disgraceful boiler cover .scottish power

A question about : disgraceful boiler cover .scottish power

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its day 20 of having no central heating. I've got scottish powers home comfort premium care - what a joke . had 4 engineers in total .1 no show . 1 who said he would return in a few hours , never did. no phone calls . the list is endless of a disgraceful service .I would advice anyone not to take out there boiler insurance . has anyone else had similar problems ? does anyone know if there is a time limit for boiler to be fixed? engineer No 3 was meant to be coming between9-11 today [the same one who ordered wrong parts on day 3 and failed to show on day 18 ] . Guess what no show . I phoned eaga he sub contracter] . They could not get hold of him . told they would phone me back with info , heard nothing . I've been in touch with scottish power customer complains since day 2 [ after engineer No 2 failed to return with a part ] . while they are nice and understanding , no real help. I just want to tell them to stuff the contract and get my own engineer in and send them the bill.

Best answers:

• I too have the Scottish Power home comfort premium plan and think the service is a disgrace. I have been without hot water now for over two weeks and the engineers they sent out provided them with the wrong information so the wrong parts were ordered.
  I needed to replace my hot water cylinder and SP said they would cover the work after an enginner came out to look at the job. This engineer provided the wrong information because when the installer came to fit the new tank (2 weeks later) he had brought the wrong kind. Moreover, this engineer said that my pipework needed upgrading and a safety valve would have to be fitted. Scottish power said that this extra work would NOT be covered but I insisited that they send the engineer to do the required work anyway, and I could then be billed, Scottish power refused and said I would have to get the pipework done independently and provided no written description of the work that needed to be done.
  I called the engineer directly and he has promised to phone back TWICE with a quote.......still waiting.......
• I got a letter saying my boiler was covered free for repairs when I changed tariff with Scottish Power a couple of months ago.
  I've always been with British Gas for my central heating maintenance and opted to stay with them even though it meant I had to still pay almost 20 quid a month for it.
  Reading your experiences have made me glad I did.
• Heres how it goes...pay peanuts,get monkeys...
  You can only go so low before you reach a tipping point..
  There are other factors at play..
  Engineers are overloaded with work to have to operate a cut and run policy if it isnt a quick fix
  The usual trick is to order a part and arrange it for when your not in so someone else cops for the job
  There are more and more clueless people getting involved with gas who ,although they have a bit of paper saying they are registered,are actually not that good and certainly couldnt be called engineers
  If i had waited 20 days..i would get the boiler manufs engineer to come fix it and send the bill to scottish power/seek legal redress
  Is your boiler some kind of complex nuclear reactor? what make/model and whats the problem?
• i feel for you OP.... but this is one reason, why people should stick to companies that use their own engineers rather than sub contractors.
  When companies like SP use subbies the right hand doesnt know what the left and is doing. SP are at much of the mercy of the subbies as you are.
  Its quite ironic that out of the energy companies that offer boiler care, British Gas, Eon and Southern electric & hydro have their own engineers...... Npower have less than 200 (mostly south of england) ather that they also use subbies.... EDF dont have any engineers what so ever
• My mother is 82 years old and severlly disabled and stays in the house all the time. Its been 12 days since my boiler broke, which left her without and heating or hot water. Scottish power originally sent two contractors out, who turned up late and one was busy playing on his mobile phone whilst the other worked. These pair lost the boiler details and after a week of waiting another engineer turned up and took the details, he told me that the contractor had sacked the other two engineers. Five days later and scottish power home comforts still cant tell me when the boiler will be fixed and it is getting colder outside and inside. God help anyone who uses these people.
• Hi zigzagzag, Belmontboy and 2Dand3D,
  I am really sorry to hear about the problems you are having with our boiler cover. I am aware that in certain circumstances we can experience delays whilst waiting on parts. However, I would not expect it to take as long as the timescales you have mentioned. Please e-mail me your details to onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com and I will look in to this for you and escalate your complaint.
  Kind regards
  Graeme @ ScottishPower
• Hi Graeme @ Scottish Power - I'm interested to see that you have taken an interest in these cases because I have been trying to get an answer from your company for 3 weeks about the totally appalling service I have had in relation to my Home Comfort Boiler Cover policy.
  I was left without a working boiler for 7 weeks due to a catalogue of total incompetence from all sides of this Operation. During this time I had no heating and very little hot water which was an utter nightmare when you consider have a 3 year old to take care of.
  In the end I gave up as I couldnt live like this anymore and got a private company to come in and fit a new boiler. This cost me about Ј2000 but I felt bereft of any hope that you would ever fix my issue and was effectively left feeling I had no choice after I'd had weeks and weeks of promises that were broken every time.
  I should point out that my old boiler was only 6 and half years old and should have been fixable but became terminal after the length of time we were left waiting on parts.
  I cannot tell you how stressful it was living in these conditions for this period of time. I am in the process of taking this to the Ombudsman for advice as I am getting nowhere with your customer services
  Perhaps you can suggest how this can be escalted as right now it seems your company does not care and this policy is not worth the paper it is printed on
  Regards
• And I should iterate this was 7 WEEKS and not 7 days in case you think you were misreading that post.
  After 8 weeks I finally got it fixed by a private company- I gave up on your company after 7 weeks. So in actual fact that was 2 MONTHS we were living with a broken boiler with no heating and barely any hot water.
  Shocking
• a perfect reason why you shouldnt use companies that use subbies....
  The subbies are paid a set fee for a repair... lets say Ј200 (Excessive..) the repair exceeds that... the subbie wont fix, the maintenence firm wont increase.....
  the customer is forgotten....
• Hi Agent101,
  Forwarding your complaint to myslef at the e-mail address above is the best way of haveing your complaint escalalted. In addition to my work on the forum I work within ScottishPower's escalalted complaints team.
  Kind regards
  Graeme @ ScottishPower
• You are not alone
  I too have been waiting three weeks come Sunday with no hot water.
  No return phone calls - inexperienced engineers who replace items hoping it will solved the problem.
  Asked for a lead engineer - but you need to wait 5 days for them. He is due today and am waiting for a call - having asked SP where he was they said he would call back - still waiting!
  Whne he comes I expect new part to be on order till middle next week then another engineer may come friday to fit. When this does not work we go through the whole process again.
• Just had a call the engineer has called in sick and the next appointment is wednesday! I booked him last monday!
• Hi Greame @ Scottish Power here is copy of the email I have already sent to the general complaints address. Our dealings so far have proven difficult and I hope you can investigate and escalate to the appropriate level.
  My name is Andrew xxx and myself and my Fianc! Susan xxx feel we have to write to complain about the treatment we have received from Scottish Power in the last few weeks and over the past year.
  Our dealings with Scottish Power started when we moved into the flat in 2009. In June 2010 we contacted Scottish Power about getting boiler cover. We arranged a first inspection for July 2010 when the engineer came out we were told straight away that it could not be covered as it did not meet the current regulations, but we were told that the boiler was safe and could still be used, we received a refund from Scottish Power at this time.
  A few months later we had a visit from a Scottish Power Sales Advisor, who wanted to sell us boiler cover. We explained that we had tried to get boiler cover before and that we would not qualify, however we were assured that this would not be a problem and that the boiler “looked ok to him”. Therefore our direct debit for boiler cover was restarted. When we called to have another inspection we were told it wasn’t necessary and that our boiler was now covered.
  We had paid for this boiler cover for a year without any problems and then received a letter concerning an annual check up that was due. We arranged for this inspection to be carried out on the 8th of November 2011. The inspection was carried out by a female engineer who told us that the boiler was safe and operating correctly, there was no indication of any issues and that we would be ok to use it for another year. Later that evening we were having issues with the boiler and pilot light kept going out. We were obviously not happy about this and called the emergency hotline as the boiler had been working perfectly before we had this inspection. We were told to call back the following morning.
  On Tuesday morning I called again and was told that an engineer would come out on Thursday the 11th as we were not seen as an emergency, we are not pensioners and still had some form of heating in the flat.
  However later that evening I received a call from an engineer saying he would be out to visit later on. When he arrived he took a look at the boiler and quickly came to the conclusion that it did not meet the regulations required for boiler cover. He then carried out a safety test and found that the boiler was leaking products of combustion including carbon monoxide and was forced to condemn the boiler and seal off the gas supply to it. We were extremely shocked and distressed by this, and do not understand how it can change so dramatically from being passed on Monday to being condemned on Tuesday with a very significant safety issue. If we had not called Scottish Power to complain about the inspection on the Monday then would this have even been discovered before our next annual inspection? We could have been exposed to potential health risks throughout this time which does not fill us with much faith in Scottish Power and their boiler inspections.
  A senior engineer came out on the Wednesday to confirm the decisions that were made about the boiler and we were told he would file a report, and that we would hear back by the end of the week.
  I have been calling Scottish Power on daily basis and have been given no indication on what the next stage will be and what compensation we are going to receive for these serious issues and the shock and disruption that this ‘annual check up’ has caused. I requested on Tuesday 15th November that an official complaint is raised but again I have been given no indication on the status of this even though I was assured I would be contacted within 24hours. What is Scottish Power’s service level agreement for complaints?
  We have now discovered that our monthly payments for boiler cover were useless and that we will get no financial help or support for getting a new boiler.
  It seems to us that Scottish Power are only concerned about gaining income through boiler cover rather than the duty of care in the safety of their customers.
  If this can’t be settled to our level of satisfaction that we would expect from Scottish power then we will have no option but to seek legal advice as well as contacting the Gas Safe register with regards to the safety issues highlighted.
  Regards
  Andrew
• Hi Andrew,
  I have receveid an e-mail from you regarding this and will chase this up and come back to you directly.
  Kind regards
  Graeme @ ScottishPower
• finally fixed on 2nd Dec - reported 30th Oct!!! 5 weeks to fix a simple problem. The time taken is bad enough , but the thing that really gets me is the constant calls to find out what is happening and the fact they will not be straight with you for instance there are no Lead Engineers (we waited a week for one and then was told he was sick after we asked where he was), they say they will ring back but don't.
  You have been warned.
• Dear Scottish Power
  I wanted to write to express my deep dissatisfaction with the level of service offered by home comfort.
  We have been without any heating and hot water since last Friday. Living in these conditions during winter is making home life almost impossible.
  The level of communication and respect when contacting the call centre is unacceptable.
  Waiting time for calls to be answered are over 30 mins.
  Advisors don't call back when the say them will.
  I called on Friday when their systems were down and was promised a call back, I am still waiting for this to happen.
  I have requested to speak to a supervisor, I am still waiting for this to happen.
  The team who answer the calls are rude and unhelpful. They don't seem to be empowered to solve any customer service issues.
  I feel it is unacceptable that our replacement parts HAVE come in, yet they "can't fit me in until next tuesday, as they have more important jobs to complete first"
  We have had a number of engineers to our home, they leave before testing the system telling us that everything is working fine, then we find nothing is still working. How is this acceptable? When I called the helpline to report this, I get screamed up telling me the problem has been sorted.
  We can't even have the COLD water turned on in our home, as when we do water floods out the bottom of our boiler, so when we want to use the toilet we have to turn on the water then run and turn it off again before it causes any more damage to our home. Water has already leaked though the ceiling into the room below.
  I truly believe that you can't accept customers to live like this.
• Hi Iain_is_freezing_cold,
  I have received your e-mail and will escalate this for you today.
  Kind regards
  Graeme @ ScottishPower
• Hi Graeme @ ScottishPower,
  I have sent you an email also as i am suffering similar issues as those above, boiler went of yesterday, called number for emergency cover, was told appointment booked for today (not a good example of emergency, more like book an appointment cover) engineer came out from Carilion, said new parts needed, i said when will they come and be fitted, he states 'they will be here by thursday/friday but you wont get them fitted this side of xmas'! as they're busy!!
  Where are these parts coming from?? China?
  We have a four year old who is now going to have to spend his xmas away from home....thanks Scottishpower and Carilion.....i'm more annoyed as i changed my cover from Baxi to Scottishpower, i'm regretting this now..
  Any help greatly appreciated