Yahoo Finance 'I drove 180 miles to meet a British Gas engineer who never turned up'
I own a house in Yorkshire that my wife and I stay at when we are looking after our grandchildren.
There is a central heating boiler there that has for many years been on a repair contract with British Gas. I pay a small monthly fee and, when it needs a repair, I pay a larger one-off sum to get a next-day response.
Late last year, the boiler developed a fault. I paid the fee and, in time, it was repaired.
However, early this year the same problem reocurred. I contacted British Gas and someone came the following day. The engineer agreed it was a repeat of the previous fault and, therefore, was covered under its repair guarantee.
Before he came, we’d had some heating and hot water, although the boiler leaked. When he left, it wasn’t working at all. He ordered more parts for the following day but that repair did not take place because, despite him being told on the phone when he was with us that the parts were in stock, they weren’t. Please can you help with the fallout from all this?
Paul Harvey, Herts
It was winter and the thought of no hot water or central heading for an unknown period of time was too much of a challenge for you. So, although you remember such conditions had been the norm when you were a child, you evacuated to your Hertfordshire house.
You do actually have a job in Hertfordshire so have to juggle work and family responsibilities.
An appointment was arranged and confirmed twice by British Gas. You drove to Yorkshire from Hertfordshire but no engineer appeared.
You spent 50 minutes on the phone discussing the non-arrival of the engineer and a £30 goodwill gesture was agreed on for the time being.
A weekend appointment was then arranged and you drove back to Yorkshire to be there in good time. After two hours of trying to mend the fault, the engineer decided he needed to order more parts.
The boiler is of Italian origin of unknown provenance. Back you went to Hertfordshire with the matter still unresolved.
Eventually, the parts became available and the repair was carried out. You claimed a total of £171 for petrol at 45p a mile and £93 for 13 hours of your time for one of the wasted journeys. You didn’t factor in the other wasted trip, as you would have had to make one anyway.
You waited in vain to hear from British Gas. It later transpired that, despite your clearly highlighted instructions that the Hertfordshire address was where correspondence was to go, British Gas had instead written three times to the Yorkshire address.
Further to my contacting it, British Gas admitted it had let you down and apologised.
It has now paid you £380. This included the previously promised £30 for goodwill that had not yet been credited, another £30 for not sending the first goodwill payment within the stipulated time, and something extra.
