By The Energy Know How Team
The Energy Know How Team was approached in May just after our new project started by a colleague who was supporting a group of deaf people who meet weekly to socialise. A member of the group was quite distressed following the servicing of his boiler and didn’t know where to turn to get the issue resolved.
Sharon met with the client and a sign language interpreter, documentation was taken from the client and we agreed to meet him again the week after Sharon had viewed the documentation and prepared a list of questions that was needed to fully understand the situation and before a course of action could be decided.
The following week after meeting the client again the situation was clearer however, sorting the issue was not going to be easy – this is a summary of his situation.
He had requested an annual service as part of his British Gas homecare policy, he has this policy to ensure he and his son were kept safe and to ensure any issues with his heating are quickly sorted.
The engineer who visited his property confirmed the boiler was unsafe to use due to multiple issues with the wiring and the flue pipe which was venting under the clients’ car port and against the manufacturer’s recommendations. An ‘at risk’ notice was issued.
The boiler was only just over two years old and had been fitted as part of a grant scheme by a company in Liverpool, it had been given the ‘all clear’ at two previous boiler services…. An issue that needed to be addressed.
After many, many phone calls and emails to British Gas and a formal complaint they stated they were unable to rectify the situation as they did not install the boiler but accepted that the issues should have been identified at the earlier services and offered compensation of £250.00 for their failings which the client accepted.
It was much more difficult to convince the installers that they had a responsibility to put right the issues when the boiler had been in place for over two years…. Eventually and again after many phone calls, emails and suggestions that Sharon would contact the governing body for gas installers, they agreed to address the problems.
The first electrical visit addressed the issue of wiring protruding from the wall at the side of the boiler with no idea whether these were ‘live’ He left without sorting the second electrical issue.
Weeks later and again after much chasing and the company denying the car port was in situ before the boiler was installed, we were able to obtain photographic evidence that the car port was in fact in place before the boiler was updated. The company agreed to attend and install an extension to vent the flue outside of the car port.
This left one remaining issue (or so we thought). There was a length of wiring cutting diagonally across the corner of the room from the fuse box into the bottom of the boiler which was uncovered and unsupported in any way. Had anything fallen on this wire from above then the wire could have been severely damaged, it didn’t look as though it should be like that. Sharon made further calls to the installers who stated the wiring was indeed up to standard however Sharon’s gut feeling was different so she suggested that she would contact NIC the governing body for electrical installations and seek their advice. Within 10 minutes the company confirmed that they would be sending an engineer to replace and re-route the wire which they did and they enclosed it in cable trunking after taking it around the wall.
Sharon arranged for British Gas to revisit the property and ‘sign off’ the repairs as satisfactory and remove the at-risk notice however, this did not go as planned.
The engineer that attended confirmed after much consultation with the manufacturers technical team that the flue that had been extended was still not in fact satisfactory due to the car port not being fully exposed on at least two side. A second ‘at risk’ notice was issued. Sharon met with the engineer at the property, and he explained in detail what the issue was and the work needed to be done to correct it.
Sharon returned to the installers and after much discussion and many emails they agreed to carry out the work needed. They changed the flue pipe to vent up through the top of the car port and Sharon attended the property in person to ensure that the work underway was to amend the flue in the way that had been suggested by the previous British Gas engineer.
A further inspection from British gas on 1st October then confirmed that the installation was safe at last and the ‘at risk’ notice was removed.
The client who is unable to use a telephone due to being deaf could never have navigated this issue without in-depth and many many hours of support. We could not have left this issue unresolved despite the huge effort it has taken we have eventually reached a situation where the client is no longer at risk from a badly installed boiler and he has been compensated for the failings of British Gas to notice these errors sooner.
It is so difficult for people with communication problems to contact energy providers and resolve issues, they could do much more to make it easier.