British gas homecare price hike

chocciegirl

Have just received my British Gas renewal notice for Homecare 400 (Central Heating Care, Plumbing Drains & Home Electrical) and it's jumped from £26.60 a month to £38.60 a month! They say they have now introduced risk assessment into the charge, i.e. age of system, number of rads, make of boiler and where you live. I think this is a totally unacceptable price hike. Has anyone else had their renewal with this kind of price rise? Do I just look for another provider or is it worth making a fuss and writing letters. In the current economic climate I think they are going to be losing lots of customers. What do others think.

jessbob

I have this cover as well, but not heard anything about a price rise as yet ! In fact,they like to ring me very frequently to try and get me to add more things to the policy - kitchen appliances etc.

if they do raise the price, they will be losing me anyway

hippey

chocciegirl wrote: »

Have just received my British Gas renewal notice for Homecare 400 (Central Heating Care, Plumbing Drains & Home Electrical) and it's jumped from £26.60 a month to £38.60 a month! They say they have now introduced risk assessment into the charge, i.e. age of system, number of rads, make of boiler and where you live. I think this is a totally unacceptable price hike. Has anyone else had their renewal with this kind of price rise? Do I just look for another provider or is it worth making a fuss and writing letters. In the current economic climate I think they are going to be losing lots of customers. What do others think.

Why not shop around, I have 'Home Emergency Cover' with my bank account, at £25 per month and other benefits it covers my central heating and other things. The servicing I get done by a local gas fitter who charges about £60 inc VAT.

Just a thought

Gerrard_8_lfc

Risk based pricing was brought in because customers wanted it.

Loyal customers were faced with £30 or more rises every year and never claiming and just got on with it. Now they will recieve higher discounts were as the serial users always claiming who start to cost the company money then complain about £1.50 price rises and leave the company. looking at car insurance if you keep claiming some people just refuse to quote or offer silly prices.

Its based on the same format as car insurance if you crash your car and claim the premium will go up. with it just being new high prices have been silly so call in and ask to speak to customer care as some people were having the likes of £170 added a year because they claimed twice now this was not how it is supposed to work no claims will give a high discount and call out for breakdowns alone will judge the price along with the size of your house and your boiler manufacturer.

Recalls are not charged so if you have a call out then another within a 28 day period it is classed as a recall

With all new systems some do have problems call up and speak to customer care because high premiums should realy only apply to people who call out 4 - 5 times a year with multiple repairs needing done.


I work for BG Services any views shared by me are not shared by BG

KimYeovil

£1000 per three years before the price rise. <shakes head> <bites tongue> <tries to behave self>

Cardew

Gerrard_8_lfc wrote: »

Risk based pricing was brought in because customers wanted it.

Loyal customers were faced with £30 or more rises every year and never claiming and just got on with it. Now they will recieve higher discounts were as the serial users always claiming who start to cost the company money then complain about £1.50 price rises and leave the company. looking at car insurance if you keep claiming some people just refuse to quote or offer silly prices.

Its based on the same format as car insurance if you crash your car and claim the premium will go up. with it just being new high prices have been silly so call in and ask to speak to customer care as some people were having the likes of £170 added a year because they claimed twice now this was not how it is supposed to work no claims will give a high discount and call out for breakdowns alone will judge the price along with the size of your house and your boiler manufacturer.

Recalls are not charged so if you have a call out then another within a 28 day period it is classed as a recall

With all new systems some do have problems call up and speak to customer care because high premiums should realy only apply to people who call out 4 - 5 times a year with multiple repairs needing done.


I work for BG Services any views shared by me are not shared by BG

Gerrard,

Your posts always make sense - especially about this area where you ply your trade.

However I am not sure I agree with BG's reasoning here.

Firstly the older(pre-condensing) boilers are far more reliable as there is far less to go wrong.

Why is the size of your house a factor? So a big house has more radiators. Has anyone had a problem with a radiator? I haven't! Ever!

I used BG for many many years and was always very happy with the service I got. However I stopped a couple of years ago because of the ever increasing prices and decided to 'self insure'. That was before the latest swinging price rises.

Must admit I agree with the OP - it seems like an 'own goal' to me.

Bob_the_Saver

Just out of interest I told British gas to cancel my contract and was offered 15% discount.

KimYeovil

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

Just out of interest I told British gas to cancel my contract and was offered 15% discount.

Which is 85% MORE than you were planning to be giving them.

Gerrard_8_lfc

Cardew wrote: »

Gerrard,

Your posts always make sense - especially about this area where you ply your trade. .

I didnt actually understand how that was implyed sorry lol.

Cardew wrote: »

Why is the size of your house a factor? So a big house has more radiators. Has anyone had a problem with a radiator? I haven't! Ever! .

It goes with the power of the boiler based on the size of the house as we are briefed a boiler that has to work harder and longer has more chance of breaking down. in BG terms beings a higher "Risk"

Cardew wrote: »

Must admit I agree with the OP - it seems like an 'own goal' to me.

In the long run it is supposed to give a fairer pricing policy as like you said yourself forever price increases to compensate for high users even when you dont claim yourself you may be aware already but BG homecare is in the process of changing to full insurance regulated by the FSA.

Bob_the_Saver

KimYeovil wrote: »

Which is 85% MORE than you were planning to be giving them.

I'm a landlord, out of country a lot of the time so very little option, so need a contract, service and landlords certificate. In fairness they've been good so far.
Wasn't actually going to cancel so worked for me.

If I was around all the time (and liked the rain in SW England) it might be different.

Cardew

Gerrard_8_lfc wrote: »

I didnt actually understand how that was implyed sorry lol.

It was a compliment!

It goes with the power of the boiler based on the size of the house as we are briefed a boiler that has to work harder and longer has more chance of breaking down. in BG terms beings a higher "Risk"

In the long run it is supposed to give a fairer pricing policy as like you said yourself forever price increases to compensate for high users even when you dont claim yourself you may be aware already but BG homecare is in the process of changing to full insurance regulated by the FSA.

Well if it is fairer, then as there have been huge rises on some policies(insurance term!!!) then shouldn't there be huge cuts for small properties with new CH systems?

how much for instance is Homecare 200 for a new 1 bed flat?