Central Heating/Boiler breakdown cover - who comes out quickest?

shopndrop

Many years ago when we had gas central heating/boiler cover, there were various options whereby the more you paid, the quicker they came out to sort your heating if it broke down. From memory, I think they always came out within 48 hours.
We currently have cover with EON and were shocked when we rang to report we had no heating or hot water on 23 December and the earliest they could come out was 28 December, as we have no one living here who is under 3 or over 70, even though my parents (who are nearly 80 were coming to stay). This could not be taken into account as they are not registered as living here.
When our contract is due for renewal, I would like to change to another provider who can offer a quicker call out should the need arise. Can anyone recommend a cover where they will come out quite quickly should we find ourselves in this situation again.

macman

None of them. Such cover is a complete waste of money. Use the money saved to get an annual service, and if a call out is required then use a local recommended GSR RGI who will do the job quicker and cheaper.

shopndrop

We already do have an annual service but have this cover as well. What does GSR RGI mean please?

macman

Gas Safe Register (the successor to CORGI in England). Registered Gas Installer.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

shopndrop wrote: »

We currently have cover with EON and were shocked when we rang to report we had no heating or hot water on 23 December and the earliest they could come out was 28 December, as we have no one living here who is under 3 or over 70, even though my parents (who are nearly 80 were coming to stay). This could not be taken into account as they are not registered as living here.

Hi shopndrop

I'm sorry we haven't been able to attend to your central heating breakdown any quicker than tomorrow.

We have a formal complaints procedure for dealing with this type of situation and I would certainly recommend you follow this.

A specialist will be appointed to investigate the circumstances behind the delay and will provide a written explanation/resolution. If you're not happy with this, the complaint can then be escalated through our management structure.

There are more details of this procedure on our website.

Again, I'm sorry for the delay attending to your breakdown but hope the above points you in the right direction.

Malc

jocat

We too are having problems with our boiler cover with Eon.

We originally rang them on 11th December. An engineer came out on the 16th and diagnosed the fault as being the motorised valve, but did not have the part required, even though he said it is usually a standard part he carries. Said he would order it in which would probably take 24 hours.

We then had a message on 20th to say that the part was in and an appointment was made for Christmas Eve between 8am and 1pm. At 2:20pm we rang to be told that the engineer was stuck on the job before ours, he would still be coming and would be with with us around 6pm. We cancelled arrangements to go out and waited - they didn't come.

On Christmas Day, my 88 year old grandfather ate his lunch with his coat on!

On Boxing Day, I rang to find out why we hadn't been contacted, onlyto be told that the part had been delivered to the wrong engineer's lock box, and that somebody had tried to ring us to cancel. I believe this to be utter rubbish!!! We did not leave the house. Neither our home or mobile numbers had missed calls or messages.

After being told we were being upgraded to the highest possible priority, we had an appointment booked for yesterday afternoon. At around 6pm we had a phone call cancelling saying they could not access the lock box with the part, as the original engineer had rang in sick and the new engineer assigned hadn't got a master key. We're now due another appointment on Friday.

I think this is absolutely outrageous! My house is freezing. I am sick of waiting in all day for something that doesn't happen. If we are supposed to be the highest possible priority, I'd hate to be at the bottom of the list. I actually came on here to see if there were any standard complaint letters for this kind of problem, but found this thread instead.

Has anybody got any suggestions on where to go from here? I too will be looking for another provider once this expires. In my opinion, having this cover is worthless.

macman

All boiler cover is worthless and not cost effective. Get it serviced annually and keep the rest in a savings account to cover a call out from a local recommended RGI if required-they won't give you this absurd run-around.

jocat

macman wrote: »

All boiler cover is worthless and not cost effective. Get it serviced annually and keep the rest in a savings account to cover a call out from a local recommended RGI if required-they won't give you this absurd run-around.

Think this is what I will have to do. Just need to find one that is recommended locally.

jocat

Just found out that my cover is renewed today. I really don't want to renew but if I don't, they will not turn up to complete the job.

Does anyone know if there is a cooling off period, so I could cancel when they have finally been?

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi jocat

I'm really sorry to hear about the difficulties you've been having with our Central Heating Services.

Like shopndrop, I would encourage you to follow our complaints procedure.

Whilst the bad weather we've been experiencing over the last few weeks has certainly put a strain on resources, lack of communication and poor service is unacceptable. The issues you've described should definitely be formally logged, investigated and responded to.

Contracts can be cancelled within 7 working days of receiving your schedule. You can either call or write in. Contact details can be found in section 6.16 of the Terms and Conditions.

Again, I'm sorry you've had these problems during such difficult times.

Malc

magicuk

british gas homecare, call before 1 with no heating and no hot water and they say same day.