British Gas homecare 200 refunds

2dot

I've been registered with BG Homecare 200 for many years, and it's just come up for renewal (Dec 09). When I checked last year's letter, it said I'd get a refund at this year's renewal if I didn't call out an engineer during the year - which I didn't.

However, the renewal letter had no discount on it, so I phoned up to enquire, only to be told "our terms and conditions have changed - there's no longer a discount". It took a little while, but eventually I convinced the BG employee to offer me a 'goodwill' 10% discount, saving me £24 over the next year, equivalent to the old no-use reduction.

The exact wording of the letter in Dec 08 was "Even though you don't qualify for our no-usage discount (as stated in your Terms and Conditions), if this year is trouble-free and you don't need to call out an engineer for a repair, you'll receive the discount at your next renewal."

Check your letters!

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

When I was with BG Homecare - and all their previous versions like 3* - it was always possible to negotiate a 10% reduction on their renewal quote. However eventually even with that discount it became too expensive.

Aldo67

I'm waiting on a BG engineer to repair our boiler under the Homecare 200 Plan. This will be his 4th visit in 8 days. He was supposed to show up yesterday but the parts hadn't arrived! :mad:

If he doesn't repair it properly today, I am going to go mad!

Do I have any right to claim compensation or anything for my inconvenience seeing as my boiler cuts out, on average, every 10 mins, which means if it's set to come on while I am out or in bed and it's cut out, it won't come on!!!

jem16

Aldo67 wrote: »

Do I have any right to claim compensation or anything for my inconvenience

I complained in April when an engineer did not turn up and parts were fitted which did not resolve the problem and meant my boiler was not working for 5 days. I got £30 as compensation.

I have just had an engineer out this morning to fit a part which was ordered on Christmas Eve. This was the same fault from April which had started again.

He has now replaced the air pressure switch which Vokera had apparently modified as there were repeated problems with intermittent failures - at least that is what the BG engineer told me. He also cleaned out the venturi which he said was partially blocked.

I have my fingers crossed that this finally reloves the problem but I still have my doubts. Ihave spent the last few weeks never sure when it would lockout or work.

Aldo67

jem16 wrote: »

I complained in April when an engineer did not turn up and parts were fitted which did not resolve the problem and meant my boiler was not working for 5 days. I got £30 as compensation.

I have just had an engineer out this morning to fit a part which was ordered on Christmas Eve. This was the same fault from April which had started again.

He has now replaced the air pressure switch which Vokera had apparently modified as there were repeated problems with intermittent failures - at least that is what the BG engineer told me. He also cleaned out the venturi which he said was partially blocked.

I have my fingers crossed that this finally reloves the problem but I still have my doubts. Ihave spent the last few weeks never sure when it would lockout or work.

Fingers crossed that the BG engineer fixes it once and for all this time (If he turns up, supposed to be here between 10am-12pm) I think I'll try my luck with BG for compenstion. I shouldn't have to go through this nonsense on my time off from work!

Aldo67

Come to think of it, my last direct debit was for £19 odds for homecare 200, when the website says £17

I'm getting royally shafted by this lot!!!

jem16

My renewal letter quoted around £19.50 as opposed to the £17 odd I was paying. I phoned up and quoted the new customer price and Scottish Hydro's price of £16.50.

They patiently explained that Scottish Hydro had less engineers than they had and that the new customer price didn't take account of my actual boiler which was why it went up once they knew!

Next thing he said was that he would apply a discount to bring it to £16.50pm.

Hope your boiler gets fixed OK.

duggie1982

BG will offer discounts at renewal if you phone and try to cancel. The website price is for new customers and now after the first year with BG you will pay acording to the make of boiler and how many times you call them out ect as like any other insurance e.g car insurance.

P.S. Standard practice for missed appointments with BG is £15 but try and push it for more.