Anyone had problems with this? Had a leak in mains pipe outside house. BG sent third party contractor to fix leak. In doing so got dirt/grit into pip and blocked water on/off valve. Contractor flatly denied this and made up some story about the water pressure being low before they started job. I disputed this but BG were not interested in discussing it and after almost three weeks of arguing told me to go to the Ombudsman. In preparing for this I requested all written/telephone communication between BG and the third party contractor. I also had an independent inspection done on the work completed. Turn out that the BG contractor charged my insurance policy for hire of equipment that was not needed (£205+VAT) as well as extra labour to dig the trench (£180) and according to BG records the water main had multiple bursts over a length of 3 to 5 metres. When my independent engineer re-excavated the job the length of pipe repair was a mere 30 centimetres. BG are not interested in investigating this rip off and my insurance has been billed to the tune of £730. According to my engineers the cost should have been £220. This is a racket - BG want their contractors to deliberatly produce high bills as the policy limit is £1000 per/claim/year. This means that your £1000 of cover in reality is only worth about £300/£400. Anybody else experienced this?
British Gas water pipe cover
- Thread starter edddiec
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I have had drama with them.
I have a lead pipe coming in from the mains to my internal stop cock and then copper to the rest of the house.
My stop cock had seized, so i called them out, told them it was lead and they sent three companies out and each said they do not touch lead and billed BG for the time.
The eventually sent someone out who just changed the internals of the stop cock. Would not recommend the pip cover.
I have a lead pipe coming in from the mains to my internal stop cock and then copper to the rest of the house.
My stop cock had seized, so i called them out, told them it was lead and they sent three companies out and each said they do not touch lead and billed BG for the time.
The eventually sent someone out who just changed the internals of the stop cock. Would not recommend the pip cover.
Looking after your world - NOT
BG have always used 3rd party labour - back in the 70`s I was one : Doing their one size fits all heating installs simply because there was a copper shortage and I couldn`t do my usual bespoke installs for my own customers . BG and Tesco want to rule everything Not disputing the ridiculous charge of £730 to insurance company, but why did BG not then come back and mend the stop valve/cock with debris in it, as another job the next day. They still had £1000 less the £730 = £270 to spend.
Looks like BG missed out on that one, at a full hours work and using the remainder of that grand, they would have been on a roll.
Looks like BG missed out on that one, at a full hours work and using the remainder of that grand, they would have been on a roll.
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I don't understand why people pay out all this money for insurance cover. The top cover is £27 a month which is over £300 a year. If you've got a relatively new boiler & heating system that's been installed to a good standard it should be at least 5/6 years before anything goes wrong. Even then it's likely to be a very small cost compared the the money payed out previously in insurance.
And how often does the average person get a burst water main? i'd hazard a guess that most people have never experienced it!
Give British Gas credit though, it's a very smart business model.
And how often does the average person get a burst water main? i'd hazard a guess that most people have never experienced it!
Give British Gas credit though, it's a very smart business model.
I give it another 5 years before BG and others are paying out the way the banks are currently paying out for mis-sold insurance.
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*******s. completely different, if you can't see that I want £50 quid off you for being an utter moron.
A lot of you are missing a lot of points!
The OP has been the butt of a BG cockup. He has not told us what the Ombudsman application decided but has obviously spent about £200+ on an expert opinion which has uncovered a subcontractor scam.
BUT the scam he has discovered is not against the OP but against BG whose checks and controls do not adequately supervise their own jobs. BUT thats not the OP's concern but solely for BG to worry about ( or not as in this case )
A lot of subcontractors in the building trades fleece their employers. Thats part of the game!
As far as BG are concerned water pipe problems are so rare that the cover is very profitable. Even if they use dishonest subbies its still very profitable for them. They cannot employ people directly who are prepared to do this kind of work, often at unsocial hours.
As far as I know BG provide the cover themselves and put a cap on they claim amounts. So it is BG who pay out and not any insurance company. Their interest is served by lower costs from their subbies. BUT its often easier for the staff to allow some "slip" in the costs as the subbies make more money and are more eager to go out to do water main repairs.
I would not be going out to mains repairs for £220 ! More like £330 as a minimum even if I could identify exactly where the leak was which is not always the case!
The OP has been the butt of a BG cockup. He has not told us what the Ombudsman application decided but has obviously spent about £200+ on an expert opinion which has uncovered a subcontractor scam.
BUT the scam he has discovered is not against the OP but against BG whose checks and controls do not adequately supervise their own jobs. BUT thats not the OP's concern but solely for BG to worry about ( or not as in this case )
A lot of subcontractors in the building trades fleece their employers. Thats part of the game!
As far as BG are concerned water pipe problems are so rare that the cover is very profitable. Even if they use dishonest subbies its still very profitable for them. They cannot employ people directly who are prepared to do this kind of work, often at unsocial hours.
As far as I know BG provide the cover themselves and put a cap on they claim amounts. So it is BG who pay out and not any insurance company. Their interest is served by lower costs from their subbies. BUT its often easier for the staff to allow some "slip" in the costs as the subbies make more money and are more eager to go out to do water main repairs.
I would not be going out to mains repairs for £220 ! More like £330 as a minimum even if I could identify exactly where the leak was which is not always the case!
What is this "pip" mentioned by different people above?
Had me puzzled too, thought it was some kind of acronym.
But probably just someone's e key not working too well
You knew that already though, didn't you?!
Gotta go, I'm off out to buy some 15mm copper tub.
But probably just someone's e key not working too well
You knew that already though, didn't you?!
Gotta go, I'm off out to buy some 15mm copper tub.
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