During last month's cold snap our boiler stopped working so no heating or hot water .

I rang Briish Gas as I have their breakdown cover they offered me a date of 8th March (today).

After I registered my disappointment at this and had a 15 minute call they agreed to me calling out a local engineer to fix it at their expense up to £199 (£299) if I lived in London !!

Got a local guy to fix it ,he came within two hours and the tea and biscuits took him longer than the job.

I am still awaiting my refund after which I shall cancel my agreement.

The guy told me the problem had been caused at my last service which must have been carried out by a muppet.

British gas boiler plans are a con .Looked into it a few years back they came to view boiler before agreeing to letting me into plan .They turned up looked at boiler in my large loft, and said there was a g small gap in flu pipe leading from boil to outside it must have been pin hole size.They cut my gas of there and then .They said they wouldn't return until I got proper access to loft safety rails etc and would charge for a reconnection. So was going to cost nearly £500 for there initial visit unbelievable. Had to get my brother to who is a heating engineer to travel down from Midlands to turn my supply back on.He said he used to work for British Gas and they do that all the time so beware there boiler plans.

While on the subject of boilers...

My service contract is embedded in my buildings & contents insurance. I get a service technician rather than a sabotaging salesman.