British Gas HomeCare excess rip-off

Hasbeen

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Hasbeen said:

D3xt3r5L4b said:

2 separate visits?

That is why I stated ambiguously worded. BG state each repair not how many visits.

OP has had two separate repairs for separate items.

It’s not ambiguous at all. 

You had 2 separate repairs done so you get charged 2 lots of excess. 

Er. That's what I said? Twice now I believe. First in post 2.

 And I did not have 2 separate repairs done and I did not get charged anything? 

Al_Ross

Hi Unionjohn,the way I read this is that you had one repair done that required two new parts.As this is only one repair job you should only be asked to pay one excess charge.

If they are charging you two excess fees they are wrong and I would be taking this further.This stop,send it a written complaint.

Hasbeen

Al_Ross said:

Hi Unionjohn,the way I read this is that you had one repair done that required two new parts.As this is only one repair job you should only be asked to pay one excess charge.

If they are charging you two excess fees they are wrong and I would be taking this further.This stop,send it a written complaint.

From what MWT stated earlier:


Each completed repair or replacement. Two replacements.

Worth Op taking it further though.

Lorian

one reported fault, one excess, thats my experience with them. 

Al_Ross

Hi Lorian,

Glad there is someone on this site,with some sense,I tottally agree with you.

From their terms of their contract,this is what they say:

"Making repairs Excess or fixed fee"

Your statement shows how much excess or fixed fee you’ve agreed to pay each time we complete a repair or replace your appliance"

Now the way I read it is the appliance is the boiler itself,no a £2.50 part,how would or could they get away with that.So the gas engineer has to replace 6 parts so they could charge 6 x £99,no sorry that is not right.

What unionjohn has failed to answer though has he had 2 tottally different repairs done over a peroid of time,because that would mean a new £99 excess payable.Also from their terms it also states, if during 12 months a new repair is related to the previous repair the excess is not repayable.

MWT

Al_Ross said:

Now the way I read it is the appliance is the boiler itself,no a £2.50 part,how would or could they get away with that.So the gas engineer has to replace 6 parts so they could charge 6 x £99,no sorry that is not right.

Except that neither of the repairs that were done were to parts of the boiler...but yes, if the boiler had failed I would expect that to be treated as a single appliance.

What was fixed were two separate items, a zone control valve and a pressure relieve valve. They are not connected directly to each other, or the boiler other than by long runs of copper pipe...

unionjohn

Hi folks,

OP here. Sorry if my original post was as ambiguous as the BG terms and conditions. I had one repair completed (that is, my boiler was not working and was fixed) requiring one visit and two parts replaced for which BG tried to charge two excesses. Having challenged it they eventually agreed to withdraw one excess and I have now paid an excess of £99.00.

As someone above said what was fixed were two separate items, a zone control valve and a pressure relief valve. However, for those defending British Gas think of it this way. You're in a car accident and your car goes in for repairs and instead of paying one excess (per claim) the insurer tries to charge you one excess for the wing mirror, one for the bumper and one for the headlight. If BG interpret their way then they can charge for every part used...it's a licence to rip people off.

I think some people were getting confused between a repair which was what I had done and a replacement which is replacing the boiler as I read the agreement.

Some people may be happy with that but it should be clear in the terms and conditions and at the very least (as the debate on here has shown) they are at best misleading and in my view deliberately so.

I have referred the matter to the FCA as this is a financial product governed by their regulations.

MWT

I know you won't agree with this, but to use your analogy, it is more like having two separate accidents repaired at the same time and reporting it to the insurer once, they too would expect you to pay the excess twice...

Happy you have got one of the charges waived though.