Gas service woes
Discussion
My mother-in-law is registered blind, and old, and English isn't her first language.
She has a gas boiler service contract with British Gas, and every year she gets a letter saying the service is due and to ring to arrange a time. She can read with the aid of a magnifying glass, but can't scan a letter like a normally sighted person would.
The other day she got a letter saying her gas service was due, and it proposed a certain date and time. Having deciphered this part she decided that she'd exert her independence and she rang up and agreed.
The gas technician arrived, did the service, and said it would cost £60.
She waved her British Gas service paperwork and told him she'd paid yearly, it was part of the service contract. Except as it happened he wasn't from British Gas at all, he was from the company that had spammed her with a letter saying her service was due. How did they know her details? - the boiler was installed a few years ago under the government Warm Front scheme, so probably not hard for a 'business partner' to find out. This company may have been involved with the original install.
She told the tech that she hadn't got any money, and the tech said they'd be sending her a bill. Her response was using a logic that only the very old might try: "I've paid British Gas already, you'll have to sort it out with them".
I haven't seen the actual letter since I haven't made the trip to her house yet. Apparently she was advised to tear it up and throw it away, but she's kept the pieces. I happily concede that she made a simple mistake, but the letter as described does seem a bit scammy, implying that there is a booking already made and she just needs to agree the time.
No bill has yet been sent to her. I won't be onto Customer Services until I've seen the letter and the bill.
Simple mistake costing £60 or old blind lady taken in by a rather dodgy letter? Your thoughts please.
She has a gas boiler service contract with British Gas, and every year she gets a letter saying the service is due and to ring to arrange a time. She can read with the aid of a magnifying glass, but can't scan a letter like a normally sighted person would.
The other day she got a letter saying her gas service was due, and it proposed a certain date and time. Having deciphered this part she decided that she'd exert her independence and she rang up and agreed.
The gas technician arrived, did the service, and said it would cost £60.
She waved her British Gas service paperwork and told him she'd paid yearly, it was part of the service contract. Except as it happened he wasn't from British Gas at all, he was from the company that had spammed her with a letter saying her service was due. How did they know her details? - the boiler was installed a few years ago under the government Warm Front scheme, so probably not hard for a 'business partner' to find out. This company may have been involved with the original install.
She told the tech that she hadn't got any money, and the tech said they'd be sending her a bill. Her response was using a logic that only the very old might try: "I've paid British Gas already, you'll have to sort it out with them".
I haven't seen the actual letter since I haven't made the trip to her house yet. Apparently she was advised to tear it up and throw it away, but she's kept the pieces. I happily concede that she made a simple mistake, but the letter as described does seem a bit scammy, implying that there is a booking already made and she just needs to agree the time.
No bill has yet been sent to her. I won't be onto Customer Services until I've seen the letter and the bill.
Simple mistake costing £60 or old blind lady taken in by a rather dodgy letter? Your thoughts please.
- edited to fix cost*
Edited by karma mechanic on Friday 16th January 21:04
First off, get her onto BG's "Priority Services Register".
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/...
There's a lot of (let's be charitable) less-than-scrupulously-transparent marketing messages about, and if she's fallen for this one, how many others have or might get to her? IIWY, I'd be taking this as a relatively cheap warning, and seeing what you can do to insulate her from the less pleasant corners of the commercial world.
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/...
There's a lot of (let's be charitable) less-than-scrupulously-transparent marketing messages about, and if she's fallen for this one, how many others have or might get to her? IIWY, I'd be taking this as a relatively cheap warning, and seeing what you can do to insulate her from the less pleasant corners of the commercial world.
I've recovered part of the letter and scanned it, redacting the company name.
It has a contract number which I believe comes from when the boiler was installed several years ago.
It is easy to read it in a way that has the company responsible for the next service, when in fact British Gas has been doing them for years. However, it could equally be read as a simple reminder that would go in the bin if seen by someone that recognised that it wasn't relevant to the current contract. That's the problem, she read 'Gas Service' and the date and assumed that the only people giving her a reminder would be BG, especially since it quotes a contract number...
It is also possible to read the 'If you do not return this card or call us your appointment will not be booked' as either a dire warning, don't delay, or simply a note that nothing will happen unless you specifically arrange it. As said above, a cheap warning I think.
It has a contract number which I believe comes from when the boiler was installed several years ago.
It is easy to read it in a way that has the company responsible for the next service, when in fact British Gas has been doing them for years. However, it could equally be read as a simple reminder that would go in the bin if seen by someone that recognised that it wasn't relevant to the current contract. That's the problem, she read 'Gas Service' and the date and assumed that the only people giving her a reminder would be BG, especially since it quotes a contract number...
It is also possible to read the 'If you do not return this card or call us your appointment will not be booked' as either a dire warning, don't delay, or simply a note that nothing will happen unless you specifically arrange it. As said above, a cheap warning I think.
Edited by karma mechanic on Friday 16th January 16:13
on the plus side £60 is not an unreasonable price for a boiler service, so it's not like she has been done over for a service at 2-3x the going rate, and presumably they are a gas safe registered engineer and the service has been done correctly and certificate given.
Might be worth contacting British gas, explain what has happened and saying see if they can refund £60 of the premiums that have been paid as a good will payment as she won't be having her service this year.
Might be worth contacting British gas, explain what has happened and saying see if they can refund £60 of the premiums that have been paid as a good will payment as she won't be having her service this year.
ging84 said:
on the plus side £60 is not an unreasonable price for a boiler service, so it's not like she has been done over for a service at 2-3x the going rate, and presumably they are a gas safe registered engineer and the service has been done correctly and certificate given.
Might be worth contacting British gas, explain what has happened and saying see if they can refund £60 of the premiums that have been paid as a good will payment as she won't be having her service this year.
Hmmm, not their fault and probably hard to explain to the BG CS people... but I like the idea! Might be worth contacting British gas, explain what has happened and saying see if they can refund £60 of the premiums that have been paid as a good will payment as she won't be having her service this year.
Thanks TooMany2cvs for the Priority Services link, that one didn't work for me but http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/... gives some good info.
- Edited to add - the link gets messed up, presumably by the forum software, and gets a whole load of stuff prepended. Taking it as 'open in a new tab' works...
Edited by karma mechanic on Friday 16th January 16:23
Wonder whether the local paper, old people's associations, neighbourhood watch organiser or even Watchdog would be interested in embarassing the company who, whilst not appearing to have done anything wrong that I can think of, might not be happy having their fooling old ladies into parting with money made public?
Edited by paintman on Friday 16th January 17:36
No clearly not British gas's fault, but they are going to save money by not sending someone out to do a service
you could after all insist they come out and do the service that is included in part of the service contract, even though it would be unnecessary now.
Although on the other hand they may insist they send someone out anyway for some made up reason.
you could after all insist they come out and do the service that is included in part of the service contract, even though it would be unnecessary now.
Although on the other hand they may insist they send someone out anyway for some made up reason.
paintman said:
Wonder whether the local paper, old people's associations, neighbourhood watch organiser or even Watchdog would be interested in embarassing the company who, whilst not appearing to have done anything wrong that I can think of, might not be happy having their fooling old ladies into parting with money made public?
3 or 4 times a year I have to disentangle my octogenarian MIL from some energy saving, home improvement, home appliance scam firm. There are hundreds of them, it seems, preying on those who are unable to fend them offEdited by anonymous-user on Friday 16th January 17:36
We have found little interest from local papers or associations because it is so common as to not be newsworthy any more. And of course some of the firms involved advertise in newspapers too....
More than anything else, BG would be very interested to hear about the letter anyway as some company is clearly 'borrowing' their business.
They do have to deal with fraudulent/imposters quite often and are not averse to taking action against those companies.
If your mothers over a certain age she'd be entitled to a free gas safety check anyway by being on the register mentioned earlier. Its not a substitute for a service per se, but does give peace of mind from CO or leaks.
They do have to deal with fraudulent/imposters quite often and are not averse to taking action against those companies.
If your mothers over a certain age she'd be entitled to a free gas safety check anyway by being on the register mentioned earlier. Its not a substitute for a service per se, but does give peace of mind from CO or leaks.
Was it just time involved or any parts costs?
Join the awkward squad and play by the same rules. Wait for the bill - it may never come. If it does write and explain and mention 'misrepresentation' (as BG). Give clear instructions as to where further correspondence should be sent + phone number. Don't pay (offer to pay for parts). Repeat as needed. If your MIL is hassled having given instruction then complain (trade associations & police if necessary). If (big if) it goes to court it will be small claims track - enter a defence of misrepresentation and see what happens. Worst case is they'll sell the bill on to debt collectors who will then hassle you
Join the awkward squad and play by the same rules. Wait for the bill - it may never come. If it does write and explain and mention 'misrepresentation' (as BG). Give clear instructions as to where further correspondence should be sent + phone number. Don't pay (offer to pay for parts). Repeat as needed. If your MIL is hassled having given instruction then complain (trade associations & police if necessary). If (big if) it goes to court it will be small claims track - enter a defence of misrepresentation and see what happens. Worst case is they'll sell the bill on to debt collectors who will then hassle you
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