Worth having British Gas cover plan?

willoby_2

Does anyone think it's worth paying for the call out cover that British Gas advertises? They say you can get faults repaired and peace of mind especially in the winter months. Having a 24 hr help line sounds good, but it doesn't say in the adverts how long you may have to wait for someone to actually come out and fix the problem. Anyone got any experience of whether this is good value and a good service?

Monkey1984

Think they normally aim to have someone there same day. Next day at latest - Normal service should be within 24 Hours.

Could always look into E.on if your in the right area as well. They are cheaper then Bgas and can arrange 2 hour timeslots to fit in with you 7 days a week.

mike_the_bike_2

At the end of the day up to you how you want to spend your money..I've taken the decision to have nothing to do with maintenence contracts but after asking around locally i've found a local CORGI guy who is honest, decent, thorough and services my boiler once a year and this works for me. Whilst there is nothing in writing to say he will come along if it breaks down I know he will as soon as he can..

He also tries to fix things as opposed to telling me I need an expensive new boiler which if you search this forum you will see a certain company who's employees drive blue vans are under sales targets to tell you thats whats needed!

flossy_splodge

I accept that this is only my personal experience but last year I took out the BG contract for my father as he is elderly, disabled and at times confused(to say the least) so I wanted an easy and reliable way to get him help if he had a problem with his heating.
Having paid a LOT of money for over a tyear, when i did call BG out as the boiler broke down, they said it could be up to 3 days! I explained that my father was very elderly and therefore 'vulnerable' and no way could manage in the cold for even 24 hours without any heat.
Made no difference, they didn't care, would not give him any priority etc.
I called in a local company who resolved things and have since cancelled all dealings with BG and would NEVER EVER EVER deal with them again. I think their attitude stinks.:mad:

amandada

I just cancelled my BG cover this week, having had it for 5 years.

They made an appointment to come to do the annual boiler service in September

No one showed up

I re-arranged the appointment for between 10 and 1 on a day last week

The engineer showed up at 3.45 (not his fault, and it wasn't convenient)

I called BG to find out what happened, was promised a call back within 24-48 hours

No call (why was I not surprised!)

I called them to cancel the whole contract and spoke to the most obnoxious calltaker it's ever been my misfortune to speak with.

On speaking with supervisor, I was told that the 2nd appointment had been re-scheduled-errm not by me mate, as I'd not have made it for a time when I had another appointment

Supervisor listened to tape of my conversation with calltaker and agreed the calltaker was out of line

Supervisor extremely apologetic and said he didn't blame me for wanting to cancel.

I'm awaiting a cheque refund for my latest month's payment (blue snow anyone?)

My sister had an almost IDENTICAL experience with them about 6 months ago.

The irony is that the engineer lives along the street from me and our kids play together, but BG won't let him arrange his own appointments!

I've since set up another contract with a local contractor

27col

My son and my neighbour have both got BG contracts and have both called on them recently. In both cases the fitter attended promptly, and in the case of my neighbour in not much over an hour. His wife explained that they had a young child in the house and the response was excellent. Both my son and my neighbour are well pleased with the level of service received.

loracan1

amandada wrote: »

I just cancelled my BG cover this week, having had it for 5 years.

They made an appointment to come to do the annual boiler service in September

No one showed up

I used to have British Gas Breakdown cover, with annual service - the above happened repeatedly. Although they were good at coming out to fix it when broken, the service must have happened maybe twice in 5-6 years. I don't think pushing 150 quid a year is worth it to be honest. Just had my first boiler breakdown in 5 years and that cost a fixed £175 to repair (several things needed doing).