Worcester Bosch Boiler Protection Plan - beware!

hybernia

Can't speak for Legal & General's service plan and WB central heating boilers, but can definitely speak for (or rather, against) British Gas HomeCare and GloWorm central heating boilers.

Ours was newly installed in our new-build home 12 years ago and on the expiry of the 3-year warranty, we took out a BG HomeCare insurance policy (though they don't seem to like you calling it an 'insurance policy'.) As I recall, the premiums -- nine years ago -- started at around £10 a month, then went to £13 a month, then in innocent-seeming small increments each year after that.

In exchange for the final year's premium -- January-December, 2015 -- of £281.76 we received an annual service and a gentle warning that in view of the boiler's age, spare parts would be increasingly hard to get. So you might like to look at the £1,000-off special offer on new boilers British Gas is promoting. . .

It was at that point that we belatedly realised just why British Gas prefers you not to regard HomeCare as an insurance policy but as a friendly "breakdown cover plan" paid by the month. Regard it as an insurance policy, like any other insurance policy, with an annual premium, and in our case the result was:

1) Fully comprehensive motor insurance, £50 excess, NCD protection, motoring legal protection, our new Hyundai SUV, retail price £22,780, annual premium: £218.00;

2) Home insurance, buildings & contents, £50 excess, including accidental damage cover: £122.00;

3) A central heating boiler insurance: £281.76.

A boiler though. Costing more in insurance than our 4-bed home or our new car.

And so. . . we cancelled British Gas HomeCare. The boiler was "serviced" in October 2015 and on the basis that it was working without a single hiccough -- if it ain't broke, don't fix it -- we didn't actually bother with another service until March this year, using a local plumber / heating engineer recommended by others.

Having not paid out to British Gas the sum of £328.72 for the 14 month period January 2016 - February 2017 (inclusive), we were more than happy to pay £88.00 (including VAT) for our "service" . . . which, as the engineer told us, wasn't actually any such thing:

'It's much more of a check and clean and gas safety assessment', he said. 'It's not like I'm renewing brake pads or changing the oil.'

We asked him about the boiler's condition. 'Nothing wrong with it.' We asked him about spare parts. 'There's no problem with getting spare parts for boilers of this age.' We asked him about emergency breakdown in winter. 'Just ring us. We'll be here the same day.'

Final thoughts. I'm not saying that 'boiler breakdown cover' is a 100% waste of money. It isn't. Over the years we paid for HomeCare, we received an annual 'service' and, in total, four call-outs to fix a boiler problem.

There's also the fact that some people may have an older boiler than us, or not be as fortunate as we've been in locating a reliable plumber.

Against that though, the math simply doesn't stack up, because when it's got to the stage that insuring a boiler costs more than insuring the family home, or the family car, then something's wrong, somewhere . . .

ThumbRemote

You're not comparing like for like.

First of all, you appear to have remained with BG HomeCare, whilst I assume you've switched provider or negotiated insurance costs down. BG Homecare at £10 a month, which you could have been paying, is £120 a year.

Less the £88 service cost you paid, the insurance aspect is only £32 a year.

You also say you've had four call-outs to fix the boiler. Have you had four car insurance claims in the last decade?

hybernia

ThumbRemote wrote: »

You're not comparing like for like.

First of all, you appear to have remained with BG HomeCare, whilst I assume you've switched provider or negotiated insurance costs down. BG Homecare at £10 a month, which you could have been paying, is £120 a year.

If you'd like to actually. . . read a post before replying to it, you'd spare yourself a lot of wasted time (and computation.)

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Less the £88 service cost you paid, the insurance aspect is only £32 a year.

ROFL. £32. . a. . . year. Are you employed by British Gas HomeCare sales department? Jus' wondered.

ThumbRemote wrote: »

You also say you've had four call-outs to fix the boiler. Have you had four car insurance claims in the last decade?

No. We've had three. Your point being??

But no. . . Don't tell me. I'm as interested in hearing your thoughts as you were interested in actually reading my post.

ThumbRemote

hybernia wrote: »

Are you employed by British Gas HomeCare sales department? Jus' wondered.

Oh dear oh dear. Someone disagrees with you so you claim they must have a vested interest.

The basic BG Homecare cover is £120 a year. The biggest issue here is that you were clearly paying way over the odds for that service. Didn't you try and knock it down? Maybe use an alternative supplier?

Whilst I agree it's sneaky of them to keep putting the price up, so does every insurance provider.

hybernia wrote: »

When it's got to the stage that insuring a boiler costs more than insuring the family home, or the family car, then something's wrong, somewhere . . .

You've got that right. The thing is, you don't seem to acknowledge that it was you who was doing things wrong.

ARandomMiser

I treat the boiler service plan in the same way as I treat all other service plans, thanks, but no thanks.

Our boiler (oil) will be 23 years old this year and it has been serviced twice in that time (the last service was in 2011). Everyone else in the street has theirs regularly serviced and yet ours is the last remaining original boiler with all the neighbours having changed their boiler at least once ( one neighbour recently installed his third regularly serviced boiler). Ours is still running well and 100% reliable.

At some point it will fail but in that time I will have saved enough to replace it several times over. It may even fail in winter but a local plumber guarantees to be out the same day - so no big loss.

It is the same with all these extended warranty policies. I once added up how much it would cost me annually if I took them out on my appliances. I could replace two major and several small applicanes every year for the combined cost of the policies.