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Hello All,
Hoping someone can me some advice on an ongoing issue we are facing. We purchased our first home last November and one issue that was raised by the mortgage surveyor was a likely issue with the drains. Subsequently a retention was placed on our mortgage pending the drains being replaced. We had a drain survey done and were advised that the clay drainage piping had collapsed and will need to be replaced with new PVC piping. We were quoted over 6 thousand pounds for the job, digging up our entire driveway and refilling (not matching the style). After deliberating over the Christmas period I decided to hire some labourers to dig up the driveway ourselves to save some money on the labour side and assess the situation.
They had dug up around 70% of the driveway and followed the pipe when they found the collapsed drain issue, a mains gas pipe has been bored straight through the top of our sewage pipe. Upon finding this issue I tried to contact the company responsible, and through our energy company, found that Southern Gas Network (SGN) were responsible. After calling them and explaining the situation I had to wait three days to receive a callback (rang everyday and each time was promised the area manager would ring back shortly). I was told that an engineer would come round to conduct a survey of the issue and pass the results onto the management team. He was very helpful and rang me to explain that my thoughts were correct and that a gas pipe had been bored through our sewage drain through a lack of surveying. He explained that he would discuss with the area manager and I should expect a call back the next day as I wanted to know what the process would be & the claims procedure before agreeing to any work.
5 days later and 4 phone calls to the customer service team and I finally received a call from the area manager, who quite frankly was very unhelpful and quite dismissive of the issue. He mentioned this happens regularly and they only survey for electrical wiring. He said they would come out to replace only the specific part of the pipe that was damaged and they wouldn't consider any compensation claims for this. Frankly, this seems unacceptable, this is an old clay pipe which a drainage company has recommended needs to be fully replaced due to multiple cracks and the collapsed section, it is likely all this damage has been caused when they bored through the pipe, how can a section repair to this pipe be considered a full repair? Secondly, I have had to dig up my entire driveway, which was quoted at thousands of pounds, not to mention we will need to resurface the driveway & the inconvenience this has all caused. I don't consider the area manager's response acceptable.
I ended the call asking him to send me an email with his comments so that I can consider my next steps. This was over a week ago and I am yet to receive any response from him. Any advice on this issue would be greatly appreciated. What should I include in my email to the company? Am I justified in my thoughts on the damage they have caused?
Many thanks
Hoping someone can me some advice on an ongoing issue we are facing. We purchased our first home last November and one issue that was raised by the mortgage surveyor was a likely issue with the drains. Subsequently a retention was placed on our mortgage pending the drains being replaced. We had a drain survey done and were advised that the clay drainage piping had collapsed and will need to be replaced with new PVC piping. We were quoted over 6 thousand pounds for the job, digging up our entire driveway and refilling (not matching the style). After deliberating over the Christmas period I decided to hire some labourers to dig up the driveway ourselves to save some money on the labour side and assess the situation.
They had dug up around 70% of the driveway and followed the pipe when they found the collapsed drain issue, a mains gas pipe has been bored straight through the top of our sewage pipe. Upon finding this issue I tried to contact the company responsible, and through our energy company, found that Southern Gas Network (SGN) were responsible. After calling them and explaining the situation I had to wait three days to receive a callback (rang everyday and each time was promised the area manager would ring back shortly). I was told that an engineer would come round to conduct a survey of the issue and pass the results onto the management team. He was very helpful and rang me to explain that my thoughts were correct and that a gas pipe had been bored through our sewage drain through a lack of surveying. He explained that he would discuss with the area manager and I should expect a call back the next day as I wanted to know what the process would be & the claims procedure before agreeing to any work.
5 days later and 4 phone calls to the customer service team and I finally received a call from the area manager, who quite frankly was very unhelpful and quite dismissive of the issue. He mentioned this happens regularly and they only survey for electrical wiring. He said they would come out to replace only the specific part of the pipe that was damaged and they wouldn't consider any compensation claims for this. Frankly, this seems unacceptable, this is an old clay pipe which a drainage company has recommended needs to be fully replaced due to multiple cracks and the collapsed section, it is likely all this damage has been caused when they bored through the pipe, how can a section repair to this pipe be considered a full repair? Secondly, I have had to dig up my entire driveway, which was quoted at thousands of pounds, not to mention we will need to resurface the driveway & the inconvenience this has all caused. I don't consider the area manager's response acceptable.
I ended the call asking him to send me an email with his comments so that I can consider my next steps. This was over a week ago and I am yet to receive any response from him. Any advice on this issue would be greatly appreciated. What should I include in my email to the company? Am I justified in my thoughts on the damage they have caused?
Many thanks
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