BRITISH GAS "HOMECARE" IS A SCAM 28 January 2006 at 12:14PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Insurance & Life Assurance 16 replies 39.3K views

andy9808w

I have been paying 16pounds per month for a homecare insurance with British Gas. This policy is designed to cover your boiler and central heating system.

I was visited by an engineer to assess if my system was "good enough" for them to cover me. He explained that I needed a complete flush out of the system which would cost 440pounds!!! It was NOT explained to me that if I do not have this done that any other water bearing parts would not be covered, that in effect meant that I was paying 16pounds every month for no service!!!!!!!!!!!!
PLEAE BE AWARE IF THIS MARKETING SCAM. BRITISH GAS WILL NOT TELL YOU DIRECTLY ABOUT THIS POLICY UNTIL YOU COMPLAIN THAT ENGINEERS
ARE NOT REPLACING PARTS.

silvercar

I thought the enginerr assessed your system before accepting you onto the plan.

They left us a list of work that needed doing before we would be accepted for homecare. We gave the list to 2 plumbers and asked for quotes on the work necessary to comply. Much cheaper than British Gas.

Then we went back to British Gas and joined homecare.

dunstonh

I signed up a few months ago and get a new circuitboard to fix a long term problem. I paid nothing for the circuit board but are tied for at least 12 months servcing. The circuit board would have cost me more than 12 months on the british gas plan. So, I am more than happy with their service.

tightrs

i am with powergen and pay £14.99 a month for 9 months and get 3 months free ,i have had the free service but have not had to call them out for any problems.
incidentally my parents had to pay for a system flush out i wonder how many more people have had to do this with bg

Pusser1

Similar thing happened to my Mother a few years ago. She had been paying homecare for years then when she needed to call them out they decided her system was out of date and they could not replace them. They then tried to make her pay for the whole bill of repair. This is where I came in. I immediately called and complained and then I wrote stating the facts and what a rip off British Gas were trying to pull. Finally they backed down and agreed it was their fault as they were responsible for receiving money every month for what in actuality was an unrepairable system.
Don't let them get away with this they should know what they are getting paid for and not wait until the customer calls them.

marsden1002

Hi.

A flush of the system is no where near £400. My dad is a plumber, and british gas do charge very high prices (he is sub-contracted to them) and he can cut their prices nearly in half of bolier installations

andy9808w

Yer so did I, the engineer is basically a salesperson and i'm sure he is told to go down the lines of screwing the customer for a large amount of money. He did not even have any proof it need a clean out, apart from his judgement. They won't be keeping my money thats for dure.
cheers,
Andy

andy9808w

Yer a big con, It would be cheaper buying new radiators and fitting them yourself. I hope Powergen dont treat you like a piece of dirt!!!!
Cheers,

Andy

andy9808w

Good on yer, they would steal from a blind person if they could get away with it.
They will be giving me my money back for sure, as I am adopting your approach.
Thanks,

Andy

andy9808w

Yer I thought so I have cancelled the policy and demanding my money back they are the worst insurance company I have ever come across.

Hope your dad gets plenty of work from x-customers such as me!
Cheers,

Andy

Basil_Fawlty

why not go for an all in home emergency plan - direct line works out cheaper than BG and it covers much more, like leaks, burst pipes, blocked drains/loos.

I can never understand why people buy this 'insurance' from BG. They claim to have a 24 hr service but that isn't an engineer on call 24h, it's just their call centre. It's a pile of pants if you ask me.