home and heating emergency cover

barnaclebill

is it worth having home and heating emergency cover for £68 per year an an extra on you home contents policy, it's included on my new quote and I am considering removing it.

csgohan4

depends on your need, have you considered putting that 68 pound a year in a repair fund for a rainy day?

barnaclebill

Last year I had a new fan fitted in my combi boiler, it ran ok for a month then started having misfires, talked to the makers and found the pcb for the ignition that was probably the cause but it just started working ok and has done for the past year.

csgohan4

if you have a boiler older than 7 years and it's starting to cause problems, consider saving up for a new one soon.

Some home emergency cover's insist on having it checked yearly and may have exclusions for boilers of a certain age.

Same goes for boiler cover too.

pinkteapot

Like any insurance, if you don't claim you'll think it was a waste of money, if you do you'll appreciate it. We have home emergency cover and our boiler has broken down twice in the last year, and they've fixed it both times. So, we've saved money. But a lot of people will have had home emergency cover and not claimed. That's how insurance works.

How much insurance you take out tends to be a function of how risk averse you are. We tend to not insure everything under the sun - I only left home emergency on our home policy because it was really cheap - only about £30 in our case IIRC. And glad I did! But people who have never needed it will say it wasn't worth it.

One thing to add - with most insurers, home emergency claims don't affect your house insurance no claims discount (but check the policy wording for your insurer to be certain). :money:

p.s. Most home emergency providers only cover the boiler if it's your only source of heating. If the house has alternative heating, your boiler breaking down won't count as an emergency.

mcura

Having real issues with 247 home rescue having taken out cover based on advice from MSE
They're refusing to deal with my claim / concerns
Does anyone know if there's and ombudsman who deals with such issues

Quentin

mcura wrote: »

Having real issues with 247 home rescue having taken out cover based on advice from MSE
They're refusing to deal with my claim / concerns
Does anyone know if there's and ombudsman who deals with such issues

No. They are not insurance based and have no ombudsman or regulator to complain to.

See if trading standards can help otherwise you are left with legal action as a possibility.

(Are you sure MSE recommend them? All you ever see about them on MSE forums are complaints)

Archergirl

I have breakdown cover with British Gas which includes a yearly service, this would cost a little less than the premium but I have piece of mind.