Cheapest Boiler Cover Discussion

vernon

I think that's a great idea. With the current, paltry interest rates the return on a smallish amount saved each month is negligble. As the minimum bond purchase is £100. I think I will save monthly in an easy access account and when it reaches each magic £100 buy Premium bonds. Chuckle, the only spanner in the works will be an unforseen repair arising before I have built up a decent pot. There again, the summer months are almost here! Thanks w50nky.

vernon

Maintenance/service contracts are a total lottery. They entice you to sign up and then do their best to argue against a claim. Almost tantamount to stealing your money with small print of terms and conditions. I received a renewal notice today. The price had increased to the point that made me call to cancel. Surprise, surprise, at the mere hint of cancellation I was transferred to the 'persuasion' department! A lot of bleating about losing a valued customer. Then 'can we see if there is a better price for you'. The usual claptrap of putting me on hold whilst a supervisor is consulted. Then, magically, a better deal is offered. My advice to all is:
1. Don't ignore a renewal letter. If you do they will renew a direct debit automatically.
2. If you are unhappy with the increase in premium then phone and cancel the contract.
3. Let them sweat about your cancellation. The person at the other end of the line is reading from a pre-prepared script. They have alternative scripts to offer you a better deal.
4. Remember you are the customer . They are not doing you a favour. You are buying a service from them. Don't be easily persuaded. You are trusting a service contract to give you peace of mind with no hassle and no small print excuses!
Ultimate recommendation? As soon as you get a renewal notice. Phone your service company and CANCEL. Then listen to the new deal that will suddenly appear (chuckle, after they have consulted with the mysterious supervisor).
You are the customer
You are in contol
You can cancel and try elsewhere.
They WANT your business!

skint_but_working_on_it

Another disgruntled BG Homecare cover customer ... !!

I have the full cover with BG (400 I think - does the water, drains, elec, boiler and rads) and I only pay £18 per month for the whole lot. Quite cheap compared to some prices bandied about here.

However, when my boiler broke down 2 years ago it took them from November to February to fix it (actually, they eventually replaced the whole boiler). However, in that time I had to pay £50 every time they came out which at one point was every week for a month. All the call-outs were due to the fact that the engineer had not fixed the problem, just created another one. And each time BG said it was not their fault and that I would have to pay the call-out charge. Despite pleading that if I were to pay yet another £50 call-out fee on one occasion I would not be able to buy food for myself and my daughter I still had to pay. Complaining eventually got me my money back (all but £100 of the £350 I had spent in call-out fees) but only two months after BG eventually gave in and fitted a brand new boiler for me. The original was only 3 years old!! The replacement is exactly the same as the original, despite BG stating that the boiler I have is renown for breaking down as it doesn't do the job it's supposed to!! So why give me another one?:mad:

As a result I now have to have permanent cover for the boiler as BG have admitted its not up to the job of heating my little 3 up/2down and will likely break down again ... but they won't give me a better boiler. And they fitted the inadequate one in the first place!!

I like npower's offer (I'm a customer) but the smallprint says you have to be in credit with your gas/elec to get the 50% back ... and in my circumstances being ahead of the bills is an absolute impossibility!!

Gerrard_8_lfc

skint_but_working_on_it wrote: »

Another disgruntled BG Homecare cover customer ... !!

I have the full cover with BG (400 I think - does the water, drains, elec, boiler and rads) and I only pay £18 per month for the whole lot. Quite cheap compared to some prices bandied about here.

However, when my boiler broke down 2 years ago it took them from November to February to fix it (actually, they eventually replaced the whole boiler). However, in that time I had to pay £50 every time they came out which at one point was every week for a month. All the call-outs were due to the fact that the engineer had not fixed the problem, just created another one. And each time BG said it was not their fault and that I would have to pay the call-out charge. Despite pleading that if I were to pay yet another £50 call-out fee on one occasion I would not be able to buy food for myself and my daughter I still had to pay. Complaining eventually got me my money back (all but £100 of the £350 I had spent in call-out fees) but only two months after BG eventually gave in and fitted a brand new boiler for me. The original was only 3 years old!! The replacement is exactly the same as the original, despite BG stating that the boiler I have is renown for breaking down as it doesn't do the job it's supposed to!! So why give me another one?:mad:

As a result I now have to have permanent cover for the boiler as BG have admitted its not up to the job of heating my little 3 up/2down and will likely break down again ... but they won't give me a better boiler. And they fitted the inadequate one in the first place!!

I like npower's offer (I'm a customer) but the smallprint says you have to be in credit with your gas/elec to get the 50% back ... and in my circumstances being ahead of the bills is an absolute impossibility!!

You got a new boiler surely that is a good thing ?

foolsgold99

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post my question. I was considering taking out cover on my boiler and heating but after reading this I'm not so sure. I am now considering just keeping money aside myself.

I have a 5 year Keston Celsius 25 boiler. I have never serviced it. The bolier is working but the pressure keeps dropping to 0 meaning that I have to open the valve to refill. I can't see any water leaks.

Anyway, my main question is does anyone know a good company covering the Glasgow area that is gas safe regsitered? I've had a look at the Gas safe website but it is still a lottery trying to find a good company.

Any recommendations would be great.

Thanks again

LondonPlumbers

Personally I am against all of these polices, just set the money aside and draw on it if needed. The main issues I have with them are as follows.
As an example boiler manufacturer x will notify BG and all the other main players that it is no longer economical for them to make a certain spare part of a particular boiler model, main reason being that the part hardly ever fails and nobody ever purchases it. BG and the others will look on their data bases for all those who have this particular model and write to them all, stating in the letter thant they have been informed by the manufacturer that they no longer make parts for their boiler and advise them to change the boiler. Now the OAP who has grown up with BG believes what they read because their scared witless of spending a winter with no heating. Along comes the BG sales rep on a (commission only basis) does the hard sell, part of the sale will be that they BG will give a service cover for the boiler for free for the first year. So you end up thinking you are getting a bargain.
Most manufacturers give a minimum of 2 years free warranty with many giving 5 years. So if you have or have had a new boiler fitted you do not need to take out any additonal cover whatsoever. Of course the boiler manufacturers will have expected you to have had your boiler serviced at 12 monthly intervals and the log book needs to be filled in. But it won't cost you anywhere near what this service contracts do...:D

k285715

Something I dont think has been mentioned yet on this issue is the Barclays Additions family of accounts. I am not normally a big fan of Barclays on the whole but, having had repeated problems with the boiler last week I started looking into cover plans. Then I remembered that I was suposed to be entitled to all sorts of perks as part of my Bank account. I am covered for just about any domestic emergency (loss of heating, hot water, flooding, electrical outage...) and there is no excess. The only 2 caveats I could find were a limit of 3 faults per year (that's faults, not visits though) and a maximum cost of £1,000. Not too bad in my opinion. I am on the Additions account which is £12.50 per month but I think that version has been retired. There are similar accounts with these benifits though if readers wanted to look into it further. I should also mention that there are a host of other benifits you get as part of this (mobile phone insurance, extra year warrenty on top of manufacturers warenty for big expensive goods...)

I say again, apart from this good offer, i detest Barclays for a number of reasons (not least the laughable customer service lines) but, in my case I was about to pay for one of these deals without realising I already had cover and this saved me about £200 pa. I imagine there must be one or two others out there as disorganised as me who are in the same boat.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum,

Without looking at the 'small print' of the Barclays scheme, many similar schemes have so many exclusions to render them useless - CH system must be serviced by manufacturer etc.

That said, on the face of things it does seem a good deal; be interesting to get feedback from anyone who has claimed under the scheme

DazCM

Does anyone have thoughts on or experience of a Yorkshire-based company called SafeGas? They put a leaflet through my door the other day, and their 5 star central heating/boiler cover is about a fiver a month cheaper than what I'm paying British Gas currently.

Leaflet says thay have around 10,000 customers already on their maintenance plans, but I've never heard of them before.

Any input greatly appreciated!

lonestarfan

denisiw wrote: »

I've just phoned nPower in response to the latest MSE weekly e-mail regarding the new CH cover they're offering. I asked who would be carrying out the servicing, just to make sure that it wasn't Homeserve. I was told it would be nPower's own "engineers", I then asked if the IW was covered and was told "I'll have to find out and get back to you." A couple of minutes later I was called back to be told, "No."

I've been waiting for over a month now for the first shower I contacted to arrange an appointment to service my boiler. I've since tried someone else who was recommended and he hasn't returned my calls!

That's one of the down-sides of living on an island, they've got a captive market.

Denis

I can't find much on this thread that tells me what the problem is with Homeserve.
I looked at npower as its a best buy on here for Central Heating and boiler cover but the website clearly says its brought to you by Homeserve. Can people tell me what the problem is with Homeservve as I was ready to sign up for £16pm.
I have had British Gas 3 Star service cover for well over 20 years in its various forms in various houses. I have to say that my experience is in complete contrast to the feedback on here. I have always had stirling service from them although I admit that the boiler service has slipped over the years and I bet I have missed one and they have lessened the things they do on a boiler visit than years ago. However, they are now sending out letters with a website where you book your own appointment for the engineer to call - worked brilliantly for me a month ago. I bought the cover for breakdown purposes and not really for home emergencies - although I realise that the heating not working can feel like an emergency in winter. I have had breakdowns and been really pleased with BG prompt response and the fact that I haven't had to pay for repairs in a lump sum. Over the last 3 years I have called them once a year - heating stopped working, thermostat on radiator not working, and finally a real emergency of a water escape from a hole in the pipe allegedly casued by sludge in the system. The emergency callout was the water escape which was last June and I am so glad I had the breakdown cover with BG as they came out very quickly. At Christmas and New year I did have a problem getting someone out for a few days as they are obviously inundated at Christmas but it got sorted out in the end. However, this week I have received a renewal from BG and I simply cannot believe that what I get is worth what they are asking me to pay. So reluctantly I feel I must find a different company. I'm nervous though as I don't want to end up with a company where I have to wait days and days before an engineer comes out. It's all well and good saying use a local engineer to service the boiler etc but he has no loyalty to you when everyone needs someone over Christmas and New year which I did once. BG want £343.43 pa this renewal! This includes Homecare 200 £313.43, Timechoice £36 and a DD discount of £6. Last year it was £273.12. I realise now that I've let it slip for the last 3 years and have not realised what the annual cost is and now like everyone else I need to seriously prune my budget because of the recessiosn etc. I can't see that I have had more than one service and one call out a year so I don't think that would have been £273 in one year but there is the peace of mind knowing that I am covered. I can take off the timechoice which wil save me £3 pm but don't see any point in taking the flexi scheme which is £12.50pm (£150p.a.) for which you get a service but you have to pay £50 per call out. That makes me think I am paying £150 for a service which I can get cheaper elsewhere but then at least I am a customer and may get some loyalty when it comes to needing a callout. I would be glad of peoples help about Homeserve (npower) and your thoughts on BG flexi and if my analyiss of it is flawed as I don't mind staying with BG but not if better value and cover can be achieved elsewhere.
Thanks a lot.