In the past five weeks all these promises seem to be empty.
Our saga began on 4th January 2007. Our dishwasher kept stopping during the drying cycle and therefore we phoned the helpline number to report the fault. They promised to send an engineer.
An engineer came (we have since found out he was a trainee engineer) who checked our machine, and left, declaring that he had checked all the components and “everything seems to be working.”, without even running the machine through. When we ran the machine, it still stopped mid-cycle. We phoned again and made another appointment, again telling the operator what the problem was.
The same trainee engineer returned and, once again, could not find the fault and had once again not been told what we had said in the phone call. He merely suggested we put rinse aid and salt in! This we did, but still the problem occurred.
Again we phoned, and once again made an appointment for an engineer to come. We might also add that whenever we phoned, we had to retell the whole story, including the make, model and colour of the dishwasher to the operator, as clearly records of customer calls are not either kept or shared.
This time no engineer turned up at all, so we had to phone again to re-book for two days later which meant having to get parents over to house sit.
A different engineer came and ordered two parts that ‘it could possibly be’ which we were told would be in for Monday (four days later) and he would fit Monday morning. We again waited in for him, that is until he phoned two and a half hours into the slot to tell us that part wasn’t in, that he’d re-order and come the next morning. That afternoon British Gas PHONED US (for the only time during the five weeks!) to say engineer couldn’t come Tuesday morning, but would come Tuesday afternoon – but on that afternoon no-one turned up! Again!.
We phoned to re-tell saga and were told the electrical department would phone us a.s.a.p and book in another visit for Thursday afternoon (parents again). The electrical department never phoned. We phoned again to be told no appointment had been made, but could be arranged but only between 12-5 or 1-6 (the last few bookings had been booked for between 1-5).
This caused problems for parents, but they worked around British Gas believing at last dishwasher would at least be fixed. Engineer came, fitted parts and again left without checking to see if it ran through the cycle.
It still was not working and so parents rang to complain of situation and wanted to speak to manager. Parents were told one would return call that afternoon( call was made at 3.15 pm). No return call was made and so we had to phone again to be told no-one would phone regarding the complaint for two working days! Situation was again gone through with operator who had no details except the dishwasher was not working. He offered 20 pounds as it had not been fixed that time – that was declined. He booked an appointment for someone to come the next afternoon – parents again. He was told no-one could be there until 1.15 and he was unhappy about booking a 1-6 slot if we could not be there for first 15 mins! Said he would request as late a visit as possible from the engineer.
Engineer arrived– at 1.05 pm, before parents could get there. After inspecting the machine again, he said it might be another part which he then ordered and said would fit it Tuesday, but added it very well might not be that at all and then we’re back to square one again. We phoned British Gas again (for the 7th time now) and demanded to speak to a manager as told they can’t put us straight through to one. We even offered that if they agreed that we could buy a new appliance we would all be better off! Explained we were seeking legal advice and would be E-mailing consumer companies if we did not have call returned, the operator said someone would DEFINITELY phone that evening– 24 hours later we are still waiting for a call.
Hence we go into week 5 of 5 visits and 7 phone calls and still a broken dishwasher.
How can a company like British Gas treat its customers so badly? How can they not even do simple things like return phone calls or turn up when they said they would, or keep a record of a job in progress? While a dishwasher is not the end of the world if it was broken, can you imagine if we were without heating or hot water for 5 weeks because of British Gas incompetence?
Summary: Read how BG can't even fix a dishwasher in 5 attempts
|
|
