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How Much?!?!

Mum had British Gas round today to service her boiler which is paid for with a service contract.

They condemned it due to the fact that my dad made a small hole into the casing of the unit to attach a door to it (to enclose it into a cupboard). Fair enough the law is the law BUT he did this 5 years ago and British Gas have serviced the boiler 5 TIMES since he drilled said hole and they have never picked up on this fact before.

Anyway, she was quoted for a new one which would have to be installed in a different position due to the building regulations which insist on there being 130mm distance between door openings and window openings.

Guess how much?


THREE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY FOUR PENCE!!!!!!!

:eek: :eek: :eek:

The cost of the boiler alone is 1052 + VAT. Now, I have looked at the prices and can get a brand new boiler INCLUDING VAT for 700 quid (exactly the same one!!)

Has anybody negotiated with British Gas and succeeded in getting the price down? Were you successful?

Comments

  • Snow_Dog
    Snow_Dog Posts: 690 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    service contract=captive customer all too often.

    Spare parts may still be available for the boiler, in which case buy a new cover.

    Usually the outer cover is not airtight anyway (its the burner compartment that has to be airtight) so it sounds either like you have a jobsworth, or they are trying to drum up some business.

    As for the regs then yes they do change on a regular basis, after all we have to have these thousands of civil servants doing something useful and productive.

    £3,200 for fitting a new boiler (although not knowing fully what is entailed in this particular installation) does sound rather steep. Although you sound like you have already answered your own question with the price of the boiler being 40%+ more expensive once VAT taken into account. Plus BG are probably buying them in for a lot less than £700.

    As for getting the price down with BG you would probably have more luck selling a central heating system to a Saudi.
  • kelloggs36
    kelloggs36 Posts: 7,710 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Update - got an independant bloke round today and he is doing it Monday for over 1k less!!! Plus BG wanted AN EXTRA 1K to the new boiler in her airing cupboard, and he can do it for an extra 250quid!!
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