My central heating boiler is old, doesn't cost a lot to run and has worked perfectly since my wife and I bought our house (in Grantham 23 months ago). That is until it was serviced in April, for the second time, by British Gas. The engineer remarked at how clean it was and how quietly it ran. However, a few days later the pilot light went out. Although it relit easily the problem persisted sometimes going out after a few days or more. I requested a repair and,in May, a new thermocouple was fitted and I was asked to monitor performance. The problem came and went at irregular intervals, the biggest being 29 days, so I requested another appointment and this was arranged for August 6th. The first thing the "engineer" did on arrival was to tell me that "hot gases" from the boiler flue were "scorching" the wood of an adjacent storm porch. This was despite the fact that paint was flaking off on both sides of the porch because redecoration was required, nothing to do with "hot gases". He then diagnosed the problem as a faulty gas valve but told me that parts are not available. Not true since they are available from several suppliers but BG doesn't keep them. He then proceeded to fit another new thermocouple and an overheat stat, all the while telling me I need a new boiler and asking me to arrange an appointment to get a quote from BG which I did to shut him up because he went on about it for so long. I was saved the trouble of cancelling subsequently since the sales rep. was off sick and couldn't attend! Before leaving he told me my boiler is a fire risk and should be turned off. I declined. When he had gone I saw that he had left a "do not use" card in the boiler. I then called in an independent gas safe registered engineer who confirmed there was no problem with "hot gases" and that gas valves are available if required. From this experience I can only assume that the "engineer" is in some kind of commission scheme for generating appointments and selling new boilers. Today I received an email to tell me my Homecare agreement will renew shortly with a telephone number to call with any query. Why would I want to renew if parts are not available? I called it and was faced with an automated system that asked me to say my reason for calling then told me it didn't recognise that reason! Apparently "cancel" is not in its vocabulary. You have to say "Homecare" then answer "yes" when the system asks you if it's about a renewal. After 10 minutes I got through to someone and explained the reason for my call. She asked me to hang on. A few minutes later she told me that I needed to speak to the cancellation department but there was a long queue which I could either join or have a call back from BG. I opted for the latter and was told it could take up to 48 hours!! I asked why I had to speak to someone else and was told she was not authorised to take cancellations. I remember when British Gas was easy to deal with and gave good service. What happened?