Boiler/Plumbing Cover - British Gas

abxbsk

Hi, our renewal price has gone up a massive 61% this year and despite a phone call they can’t reduce the price for next year.  We’re considering using a local plumber for repairs and servicing but was also looking at using Homeserve or Your Repair. The reviews on Trustpilot are mostly positive but on google etc they aren’t very favourable - does anyone have any experience of using either company please? 

tizerbelle

Stick with a local independent plumbing and heating company.  You will get better service and value rather than using a national company.  

daveyjp

I wouldn't trust Homeserve to change a lightbulb.

Jellynailer

I have never seen the point of signing up to any repairs and servicing deal,  I have my boiler serviced yearly by a local qualified plumber since it was installed in 2008 at a cost (including check of my gas hob) of c£80.  The OP does not state the yearly cost of the current deal or whether the repair cover is for labour only or parts as well.  Hopefully I have provided a cost benchmark to help assessment of the alternatives.

Scot_39

iirc homeserve were one of the firms slated for 2nd year price hikes in a Which guide - yes just found it - near treble in 2nd year - but part of that might have been a free service offer in first year - highlighted in another article on servicing costs and quality - but you need account to see online

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/boiler-cover/article/how-to-choose-the-best-boiler-cover-aYodD8Z46xjC

So unless you have a login - youd need to pop down to a local library that keeps copies (if they still do)

Theres an MSE article on boiler plans too

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/boiler-insurance/

But it only quotes a few plans.

Personally never carried it when had gas - my mother - fixed income low savings did - so I'd have to get alternative quotes (Corgi, Homeserve, Domestic and General spring to mind) and haggle every year to stop silly renewal offers.

Excess ??

The other option - if not already using it - the callout excess based plans.

FreeBear

Plumbing rarely goes wrong unless it is copper or lead pipe buried in concrete.

If your boiler is relatively new and still under the manufacturer's warranty, having extra cover is rather pointless. A very old boiler is likely to be written off by BG as uneconomical to repair (a local engineer may well disagree). Just get it serviced each year by a trusted local engineer and put some money to one side for a big breakdown or replacement.

abxbsk

Jellynailer said:

I have never seen the point of signing up to any repairs and servicing deal,  I have my boiler serviced yearly by a local qualified plumber since it was installed in 2008 at a cost (including check of my gas hob) of c£80.  The OP does not state the yearly cost of the current deal or whether the repair cover is for labour only or parts as well.  Hopefully I have provided a cost benchmark to help assessment of the alternatives.

The cover is for labour and parts and includes a boiler service, heating breakdowns and plumbing and drainage.  Its expensive hence my reluctance to pay it this time round!

abxbsk

FreeBear said:

Plumbing rarely goes wrong unless it is copper or lead pipe buried in concrete.

If your boiler is relatively new and still under the manufacturer's warranty, having extra cover is rather pointless. A very old boiler is likely to be written off by BG as uneconomical to repair (a local engineer may well disagree). Just get it serviced each year by a trusted local engineer and put some money to one side for a big breakdown or replacement.

We live in a house build in the 80's in a very hard water area so we do experience plumbing issues, usually the toilets which stop flushing, overflow etc. due to limescale etc.  Our boiler is just over 5 years old however our raditators etc are at least 18 years old.  I think we just like the reassurance that a plumber will be with us same day/next day in the case of an emergency.  I know that some plumbers are busy and aren't always immediatley available.

FreeBear

abxbsk said:

FreeBear said:

Plumbing rarely goes wrong unless it is copper or lead pipe buried in concrete.

If your boiler is relatively new and still under the manufacturer's warranty, having extra cover is rather pointless. A very old boiler is likely to be written off by BG as uneconomical to repair (a local engineer may well disagree). Just get it serviced each year by a trusted local engineer and put some money to one side for a big breakdown or replacement.

We live in a house build in the 80's in a very hard water area so we do experience plumbing issues, usually the toilets which stop flushing, overflow etc. due to limescale etc.  Our boiler is just over 5 years old however our raditators etc are at least 18 years old.  I think we just like the reassurance that a plumber will be with us same day/next day in the case of an emergency.  I know that some plumbers are busy and aren't always immediatley available.

Also in a hard water area here (not the worst). Have had to replace a ballcock on a couple of occasions due to scale build up over the last 30-40 years.

To ensure the boiler lasts as long as possible, turn down the flow & DHW temperatures - Scale build up is directly related to how hot the water is. Have to descale my kettle every six months or so. When I ripped out a ~35 year old DHW tank last year, cut it open, and found very little scale inside. I put the difference down to temperature - Kettle gets heated to ~100°C, the DWH tank, 45-60°C.

abxbsk

FreeBear said:

abxbsk said:

FreeBear said:

Plumbing rarely goes wrong unless it is copper or lead pipe buried in concrete.

If your boiler is relatively new and still under the manufacturer's warranty, having extra cover is rather pointless. A very old boiler is likely to be written off by BG as uneconomical to repair (a local engineer may well disagree). Just get it serviced each year by a trusted local engineer and put some money to one side for a big breakdown or replacement.

We live in a house build in the 80's in a very hard water area so we do experience plumbing issues, usually the toilets which stop flushing, overflow etc. due to limescale etc.  Our boiler is just over 5 years old however our raditators etc are at least 18 years old.  I think we just like the reassurance that a plumber will be with us same day/next day in the case of an emergency.  I know that some plumbers are busy and aren't always immediatley available.

Also in a hard water area here (not the worst). Have had to replace a ballcock on a couple of occasions due to scale build up over the last 30-40 years.

To ensure the boiler lasts as long as possible, turn down the flow & DHW temperatures - Scale build up is directly related to how hot the water is. Have to descale my kettle every six months or so. When I ripped out a ~35 year old DHW tank last year, cut it open, and found very little scale inside. I put the difference down to temperature - Kettle gets heated to ~100°C, the DWH tank, 45-60°C.

We're in Hampshire and we have to decale our kettle at least one every two months - ideally every month!  I'm always shocked to hear the my friend has never had to descale her kettle due to the wonderful Welsh water!!  Our toilets are sometimes looked at once a year in rotation because of scale.  I will check our boiler temps and flow though so thanks for that advice

Somebody

As said, if your boiler is fairly new then I wouldn't bother with heating cover.

I had Homeserve in the past to cover an old boiler.  I've used the cover to have a few bits replaced over the years e.g. expansion vessels, valves, a leaking immersion heater in the hot water tank, and finally a replacement boiler (plus pro-rata refund of premium) when the boiler was condemned at 13 years old.  Had to pay for labour though. 

As with all jobs, how good a job gets done very much depends on the "engineer" they send.

Since the new boiler I "self-insure" using a trusted local plumber/engineer as and when needed.

I also take emergency cover on home insurance in case of leaking toilets etc.   To my surprise my parents' leaking combi boiler was fixed via such emergency cover when another firm wanted to charge over £300 to fix it.