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on31ll
Just seen the new british gas tv add ! The one with the a team music ! Just wondering if your customers are over the moon when you give the boiler case a bang with your elbow to close it ?
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View the thread, titled "New british gas tv advert" which is posted in Gas Engineers Forum on UK Plumbers Forums.
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on31ll
How long will it take before people figure out BG is a big con ?
Alot of people think they are the bees knees ,i will never forget on a landlord service i had done revealed they had a gas leak on the boiler the same boiler bg serviced the day before lol
Friends of my parents have a contract with them, they noticed they had a gas leak weeks ago but thought they were imagining it till it got too strong bg man came out did a tt it failed so he capped off the meter and left it said they'd have to go back to bg and they'd send out someone to sort it any 2days later they came out and worked out it was the cooker which the old boy said the smell was coming from there, told them to ring bg again and they'd some one out to fix that,guy comes out says it needs new part three weeks later they still don't have a cooker, they say having difficulty getting the part it's a 3 year old rangemaster can't see it being too difficult
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petercj
One of their fitters said to me: "I know BG is not very good, but all the other big companies are even worse!"
Which could perhaps launch a new slogan: "We may be the biggest, but we're definitely not the worst!" :dizzy2:
A small company would never get away with selling so many broken promises.
How long will it take for people to get bored of these types of threads.
It's not a case of liking or not liking it really. People will always get on the back of the big boys like BG eon etc. And every mistake they make will be amplified to a greater extent, but its unfair to judge them by these things. If we all believed what we heard then we wouldn't trust any gas fitter.
Look at watchdog on the bbc, they are always picking on one man bands within our trade, now if everyone saw this and acted the way people do on here about BG then no one would trust any gas fitter.
Of course BG make mistakes, as does anyone, but from what I've seen they do a great job in the main but people just choose to notice the bad.
its in everyway fair to judge them by there mistakes as they fail to deliver on a consistent basis .they consistently con the public into power flushes blatantly rip off on boiler upgrade prices as well as a shocking service policy .If you claim to be biggest best then youd expect the best service.the good side im affrais is way over shadowed by the shocking performance they are consistent on giving
Do you get all this information courtesy of the bloke down the pub? I've contracted there for years now and I've never seen any of these things you speak of. The only thing I'd slightly agree with you on is the cost of a boiler install, but there is no crime in being expensive.
Ive never seen a powerflush missold, you'd get in a lot of trouble or misselling anything.
Nope all comes from custards and friends where i have followed to price works for magnaclean install or boiler upgrades .over £300 ti install magna clean ,,,yeah right !!! power flushes that are not needed is another classic services of obsolete boilers and they tend not to mention to custards that parts are obsolete . they are a shocking outfit that are now just another large company out to make as much money as possible to pay the dividends for the board.
i would say nearly every week i come across a bg classic bodge which is a shame as they have some genuine workers
i would say nearly every week i come across a bg classic bodge which is a shame as they have some genuine workers
They tell everyone if parts are obsolete for their boiler it's part of the service sheet list. So I don't know where you heard that from. Like I said before on the expense issue, it's not a crime to be expensive.
Youll have your opinion on them, and I'll have mine, I'm not on here to argue with people an mean no offence to anyone with any comments I make. But I have seen first hand what they do and offer to customers and I think there ok. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.
Villa, I have to agree with h4s although there are good engineers within bg the minority let them down. This is from experience where I have had to riddor bg 3 separate times for gas leaks one of whom was a manger!!
your wrong they maybe supposed to inform customer that they have an obsolete boiler but they dont as have a familly member whom that happened to .opened up a service plan with bg and for couple years serviced boiler (supposedly) and when it went pop they were told the parts been obsolete for a few years classic bg sting!!
A difference to be expensive and clearly ripping off people
You can agree to whatever as you work for them but i also see on an everyday basis what a pile of pap they actually are
A difference to be expensive and clearly ripping off people
You can agree to whatever as you work for them but i also see on an everyday basis what a pile of pap they actually are
Where i disagree with you Tom 83 year old lady needs new pump old 20 years old, yes love pumps failed cos of debris in system you need a powerflush. I inspected the water and a couple of rads of water hardly nothing particle wise and the water was almost as clean as tap water
btw villa tom not having a go at you just your company whom employs you
Like I say some of us will have agree to disagree on this one.
Im not employed by them I'm a contractor. All my views are my own which I have formed by what I have seen working there.
To be fair I've seen both sides of BG. I used to sub for them and not all of the engineers are rip-off merchants, some of them are just as frustrated at their policies than we are. I've got a mate who was sent on a course as he wasn't selling enough as that was seen as not giving "best advice" (their mantra). His performance levels were top notch but he still had to go on a course to sell.
The majority of BG customers when I contracted to them were still calling them the gas board. They are a dying breed as people now are very money wise why do people want to pay £200 a year for an FGA check and gas rate.
Every body makes mistakes if I was right 100% of the time I would work for myself but if I do make a mistake I make sure I personally resolve the problem as quick as possible and around the customers. BG sell on the basis that they will be out within 24hrs my company have received calls from BG customers that they cannot get out to within that 24hr period yet they still promise it.
Every body makes mistakes if I was right 100% of the time I would work for myself but if I do make a mistake I make sure I personally resolve the problem as quick as possible and around the customers. BG sell on the basis that they will be out within 24hrs my company have received calls from BG customers that they cannot get out to within that 24hr period yet they still promise it.
couple engineers i know got pulled in as not failing enough boilers they say they get pressure from above to 'meet targets'
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petercj
As far as I'm concerned its not about mistakes, or BG engineers in general, it's about the misleading marketing and the hollow promises they use to gain people's confidence, such as: BG promise a Service and a gas check, but they only do a gas check.
BG assure people they are covered against emergencies by reference to their 24 hour helpline, when customers ring the helpline they are told: "we are experiencing high demand for our services, ring back later" (in the summer). Or if someone does answer, the usual line is that unless you have someone in the house about to give birth, an engineer will get around to you within the next few days.
As one would expect with any large company some of their engineers are very good, and others are pretty useless. But then anyone with half a brain knows how BG operates, and the majority play along with the BS. Can't really blame them for that when they need to put food on the table for their families, but some of them are quite indignant if it's even suggested that they are spinning a line.
I get the impression that BG brainwash their engineers into thinking they are: "the elite workforce of British Gas" ... rule Britannia!
They are British Gas in name only these days, and I think they should be made to trade under their true name of Centrica.
BG get away with a lot of the things they do because no one in authority wants to rock the boat on the privatisation of what was a company that belonged to the people of Britain.
The cost of gas has gone through the roof since privatisation because six companies now share the monopoly instead of one. Whereas BG was once accountable to Government, the six gas companies that rule the roost are accountable to no one - Ofgem being a complete waste of space, and the continual advice of swapping to save money is a nonsense. 9 times out of 10 BG lead the way in raising prices. Having just hiked up their prices, they invite people to pay an even higher rate to have it fixed - what a caring bunch they are!
In addition to the monumental net profits BG have published over the years as a private concern, they have acquired Dyno-Rod and the AA, and probably have large sums of cash invested in other projects to off-set their mega gross profits.
The BG story is not about good business acumen, or good service, money has just showered down into their laps.
BG became a central plank in the big Thatcherite experiment which has now failed in so many ways, and is being propped up by the good people of Britain at a massive cost to their standard of living, and I think a lot of people are now becoming intolerant of carrying on in this way. It's not prosperity trickling down from the top of the pile, it's a landslide of hardship falling on the people at the bottom of the heap.
I think BG's bubble may be about to deflate some.
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Skipped the posts because I've had a bevvy sorry, but I did notice how they showed a squirting leak from a sink trap and mentioned something about a faulty boiler while showing a nice blue flame.
Would have made a new thread myself last week about it but thought it too obvious.
I thought; people going to see a nice blue flame through their inspection panel and gonna freak!
Would have made a new thread myself last week about it but thought it too obvious.
I thought; people going to see a nice blue flame through their inspection panel and gonna freak!
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REDSAW
They are British Gas in name only these days, and I think they should be made to trade under their true name of Centrica.
here here..
here here..
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on31ll
to be fair the thread is about the stupid advert. but i see your point. but are you going to tell all the people asking for work as a plumbers mate etc to stop writting threads ?
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REDSAW
just thinking of the b.g. ad'
what planet are they on?
what planet are they on?
In 1972 , a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem...if no one else can help...and if you can find them...maybe you can hire...The A- Team.
This is total misleading advertising british gas vans are blue and they never turn up alone theres allways 3 on a job.
This is total misleading advertising british gas vans are blue and they never turn up alone theres allways 3 on a job.
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REDSAW
In 1972 , a crack commode unit was sent to tinternet by a guy called DAN for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security wash room in the London underground. Today, still wanted by the banned users, they survive as plumbers of crap fortune. If you have a problem...if no one else can help...and if you can find them...maybe you can hire...The MOD TEAM!
Nice lol
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DTG plumbing
I agree with hammers! Never heard a good word said about BG.
Which just goes to prove the power of advertising.
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stegas
I bet the bbc dont start Rogue Bankers, or Rogue MPs..or even Rogue bbc celebrities..now then
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Orry Clayton
Do BG really have flying vans?
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Doodlebug
I play the A-Team music as I pull up on a job and skip down the drive with my magical screwdriver in my hand smiling like a Cheshire cat. :-D
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Doodlebug
One word "bull****"
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