Melissa Kite Melissa Kite

In praise of bots

Turns out they are a lot more understanding than their human counterparts

Credit: PhonlamaiPhoto 
issue 02 October 2021

British Gas finally agreed to service my boiler, for no reason I could make out other than the boiler wasn’t new any more. All the while it was new, they refused to go anywhere near it.

The majestic Worcester Bosch was installed four years ago as I began my renovations, egged on by the builder boyfriend’s bold assurances about the king of combination boilers. When I rang and asked to take out a Homecare agreement on it, I was expecting them to jump at the chance of what would surely be money for old rope.

It was hardly going to break down any time soon, or ever, according to the BB, so I was baffled when they turned me down.

If they had installed it, that would be different, they said. But as I had gone ahead and bought a new boiler of my own choice, willy-nilly, from the plumb centre down the road, without even stopping to consult them on their many attractive boiler-installation choices and offers, I would have to service it myself, was the gist of it.

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