Problem with getting boiler breakdown cover

grimsalve

I moved into a new house a couple of years ago and brought my British Gas Homecare cover with me. The first time a British Gas engineer came to visit my house to carry out a service/inspection he said my boiler was "too new to be supported by British Gas" (it's a Vokera Mynute 20VHE) so I changed the cover to just the plumbing, radiators, etc.

I had a problem with the Range cylinder about 6 months later, when British Gas came to repair it the engineer said it wasn't something they supported either (I called Range direct and managed to get the problem sorted out under their warranty) so I thought it wasn't worth having Homecare until they could cover the boiler and cylinder.

I contacted British Gas this week and they still say they don't support the boiler yet (even though it's a couple of years old now). It's a bit strange because one of my neighbours with exactly the same boiler has Homecare cover (I'm guessing without the service/inspection option) and British Gas hasn't said anything.

Are Vokeras so rare that it's not possible to get them covered? If British Gas Homecare is a waste of time for my boiler and cylinder then who would be "second best"? I did wonder about extending the boiler guarantee directly with Vokera but that just seems to be an insurance policy without any servicing or emergency response included.

macman

You don't need such insurance (and certainly not from BG or Homeserve). Just get it serviced annually by a local independent Vokera-competent RGI and put the rest of the money in the bank in the rare eventuality that you do need an unscheduled callout.
When was the last time one of your radiators went wrong?

gas4you

Vokeras aren't a rare boiler, maybe not the most popular though.

Getting Vokera spares, now thats another story

grimsalve

macman wrote: »

You don't need such insurance (and certainly not from BG or Homeserve). Just get it serviced annually by a local independent Vokera-competent RGI and put the rest of the money in the bank in the rare eventuality that you do need an unscheduled callout.
When was the last time one of your radiators went wrong?

I suppose it's peace of mind - in my previous house the boiler packed up a couple of times (one was a really serious issue with melted baffles) and British Gas were excellent at getting it sorted and working again very quickly. So that's my worry at the moment, if something goes wrong then I'd have to resort to the Yellow Pages and hope I find someone who can sort the problem out without costing too much or having to wait for too long.

suki1964

Tried the AA?

grimsalve

suki1964 wrote: »

Tried the AA?

I've asked them for a specific quote (and given them the make and model of both my boiler and cylinder just so I don't end up in the same situation as I was with British Gas). They said they'd get back to me.

The worrying thing with the AA policy is it's basically limited insurance with lots of small print, exclusions, etc. and a problem would end up being passed onto one of their "recommended" engineers (and it's a relatively new service) so I'm a bit cautious.

grimsalve

Plan B : Just looking around for a local Vokera approved engineer at the moment. If I find one and he seems okay (maybe just pay for a service to see how much he knows about the kit), and then offers some sort of emergency callout service (even if it's just his mobile phone number!) then that might be a better option.

I was considering this approach with the Range cylinder anyway. The bloke who came out to fix that under warranty just told me to give him a call direct if I have any problems with it in the future rather than contacting Range. If it's covered by the warranty then he'll fix it FOC otherwise he'll let me know roughly how much it'd cost before starting any work - seemed trustworthy anyway (but he admitted he knew very little about Vokera so couldn't help with that if there was a problem).

grimsalve

I didn't get a reply from Vokera so I went looking on the Internet for local heating engineers. Found one who mentioned they were Vokera approved so gave them a call. They had an engineer in the area and arranged for him to pop round and carry out the work - came to £78 for a full checkup/service/inspection/whatever, seemed a bit pricey but it's what Vokera want to keep the warranty valid. They do emergency callouts but the pricing was a bit vague.