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Gas check again

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Lyndyloo
invicta
musketeera
Metaldunk
Ponderosa
cavern
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Ian Sharp
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bigcol
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Post by Mac Wed Nov 10, 2010 6:56 pm

Interesting stuff and good to have a heads up on the situation. They haven't been to Fuente Nueva yet (as far as I know) but if they do come calling the German Shepherds will meet them at the door.

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Post by mame Wed Nov 10, 2010 9:05 pm

At ours as well today. Thanks to the forum we knew what they were.

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Post by pebbles Wed Nov 10, 2010 9:35 pm

well we have 5 'ankle biters' that hopefully wont lick them to death!

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Post by Jenny Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:27 pm

They've been in Los Carriones today. ID cards, official papers, dark navy uniforms. They tried to make us phone a Madrid number to get confirmation that they were pukka. Pretty aggressive in their approach and they left muttering dark threats about fines being issued.

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Post by Dave Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:56 pm

I bet you told them where to go Jenny! Laughing

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Post by Jenny Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:05 pm

I was the soul of courtesy, Dave, but felt at a bit of a disadvantage 'cos I was in my tatty old dressing gown & they were in their power-dressing uniforms. I wasn't at all aggressive (that's not the sort of thing I get angry about) and they sort of shambled away.
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Post by bigcol Wed Jan 05, 2011 10:51 am

Jenny wrote:I was the soul of courtesy, Dave, but felt at a bit of a disadvantage 'cos I was in my tatty old dressing gown & they were in their power-dressing uniforms. I wasn't at all aggressive (that's not the sort of thing I get angry about) and they sort of shambled away.


Good for you Jenny

lol just thinking of you in your dressing gown, isnt it a power dressing uniform??

happy new year to you both

Col x
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Post by Jenny Wed Jan 05, 2011 11:29 am

It would be if it were slinky satin, tightly belted and if I had the body of a siren, Col, but as it's something I ran up a few years ago from a fleece blanket and I'm carrying an awful lot of extra pounds (stones, even), the effect is definitely cosy & functional rather than glamorous!

Happy New Year to you & Sharon & your tiddley peeps. xx
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Post by Blatantadvertising.com Wed Jan 26, 2011 12:42 pm

Gas check guys on the prowl again, appeared today in El Margen, called to us but not to any of our spanish neighbours!?
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Post by Ian Sharp Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:28 pm

Yes they tried here this afternoon.They are very plausible and they carry very good ID,they will also try to tell you that it is an obligatory check.I asked them to come with me to my Spanish nieghbour's,they decided that they had something more important to do elsewhere and left.

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Post by Blatantadvertising.com Thu Jan 27, 2011 9:46 pm

Venta del Peral's turn today but thanks to the network they were turned away.
It seems that these particular guys are from a legal company, Cogasa, but their tactics are pushy and incorrect, and the prices charged are far greater than can be obtained elsewhere.

To repeat Cogasa with white Berlingo van decals of gas companies and Junta.
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Post by Jenny Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:25 pm

They hit Cortijo del Curra today. I arrived at a friend's house to find her about to hand over her credit card to this lot, who'd told her the work needed would cost €300 and would have to be done today as they were off to Almeria tomorrow. Naturally, they weren't interested in inspecting her Spanish neighbour's house, which is riddled with rotting pipework. When her partner arrived home he was brilliant - used his mobile phone to take shots of the vehicle registration plate, the decals/phone nos on the side of the van and the guys' ID cards. Interestingly, when they held out the ID cards, they obscured their photos with their thumbs - obviously a learned technique. He's going to the Guardia tomorrow morning with the photos. Wish I'd thought of that when they tried to do me over a few weeks ago.

Thing is, their presence and manner was very heavy and threatening. They were, in effect, demanding money with menaces.
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Post by pebbles Fri Jan 28, 2011 9:13 am

It isnt just the english they are targeting

I found this website

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And the other comapany is 'Complementos del Gas S.L'
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Post by Jenny Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:02 pm

Here's the Guardia Civil's response to the incident described in my previous post, above:-

I took their details to the Guardia this morning and needless to say these are nothing more than crooks, their van was registered to someone else living in Malaga, their DNI wasn't theirs and was cloned off some guy in Jaen and the Guardia didn't recognise their company. Here is their advice if you want your fittings checked or changed:- go to a plumber, don't let any strangers in from the street. No one can demand entry unless the Guardia or Policia accompany them, no one can charge you four times the shop price for any fittings and you don't pay for a contract, they cannot make you pay with a credit card.

They asked anyone who gets a visit to get them to wait outside and ring 062 which is the guardia number


This lot were operating as Cogasa inspectors. They wore official-looking navy uniforms - ribbed jumpers with red lettering, same as the guys who appeared at my house recently.

The blog posted by Pebbles above makes it seem that these people are legitimate, but have no authority to enforce or carry out repair/replacement work. But the reaction from the Guardia in the case of my friend makes it clear that they are actually crooks.
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Post by Blatantadvertising.com Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:19 pm

It seems that these men have taken the identity of Cogasa employees and that the company might not be aware of these events.
As you say Jenny totally illegal.
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Post by pebbles Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:20 pm

Sorry I wasnt trying to say they were legal!

I thought it was a blog warning people against them Embarassed

I AGREE - don't let them in!
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Post by Jenny Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:56 pm

Oh sorry, Kate - I didn't mean to imply that you were saying they were legal, either! It's just that I got the impression from some of the entries on the blog that there could well, in a free market, be legal companies going round doing this kind of check & advising people of defects, and that the guardia in Malaga had said there was nothing they could do. I was only pointing out that, as one of the companies cited on the blog is Cogasa & the guardia up here can find no record of a company of that name, the set-up seems even dodgier than the bloggers state.
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Post by bigcol Sat Jan 29, 2011 9:48 am

Well done for folks posting this on the forum, that's what the forums all about,

When I moved over, I don't think this sort of thing was around, or maybe no one would have thought that these were crooks at the time.

At least any forum members reading this posting are on the look out,and no one on the forum will be conned by these crooks,

Sorry nearly forgot! a few years ago, I posted re Bandits that target UK reg vehicles on the way down south around the Madrid area.
Doing removals and running vans, I nearly myself got caught, Tony our driver also was tried pull over, but tony kept driving, waving his phone through the windscreen at them I think, unfortunately one of our customers and forum member was pulled over and Robbed at gun point at the road side with his 2 young Sons and a very large dog in his car.

This happened a lot, don't know if it still does
But crooks are all over and It happens all over the world, just be vigilant!!!

Big Col xxx



Last edited by bigcol on Sat Jan 29, 2011 7:59 pm; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : after reading again, came accross maybe too scarey)
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Post by Blatantadvertising.com Sat Jan 29, 2011 6:16 pm

Something to think about.

If these men are only calling on expats where is the information coming from, webistes, estate agents etc?

Any thoughts?
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Post by Ian Sharp Sat Jan 29, 2011 6:42 pm

Could they access the Padron?

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Post by Jenny Sat Jan 29, 2011 6:48 pm

Presumably from satellite dishes. But if you read the blog to which Pebbles provided a link, it seems that they are targeting some Spanish homes as well.
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Post by Blatantadvertising.com Sat Jan 29, 2011 8:28 pm

The 'Cogasa ' men drove past 12 houses and went to the rear entrance of an ex-pats house and when rebuffed drove straight away ignoring a further 4 houses, this is not by accident but by design.
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Post by Sandy Wed Feb 09, 2011 8:13 pm

A friend who lives at Pulpite near Cullar was targeted today, unfortunately she handed over 300 euros before she found out that it was a scam. After they had been to her they tried another English family and a Spanish woman who told them where to go.
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Post by cavern Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:59 pm

They ( Cogasa ) were in Baza today and visited us and our Spanish neighbours, as luck would have it our triffic electrician / plumber was here and dealt with them. It seems they are a genuine company from Granada but are taking advantage of the situation.

They did point out that there were various flaws with the initialization of our water heater, which is bloody annoying as we only had it installed by a guy that Repsol sent in December. At the time he replaced an old boiler and used the old concertina tube, it is now supposed to be a solid white plastic tube and it should have a turn off tap on the copper pipes also he informed us we needed another ventilation outlet, which we said we would do- cost of this an overpriced 106 plus an extra 14 euros as we asked for a receipt and we are still waiting for him to bring receipt. That afternoon another guy sent by Repsol came around to issue the certificate ( 62 euros ) which he did but mention that there was a problem with the ventilation, this could be an issue if we have an insurance claim even though we put in another vent the next day. The only way around this is to pay another 62 euro's for a new contract ( go figure ) all this was pointed out by the Cogasa guy and confirmed by our very nice electrician who also knows about these things and said how we can do it ourselves as Cogasa's charges were ridiculous. It seems to me that they may actually be taking advantage of the situation of the useless service that is happening at the Repsol centre here in Baza

Anyway we have agreed to do the work and the Cogasa man said to expect a visit from their inspector next week, it will interesting to see if this happens. Meanwhile we have to figure out what to do about getting a new contract , guess this means having a conversation with the Repsol guy and well it won't be pretty Evil or Very Mad
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Post by Blatantadvertising.com Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:48 pm

I agree that Cogasa is a legal and registered company, but what seems to be the case is that someone is using their company name and linking it to another companies registration. Three guys in a Berlingo type van overcharging for simple work seems suspicious to me.
And exhaust tubing from a boiler in white plastic?
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Post by cavern Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:11 pm

Yep white plastic ( see correction below ) 110 mm with rubber seal , you can get it from the ferrets it has to have a rise of 30 cm and then out of the building - new regs to replace the silver concertina ones. Also although we got the safety certificate in December saying everything was OK ( apart from the ventilation, meaning the extra near the floor vent but not actually stating it to be this ) - one of the gas bottle tubes was found to be dated 2004 - Way of of date.

I am not saying anybody should trust these guys but also don't trust your safety certificates either especially if you are renting it could lead to a problem with insurance claims.

I am glad I had them in but equally glad I told them where to go afterwards. If you can't do the work yourself then there are local plumbers that can do it a darn sight cheaper than they were quoting


Last edited by cavern on Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Post by cavern Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:55 pm

Sorry I stand corrected by my DH it is white coated metal ( looks like plastic ) Embarassed
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Post by Dave Sun Jun 12, 2011 12:43 pm

Its been picked up by the Olive Press
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Post by Ken Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:29 pm

PLEASE BEWARE THESE BOGUS SCAMMERS ARE STILL ABOUT: THEY HAVE RELIEVED AN ELDERLY FRIEND OF MINE OR €350. FOR WORK AND A CERTIFICATE THAT WASN´T NEEDED. IT HAS BEEN REPORTED TO THE POLICE.
Repsol say that they will NEVER make a call with either being invited or writing for an appointment.

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Post by 1940thom Tue Jun 14, 2011 9:26 am

They were in Freila a month or so ago. They fitted 2 new special regulators with a so called 25 year lifespan and associated tubing to a couple of ex-pats at a cost of 140€ to each house hold.
They showed the paid invoice of the first to get the work of the second
I have had a look at these regulators and they are marked up at 29MBar.

I've recently had a tecnico to my boiler and was informed that the regulator should be between graded between 35 and 38MBar

When next in town I'll speak with Repsol and advise of the outcome

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