British Gas - home appliance cover

colkw

There a millions of people using British Gas for their home care electrical cover for breakdowns. British Gas has said they will only come out in emergency (gov guidelines) which i do agree to but If any customers have an item covered they deem not critical that there is no alternatives offered other than to cancel the cover. I feel BG should be doing what sky has down with sky sports and pause payments or as BG is an insurance then they should deem the item as not repairable and contribute towards the placement. Can you please advise if you have any information on this? I feel they shouldn’t just offer a blanket cancel unless they reimburse all premiums paid which they said they wouldn’t and they should offer some assistance to their customer especially when this is a financial impact.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

colkw said:

There a millions of people using British Gas for their home care electrical cover for breakdowns. British Gas has said they will only come out in emergency (gov guidelines) which i do agree to but If any customers have an item covered they deem not critical that there is no alternatives offered other than to cancel the cover. I feel BG should be doing what sky has down with sky sports and pause payments or as BG is an insurance then they should deem the item as not repairable and contribute towards the placement. Can you please advise if you have any information on this? I feel they shouldn’t just offer a blanket cancel unless they reimburse all premiums paid which they said they wouldn’t and they should offer some assistance to their customer especially when this is a financial impact.

You contracted for a service, which they are providing. But of course you can cancel, you will no longer receive the service.

Undervalued

It is arguable but so are wider issues with their Home Care cover (and similar offerings from other companies) even in normal times.

For example, without wishing to seem harsh and uncaring, why should "vulnerable" people get priority attention from a commercial product for the same premium? Vulnerable in who's opinion? How is that checked? 

Plus, there is no guaranteed turn out time, only a guide to "normal" response times and no reduction in premium if it is not met. Cold weather? Oh dear we are very busy - what a surprise.

"Engineers" (i.e fitters) who earn significant commission from advising you that your boiler "can't be repaired" or that parts aren't available when a quick phone call to the manufacturer says otherwise.

Wide and wooly exclusions about sludge and scale damage, one of the biggest causes of heating breakdown.

And so on!
 

Aylesbury_Duck

Absolutely.  It's why I switched to a very basic level of cover (in some years it's thrown in with my utility contract) costing only a few quid per month, but get my trusted gas man to do an annual service.  The cover is just there in case he's away or unable to respond.  The first year I found him he was horrified at the state of my boiler, despite it supposedly having an "annual service" for several years by one of the cover companies.  He told me that most of them simply take the cover off, poke around a bit, stick a probe in the flue and head off.  Like claiming your car's been serviced when all the mechanic has done is stick a probe in the exhaust and wiped a bit of grime off the oil cap.

Undervalued

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth said:

colkw said:

There a millions of people using British Gas for their home care electrical cover for breakdowns. British Gas has said they will only come out in emergency (gov guidelines) which i do agree to but If any customers have an item covered they deem not critical that there is no alternatives offered other than to cancel the cover. I feel BG should be doing what sky has down with sky sports and pause payments or as BG is an insurance then they should deem the item as not repairable and contribute towards the placement. Can you please advise if you have any information on this? I feel they shouldn’t just offer a blanket cancel unless they reimburse all premiums paid which they said they wouldn’t and they should offer some assistance to their customer especially when this is a financial impact.

You contracted for a service, which they are providing. But of course you can cancel, you will no longer receive the service.

Surely the whole point of this post was that they are not providing the service, or at least not providing most of it, at the moment.

colkw

yes that’s correct the post I about paying for a service that British Gas can’t fulfil 

DWSAnon

British Gas, in their advert tell you that id you call them before 1.00p.m. they will come out the next day and fix your boiler problem.  After paying £272 this year, with a £60 excess, it will be ten days before they come out. Last time I claimed was ten years ago, so they have had over £2,500 in that time, more than enough to come out and do what they promise to do, don't be fooled by the cash back offer, when it comes to customer service it is lacking as confirmed by Which. We are classed as a vulnerable couple but safeguarding is not a priority for Britsh Gas

JJ_Egan

I called them  to fix  twice in ten years  . £199 inc parts   then £249, including parts under standard BG call out not any insurance contract .

Are you registered with BG and Home care as vulnerable ??