Cheapest Boiler Cover Discussion

glowbug59

We've had terrible trouble with Home Energy Services. Their trust pilot reviews give them 0.8 out of 10 which sums them up.

Our boiler stopped working on 12 dec 2014 and on calling HES they said the next appointment was 6 jan 2015. However we have a six year old and 11 month old which made us a "priority"...pff.

The engineer came the next Wednesday, said it was the tansformer and could get the part and be back the next day (18th). The schedulers said no. Some one would come on 22nd. I was adamant with the baby this was unacceptable as I could see us having a Xmas with no heating or hot water. But they wouldn't budge.

Engineer came on 22nd but with a faulty part. He returned on the 24th with another faulty part and then it was Xmas. We went to stay with family so we could leave the chilly house.

The engineer returned on 29th with what started out as another faulty part. Until he called his supervisor and it seemed he'd been fitting them incorrectly. Then it seemed we need a gas valve...which they can't get from their one and only supplier so after all that they won't do anything. We could get the valve from plumbbase, jewsons, few other places. So that's that. After all that time!

I said to HES so what now? You can get a quote for a new boiler or we can get you one in 10 working days. So we're going down the letter route.

An absolutely disgusting company to leave us without heating or water for so long and with such a wait for the initial appointment.

lean&mean

zoebel wrote: »

I think for what you get (eg annual service) British Gas is hard to beat, but they do charge new customers less than existing ones.

You may be an existing customer but your partner is not. Therefore don't renew your account but get them to apply as a new customer. You will get the very best new customer rates and have continuous cover.

Don't forget to apply online as you get a £1 per month "discount".

Next year don't renew again and start it in your name this time.

Also, remember to take out your new policy 14 days before your old one expires.
I discovered that British Gas and Homeserve don't cover you for the first 14/28 days, depending on the policy. Fair enough to cover themselves from people taking out a policy and immediately claiming. But they also don't allow you to start the policy cover in 14 or 28 days time, perhaps to coincide with existing cover expiring, so you wold have to start earlier and are effectively paying for no cover for that time.
So a new customer has an extra 4% charge as their payment for 365 days actually only covers 351 days.
I would have thought that this constitutes an unfair practice in the FCA's eyes.

gwapenut

Hi
Sorry to doublepost, but I've had no replies on my other thread and figure the content may be relevant to this thread too, where more people may be "monitoring".

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5158109

Requote:
I have a D&G boiler cover policy coming up for renewal. My boiler is getting a little long in the tooth, and am wondering if anyone has experience of what happens when they decide a boiler is not economical to repair.

I know there are a lot of pitfalls with insurers such as only offering £200, or forcing you to use their installer.

The D&G terms and conditions are a little vague but the implication I get is that I have a £1500 pot of money for repairs in my policy year, and if it needs replacing, they will offer me £1500 less any costs I have already incurred.

Is that right?

They make no mention of me needing to use their own installer ... again, does anyone have any experience of that either?

I'm reluctant to call and ask as they're a bunch of salesmen more than anything else and I wouldn't trust verbal information unconditionally ... that said, when I've needed it, I've had good prompt service from them using proper Baxi repair people, so I'm happy with the policy.

desthemoaner

I must be in a minority because I've never had any problems with British Gas home cover.


In our previous house BG installed a Worcester Bosch boiler which was subsequently wiped out, when not even a year old, by a catastrophic internal leak. They spent a week fixing it, employing the services not only of their own staff but a Worcester engineer, attending daily, and diligently replacing parts until they had the boiler working again. No questions, no quibbles, just job done. OK, the boiler was still under warranty, but the quality of service given on that occasion mirrored the level of service they've given to me whenever else I've called them.


I did change to Homeserve for a year or two when BG prices became too high to afford, but went back to BG when Homeserve refused to allow me their much cheaper online price at renewal although I had only called them out on one occasion. I'm still with BG, although I have an excess of £50.00 on each callout, which is not ideal.


I have a feeling that at renewal time I may struggle to afford the same level of cover (which currently includes kitchen appliances, electrical wiring and boiler cover) and might end up going back to central heating cover with annual service only, but my confidence in BG so far remains fairly stable.

Self insuring sounds great, and if you're able to save on a regular basis until you have enough to cover potentially expensive repairs, you'll get away with it. I prefer the peace of mind of a contract.


And no, I don't work for BG. :0)

Ray_Alexander

I've heard a few instances of where BG come to fix a boiler they'll throw out comments like "oh it's this part that has gone, but they're no longer being made so you'll have to buy a new boiler" - when often that part is readily available. Thankfully I've never had any bother with my boiler getting serviced / etc under the boiler cover I got from stl heating. If you're after new boiler cover, I'd recommend getting some quotes in - and maybe some online reviews too. That's what I did and it worked for me.

bulktrans

Ningbo_Sparks wrote: »

ok - looking for some boiler and system cover and, having hunted around for a while, have come up with the following deal from HSE

9.98 per month, free service within 28 days of sign up, no call out charges, includes parts and labour, unlimited call outs (and a free hotel stay, but cdnt care less about that to be fair)

so - what's the catch - it seems the best offer out there by far ?

have even read the terms and conditions and cant see an obvious problem as long as you take care not to let the policy auto renew for a second year at some no doubt extortionate rate - any ideas - thanks very much in advance !

apologies for lack of links to policy details - can't post them as a new user by all accounts !

I am also thinking about the same deal ... any suggestions guys? thanks

telstar9

I had a very different experience with HSE clicking through MSE I arranged an appointment ,the earliest being about a month away but they they never showed up. When i phoned up they had no record of the appointment despite me receiving a text from them at the time!.So i had to make another appointment over the telephone and wait a further 4 weeks.
When they did show up they said they could not cover the boiler as the roof had a leak , the roof was actually brand new (about 3 months old)and the engineer hadn`t bothered to look outside to see that !.
When i complained they said they would pass it on to a supervisor , a few days later they called to say they wouldn`t cover it as it was in the garage and it had a flat roof. The garage is actually adjoined to the house with industry standard torch on mineral felt ,the same as on any flat roof extension.
So If you have an extension with a flat roof ie kitchen and your boiler is in there ,will they decline cover if you have to claim ?. My advice beware.

Home_Energy_Services

Dear telstar9,

Whilst we cannot identify your specific case from your profile details we can confirm that we do offer care plans for boilers located in any suitable location, including garages and extensions with flat roofs. It sounds as though significant damage may have been caused to your boiler from a leak prior to the roof being replaced 3 months prior to our visit. As clearly detailed at the point of sale, unfortunately we cannot provide cover for pre-existing conditions, although we will typically provide a competitive quote for any required repair work. Any payments collected prior to our decision will have been refunded.

With regard to the missed appointment for your Initial Inspection & Service, I can only apologise for this. We pride ourselves on having industry leading attendance rates, but sadly on rare occasions things do go wrong. It is typical in busy periods for a lead time of up to 4 weeks for initial Inspections and Annual Services as we ring-fence a significant proportion of our resource to prioritise breakdowns and emergency cases.

It sounds as though you have already had a response from our Customer Liaison Team directly, but if you do require any further assistance please do get in touch.

Kind regards

The HES Team

gax23

Just wanted to make you all aware of an issue I've had with Homeserve.

I took out boiler cover at the start of this year and their engineer came out at the end of May to do the annual service. After much cursing and swearing because he "didn't like working on these poncy models", he said the pressure was too low (the boiler was off at the time...) and whacked it up.

He went, everything seemed fine until this week when we turned the central heating on for the first time and the pressure rose past the 1 bar recommended setting to 1.5, 2, 2.5 and up to 3 before I panicked and switched it off.

I called Homeserve and reported it and said the high pressure problem had only happened the first time after we switched the heating on following the engineer whacking the pressure up. Coincidence...? Apparently so. They demanded I pay £50 by card over the phone before they'd even come out and look at it!! So basically I'm paying £7.50 a month for their engineer to come out and fire the pressure sky-high, then £50 for him to come back and fix it.

Needless to say, we're leaving Homeserve!

HomeServe_company_representative

Hi gax23

Thank you for highlighting this. Having read your review it seems out of character for one of our engineers to curse when completing a job. I’m disappointed to read this and would like to take a look at your claim to find out who attended so I can feed this back. This is not an acceptable way to behave in someone’s home.

With regards to the pressure of your boiler I’m not sure what’s happened here. We can certainly try to assist if we’re able to. If you’d like to get in touch so we can discuss this you’ll find our contact details on our profile page.

All the best

Famena
Here To Help Team
HomeServe