My HomeCare with Bristish Gas has increased by £100

Crazy_savertoo

I have my energy with British Gas as well as my HomeCare service with them. The current agreement (annual boiler service, boiler controls cover, central heating cover, plumbing and drains cover and unlimited breakdown callouts and boiler claims) comes to an end at the end of August, but it has increased by £100 a year (to £610). Is this a reasonable price for it? Can I change supplier just for the HomeCare part?, considering my boiler is now 7 years old.
Any advise will be really appreciated.
Thank you.

FreeBear

Crazy_savertoo said:

I have my energy with British Gas as well as my HomeCare service with them. The current agreement (annual boiler service, boiler controls cover, central heating cover, plumbing and drains cover and unlimited breakdown callouts and boiler claims) comes to an end at the end of August, but it has increased by £100 a year (to £610). Is this a reasonable price for it? Can I change supplier just for the HomeCare part?, considering my boiler is now 7 years old.
Any advise will be really appreciated.
Thank you.

At £500-£600 per year, you'd only need two years to cover the cost of a budget boiler. Three to five years would get you a higher spec one with a longer guarantee.

An annual service could be had for £50-100.. And if you had a break down, a fixed price repair could probably be had from the boiler manufacturer for a lot less than £610.

Brie

I think it's Domestic & General that does breakdown cover of various sorts.  Check them out. 

I know that drains cover can be had for the first year at £1 a month so worthwhile to get for that year.  Second year it sky rockets so that's why you don't auto renew.

Also check what you can get as an add on to your home insurance.  

Willberry

Crazy_savertoo said:

I have my energy with British Gas as well as my HomeCare service with them. The current agreement (annual boiler service, boiler controls cover, central heating cover, plumbing and drains cover and unlimited breakdown callouts and boiler claims) comes to an end at the end of August, but it has increased by £100 a year (to £610). Is this a reasonable price for it? Can I change supplier just for the HomeCare part?, considering my boiler is now 7 years old.
Any advise will be really appreciated.
Thank you.

Phone them up and explain that cost is becoming prohibitive. In September 2023 I received a quote for the following year of £595. Phoned up and explained couldn't afford it. The guy I spoke to asked if I wanted to go onto a system which was cheaper but had to pay an excess of £50 or £60 each call out (depending on which service was needed). The cost was to be £479 per annum. Told him I wan't interested and if the price didn't come down I would have to move elsewhere. He then came back and offered me the full services I had been quoted for at £477 - a saving of £118 per annnum. I asked and was assured that there were no reductions in service and no excesses on call outs. I accepted the offer and am currently paying just short of £10 per month less than I would have been.
If you are considering staying with BG it's worth a quick call to see what they offer.

Scot_39

There are many alternatives to B Gas care plans.

As above an annual haggle often saves a bit - but given your boiler only 7 yrs old there are plenty of alternatives.

Have you tried some of the compare sites like moneysupermarket or comparethemarket etc.  Who may offer quotes from one or more vendor.

If nothing else it will give you a price comparison point in your region for your situation to use to haggle BG down.

And try out sone of the others like 

Corgi  - basic service and 4 levels of plan cover etc, Homeserve, D&G directly as above. 

Again be prepared to switch regularly keeping an eye on boiler age limits.


Just check the cover  levels match as like BG care plan most have different levels.

 - and be wary in the more comprehensive plans about duplication of cover with things like home emergency via house insurer too.




[Which doesn't recommend these plans based on cost though -  but for others the peace of mind and fixed costs win over taking on the risk yourself].

Sharing_Blade

My British Gas Homecare 2 annual agreement is about to expire, and after receiving my renewal quote I questioned why the premium is due to increase by 30%. 

Agent on the chat line said there was no option available to reduce the premium and suggested I reduce to boiler only cover (i.e. remove central heating cover to lower the cost). 

I then checked online and discovered there is 25% discount available to new customers only, which cannot be applied to anyone who has a current homecare agreement, or has had one in the last 3 months. (I thought this practice had been outlawed - seems this is how British Gas work around it!). 

So have instead taken cover with YourRepair.com, which appears to be at the same level, at a cost of only £10 per month including a free annual boiler service.  Only difference is that excess is £95 as opposed to £60 with British Gas; though there is an option to reduce excess to £60 for a monthly premium of £14.  This would still be cheaper than my Premium for British Gas Homecare 2 was last year

Reviews online for YourRepair.com are good, so hopefully service will be in line with British Gas.

RelievedSheff

We have never paid for boiler cover. We have an annual service by a local reputable company (In January this was £75) and put money away to cover any unexpected repair costs. So far there have been none over the service (5 year old Ideal Logic)

CRISPIANNE3

Every year they try to increase it and every year I negotiate with them and because of this the cost has moved only buy a few pounds each year. 

Also we had to call them out because our electrics failed and this happened over the weekend. They could not send anyone until Monday. However the manager agreed for us to find a private electrician and they would pay the bill. 
They were as good as their word and refunded the £250.00 within 7 days.