Mis-sold British gas drain insurance?

choccyface2006

My parents have a service contract with British gas which covers, gas central heating, electrics and drains, recently their drain in the garden became blocked and started overflowing.

So my dad called out BG who said that because it was a shared drain, they wouldn't sort it out/pay for it. Apparantly most people have shared drains unless they live out in the middle of nowhere, so why was this insurance sold to them in the first place?

My parents are furious. Have they been mis-sold this part of the insurance, which was an add-on to an existing policy? My mum thinks they called her to add the drain cover on and no survey was done or checks to see if it was a shared drain.

Can they at least recover the costs of the drain cover from British Gas, or press for them to pay up my parents share of the cost to clear the drain?

Thanks

Sarah

Clive_Woody

They will need to check the terms and conditions of the policy they were sent when they took out this cover. If it says that shared drains are not covered then it looks like they don't have a claim. I am afraid they have to take some responsibility for reading the policy when it is sent to them and deciding if it is suitable for them.

Sorry, I guess this isn't what you wanted to hear.

choccyface2006

Thanks Clive, yes but my mum is sure they never sent anything out, she is abit dizzy though!

Clive_Woody

choccyface2006 wrote: »

Thanks Clive, yes but my mum is sure they never sent anything out, she is abit dizzy though!

I've got the British Gas central heating cover and every year when they send out the payment plan (i.e. details of how much will be taken each month by Direct Debit) they stick in a copy of their terms and conditions for each level of cover, it's a glossy 4 or 5 pages leaflet that lists key exclusions that aren't covered.

Your mum could try giving them a call and asking to speak with a manager and ask him why she was sold a policy that didn't cover her drains and why key exclusions were not discussed with her when she received the sales call. She might be able to get her payments refunded, but I suspect she isn't going to be able to get them to pay for the costs of sorting the drain.

At our previous house we had a shared drain, I seem to remember that all those affected took out a joint policy to cover this, but was very complicated to set up. Your mum might be better off setting up a savings account and paying the premium she would have paid British Gas into that instead as an emergancy drain fund.

choccyface2006

Thanks again Clive woody.

Yes, I know getting them to refund the cost of getting the drains cleared is abit optimistic really, but if they refunded the premuims, that would be okay I guess.

I'm just cross that they were sold this and then hidden in the small print is the exclusion that means they weren't covered at all. I am sure there are some T & Cs somewhere but how closely they were looked at I don't know.

If most people have shared drains, then most people wouldn't be covered, yet my mum insists this was never mentioned when she agreed to the extra cover.

Sarah

Clive_Woody

choccyface2006 wrote: »

If most people have shared drains, then most people wouldn't be covered

Which makes you wonder how much British Gas is making every year from flogging useless insurance policies to people who are unaware that they won't be covered.

Yes people should read their policies, but if British Gas are doing the hard sell every times somebody calls (and from experience I do know they do this every single time you call them) then they really should be making people aware of Key Exclusions that aren't covered.