Cheapest Boiler Cover Discussion

Aprilliars250

Had a landlords boiler cover for over a year. They serviced and inspected it a year ago no problems. Called out to repair boiler earlier in month. They have repaired boiler but said that they will not cover my boiler in future unless I get a magna booster fitted at £250!

Is this a scam?

johnbhoy10

Thanks for the couple of responses.

Right the way i see it i've had Homecare 200 for 6 years at this current address at very approx cost of £1200. This contract year they've put on a new flue, diagphragm and obviously had annual service. A couple parts replaced (maybe2/3) over last few years and services as well. So i don't reckon i've cost myself much if at all.

Now they're going to quote me for a powerflush. This means as i stated above if any boiler/CH breakdowns are related to water quality they will not fix unless powerflushed. They are going to quote approx £650/700 for it but it comes with a 'lifetime' guarantee AS LONG AS YOU STAY WITH THEM FOR HOMECARE. Not liking this already. Leave for a day that's it i gather. I have a 15 yo boiler and some of the parts are no longer available which they love telling on an annual basis. 'Yeah, Yeah mate just fix/service the thing and be on your way, now there's a good boy.' Actually asked one of their specialist team today if a change of boiler would affect the guarantee and he was honest and said he wasn't sure. He thought not,like me, that it would not affect guarantee but that's guesswork.

Spoke to 2 of their employees now and neither have convinced me product is worth keeping to be honest. They basically asked me if i trusted British Gas and their engineers? I didn't answer.

Have arranged for a local firm (big) to come and check whether-

1) if i need a powerflush or not. BG guy just showed me the water.
To be fair it was black but is that all that is needed??

2) if i do need one (probable) i gather their quote will be around the
£300 mark.

Sorry for going on but got a real eye-opener with this now.

Think what i'll do is keep 'cover' till end of Winter and then get an annual service with a local firm. If i need a Powerflush then i will get one when/if i have to change boiler in future.

thanks again.

Best joke i've heard this week 'engineers discretion'. :rotfl: Think both BG workers knew why i was laughing down the phone.

Sponge

I have an NPower Boiler & heating/controls 'service policy' and I was wondering if anyone knew if they'd respond to a report of a CO alarm going off? I'd call them and ask, but I don't want to divulge the information if they won't come out or could use it against me. I'd sooner just get a local 'Gas Safe' engineer out.

The only gas appliance in my house is the combi boiler in the kitchen. The kitchen CO monitor didn't go off, but the one in the living room did.

I called the emergency number on the back of the monitor and the Nation al Grid 'Emergency Team' came out within 2 hours (very impressed) to perform a 'visual inspection'.

He had a gas detector, but not a CO detector. He detected no gas and couldn't explain why the CO alarm went off. As we're having some building work done, he suggested it could be dust. But the house has been dusty for several weeks and I would have thought it'd gone off way before now.

Regardless of not knowing what caused it, he turned our boiler off and recommended we not turn it back on until we've had it inspected. He put a notice on the boiler and gave us some paperwork which, I'm afraid, I don't have with me and so can't state what the code was. It wasn't the most serious notice, but a minor one. CTF, or CFN, or something...

I just wondered if my policy covered this type of incident. There's no specific fault to report, other than the CO alarm going off and it possibly being a fault with the boiler.

southcoastrgi

they can only leave a cause for concern notice because they only have the certs reqd for the job they do ie gas leaks, so they will turn off (or cap the meter) & tell you to get an RGI to check it out

your lounge & or kitchen alarms could be faulty or out of date, have you checked them ?

Maladroit

Caulkheader wrote: »

Total incompetence, poor communication and inaccessible staff

Too right, Caulkheader, though as SueC pointed out, you were amiss in calling it HomeServe rather than HomeComfort.

To that description I would add deceptive, if not downright fraudulent

Our boiler, cover for which we have been paying Scottish Power for some four years, was supposedly serviced in the summer of 2012
Come last Christmastime it refused to fire up. After a series of problems getting a competent engineer to come it eventually got sorted; we were informed that the problem was due at least in part to the sooty deposits in the combustion chamber, far more than should have been expected so soon after a service. Unfortunately I did not take this any further at the time.

Moving on to just before the May Day holiday this year, the boiler again stopped working. A visit was arranged for the Friday when we would be in, but we arrived home on Thursday evening to find messages from an engineer to whom this had not apparently been communicated. When we got back to Scottish Power about this fiasco (which fair enough they did admit) we were told that the only way we might get heat again before Tuesday or later would be to find someone locally to do the job and then recover the cost. Fortunately we were able to do so at such short notice, and SP did refund us. However, the source of the problem again seemed to be shortcomings in the routine annual servicing - this time it was the condensate trap which had an accumulation of detritus.

We sought some explanation at least as to why the standard of servicing was so lacking. and why coverage was so inadequate at bank holidays. We were informed this had been recorded as "a formal complaint", but have never received anything by way of explanation or apology, let alone any recompense. What is more, although we have continued to pay a monthly fee, we have not had an annual service from them at all this year, in breach of their contract. When I pointed this out in early November I had the most cursory of replies a week later, since when nothing by way of action. This was the last straw, and I cancelled the Direct Debit and informed SP, this time adding the Customer Service Director to the email list. Lo and behold, only a few days later I had a letter from SP noting that the DD had been cancelled: "...we wanted to make you aware that your Home Comfort contract has also now been cancelled", continuing with "A reminder of the benefits of HomeComfort"! Incidentally, all I got from the Customer Service Director was an automated reply.

I would strongly advise MSE readers to give Scottish Power HomeComfort a very wide berth, as they seem not to recognise either "service" or "contract". They may be among the cheapest in theory, but paying money for non-existent benefits does not make good sense. Personally, given the standards of customer service and communication, I will never even consider Scottish Power for energy supply either.

uzzy_3

H_Rehman wrote: »

A neighbour of mine took out a full service plan with British Gas (BG). BG serviced it to start with. This winter something went wrong with the boiler and it would not fire, the pilot light had gone and it would not kick startagain. BG were contacted they did not come on the same day but come around the following day and told my neighbout the the boiler was very old and the part were for the boiler were unavailable and the BG service man left. Why did they not tell my neighbour at the time of first service that if something goes wrong with the boiler it would be difficult to get hold of the parts. They kept on taking monthly payments knowing well that they would not be able to repair the boiler.

Just to let you know - we had the same from British Gas who said they couldn't get spare parts - however, I phoned Johnson Starley to ask if they had spare parts. They had all spare parts for my boiler in stock. The engineer was most put out when I told him how comes he says there are no spare parts yet the manufacturer tells me there is no problem they are ready and available.

Moral of the story is to call the manufacturer and ask if spare parts are available for your model of boiler before the engineer arrives.

Uzzy

uzzy_3

oops double entry

ollski

johnbhoy10 wrote: »

I have a 15 yo boiler and some of the parts are no longer available which they love telling on an annual basis. 'Yeah, Yeah mate just fix/service the thing and be on your way, now there's a good boy.'

H_Rehman wrote: »

Why did they not tell my neighbour at the time of first service that if something goes wrong with the boiler it would be difficult to get hold of the parts. They kept on taking monthly payments knowing well that they would not be able to repair the boiler.

Sometimes you just can't win

pookey

Hi
Does anybody know how long you have to wait before you are actually covered by the British gas homecare 200 policy? Ive read that some policies have a waiting period of 14-30 days but I can't find out how long you have to wait with British gas. Please let me know.

Many thanks

Cardew

pookey wrote: »

Hi
Does anybody know how long you have to wait before you are actually covered by the British gas homecare 200 policy? Ive read that some policies have a waiting period of 14-30 days but I can't find out how long you have to wait with British gas. Please let me know.

Many thanks

Have they done their initial inspection yet?


They won't cover anything the consider a pre-existing fault; or anything that needs a 'cure all' power-flush