British Gas Boiler insurance - don't let them put it up!

Cloister

I'd just thought I'd share this in case anyone hasn't thought about it.

For the last year we have had boiler cover from British gas in the form of their homecare 200 at £17 per month.

We had one call out early on which was a dry solder joint but the service we received was good.

We received a letter a few days ago saying that from our renewal date we will have to pay £22 per month for the same service because it's calculated by age of boiler and if we have had any call outs.

So I phoned them up to ask if they could reduce this, the person on the end of the phone said she couldn't authorise it so I then asked if I could cancel the cover, she also said she couldn't authorise that either but she was going to put me through to someone who could.

I then spoke to another lady who I assume was in the cancellations dept, she asked me why I wanted to cancel and told her I just couldn't afford the new rate, she asked me about the service I had received, which was genuinely good.

Then she asked if she would reduce the insurance back down to the £17 would I stay and I said yes and have now renewed for the next year on the cheaper rate.

That has saved me £60 over the coming year so it was worth doing!

Just thought I'd share that.

C

cookie_monster

Thanks, will do the same thing next year as my renewal price is just under £20.

macman

But at £17 a month you are not 'saving £60'. You are still wasting £204. You've had one call out in a year that with a reliable independent RGI would maybe have cost you around half of that. Have you worked out what you have spent in previous years over and above the cost of call outs as and when needed?

Dr_Crypto

It gives you peace of mind. It is easy to say "a reliable independent RGI" but these are very hard to find, IME, and I'd rather pay BG and be certain that someone will come out when I need them and not be worried that they are ripping me off for parts or labour.

macman

They don't need to, because they're already ripping you off for the insurance.
The best way of finding a reliable RGI is to ask around locally, friends, neighbours etc.
There is loads of extra insurance you can buy to give you peace of mind but that fact is that you pay a lot for little or nothing.