British Gas - Boiler and Radiator Cover - Looking to Change

LotsToDo

Hi. I have Homecare 300 with British Gas. My premium has just risen to £401. I was offered a 20% reduction plus a £50 cheque. My friend lives round the corner in an identical house, on the same agreement, but with an old boiler. She is paying less than half what I am paying. I have a new boiler which is a year old, which is apparently irrelevant. I am desperately trying to cut all my costs at the moment and am happy to change to just boiler and radiator cover. However, each one I check gets shocking reviews.

Can anyone offer any words of wisdom. Am frightened I make a mistake.

Thanks.

daveyjp

If you have a new boiler it should have a warranty for at least 7 years - an annual service will be £40-70 to keep the warranty valid.

Cheapest is to get home emergency cover included in your house insurance.

ccfcforever1987

Agree with daveyjp. Your new boiler will have anything from 2-7 years warranty depending on the make. Worcesters have 5 years, Vaillant have 7 years and I think Ideal are 10 years. Will be worth checking you paperwork to confirm the length of warranty you have.

Get it serviced every year. £70+VAT is average. Any problems should be covered by the warranty.

BG do do a separate Plumbing and Drains cover. You could try that. £401 per annum with a new boiler sounds a hell of a lot. Have you called them out for anything recently?

LotsToDo

Hi. Thanks for replying. I have checked and I only have a two year warranty, so am now in the second year of that.

Will home emergency cover, cover my radiators etc for any problems?

I have checked Scottish Power and it is £214.80 for boiler and radiators!!!

I live in fear of the unexpected bill!

What's your thoughts?

fred246

I find it interesting that people like British Gas manage to change people's expectations of what things should cost. I read online that BG charge £3500 for a new boiler. When I was getting quotes I printed off an advert for a boiler I liked approx £700. I quizzed the plumber about how long to fit. About a day. Total £1300. £400 a year maintenance for a central heating system? Total bonkers. Probably need to change company and renegotiate every year. Make sure heating system has a good dose of inhibitor. Remember probably worth having some sort of cover as plumbers hard to get in middle of winter.

LotsToDo

Forgive my ignorance........what is inhibitor?

fred246

It's the stuff that should be put into a central heating system to stop sludge. British Gas seem to love charging horrendous amounts for boiler cover. Then they want to charge horrendous amounts for a powerflush because that isn't included in the insurance. I told British Gas I would have a contract if they came and checked the inhibitor concentration. They made an appointment but never turned up.

ariba10

I would put the £401 pounds per year into a savings account and then Suck it and See.

fred246

It can be hard to get a plumber though in depths of winter. I had a funny experience once though. I needed a boiler repair so tried to get a plumber-all busy. So then I decided I'd get quotes for a new boiler. I phoned three plumbers for quotes and looked out of the window and there were three vans outside. If you need a plumber just say you need a new boiler and they'll be there!

citykid5

Hi lotstodo. I'd highly recommend this current offer through mse peace of mind for a fiver a month

http://www.homeserve.com/insurance/homeserve-cover-8-half-price?hs_c_id=AFF_ANT_default2014&utm_source=mse&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=msenov14

LotsToDo

Hi. Just wanted to update you all. I have decided to cancel the insurance with British Gas. I had negotiated £50 for all the hassle so got a cheque for that. I then phoned to cancel and it turns out they shouldn't even have been covering my boiler as new law states that they can't. Because of this I got another £64.27, because apparently the law only came into place recently and not for the entire lifetime of my boiler!!!! A couple of days later I had to redo my buildings, contents and car insurance and saved £240 off my current prices. (£357 if you include this years increase. I had been saving up all year so that I could pay everything up front this year. I therefore now have the £50, £64.27 and the £240 in an envelope for any boiler repairs. I will keep going until I have about £500 and hopefully that will be enough. Thanks for everybody's help. Talktalk and Vodafone are next on my hit list and I am just about to start looking for help with that! x