British Gas Homecare Contracts

Kwiss2

Ive just cancelled my contract after paying £27/month for not getting an annual boiler service. Their interpretation of 'annual' is different to mine. The last boiler service we had was Jan 2019 and the year before that it was more than 12 months since the previous one. It should have been serviced before the Coronavirus Pandemic. They are now of course saying that they can't say when it will be done but, that it will be done before contract renewal in December 2021! Ive contacted the Financial Ombudsman about this as its basically mis-selling a financial product Im not getting an annual service in that annual is 12 months as opposed to British Gas interpretation of their contract. Anyone else?

Matthaus73

I took out an homecare agreement with british gas in February and have arranged 2 boiler service appointments with them both of which they cancelled before lockdown. 
From what you say doesnt look like i will be getting a service anytime soon so will be interested on how your complaint develops 

BooJewels

Granted, it's slightly different circumstances - but my late father had a contract with them and hadn't had a service for 18 months, due to illness and various matters.  The paperwork only turned up recently, so in managing his estate, I rang BG to discuss cancelling it and the options - I was hoping to cancel going forwards but get a post-covid iou for a service already paid for.

They offered a full refund since his last service and I had a cheque exactly one week later. I thought that was pretty fair.

Kerrymrst

I currently have British Gas Homecare and appliance breakdown. I pay £65 a month for this service. For the last 12 months British Gas have been absolutely appalling with the service they provide. They have cancelled our boiler and central heating service around 4 times and when they have rebooked it's 2 months in advance. One of our appliances broke down during Covid 19 and they told us they would not some out which I understand however when I asked for a partial refund they refused. It now transpires that they cannot fit in our annual boiler and central heating cover during my 12 months contract with them and they will book it in for a month after my contract ends however if I do not renew (which they have only offered a 17% discount)  they will cancel and tell me that they are not in breach of contract. I will not be renewing as I'm disgusted that I have paid over £800 this year and not had the service stated on their website. 

Talldave

That £800 would have bought you a new appliance, had your boiler serviced by a local company and still had something left over to spend when coronaphobia subsides. Ask around friends/neighbours for recommendations on a local company to do the boiler.

lisa1904

Hi does anyone have a good alternative to the British Gas Homecare agreement - the one I have covers Central Heating, electrics, Plumbing, drains and electrical appliances.  I pay £60 excess and £550 a year and feel this is expensive

JJ_Egan

See post above yours .

How many times have you used this £550 service .

My Home Insurance premium package covers home emergency .

I would keep the £550 pa in my own pocket and use local tradesmen.

Money_Saver

Kwiss2 said:

Ive just cancelled my contract after paying £27/month for not getting an annual boiler service. Their interpretation of 'annual' is different to mine. The last boiler service we had was Jan 2019 and the year before that it was more than 12 months since the previous one. It should have been serviced before the Coronavirus Pandemic. They are now of course saying that they can't say when it will be done but, that it will be done before contract renewal in December 2021! Ive contacted the Financial Ombudsman about this as its basically mis-selling a financial product Im not getting an annual service in that annual is 12 months as opposed to British Gas interpretation of their contract. Anyone else?

Contact their executive department: 0333 202 3307 / 01784 874863

CRISPIANNE3

We have the BG Homecare for Plumbing, Drains, Electrics and boiler service and costs us £34.00 a month. We have been with them for about 6 years now and are still only paying about £4.00 a month more since we started. They try every year to increase it but we normally manage to negotiate with them.. On the whole the service received has been excellent.

RelievedSheff

CRISPIANNE3 said:

We have the BG Homecare for Plumbing, Drains, Electrics and boiler service and costs us £34.00 a month. We have been with them for about 6 years now and are still only paying about £4.00 a month more since we started. They try every year to increase it but we normally manage to negotiate with them.. On the whole the service received has been excellent.

And how many times have you used them?

That £34 a month would have been better off going into a bank account to pay for items to be fixed as and when they require a repair/maintenance.

We use a local company to service our boiler once a year. It costs £70. We never have a problem booking an appointment for them to service it and they always turn up on time.

Our home insurance has home emergency cover which includes plumbing, drains and electrics. Our home insurance for this year is £120. 

As it happens the tariff we took out with BG this year includes their Homecare package but we won't use it.

MWT

CRISPIANNE3 said:

On the whole the service received has been excellent.

Just as a guide for others considering this sort of service, other than annual boiler servicing, what sort of incidents have you called them out for and how promptly did they respond?

Did you have anything extra to pay for those incidents above the monthly payment?