British Gas -Homecare - Boiler Cover.

bigdadda

What a shower. Found ourselves with an intermittent fault on our Ariston combi just before Christmas. Tried a few l local guys but got nowhere ... Only one called me back but had already in desperation arranged a visit from BG. £99 repair and circa £20 ongoing monthly cover. I know it's expensive but rock and a hard place etc. The engineer turned ok and seems to have sorted the problem. He mentioned a few "minor" problems but "nothing to worry about". He also made it clear that I would probably get my money's worth out of the ongoing cover as Ariston's always need something done. This all took place on 22.12.15. On 04.01.16 I receive a letter saying my Direct Debit has been changed and they are going to take what I thought was an additional £6 or thereabouts every month. Straight on the phone to ask what's all about. I'm told it's an annual gas appliances check. I explained I had not asked for this nor did I want as we were on a Homecare contract. "No ... That has been cancelled. Your boiler is not suitable. Strange the engineer never mentioned it. Anyway I eventually got through to somebody in Invoicing who said they would try and find out what was going on. So that was the 4th it's now the 12th and not a dickie bird out of them. I still have never receiving anything from them to officially cancel the cover. In the meantime I cancelled the direct debit just in case they try to take any money. Very disappointing. I have only just come back to them via money saving expert collective fix. Not impressed !

Cardew

All of these companies will refuse to give contracts for boilers that they consider old and unreliable.

CashStrapped

bigdadda wrote: »

Straight on the phone to ask what's all about. I'm told it's an annual gas appliances check. I explained I had not asked for this nor did I want as we were on a Homecare....

..... Very disappointing. I have only just come back to them via money saving expert collective fix. Not impressed !

These sentences confuse me as it is not clear which department you are talking to initially.

It suggests that the department you rang regarding the direct debit increase was the one dealing with your energy bill.You then flagged with them that you already had a homecare contract so did not need their separate safety check....correct?

If so.....have you cancelled the correct direct debit?

British Gas may accept you as homecare customers and take your money. However if your boiler is older than 9 years (or something like that) they will caveat the service by saying, if the boiler breaks and it is no longer supported we may not be able to repair it. They then use this as an excuse to encourage you to buy a brand new boiler from them. This gambit works especially well during winter months.

Why your homecare was cancelled without your knowledge is odd, but they may have done you a favour as if your boiler is old, Homecare is an inefficient and costly way to keep the boiler in check.

Also, the yearly service is not what they claim, especially for old boilers. It is more of a minimal safety check/lets see if we can find something wrong with your boiler check.

You would be better off saving £15 a month into a savings account and paying a local qualified gas engineer if something does go wrong.

Poppy9

I have BG home care cover and have done for almost 20 years. I periodically cancel and rejoin if they won't give me a loyalty discount equal to new customer offers plus quidco.

My boiler was old when I moved into this house so at least 30 years old. It's a baxi back boiler.

Every year BG tell me if it breaks they might not be able to get parts.

Every year they service and find no issue but try to sell me a new boiler. Every year I decline their kind offer!

If I had replaced the boiler as advised 20 years ago we would be probably looking at installing our third replacement boiler given modern boilers have average life span of 10 years.

Our £5k we put away 20 years ago for boiler replacement still sits in my savings account.

My homecare covers my CH system and we've had a number of parts replaced over the years but they have all been related to hot water tank, radiators, controllers etc. never boiler

bigdadda

I am yet to hear from British Gas Homecare ... or Scottish gas as it is known up here.

I cancelled the DD that was set up for the Homecare policy, which they then tried to change to "Annual Appliance Check" without my knowledge or agreement.

Just very disappointed that they have not had to good grace to get back to me particularly as I was supposed a "valued customer" and they were giving me an "exclusive discount" on the premium etc.

I just hope the supply contract goes OK !