British gas homecare

nlloyd1980

I have had British gas homecare for the last 6 years. Every year we have a service but this year the engineer told us that we should look to get a new boiler because some of the spares are no longer available. I assumed that in this situation then boiler would be replaced or at least a discount off the cost of a new one. I looked into it further and discovered that in this situation BG would just cancel my homecare policy. I phoned BG to ask if they would ever inform me that they could no longer cover my boiler due to what the engineer had told me, but they said that they would not normally inform customers unless the engineers report states that it can't be fixed. My issue is that British gas will keep taking my £35 per month but if my boiler breaks down and cannot be fixed then I would be left with having to pay the full price for a new boiler. Does anyone know what my rights are in relation to this? 

Nasqueron

It's fairly normal to cancel a policy if the thing it covers can no longer be serviced; up until that point they wouldn't cancel it because it would still cover something that breaks when they have stock, your boiler could last 5 more years and never need a specific part. If it's a part they cannot get then it would not be fair to charge you for a policy any more but if it works up until that moment, then the policy is doing what you pay for.

The replacement/discount - it depends what the terms and conditions you signed up for say

What rights are you looking at? Your policy covers your service and presumably breakdown, if a part that breaks is available, why would there be an issue? 

bluelad1927

How old is the boiler. We moved into our old house in 2006 and within a year BG were warning us that parts were limited. The boiler was around 7 yrs old. We moved out in 2022 having had a annual service for 15yrs and it was still going strong.  Personally I wouldn't worry to much idf its getting a regular serviceunless itsvery old

nlloyd1980

Nasqueron said:

It's fairly normal to cancel a policy if the thing it covers can no longer be serviced; up until that point they wouldn't cancel it because it would still cover something that breaks when they have stock, your boiler could last 5 more years and never need a specific part. If it's a part they cannot get then it would not be fair to charge you for a policy any more but if it works up until that moment, then the policy is doing what you pay for.

The replacement/discount - it depends what the terms and conditions you signed up for say

What rights are you looking at? Your policy covers your service and presumably breakdown, if a part that breaks is available, why would there be an issue? 

Nasqueron said:

It's fairly normal to cancel a policy if the thing it covers can no longer be serviced; up until that point they wouldn't cancel it because it would still cover something that breaks when they have stock, your boiler could last 5 more years and never need a specific part. If it's a part they cannot get then it would not be fair to charge you for a policy any more but if it works up until that moment, then the policy is doing what you pay for.

The replacement/discount - it depends what the terms and conditions you signed up for say

What rights are you looking at? Your policy covers your service and presumably breakdown, if a part that breaks is available, why would there be an issue? 

My point is that I'm paying for cover that, until something goes wrong I don't know if I'm covered. Surely that is right. Understand that if they can't get the parts then they won't be able to fix, but they will happily keep taking my money up to that point. For example the boiler may work absolutely fine for the next ten years and by that point I would have paid over £3500 in monthly payments (excluding annual services) if it then broke down and was unable to be fixed then they would just cancel my policy. To me this feels wrong!! 

nlloyd1980

bluelad1927 said:

How old is the boiler. We moved into our old house in 2006 and within a year BG were warning us that parts were limited. The boiler was around 7 yrs old. We moved out in 2022 having had a annual service for 15yrs and it was still going strong.  Personally I wouldn't worry to much idf its getting a regular serviceunless itsvery old

The boiler is 15 years old. Like all things I realise that this boiler is coming to the end of its working life but fingers crossed it carries on for many more years to come. My issue is the BG will keep taking my money each month but then if it breaks down they will cancel the policy if they can't fix it. Seems a bit one sided.

Nasqueron

nlloyd1980 said:

Nasqueron said:

It's fairly normal to cancel a policy if the thing it covers can no longer be serviced; up until that point they wouldn't cancel it because it would still cover something that breaks when they have stock, your boiler could last 5 more years and never need a specific part. If it's a part they cannot get then it would not be fair to charge you for a policy any more but if it works up until that moment, then the policy is doing what you pay for.

The replacement/discount - it depends what the terms and conditions you signed up for say

What rights are you looking at? Your policy covers your service and presumably breakdown, if a part that breaks is available, why would there be an issue? 

Nasqueron said:

It's fairly normal to cancel a policy if the thing it covers can no longer be serviced; up until that point they wouldn't cancel it because it would still cover something that breaks when they have stock, your boiler could last 5 more years and never need a specific part. If it's a part they cannot get then it would not be fair to charge you for a policy any more but if it works up until that moment, then the policy is doing what you pay for.

The replacement/discount - it depends what the terms and conditions you signed up for say

What rights are you looking at? Your policy covers your service and presumably breakdown, if a part that breaks is available, why would there be an issue? 

My point is that I'm paying for cover that, until something goes wrong I don't know if I'm covered. Surely that is right. Understand that if they can't get the parts then they won't be able to fix, but they will happily keep taking my money up to that point. For example the boiler may work absolutely fine for the next ten years and by that point I would have paid over £3500 in monthly payments (excluding annual services) if it then broke down and was unable to be fixed then they would just cancel my policy. To me this feels wrong!! 

But you are covered and you have no way of knowing if you cancel it tomorrow, and the boiler breaks Friday, that the part you needed is or isn't in stock - if there are 10 faults in the next 10 years, they may all be covered hence what you are paying for. If it fails and they cannot get a part then you could ask about a pro-rata refund for the current policy, they may argue the boiler was covered.

The engineer has given you an honest opinion - you need to decide if it's worth continuing paying or "self insuring" by putting the money aside each month in a savings plan ready to replace boiler. You do not have any sort of claim for a refund as your boiler is covered and the policy will cover repairs.

If the policy doesn't include a discount on a new boiler or a replacement then you can't demand this - read your Ts & Cs

nlloyd1980

Nasqueron said:

nlloyd1980 said:

Nasqueron said:

It's fairly normal to cancel a policy if the thing it covers can no longer be serviced; up until that point they wouldn't cancel it because it would still cover something that breaks when they have stock, your boiler could last 5 more years and never need a specific part. If it's a part they cannot get then it would not be fair to charge you for a policy any more but if it works up until that moment, then the policy is doing what you pay for.

The replacement/discount - it depends what the terms and conditions you signed up for say

What rights are you looking at? Your policy covers your service and presumably breakdown, if a part that breaks is available, why would there be an issue? 

Nasqueron said:

It's fairly normal to cancel a policy if the thing it covers can no longer be serviced; up until that point they wouldn't cancel it because it would still cover something that breaks when they have stock, your boiler could last 5 more years and never need a specific part. If it's a part they cannot get then it would not be fair to charge you for a policy any more but if it works up until that moment, then the policy is doing what you pay for.

The replacement/discount - it depends what the terms and conditions you signed up for say

What rights are you looking at? Your policy covers your service and presumably breakdown, if a part that breaks is available, why would there be an issue? 

My point is that I'm paying for cover that, until something goes wrong I don't know if I'm covered. Surely that is right. Understand that if they can't get the parts then they won't be able to fix, but they will happily keep taking my money up to that point. For example the boiler may work absolutely fine for the next ten years and by that point I would have paid over £3500 in monthly payments (excluding annual services) if it then broke down and was unable to be fixed then they would just cancel my policy. To me this feels wrong!! 

But you are covered and you have no way of knowing if you cancel it tomorrow, and the boiler breaks Friday, that the part you needed is or isn't in stock - if there are 10 faults in the next 10 years, they may all be covered hence what you are paying for. If it fails and they cannot get a part then you could ask about a pro-rata refund for the current policy, they may argue the boiler was covered.

The engineer has given you an honest opinion - you need to decide if it's worth continuing paying or "self insuring" by putting the money aside each month in a savings plan ready to replace boiler. You do not have any sort of claim for a refund as your boiler is covered and the policy will cover repairs.

If the policy doesn't include a discount on a new boiler or a replacement then you can't demand this - read your Ts & Cs

I have and spoken to British gas. If the boiler breakdown and the part is available then they will fix it but if it breaks down and the part isn't available then the policy is cancelled. 
That isn't insurance its a lottery. 

I just don't feel like this is right. 

I'm going to cancel my policy and save the money but if I hadn't have asked the question I would have assumed that I was insured.