04-02-2013, 05:06 PM
Hi,
Thanks Gary; I'm now upgraded from depressed back to just miserable. All our dealings with British Gas have been brilliant. I rang BG this morning and the engineer has just left after fixing the boiler. The fault was the diverter valve at £100. The engineer has been here about an hour so my decision to go for the £99 fixed price repair together with insurance was a good one otherwise I would have had to pay £199 for this one repair alone so in effect this call out has been free of charge because the diverter valve would have cost me £100 and had I attempted the repair myself how long would I have played around and possibly bought other items until correcting the problem?
My personal cloud joined in; black as a boot and whilst I was taking the engineer a pot of tea from the kitchen into the garage boy down came hailstones and torrential rain all driven by high wind; I had to put my hand over the pot to prevent the hailstones turning the tea cold; I got a good soaking so thank you cloud you have excelled yourself; I've put the soaking wet car away before I explode.
Enough is enough and tomorrow I'm taking Bron over to Boundary Mills in Colne; the snow tyres are on the car the snow chains are under the drivers seat; now I'm good and mad!!
We've plenty of back up heating Gary but its in the garage or stored under the bungalow; oil filled electric radiator; electric convector heaters and a couple of fan heaters but as Bron was warm with the gas fire in the front room I couldn't be bothered getting a soaking going into the garage; if the repair could not be carried out for days then of course I would have sorted back up heating.
We've had an electric blanket for many years Gary and for safety we change it every five years or so because at around £35 each they are cheap. I keep having a look at the woodworking books you kindly gave me Gary and I'm still reading the router book which is bristling with good ideas and tips; I'll eventually get to the wood bending book which too is most interesting.
British Gas possibly aren't the cheapest but Bron and I are delighted with their service; within a few hours they have been and fixed the problem; we can ignore the fixed price call out charge because the part supplied covered this the only extra cost being the insurance contract but this ensures peace of mind; at least in future if anything goes wrong a phone call will sort it with no further costs being incurred by us.
You make a lot of sense Joe and I can see how a local trades-person would like to do a good job because after all they make most of their living by word of mouth recommendation. We seldom resort to trades-people though because I tend to cover all repairs/alterations to our home but when it comes to something like a central heating boiler these tend to go down in sub zero temperatures placing a great deal of demand on the repairers; a company like British Gas has many engineers whereas a local trades-person might be on his own so is unable to respond quickly?
Later in the week when I settle down I'll resume work on the cabinet in fact whilst I've been waiting for BG I've been putting the story together to add to the forum.
Down but not out Gary; I'm determined not to let this dire weather get the better of me; once again I'm sitting at the computer having removed my winter clothing so life is looking much better.
Kind regards, Col.
Thanks Gary; I'm now upgraded from depressed back to just miserable. All our dealings with British Gas have been brilliant. I rang BG this morning and the engineer has just left after fixing the boiler. The fault was the diverter valve at £100. The engineer has been here about an hour so my decision to go for the £99 fixed price repair together with insurance was a good one otherwise I would have had to pay £199 for this one repair alone so in effect this call out has been free of charge because the diverter valve would have cost me £100 and had I attempted the repair myself how long would I have played around and possibly bought other items until correcting the problem?
My personal cloud joined in; black as a boot and whilst I was taking the engineer a pot of tea from the kitchen into the garage boy down came hailstones and torrential rain all driven by high wind; I had to put my hand over the pot to prevent the hailstones turning the tea cold; I got a good soaking so thank you cloud you have excelled yourself; I've put the soaking wet car away before I explode.
Enough is enough and tomorrow I'm taking Bron over to Boundary Mills in Colne; the snow tyres are on the car the snow chains are under the drivers seat; now I'm good and mad!!
We've plenty of back up heating Gary but its in the garage or stored under the bungalow; oil filled electric radiator; electric convector heaters and a couple of fan heaters but as Bron was warm with the gas fire in the front room I couldn't be bothered getting a soaking going into the garage; if the repair could not be carried out for days then of course I would have sorted back up heating.
We've had an electric blanket for many years Gary and for safety we change it every five years or so because at around £35 each they are cheap. I keep having a look at the woodworking books you kindly gave me Gary and I'm still reading the router book which is bristling with good ideas and tips; I'll eventually get to the wood bending book which too is most interesting.
British Gas possibly aren't the cheapest but Bron and I are delighted with their service; within a few hours they have been and fixed the problem; we can ignore the fixed price call out charge because the part supplied covered this the only extra cost being the insurance contract but this ensures peace of mind; at least in future if anything goes wrong a phone call will sort it with no further costs being incurred by us.
You make a lot of sense Joe and I can see how a local trades-person would like to do a good job because after all they make most of their living by word of mouth recommendation. We seldom resort to trades-people though because I tend to cover all repairs/alterations to our home but when it comes to something like a central heating boiler these tend to go down in sub zero temperatures placing a great deal of demand on the repairers; a company like British Gas has many engineers whereas a local trades-person might be on his own so is unable to respond quickly?
Later in the week when I settle down I'll resume work on the cabinet in fact whilst I've been waiting for BG I've been putting the story together to add to the forum.
Down but not out Gary; I'm determined not to let this dire weather get the better of me; once again I'm sitting at the computer having removed my winter clothing so life is looking much better.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
