Boiler cover/servicing experience with EDF - not good

gazzaman28

I signed up this time last year with EDF energy for 12 months boiler cover plus a free service, at about £8/month. I was keen to get it serviced ASAP as I didn't know when it had last been serviced, but they fobbed me off every month last winter saying they were too busy, and then of course Covid arrived in March, so a service wasn't actually done until July. That service took about 10mins (is that normal...?) and no issues were flagged to me either verbally or on their paperwork.
Then last month I had a smart meter fitted, and as part of that the guy from Siemens advised me that the flue for our boiler wasn't properly cemented into the wall and that was dangerous. I was shocked that this hadn't been picked up as part of the boiler service and so was grateful that I'd been alerted to it by him instead.

I'm now in 2 minds about whether to go for another 12 months cover. I don't know how old our boiler is, so I don't even know if the cover I'm potentially signing up for is actually valid anyway. Would I be better to stick a tenner a month into a savings account instead as my own insurance policy and then also arrange for a gas engineer to service next summer? How much should a service cost on its own?

daveyjp

Whilst you pay EDF who actually does the job?  They are usually outsourced.

A boiler inspection and safety test is impossible in ten minutes.  Save your money and get the number of a trusted local engineer.

gazzaman28

daveyjp said:

Whilst you pay EDF who actually does the job?  They are usually outsourced.

A boiler inspection and safety test is impossible in ten minutes.  Save your money and get the number of a trusted local engineer.

Intana is the name next to EDF on my documents. The direct debit went out to Collinson Insurance.
How much should I expect to pay for a "proper" service?

mac.d

gazzaman28 said:

Then last month I had a smart meter fitted, and as part of that the guy from Siemens advised me that the flue for our boiler wasn't properly cemented into the wall and that was dangerous. I was shocked that this hadn't been picked up as part of the boiler service and so was grateful that I'd been alerted to it by him instead.

Isn't this just a result of new regulations? The flue is held in place, but with some other material other than cement, and it's not suddenly become dangerous, just that the regulations have changed. The service from EDF should have highlighted it though.  It'll probably vary but I think I paid around £60 for my last service/gas certificate.

gazzaman28

mac.d said:

gazzaman28 said:

Then last month I had a smart meter fitted, and as part of that the guy from Siemens advised me that the flue for our boiler wasn't properly cemented into the wall and that was dangerous. I was shocked that this hadn't been picked up as part of the boiler service and so was grateful that I'd been alerted to it by him instead.

Isn't this just a result of new regulations? The flue is held in place, but with some other material other than cement, and it's not suddenly become dangerous, just that the regulations have changed. The service from EDF should have highlighted it though.  It'll probably vary but I think I paid around £60 for my last service/gas certificate.

I could see chinks of daylight through the wall around the outside of the flue so it was quite serious!
£60 for a check sounds reasonable I guess, I can put £10 away each month and then keep half of it back to cover repair or eventual replacement.