Advice on Boiler/Heating homecare maintenance agreements please

CostCutter

Hi

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to ask these questions? If not can someone please point me in the right direction. Thanks:o

I am currently with British Gas and have their HomeCare 400 and Kitchen Appliance care agreement but it is costing too much (£50.44 per month) and I need to cut back.

I am probably going to get rid of the kitchen appliance agreement as most of the appliances I have are 8 years old and they only pay a gesture towards a new one from a shop of their choice (Comet) if they can't repair it.

I have just had a home insurance quote and have been offered as part of it Home Assitance for £12 a year for emergency cover for Cental Heating, Hot Water, Pipes, Electricity and Pests, call out part & labour up to £1000. This was with Allianz Insurance. Does anyone know if this is worth having or am I going to end up having problems getting an engineer & huge bills to go with it?

I am still going to need an annual maintenance agreement for the service of the boiler & system, can anyone tell me a good value agreement?

Any advice gratefully accepted as I am REALLY worried that I'm going to do the wrong thing by cancelling my agreement with British Gas, take out the wrong cover and end up have no cover and huge bill to go with it!

Thanks CC:o

Premier_2

£12 per year sounds extremely cheap, but I think the answer lies in the term 'emergency cover'. You need to read the policy carefully as that possibly means action to only make something safe and not cause further damage.
e.g. to isolate water supply in case of burst pipe, boiler etc., not to actually repair the fault.
Check also that your household policy doesn't already cover such emergency action.

Your suggestion that you also need an annual maintenance contract suggests you may already be aware of the limitation of the £12pa cover.

Ask yourself do you really need such maintenance cover? I've never had cover for my central heating system. It's not like a car that need an oil & filter change every year. Even if you need to flush the system and add new inhibitor every few years, think about how often you could have paid an engineer to do that if you hadn't spent £600+ per year on a maintenance contract.

clewis07

BG are the most expensive for cover, they rely on people like yourself. the cover they offer is much the same as any other company they just make a big profit out of you. if you cancel with BG they will try and win you back by offering the same cover as you have now for a lot cheaper (poss the price of new company).

Cardew

clewis07 wrote: »

BG are the most expensive for cover, they rely on people like yourself. the cover they offer is much the same as any other company they just make a big profit out of you. if you cancel with BG they will try and win you back by offering the same cover as you have now for a lot cheaper (poss the price of new company).

BG are very expensive, and I ceased my cover for that reason.

That said, from all the investigations I have made, and there have been loads of posts on this forum, there is nothing available out there that is really much cheaper and some schemes are a disgrace - with exclusion after exclusion.

As said above it is possible to negotiate with BG on price.

Mrs_Bucket

I am about to take British Gas to task over this agreement. Both my mum and I have their drains cover (mum also has their electric and gas cover) thinking that it would cover 'repairs and maintenance to drains up to £1000' - as it says on the tin (or their shiny little booklet). Watch your step here. She called out Dynorod (a franchised addition to the BG empire) because her upstairs loo was blocked. The blockage was cleared and he also took CCTV of the sewer. Now, this sewer pipe is the original Victorian one; it has done its job for more than 100 years quite happily. Matey boy from Dyno said the drain had collapsed and her Homecare agreement wouldn't cover it.....but they were very quick to say that her house insurance would and gave her details of their claim management service and her it would take the hassle out of everything. Then I pop round and am not happy with this .......
Their brochure states.....
Drains
Unblocking, repairing and getting to waste drainage pipes.....within the boundary of your property.......parts, labour and repair incl vat to access your system and make repairs.
In the 'what's not covered' it does NOT state collased drains are excluded.

So, I ring British Gas and get a very stroppy young lady (but very good at her job - she didn't back down! ha ha) who states no, it isn't covered so I say I am holding the agreement can she direct me to the paragraph where it states it doesn't. Much mumbling as she reads through it.....It's in the terms and conditions, she declares, but I can't find it! I'll put you through to Dynorod, and ends my call with her. The lady at Dynarod says it's in the general exclusions and quotes 'design or existing faults' and normal insured risks. Hmmmm.......well it's worked for 100 years so can't be a design fault........wear and tear...? Hmmm, maybe but she had a similar problem last year and no-one said the sewer had collapsed - just my brother-in-law who chucks an excessive amount of loo roll (don't know what he uses it for other than the usual) down the pan.
If anyone has these terms and conditions I'd appreciate your view on this as replacing the drain is going to cost....wait for it £990 plus VAT - which is just over their limit!
Oh, they also proudly display the Crystal Mark (for clear english) on said brochure.....
Your views please?
Many thanks
(now you know they call me Mrs Bucket!!)