British Gas Service Contract

wiltsgrandad

Just had my renewal contract from BG and it was far too much. Went onto their chat to see if i could reduce the cover to help and when I said i was considering cancelling was immediately offered a £90 discount, so instead of £50 increase (no repairs during the year so it was a straight uplift) I am going to pay £40 less than last year. It's just like Sky - don't pay the increases make a fuss, get a discount. There is real competition out there. 

CliveOfIndia

Alternatively, self-insure.  Put £50 a month or whatever into a savings account, this will be more than enough to cover an annual service, plus some extra for repairs along the way as long as you use a properly-qualified independent heating engineer.

It's just like any insurance policy - you can always haggle, but ultimately it's down to your personal appetite for risk.  A "fully comprehensive" insurance policy is well worth it if you end up needing to make a claim, but for the vast majority of the insurer's customers, the company makes far more than they ever pay out.

I'm not saying I begrudge them as such.  They are, after all, a company that's in business to make profit and appease their shareholders.

What's the point of paying for fully-comp insurance on a car, rather than 3rd party?  What's the point of having buildings and contents insurance on your house?  For the majority of people, probably no point.  But if your house burns to the ground and you need to make a claim for several hundred thousand pounds, you'd be glad of it.  You pays your money and you takes your choice.

MyRealNameToo

CliveOfIndia said:

Alternatively, self-insure.  Put £50 a month or whatever into a savings account, this will be more than enough to cover an annual service, plus some extra for repairs along the way as long as you use a properly-qualified independent heating engineer.

It's just like any insurance policy - you can always haggle, but ultimately it's down to your personal appetite for risk.  A "fully comprehensive" insurance policy is well worth it if you end up needing to make a claim, but for the vast majority of the insurer's customers, the company makes far more than they ever pay out.

I'm not saying I begrudge them as such.  They are, after all, a company that's in business to make profit and appease their shareholders.

What's the point of paying for fully-comp insurance on a car, rather than 3rd party?  What's the point of having buildings and contents insurance on your house?  For the majority of people, probably no point.  But if your house burns to the ground and you need to make a claim for several hundred thousand pounds, you'd be glad of it.  You pays your money and you takes your choice.

First of all I'll point out I dont buy Home Emergency and dont have a boiler service agreement either.

For me there is one additional consideration with HE in that beyond purely the money you also get a single point of contact to call to sort out a significant problem rather than coming home and finding your lock has busted or the powers been out all day etc and trying to find the number for a locksmith, plumber, electrician etc in the dark, thats available immediately and won't fleece you.

If your mates are all trades people this may be a none issue and you have a dozen people to choose from but the number of posts on here from people saying they had to have an emergency locksmith and either struggled to get one or got a £1k bill for 20 minutes work etc suggests not everyone does. 

That said when we were covered by a landlords policy they sent out some drains guys very quickly but after a few hours they gave up trying to stop other flats waste coming out of our kitchen sink. We called another guy who came out almost as quick and fixed it before he even rang the doorbell but in fairness he didnt park in the visitors car parking space and instead went to the other side of the building where he saw the overflowing drain cover - so more luck than skill. The insurer did reimburse the fee we paid for the second guy. 

user1977

MyRealNameToo said:

CliveOfIndia said:

Alternatively, self-insure.  Put £50 a month or whatever into a savings account, this will be more than enough to cover an annual service, plus some extra for repairs along the way as long as you use a properly-qualified independent heating engineer.

It's just like any insurance policy - you can always haggle, but ultimately it's down to your personal appetite for risk.  A "fully comprehensive" insurance policy is well worth it if you end up needing to make a claim, but for the vast majority of the insurer's customers, the company makes far more than they ever pay out.

I'm not saying I begrudge them as such.  They are, after all, a company that's in business to make profit and appease their shareholders.

What's the point of paying for fully-comp insurance on a car, rather than 3rd party?  What's the point of having buildings and contents insurance on your house?  For the majority of people, probably no point.  But if your house burns to the ground and you need to make a claim for several hundred thousand pounds, you'd be glad of it.  You pays your money and you takes your choice.

For me there is one additional consideration with HE in that beyond purely the money you also get a single point of contact to call to sort out a significant problem rather than coming home and finding your lock has busted or the powers been out all day etc and trying to find the number for a locksmith, plumber, electrician etc in the dark, thats available immediately and won't fleece you.

I'll point out that you may face the opposite problem of paying for cover and then your provider not being able to provide anybody immediately - I've encountered that with a landlord's British Gas cover (plus they were of mixed competence when they did turn up).

MyRealNameToo

user1977 said:

MyRealNameToo said:

CliveOfIndia said:

Alternatively, self-insure.  Put £50 a month or whatever into a savings account, this will be more than enough to cover an annual service, plus some extra for repairs along the way as long as you use a properly-qualified independent heating engineer.

It's just like any insurance policy - you can always haggle, but ultimately it's down to your personal appetite for risk.  A "fully comprehensive" insurance policy is well worth it if you end up needing to make a claim, but for the vast majority of the insurer's customers, the company makes far more than they ever pay out.

I'm not saying I begrudge them as such.  They are, after all, a company that's in business to make profit and appease their shareholders.

What's the point of paying for fully-comp insurance on a car, rather than 3rd party?  What's the point of having buildings and contents insurance on your house?  For the majority of people, probably no point.  But if your house burns to the ground and you need to make a claim for several hundred thousand pounds, you'd be glad of it.  You pays your money and you takes your choice.

For me there is one additional consideration with HE in that beyond purely the money you also get a single point of contact to call to sort out a significant problem rather than coming home and finding your lock has busted or the powers been out all day etc and trying to find the number for a locksmith, plumber, electrician etc in the dark, thats available immediately and won't fleece you.

I'll point out that you may face the opposite problem of paying for cover and then your provider not being able to provide anybody immediately - I've encountered that with a landlord's British Gas cover (plus they were of mixed competence when they did turn up).

True, there will always be extreme storms where every roofer suddenly finds themselves fully booked for the next month and no one can get anyone. 

With the firms I worked for there were consequences for the supplier of turning down jobs in normal circumstances and so most would prioritise the slightly lower paying but consistent flow of work from insurers than ditch an insurer job for a one off job for a customer. Not all will have the same terms and not all will have the same level of coverage. There arent that many providers of the cover though, a fair few big names sell someone else's because it is a ball ache ensuring you have decent coverage everywhere.