British Gas Homecare - RENEWAL WARNING

cheekymole

Hi guys,

Haven't posted for such a long time but thought I should warn others about this BG rip off!

I've had Homecare for 20 years and always taken the renewal without even thinking about it (I always do a new quote for everything else so why not this!?). This year, on seeing the renewal price of £692.72 for Homecare Four I decided to look into it...

A new quote on the BG website £444 :cool: - straight on the phone to BG to stop the renewal and ask why? The operator could not explain and told me to cancel and take out a new policy which I have done saving me a MASSIVE £249.76 :j

BG should be ashamed of themselves for ripping loyal customers off! :mad::mad:

RelievedSheff

What do you actually get for £444 a year?

That sounds a lot of money!

Would you not be better off putting that money in a rainy day/maintenance fund instead?

Aylesbury_Duck

£444! I agree, that's a lot of money. I'd be looking at a very basic level of cover plus "self-insurance" rather than paying that.

I'm afraid you're the victim of your own inertia. You've been subsidising new customer rates for years. Why not vote with your wallet and go somewhere else? I wouldn't be continuing to give my custom to a business I felt had ripped me off for years.

cheekymole

Believe me, I have used it plenty of times and more than got my money's worth over the years. It covers plumbing, electrics and heating, no call out charges etc and I like the knowledge that I can call them up and they'll come out and fix it without having to find someone local and reliable.

I do understand where you're coming from though!

Februarycat

I cancelled mine last month but I always ring them up and see if they will reduce it or keep it the same, but this year they would not budge so I cancelled it. Did not realise you could take a new policy out again once you cancelled, I will have a look at the website.

Grenage

My sister's had BG homecare for years; I've given up telling her to stick the money in a savings account.


She's paid thousands, and they've bodged everything that's been touched.

ohreally

cheekymole wrote: »

A new quote on the BG website £444 :cool: - straight on the phone to BG to stop the renewal and ask why? The operator could not explain and told me to cancel and take out a new policy which I have done saving me a MASSIVE £249.76 :j

BG should be ashamed of themselves for ripping loyal customers off! :mad::mad:

Why would you give an organisation that was content to rip you off, further ongoing business. Nuts.

cheekymole

ohreally wrote: »

Why would you give an organisation that was content to rip you off, further ongoing business. Nuts.

Because the service I've received from the engineers is second to none and as previously mentioned I like to know I'm covered in an emergency or a breakdown.

Aylesbury_Duck

With respect, you haven't been ripped off then. You've been happy to pay a price for a second-to-none service.

TELLIT01

ohreally wrote: »

Why would you give an organisation that was content to rip you off, further ongoing business. Nuts.

Sadly, treating long term customers like cash cows at best, is standard practice for insurance products. I don't agree with it, simply saying how it is.

TELLIT01

I've just checked and Homecare 4, with £60 excess is only £23.50 per month. As you also get a £75 gift card it seems a risk worth taking. You'd need to make 4 call outs a year for the zero excess to work out cheaper.
The only thing I'd need to check is that they would still cover my boiler as it's about 10 years old.