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Comments:
I've just had a nasty experience with this company. I called them up early November to request a CP12 gas safety inspection on my property which is rented out. The adviser I spoke to told me that the charge for this work is payable up front. At the time I didn't consider this abnormal, considering I've done this lots of times before with other companies without any problems. So I allowed £88.00 to be deducted from my debit card.
Big mistake.
Nobody showed up on the appointed date (4th Nov 2010). My tenant had taken a day off work and was quite angry about this. When I rang up React Fast to ask why nobody had shown up, the adviser flat-out lied that the engineer they had sent round hadn't been able to gain access to the property. I found this difficult to believe, considering all he had to do was press the door bell. He also told me that the engineer had called up my tenant on her mobile when he couldn't get in, which is another lie.
The adviser then promised that he would get another engineer to call me on the 10th to reschedule the appointment. This never happened. The adviser also gave me a telephone number for me to ring the engineer direct in case I had any problems. Nobody ever answered the phone number I was given.
Again I called up the REACT FAST main number on their website. The advisers I spoke to kept passing me from pillar to post. Nobody, it seemed, knew what was going on or even cared. The last adviser I spoke to, after leaving me hanging for about 15 minutes or so, came back to tell me that she couldn't reach the engineers herself either, but promised to call me back as soon as she could. She never did.
At this point, I reckon no gas safety inspector from REACT FAST is ever going to show up on my property, not unless somebody put a gun to his head. Also this whole business of ringing back and forth without getting anywhere is quite stressful and tiring. So I've decided to cut my loses.
My question is, is this company totally incompetent, or is it simply an out and out fraud ? And why are they being allowed to get away with this kind of behavior ? Where are all the Omnibudsmen and regulatory bodies that are supposed to be protecting us citizens from these kind of people ?
If anyone manages to figure this out, please let me know.
In the meantime, I've become so distrustful of this company that I have since cancelled my debit card. I have lost confidence that my card details are safe in their possession.
Avoid like the plague. They are NOT a reputable central heating company and thank heaven for a place to spread the news. They don't fix boilers, they sell them (BTW at huge premiums). I have dealt with them 3 times and each time they have tried to say that the PCB needs replacing before they can even test the boiler. They then charge for the PCB then it fails (surprise) then they say you need a new boiler.
Last week (Jan 22nd) their guy went through this routine and I challenged him. I asked for a Corgi number (now a Gas Safety Register) and though the guy said yes, it's in the van, he soon made excuses, said there was no charge and left. A proper engineer from British Gas correctly identified the symptoms as a faulty pump and nothing to do with the boiler. Total cost to replace pump - less than £100.
I know about the PCB because I fell for it in another property I own. Ended up paying out £4200 in labour and a new boiler. God knows how long it will last. Also they will not give you a VAT invoice (against law?) and they charge annually via a credit card which means it's hard to stop them taking your annual fee.
Reactfast are a very bad company, avoid at all cost.
In our house hold, live 2 pensioners, and 2 disabled people, we had been having problems with our boiler, they had sent different engineers our, until finally on said, the boiler was too dangerous to use, he put a sticker on it saying so, for one week, they left us without heating and water, by the way, this was when the weather was colder, after numerous phone calls to them, they sent out Worcester, the company who made our boiler, as their own engineers could not fix it, the engineer from Worcester was excellent, within minutes, he knew what was wrong, he also told us the boiler was not dangerous to use, and told us to use it, over the weekend, until he came back on Monday, we did, so we spent a week struggling being disabled as I am without heating and water for nothing, because of their cowboy engineer.
Recently they made an appointment with us, to have the annual check on the boiler, I telephoned them, and canceled this appointment, but the engineer turns up, he was told it had been canceled, he was persisting on doing it, when refused, he eventually called us Fuc#i#g idiots, what sort of company are they, when they send people out like this? You decide.
When one telephones and complains, they don’t deal with it, one said to me, regarding the last complaint I just mentioned, he said, what do you want me to do about it.
Very unhappy customer of theirs, and will no go with them anymore.
This company is an absolute joke and I concur with the experiences of other users. The reason why they have 98% positive feedback is because YOU CAN'T LEAVE FEEDBACK on their site if you don't have a completed job with a job number.
My experience was to have a job booked for 0900-1100 on a Saturday. At 1130 I phoned in to be given another (pay) number to contact. I did that and was informed that the engineer was running a bit late due to a previous job and that they'd phone when he was on the way. Around 1330hrs I got the call saying the engineer was clearing up at a previous job and would be with me very soon. 2 hours later, a phone call from the call centre advised me that the engineer could not call due to a "family emergency". What a coincidence given that it's now 3.30 pm on a Saturday and the football internationals are about to kick off! Reactfast engineers must have very unlucky families given the regular negative feedback on this site for failing to turn up at all! I was given the option of having a call the FOLLOWING weekend or at a later date. What an absolute joke.
No problems recommending REACTFAST if you want to wait in for hours on end for an engineer NOT to call.
The perfect company if you want to be lied to over the phone.
And the company have a strange notion about what a 24 hour service means. Because once they’ve diagnosed the problem, taken your money and need to come back to finish the job, their 24 hour clock seems only to run between 8am and 6pm.
And I must mention the stunning piece of advice I was given by a supervisor in the Birmingham office. He told me that if I wasn’t happy with their service I could cancel the job. No refund obviously, but good to know they had no objection to me getting the job finished by another company.
You might also try finding a firm that will charge you more… You’ll need to search long and hard.
Add a comment about this blagger
Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
Big mistake.
Nobody showed up on the appointed date (4th Nov 2010). My tenant had taken a day off work and was quite angry about this. When I rang up React Fast to ask why nobody had shown up, the adviser flat-out lied that the engineer they had sent round hadn't been able to gain access to the property. I found this difficult to believe, considering all he had to do was press the door bell. He also told me that the engineer had called up my tenant on her mobile when he couldn't get in, which is another lie.
The adviser then promised that he would get another engineer to call me on the 10th to reschedule the appointment. This never happened. The adviser also gave me a telephone number for me to ring the engineer direct in case I had any problems. Nobody ever answered the phone number I was given.
Again I called up the REACT FAST main number on their website. The advisers I spoke to kept passing me from pillar to post. Nobody, it seemed, knew what was going on or even cared. The last adviser I spoke to, after leaving me hanging for about 15 minutes or so, came back to tell me that she couldn't reach the engineers herself either, but promised to call me back as soon as she could. She never did.
At this point, I reckon no gas safety inspector from REACT FAST is ever going to show up on my property, not unless somebody put a gun to his head. Also this whole business of ringing back and forth without getting anywhere is quite stressful and tiring. So I've decided to cut my loses.
My question is, is this company totally incompetent, or is it simply an out and out fraud ? And why are they being allowed to get away with this kind of behavior ? Where are all the Omnibudsmen and regulatory bodies that are supposed to be protecting us citizens from these kind of people ?
If anyone manages to figure this out, please let me know.
In the meantime, I've become so distrustful of this company that I have since cancelled my debit card. I have lost confidence that my card details are safe in their possession.
Last week (Jan 22nd) their guy went through this routine and I challenged him. I asked for a Corgi number (now a Gas Safety Register) and though the guy said yes, it's in the van, he soon made excuses, said there was no charge and left. A proper engineer from British Gas correctly identified the symptoms as a faulty pump and nothing to do with the boiler. Total cost to replace pump - less than £100.
I know about the PCB because I fell for it in another property I own. Ended up paying out £4200 in labour and a new boiler. God knows how long it will last. Also they will not give you a VAT invoice (against law?) and they charge annually via a credit card which means it's hard to stop them taking your annual fee.
Beware Beware Beware.
In our house hold, live 2 pensioners, and 2 disabled people, we had been having problems with our boiler, they had sent different engineers our, until finally on said, the boiler was too dangerous to use, he put a sticker on it saying so, for one week, they left us without heating and water, by the way, this was when the weather was colder, after numerous phone calls to them, they sent out Worcester, the company who made our boiler, as their own engineers could not fix it, the engineer from Worcester was excellent, within minutes, he knew what was wrong, he also told us the boiler was not dangerous to use, and told us to use it, over the weekend, until he came back on Monday, we did, so we spent a week struggling being disabled as I am without heating and water for nothing, because of their cowboy engineer.
Recently they made an appointment with us, to have the annual check on the boiler, I telephoned them, and canceled this appointment, but the engineer turns up, he was told it had been canceled, he was persisting on doing it, when refused, he eventually called us Fuc#i#g idiots, what sort of company are they, when they send people out like this? You decide.
When one telephones and complains, they don’t deal with it, one said to me, regarding the last complaint I just mentioned, he said, what do you want me to do about it.
Very unhappy customer of theirs, and will no go with them anymore.
My experience was to have a job booked for 0900-1100 on a Saturday. At 1130 I phoned in to be given another (pay) number to contact. I did that and was informed that the engineer was running a bit late due to a previous job and that they'd phone when he was on the way. Around 1330hrs I got the call saying the engineer was clearing up at a previous job and would be with me very soon. 2 hours later, a phone call from the call centre advised me that the engineer could not call due to a "family emergency". What a coincidence given that it's now 3.30 pm on a Saturday and the football internationals are about to kick off! Reactfast engineers must have very unlucky families given the regular negative feedback on this site for failing to turn up at all! I was given the option of having a call the FOLLOWING weekend or at a later date. What an absolute joke.
The perfect company if you want to be lied to over the phone.
And the company have a strange notion about what a 24 hour service means. Because once they’ve diagnosed the problem, taken your money and need to come back to finish the job, their 24 hour clock seems only to run between 8am and 6pm.
And I must mention the stunning piece of advice I was given by a supervisor in the Birmingham office. He told me that if I wasn’t happy with their service I could cancel the job. No refund obviously, but good to know they had no objection to me getting the job finished by another company.
You might also try finding a firm that will charge you more… You’ll need to search long and hard.
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