Homecare is it worth it?

Madfish

I recently signed up to BG Homecare in November after another £100 call out to repair my boiler (happens at least once a year for the past 3!). Now reading the smallprint it seems to say if its not cost effective or the boiler is over 7 years old then they will not repair it and it will need to be replaced at my cost.

Now my boiler was fitted in Jan 2004 and is a Riva compact (cheap basic boiler i'm told) so really this policy should be good up to 2011 at least, however with no proof of purchase or install date what happens if its declared unfixable next time it packs up, would i be better of paying my £17 a month towards saving for a new boiler?

BG said they would come to assess my boiler within 30 days, that was 2 months ago and still nothing, can anyone give their own experiences to if this plan is worth it?

savers_united

I have always put £20 a month into an emergency fund to cover things like CH breaking down.
6 years after starting the fund there is roughly £900 in there at the moment, if I had taken out boiler cover I would have nothing in my fund.
By saving monthly there is no small print, no get out clause, just a pot of money you can call on when needed.
I would also prefer to use a local plumber who gets to know your boiler inside out instead of getting a different plumber turn up each time you call them out.

I also have house insurance that comes with free Emergency home assistance, this covers the heating / boiler etc up to £500 without affecting NCD

matt666_2

I had a first visit inspection on Xmas Eve after 6 weeks since joining Homecare.
After 1/2 hour of messing around the Engineer who didn't show his card
announced that the boiling wasn't working even though it was when he arrived and that we would have to pay £115 for a new PCB which he wouldn't be able to fit it for several days.I took out this cover for my father
is severely disabled and has heart problems and at risk of death without
heating.The engineer made no attempt to get the boiler working and said some people take out cover on a 20 year old boiler and then expect it to be fixed the next day.Our boiler like yours was only 4 years old and had been regularly serviced.When I phoned their Customer Services they repeated this
story word for word and also it was up to the engineers discretion to charge
or not!!!
After he left we called in a local plumber who spotted a simple wiring fault
which the BG Engineer had caused accidently or on purpose.
When I tried to cancel my agreement with BG I was curtly told I will be
subject to a cancellation fee of up to £265 which is buried in their terms and conditions.Having totally failed in their "promise to provide a safe,high quality
service to repair and maintain"our boiler I am gobsmacked by their stance and atitude.
If you google "ASA british gas homecare" you will see a recent ruling banning all their tv and radio adverts which were judged to be misleading!!I think that says it all about this company.I am currently waiting for a response from their Customer Services after complaining although I've already had threatening letters in spite of them knowing what a totally rubbish service they have provided.Stay well away and there are alot cheaper offers out there who have fair terms and conditions

Garz

Agreeing with above poster. My wife signed us upto BG cover when we moved into our home, although we were lucky and got them to replace the pilot switch as it was broken on signing up with them.

After two years of paying the monthly fee I got my friend who was over from america whos a 'steamfitter' his oppinion was invaluable. We have since cancelled and save over £200 a year which goes towards a service and ready for a new system as soon as it packs in.

While the cover is ok to some people, often its the paranoia they instill of a breakdown that gets people to sign up. If your boiler is getting on a bit then chances are theres no point in replacing parts for it to pack in eventually. Save for a new one yourself.

geri1965_2

I've had this cover since I moved into my house and have called them out more times than I care to remember - but I have a very unreliable boiler.

matt666_2

Thanks for the reply and advice.Yes I think it is the paranoia of getting a cowboy operator but if you look at all the complaints about British Gas they are the cowboys.They often condemn peoples boilers saying a part is not available when that is not the case then sell them an overpriced boiler which they could have got from local Corgi Engineer for half the price.When I contacted Corgi today to find out if the engineer we had was Corgi registered they couldn't say.I think the engineer ID they write on their forms should relate back to Corgi records for this information or whats the point

Garz

matt666 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply and advice.Yes I think it is the paranoia of getting a cowboy operator but if you look at all the complaints about British Gas they are the cowboys.They often condemn peoples boilers saying a part is not available when that is not the case

Thats what I meant, the cowboys dont advertise on tv and billboards for the homecover it's BG

matt666_2

After the ASA ruling banning their adverts for making out that they attend all callouts the same day which was not the case and was the misleading bit their Managing Director proudly defended his company by saying that they do get to 70% of their customers the same day.Given that they are supposed to have over 3500000 customers that leaves over a million without heating for several days.

SwanJon

matt666 wrote: »

they do get to 70% of their customers the same day.Given that they are supposed to have over 3500000 customers that leaves over a million without heating for several days.

I think there'd be a bigger waiting list if all 3.5 million boilers packed in the same day!

Head-Out-Of-Sand

British Gas homecare sucks. I am being polite by not giving any analogies of what it sucks like. Utter cowboys.

I was with them for two years from when I moved in here. I had full cover with them, including boiler, central heating, elecy, plumbling and drains etc - thinking that as someone on a low income, it was best for me to be covered.

There is not ONE JOB they will not find a way to weasel out of. Awful, awful, awful service.

My final straw with them was when they refused to fix the plumbing in my bathroom sink - the wastepape needed replacing, it had broken and come away from the plughole, which meant I could not use my sink. I assumed that this would be covered by a "plumbing and drainage" cover...I was mistaken.

Apparently, it is a "structural issue". After having been fobbed off on numerous other occassions, and after paying them what must have worked out at around £800 for NOTHING, I lost my rag. I called them up and kicked off, saying that it was a total joke that a replacement waste pipe would not be covered by plumbing and drainage, and asked if that wasn't covered, then what the hell exactly would be?

I told them I was cancelling my DD. They said I had to give them notice. I told them to kiss my a**e and cancelled it anyway, saying that getting £800 for doing sod all was quite enough already.

Went with Domestic & General, been with them nearly 3 years, much better value and no trouble at all.

BG Homecare are a bunch of charlatans and it's a disgrace that they're still allowed to trade, never mind banning their advert!! Total scumbags. And their utilities side of the business sucks as well.

How can they enforce a contract on you when they are not fulfilling their duties?

Grrr sorry but they make me so angry, I hope you manage to get away from these jokers.

ali_p_4

I also had problems with them. My boiler was being unpredictable coming on when it wanted same with the water. A plumber friend said seeing as boiler was about 5 yrs old it looked to him like the valve was at fault. I called british gas out. claimed it needed a new circuit board, came back next day with part and fitted it. He had already po pooed the idea of faulty valve. 2 days later had same problem called them back again. Had to have time off work again for the engineer. another circuit board was fitted . still had problems. Couldn't afford any more time off work so arranged for a phone call when engineer was 5 mins away as i worked close to home. Got home from work card in door saying i wasn't in. I never got a call. Arranged another visit next day. All this time i was having to run my heating continously the bill was high. Engineer came said the wrong circuit board was in would come back next day with another. that was friday afternoon. He fitted board was just closing up and had water all over the worktop. Guess what he said i needed a new valve but couldn't do it till monday. The boiler had to be swithed off all weekend so no heating no hot water in november.When the 12 months ran out i never renewed it, especially as when i had started the plan on monthly direct debit they took a full year out in one go.