IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT BRITISH GAS SERVICE CONTRACTS

mikeygahan

I have had a BG service contract for my boiler for many years, it also includes radiators, in a large Victorian house and the boiler is old but reliable, I also have a £60 excess. Large years contract was £220, the new offer was for £290. Normally BG try to hoist the price and as usual I rang ,normally they are happy to revise it but this time very reluctant. The lady told me that BG have a general policy of revising the prices of servicing older units because they think they have been undercharging for these in previous times. They finally gave me a price of £270.  I did tell them that with the crisis many of their customers will be unable to pay normal prices, I did not get the annual service last year as they were short of engineers, my March appointment was cancelled without notice, the revised April one was cancelled because of the current crisis

CRISPIANNE3

We have been with them for about 7 years and pay £36.00 a month and no excess. This includes Plumbing, boiler and electrics. Because we refuse the pay their renewal price each year we are only paying £6.00 a month more than 7 years ago.  However according to their app they are not doing routine visits until December 2021 yes 2021 and only concentrating on emergency and vulnerable people. 

Undervalued

CRISPIANNE3 said:

We have been with them for about 7 years and pay £36.00 a month and no excess. This includes Plumbing, boiler and electrics. Because we refuse the pay their renewal price each year we are only paying £6.00 a month more than 7 years ago.  However according to their app they are not doing routine visits until December 2021 yes 2021 and only concentrating on emergency and vulnerable people. 

Which I have to say (and I am sure I will be accused of being harsh) is questionable for what is a form or insurance.

British Gas are a commercial company and no longer a public utility or "The Gas Board", despite people still wrongly associating them as such! If you pay the same amount why should some customers get priority service over others? 

Even if you are happy for those supposedly more vulnerable to get preferential treatment (and in many ways I am) how is it assessed exactly who is entitled and who is not?

That is of course separate to the debate about whether their product represents value for money.....

mikeygahan

Undervalued said: CRISPIANNE3 said: We have been with them for about 7 years and pay £36.00 a month and no excess. This includes Plumbing, boiler and electrics. Because we refuse the pay their renewal price each year we are only paying £6.00 a month more than 7 years ago.  However according to their app they are not doing routine visits until December 2021 yes 2021 and only concentrating on emergency and vulnerable people.  Which I have to say (and I am sure I will be accused of being harsh) is questionable for what is a form or insurance.

British Gas are a commercial company and no longer a public utility or "The Gas Board", despite people still wrongly associating them as such! If you pay the same amount why should some customers get priority service over others? 

Even if you are happy for those supposedly more vulnerable to get preferential treatment (and in many ways I am) how is it assessed exactly who is entitled and who is not?

That is of course separate to the debate about whether their product represents value for money..... I agree that utilities like BG can use these situations like this to avoid their contractual responsibilities.  It is ironic, I myself am vulnerable as i am over a certain age and a diabetic, so it is harsh that they try to hoist my tariff

Talldave

So people are paying for a service that includes an annual service/check, but not getting it?  I would expect some form of refund, contract extension??

I'm rather glad to be a tenant at the moment, where the landlord has a legal obligation to provide an annual inspection/safety check.  I would have thought that ensuring that people don't die of carbon monoxide poisoning was an essential service?

If I owned my home, I'd prefer to bung £432 a year (£36 x 12) in a savings account and pay for a new boiler every few years and any repairs in between.  Apart from the boiler the only other failure points are the pump and motorised valves - both simple jobs.

greatcrested

My ears eyes hurt.

Please stop shouting.

Hasbeen

greatcrested said:

My ears eyes hurt.

Please stop shouting.

Yes agree.

OP why are you "shouting" and even more so, why post about a British Gas service product on the LPG heating oil forum??

Is your boiler/heating system run with Liquid Propane Gas?