Upon our return to an extremely cold house after the holidays, Fliss noticed our radiators were a bit hit and miss. Some of them were hot-ish, others were just warm, so she suggested I call British Gas to get them to come out and look at it.
So last night I get through to a call center and when I explain to the guy what I want he says “Did you know you can bleed and balance your radiators by yourself?”
“Yes, I do know that.” I replied, “but I don’t pay around £200 a year for a servicing contract with British Gas in order to bleed and balance my own radiators.”
“But you will be able to tend to it quicker than we can send an engineer out, so I could talk you through the process if you would like.” Came the response.
“Look, I pay for the luxury of not having to service my own central heating system. I want you to send out an engineer.”
“When can I send an engineer out, sir? Is Monday okay?”
What strikes me as amazing is why British Gas would even have this stance with a customer who pays for their engineering cover. I mean, what if I screwed up the radiators entirely? What if it meant parts of the central heating system had to be replaced? Would I still be covered by the insurance after I’d tinkered with it myself upon the advice of a guy with a checklist in India?
It’s one of the stupidest responses I’ve ever gotten from a call center call, it really is.