British Gas HomeCare 200/Excess & Mistake

miss_inspiration

Afternoon MSE's! I have a question regarding a situation which arose today. Hubby called British Gas & got a quote for HomeCare 200 cover. Got all the details & the monthly direct debit price, compared online, asked a few more questions, decided we were happy to proceed. Confirmed things like what was covered, what excesses we'd have to pay etc. So we signed up.
Just as hubby was about to leave for work this lunchtime, they rang back and said they'd forgotten to tell us about another fee of £100 they need to charge us. When queried, it turned out we'd not been informed of another charge or had been misinformed about charges/excess etc.
This puts a spin on things - we chose a higher monthly plan to avoid excesses, we were told there wouldn't be any, now we've signed up. Can British Gas just add on another charge like that after 'forgetting to tell us' the full details of what we were signing up for? I am a little bit miffed.
TIA for those of you able to understand my post and are able to reply!

footyguy

miss_inspiration wrote: »

Afternoon MSE's! I have a question regarding a situation which arose today. Hubby called British Gas & got a quote for HomeCare 200 cover. Got all the details & the monthly direct debit price, compared online, asked a few more questions, decided we were happy to proceed. Confirmed things like what was covered, what excesses we'd have to pay etc. So we signed up.
Just as hubby was about to leave for work this lunchtime, they rang back and said they'd forgotten to tell us about another fee of £100 they need to charge us. When queried, it turned out we'd not been informed of another charge or had been misinformed about charges/excess etc.
This puts a spin on things - we chose a higher monthly plan to avoid excesses, we were told there wouldn't be any, now we've signed up. Can British Gas just add on another charge like that after 'forgetting to tell us' the full details of what we were signing up for? I am a little bit miffed.
TIA for those of you able to understand my post and are able to reply!

Probably not.

If you don't want it any longer, cancel it under the terms of the 14 day cooling off period.

miss_inspiration

Thanks, sadly we need a boiler repair, so will likely have to pay the extra.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Nice to see that 'forgetting to tell' the other party about fundamentals in the contract is only acceptable in one direction!

You clearly have a pre existing fault, this won't be covered. Did you honestly think you could get a repair costing hundreds by taking out cheap insurance at twenty quid a month?

macman

If they've given you the wrong price, then you have a clear case for complaint, as the policy was mis-sold.
But based on what you've now told us, you're proposing to fail to declare an existing fault, which would void the policy anyway, or result in any repair being fully chargeable following inspection.

footyguy

miss_inspiration wrote: »

Thanks, sadly we need a boiler repair, so will likely have to pay the extra.

You won't be covered.

As BoA said, you can't buy what is essentially an insurance product to cover a pre-existing condition.

If you don't tell them now, they will find out when they carry out their First Service (usually within 42 days of start of cover).

The First Service is when they will confirm if they can incude certain parts/appliances under your agreement.



If not able to, they may:

• Tell you what work needs doing and how much it will cost you
• Offer to exclude the affected part from cover (unlikely if you have bought boiler cover only and it's the boiler that needs work)
• Offer to refund all money paid and effectively rescind the contract.

miss_inspiration

We told them ablut the repair from the start - which is why we didn't choose the 'cheap' option but the most expensive.
No, we didn't think we'd just get a repair for free, we asked about costs/excesses etc. to cover this - British Gas told us we'd pay no extra.

footyguy

miss_inspiration wrote: »

We told them ablut the repair from the start - which is why we didn't choose the 'cheap' option but the most expensive.
No, we didn't think we'd just get a repair for free, we asked about costs/excesses etc. to cover this - British Gas told us we'd pay no extra.

Well now, or soon, you will have the details in writing (if you didn't read them online), and 14 days to decide if you still want it.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/content/dam/british-gas/documents/HomeCare_Range_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf

macman

miss_inspiration wrote: »

We told them ablut the repair from the start - which is why we didn't choose the 'cheap' option but the most expensive.
No, we didn't think we'd just get a repair for free, we asked about costs/excesses etc. to cover this - British Gas told us we'd pay no extra.

Then I suggest you read the policy T&C's.

Nebulous2

I've certainly come across BG staff making fairly extravagant views of what they would cover, and then following through on it.

Our system was fairly flaky and the salesman offered to throw in some additional work if we bought a boiler. The fitter muttered a bit and questioned what we had been told, but did it. They ended up having to replace a motorised valve under the floor to get it working. He told us it should have been an additional £300.

I've heard other people like the op getting some pre-existing work done on taking out a maintenance contract and being honest about their problems.