British Gas - £7605 quote for resiting and replacing boiler. Madness?

Floop1977

Hi,

My Mum has had British Gas in as her boiler is very old and inefficient.

They have given her a quote of £7605 to replace the boiler, and resite it from in a cupboard in the bathroom to the utility room next door. My Mum did not ask for the resiting, but they said it wouldn't add much to the cost and she can see the benefit of having the cupboard in the bathroom available.

Her present boiler is ancient (over 30 years), and the house is very large (approximately 25 radiators), and her gas bill is huge (£2500 per annum).

The thing is, I think this quote is really huge. I mean, there are lots of line items on the quote, but the one for the boiler itself is biggest:

Worcester Bosch Greenstar 40CDi High Efficiency Boiler - £3609.22 ex VAT

I can find this same boiler online for £1004 ex VAT:

http://www.discountheating.com/wallcondensingtraditionalgas/worcestergreenstar40cdiconventional.htm

Does anybody have any suggestions of how I can convince her to go with someone else and how I can ensure that they are not cowboys? British Gas have a 'safe' sounding name because they are the biggest but I think she is being taken advantage of.

I mean, would British Gas allow her to purchase the boiler from elsewhere and then give it to them to install - she would save £2500 just by doing that!

Any other tips of how to find a good trusted company to replace a boiler who will not rip her off?

Many thanks!



Floop

custardy

get a few corgi registered companys in to do quotes.
find out how much british gas charge to do an inspection of the work.
she can get it done and inspected by british gas if it would put her mind at ease

BBC

Hi

I just read your post and the quote is way too much, I had that exact boiler fitted but my house not as big so half as many radiators, recited from outside the house into the utility, also new pipework internally for 3K.

Do not think that all British Gas engineers are going to do a good job, I have heard a lot of stories and also experienced some below standard work from British Gas

Try your best to convince her to get some other quotes, and also completely agree with previous reply get some quotes yourself

Cardew

I think you will find that boiler is discontinued anyway!! According to the Worcester website.

That is a joke price.

Floop1977

Hmm, didn't think it was discontinued - found it easily on the WB website:

http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/index.php?fuseaction=product.home&con_id=127782

Actually am quite tempted to scan in the quote and put it up here for people to see how it is made up... emphasis on those last two words.

burnsguitarman

Don't know how old your mum is, or her circumstances but check out the warmfront web-site (sorry don't know how to do a link) My MIL was quite surprised that she qualified for a replacement boiler even though her old one still worked. Worth a look!

Cardew

Floop1977 wrote: »

Hmm, didn't think it was discontinued - found it easily on the WB website:

http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/index.php?fuseaction=product.home&con_id=127782

Actually am quite tempted to scan in the quote and put it up here for people to see how it is made up... emphasis on those last two words.

Well this is from the WB website as well:

http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/index.php?fuseaction=literature.detail&con_id=127780

Could they be different models?

buglawton

I had an existing boiler re-sited to the other side of a wall for £450 several years ago. The fitter had to be diligently chased to provide the quote and be booked but then did a good job.

From a plumbing/gas fitting trainee I heard that Corgi is a bit of a racket: Endlessly introducing new regulation to justify highly expensive training courses, without which a fitter will lose his certification. So being Corgi registered is of limited interest, they would rather be water plumbers only.

Floop1977

Cardew wrote: »

Well this is from the WB website as well:
...Could they be different models?

Yes they are different models - the one you linked to was GAS or LPG and had a slightly different model number. Glad we got that one sorted out though!

mrscruffy

When I got my boiler replaced I called in BG for a quote. Needless to say it was double that from the local CORGI registered plumber.

david29dpo

What do you expect from BG? I had a quote from them them to supply gas to my parents house for £8000, national grid doing it as we speak for £475.