Who to use for the annual gas checks and service?

SantaKlaus

I'll be moving into my house this week and i need to sort out my annual gas boiler service / checks, the current owner has not had the gas boiler serviced in many years so it must be done.

As anyone got any good recommendations? I live out in the sticks so there is no "local" gas companies that i can get quotes from so everything must be able tobe done/booked online,

I was looking as British Gas home care 300 as i can take out gas and plumbing cover with them so it sorts out my pipes and whatnot if anything happens in the future, but i need some recommendations on wether to use them, or not and is it worth it to take out the electrics cover too (Home care 400) ?

ihateyes

SantaKlaus wrote: »

I
I was looking as British Gas home care 300 as i can take out gas and plumbing cover with them so it sorts out my pipes and whatnot if anything happens in the future, but i need some recommendations on wether to use them, or not and is it worth it to take out the electrics cover too (Home care 400) ?

BGas have over 4 million on Homecare. You wil hear lots of negatives, about any company, as people dont shout how great companies have been for them, you'll only hear the bad points.

As long as you read the t&c's and understand the cover, things will generally run smoothly.

gingerdad

You need to check your boilers not on the reduced parts list as if it is you'll need to pay for parts.

For me I'd avoid like the plague and find a local gas safe engineer.

Have you checked the gas safe register to find any local engineers.

ollski

gingerdad wrote: »

You need to check your boilers not on the reduced parts list as if it is you'll need to pay for parts.

For me I'd avoid like the plague and find a local gas safe engineer.

Have you checked the gas safe register to find any local engineers.

We went through this on another thread, reduced parts list has absolutely nothing to do with being charged for parts.

Lgas

gingerdad wrote: »

You need to check your boilers not on the reduced parts list as if it is you'll need to pay for parts.

For me I'd avoid like the plague and find a local gas safe engineer.

Have you checked the gas safe register to find any local engineers.

Not again....how can you pay for parts that don't exist. I sound like a broken record. All available parts are supplied and fitted for free under the cover, under the terms and conditions, as always :wall:

macman

But the nationals frequently claim parts are 'unavailable' when they are easily obtained. BG have a track record in this respect.

ollski

macman wrote: »

But the nationals frequently claim parts are 'unavailable' when they are easily obtained. BG have a track record in this respect.

Can't believe I have to post this information again. Bg have a list on the engineers laptop which has obsolete parts individually listed in red and available parts in black. This information is given to them from the suppliers of the parts ie manufacturer. If the part is obsolete then bg parts will try websites and local suppliers to find one, they won't spend forever trying to source it however. Individual engineers sometimes make mistakes and incorrectly advise but it's quite easy to ask them for the part number and make enquries yourself.

Moneysavingexpertfan2014

Don't waste your time and money with these people! Have had cover for boiler and central heating with BG for 20 years and have to say in the last few years the service has got worse and worse. The lack of knowledge by their engineers is laughable and quite honestly rather worrying. They really don't seem to have any more than a basic understanding of plumbing and I am now so nervous about the standard of their work that I am going to get an independent heating expert to check out our 3 year old system which BG have messed with. Basically every time we have called them out they have not only not fixed the problem but have caused another problem and claim it is just coincidence! I don't think so. To add insult to injury I have just discovered that every call out increases my premium for next year! One engineer asked us if he could just hang around for 40 minutes as that way he wouldn't have to go to another job, we were so desperate and grateful to have had our problem sorted or so we thought at the time, turns out he botched the job, that we said OK, only to find out later that he claimed our job was much larger than it actually was and yes you've guessed it, our premium will go up more as a result of his lies! Brilliant! Going to cancel our contract with them and get someone local from the Checkatrade directory, someone who actually knows their stuff and are not a load of cowboys!

ollski

Bit vague, whats the problem?. Your premiums will only increase on the number of unrelated different faults not the time or number of visits to repair a specific fault. It's pretty nominal anyway the premiums are more calculated by problematic boilers on a national trend.
All the bg engineers have nvq3 in gas service and maintenance and the national independent gas safety certificates as a minimum, obviously on the job experience varies.