I think I made a mistake and have been fleeced

Daisy_84

I have a British Gas home care plan which I pay for monthly. I recently requested a call out to have a look at my kitchen sink which has a leak. My excess under the plan is £60 for repairs. British Gas subcontracted a Dyno person. 

The Dyno person came, looked at it, diagnosed it and said that it would cost me £75 to repair but that he can do it for £35, so I don't have to pay for the call out. I assumed what he meant by that is that I wouldn't need to pay excess and any other costs and instead would just be paying him £35. I thought, it would also be good to support a local plumber.

Anyway, I have contacted him to find out when he would be able to come and do the repair and he has not responded.

As it turns out, British Gas is requesting an excess of £60, which I didn't think would be required since a repair wasn't done. I am planning to ring British Gas in the morning, to ask them what exactly their understanding is. 

However, I wanted to get some advice from the forum on what my best course of action would be.

My other question is, is it normal to pay an excess when repair work hasn't been done, under the British Gas Home Care plan? 

flashg67

Might depend what exactly the policy wording is, but I'd be suggesting to them that you're happy to pay the excess once the repair is done and ask them where their plumber has disappeared to? Careful arranging anything 'unofficial' with the plumber - you'll have no comeback under the policy if the repair fails

pramsay13

I'm not totally sure what your question is. 
Yes you are being fleeced by having a British Gas Home Care Plan. 
These things are never as good as they appear to be. 
Either the monthly cost is high, the excess is too much, or they will find a way to not cover you.
You are better saving the money into a separate pot and using local handymen / tradesmen to do the jobs including this one.
A leak under the sink could well be as easy as tightening one of the joints. 

Daisy_84

flashg67 said:

Might depend what exactly the policy wording is, but I'd be suggesting to them that you're happy to pay the excess once the repair is done and ask them where their plumber has disappeared to? Careful arranging anything 'unofficial' with the plumber - you'll have no comeback under the policy if the repair fails

Thank you. Lesson learnt. 

Daisy_84

pramsay13 said:

I'm not totally sure what your question is. 
Yes you are being fleeced by having a British Gas Home Care Plan. 
These things are never as good as they appear to be. 
Either the monthly cost is high, the excess is too much, or they will find a way to not cover you.
You are better saving the money into a separate pot and using local handymen / tradesmen to do the jobs including this one.
A leak under the sink could well be as easy as tightening one of the joints. 

I'm a young single female, who does not know any tradespeople is not when it comes to DIY. I don't know the cost of plumb job call outs and I wouldn't have been able to diagnose and definitely cannot fix the issue myself. He diagnosed the issue. I'm assuming if I had called him out locally he still would have charged me £50 just to look at the issue, before even repairing it. 

The only reason I took a Home Care policy with BG is because my parents have always had one and it's always worked well for them when they have needed work done. The monthly payments are reasonable for me. However, my current issue is about the excess and the job not carried out well, and my mistake in trusting a rogue plumber who wanted to make money on the side. 

Bendy_House

Daisy_84 said:

I have a British Gas home care plan which I pay for monthly. I recently requested a call out to have a look at my kitchen sink which has a leak. My excess under the plan is £60 for repairs. British Gas subcontracted a Dyno person. 

The Dyno person came, looked at it, diagnosed it and said that it would cost me £75 to repair but that he can do it for £35, so I don't have to pay for the call out. I assumed what he meant by that is that I wouldn't need to pay excess and any other costs and instead would just be paying him £35. I thought, it would also be good to support a local plumber.

Anyway, I have contacted him to find out when he would be able to come and do the repair and he has not responded.

As it turns out, British Gas is requesting an excess of £60, which I didn't think would be required since a repair wasn't done. I am planning to ring British Gas in the morning, to ask them what exactly their understanding is. 

However, I wanted to get some advice from the forum on what my best course of action would be.

My other question is, is it normal to pay an excess when repair work hasn't been done, under the British Gas Home Care plan? 

From what I understand from your post, Daisy, it could be that the Dyno person was trying to do you a 'favour', and possibly him pocketing himself a bit of loose change - £35 - instead of putting it through the BG books.

However, this job is clearly already 'in the system', as BG have - rightfully - charged you the £60 excess. Mind you, if the job isn't carried out by the Dyno cove, then BG'll need to sort out a replacement.

Bottom line - you are paying for a service, and at the moment you haven't received it. So, BG need to sort it out.

So I'd call up BG again, and just tell them the Dyno fellow has been out, diagnosed the problem, said they'd be back - but haven't been. Then leave the cost of the job as the £60 excess - don't give Mr Dyno a bean - and put it behind you.

There are pros and cons with such Home Care Policies - the 'con' being that, for most people, it'll work out more costly on average than just paying for jobs as and when they are needed. The 'pros' are that you (should...) have peace of mind, with a max of £60 to cough up each time.

Perhaps as time goes on, you'll find recommended local trades folk for these jobs - a plumber, a sparky, and handypeep - and then cancel the monthly outgoings (provided you keep your savings building up instead...).

Daisy_84

Bendy_House said:

Daisy_84 said:

I have a British Gas home care plan which I pay for monthly. I recently requested a call out to have a look at my kitchen sink which has a leak. My excess under the plan is £60 for repairs. British Gas subcontracted a Dyno person. 

The Dyno person came, looked at it, diagnosed it and said that it would cost me £75 to repair but that he can do it for £35, so I don't have to pay for the call out. I assumed what he meant by that is that I wouldn't need to pay excess and any other costs and instead would just be paying him £35. I thought, it would also be good to support a local plumber.

Anyway, I have contacted him to find out when he would be able to come and do the repair and he has not responded.

As it turns out, British Gas is requesting an excess of £60, which I didn't think would be required since a repair wasn't done. I am planning to ring British Gas in the morning, to ask them what exactly their understanding is. 

However, I wanted to get some advice from the forum on what my best course of action would be.

My other question is, is it normal to pay an excess when repair work hasn't been done, under the British Gas Home Care plan? 

From what I understand from your post, Daisy, it could be that the Dyno person was trying to do you a 'favour', and possibly him pocketing himself a bit of loose change - £35 - instead of putting it through the BG books.

However, this job is clearly already 'in the system', as BG have - rightfully - charged you the £60 excess. Mind you, if the job isn't carried out by the Dyno cove, then BG'll need to sort out a replacement.

Bottom line - you are paying for a service, and at the moment you haven't received it. So, BG need to sort it out.

So I'd call up BG again, and just tell them the Dyno fellow has been out, diagnosed the problem, said they'd be back - but haven't been. Then leave the cost of the job as the £60 excess - don't give Mr Dyno a bean - and put it behind you.

There are pros and cons with such Home Care Policies - the 'con' being that, for most people, it'll work out more costly on average than just paying for jobs as and when they are needed. The 'pros' are that you (should...) have peace of mind, with a max of £60 to cough up each time.

Perhaps as time goes on, you'll find recommended local trades folk for these jobs - a plumber, a sparky, and handypeep - and then cancel the monthly outgoings (provided you keep your savings building up instead...).

Thank you for the tips and advice

TELLIT01

I'd be interested to hear the conversation between the OP and BG Homecare.  BG sent a plumber out who then tried to undercut BG and do the job 'on the side'.  I would expect the excess still to be required by BG as the person they sent wasn't unable to do the work, the OP decided they wouldn't have it done after the visit.

pramsay13

Your contract is with BG so get back onto them immediately and try and get it sorted.
Is the sink still leaking? 
They shouldn't have charged the excess until the repair is sorted but maybe they think it has been. 
Although the plumber is maybe local he still works for a big, national firm so not quite the same as getting a local plumber. 
Get BG to sort this one out.

silvercar

The dyno person clearly didn't realise he was on a contracted BG job and that the customer was only paying the excess whatever the job cost, why else would he say it would cost £75. He's probably now realised his mistake and staying away.
BG to sort out, they are probably surprised that Dyno didn't sort it out in one visit.

Daisy_84

silvercar said:

The dyno person clearly didn't realise he was on a contracted BG job and that the customer was only paying the excess whatever the job cost, why else would he say it would cost £75. He's probably now realised his mistake and staying away.
BG to sort out, they are probably surprised that Dyno didn't sort it out in one visit.

Not spoken to BG yet. Doing it this morning. Invoice for excess only arrived yesterday.

Do you mean they are surprised that Dyno 'sorted' it out in one visit?