New Boiler and British Gas Homecare

Fufu3333

I am looking to replace my 23 year old Potterton Suprima boiler as parts, according to British Gas, are becoming hard to source. It still works fine at the moment.

I am looking to replace it with a Worcester 24Kw Greenstar Ri using a Worcester accredited installer which hopefully should come with a 12 year warranty.

I currently pay for British Gas Complete Homecare at £62 a month which includes the usual annual boiler service etc plus cover for 4 extra electrical applicances in the home. Once the install is completed by the independent installer, am I able to continue with my BG Homecare policy and to continue using them to service the boiler? Or do I have any other options?

QrizB

I currently pay for British Gas Complete Homecare at £62 a month which includes the usual annual boiler service etc plus cover for 4 extra electrical applicances in the home.

That's almost £750 a year? That's crazy.

An annual boiler service should be £150-200. What are the four electrical appliances? The remaining £600 a year would buy you a new washing machine, or a cooker, or a dishwasher each year.

am I able to continue with my BG Homecare policy and to continue using them to service the boiler?

I would expect BG to continue taking your money, but you should ask yourself whether you want to pay them.

Netexporter

For that money I'd expect them to replace the boiler for free!

Have you considered a heat pump? You'll get a £7500 grant towards that.

Ectophile

It's a standard tactic to tell you that parts are hard to source. They would much rather sell you a new boiler than fix the old one.

Fufu3333

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82165391#Comment_82165391

The four electrical appliances are Miele fridge/freezer, separate Neff electric oven, Neff separate gas cooker and Bosch Washing Machine

debitcardmayhem

The boiler will come with its own warranty for at least 2 years , probably more if serviced annually by a qualified engineer thos homecare producrts are a rip-off IMHO

Scot_39

https://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/products/boilers/directory/greenstar-ri-12kw-to-24kw

Says upto 10 years - not 12.

The WB guarantee - or whatever they call it these days (the website used to make a big thing about the distinction between warranty and guarantee) - is contingent on an annual service by a WB registered installer IIRC.

You get the boiler itself covered - for 7/10/12 years depending on model iirc if serviced - if use a registered fitter for install and service - and chances are your WB installer may have a more comprehensive - full system inc rads option.

As to whether they would include BG (some - not all - BG boilers were in past thinly disguised WB rebadges) in order to honour that you would have to ask WB themselves.

For a new boiler this MSE article says dont bother for first 3 or so years.

(Basic bathtub fault logic - somethings will fail quickly if wrong - during warranty period - others will take years to develop. Of course theirs the risk your the exception - and things go wrong just after warranty ends…but youd be the best part of £750/£1500/£2250 better off without the BG plan - to help pay for them. After 4 or 5 years the price of a new boiler.

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

And here is which's general take on the cover too

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

[Edit theres a link there to boiler cover - lists many providers - you heed to be a user to see ratings but tons of choices to look for]

MSE includes 2 comparison sites and 2 direct options to compare your gas cover to BGs (your price is often itemised by the plan level iirc mums old renewals notices) and if they aren't comprehensive or decide to stick with your local WB installer for gas - look for House plumbing, home appliance cover elsewhere if feel really need it.

Again sites like MSM and Uswitch do price comparisons for things like that too.

And be careful about double insuring with cover plans if do split and home insurances - insurers dont like double cover - and worst case you have no cover - as its often an explicit exclusion.

My mum did and my sister still does pay BG a fortune for the cover - and some of their staff are not very good - I have found much cheaper quotes in past on line when boilers were newer - but never could get them to switch.

Oh and remember if your electrical appliances are old - the BG cover iirc is very limited - like iirc as little as 30% after 3 yrs - and possibly go even lower - at one stage think mum got just c£40-50 towards a replacement about 10% - for an old heavily used washing machine (5 of us when growing up) due to an "economic repair" type exclusions.

If your going to stick with BG - many do - have you considered going onto their £60 excess pricing plan for gas stuff - at that price - even for a 23 year old boiler - I suspect your not - if you rarely call them out - even that might save you a lot of money.

FreeBear

An annual boiler service should be £150-200.

£60 for my last service. Coming up to five years old now, and I would never dream of paying anyone for annual cover, especially at £62 per month. That money would be better off stuck in a savings account and used to pay for a heat pump when the time comes.

Wish I had a heat pump installed instead of the current boiler. But at the time, I couldn't afford the EPC upgrades mandated by the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (which have since been dropped).

WiserMiser

British Gas are in the bottom three in the Which? ratings of energy suppliers. Their rip-off Homecare pricing helps to explain why.

As others have said, chances are you'll do far better putting the equivalent monthly amount into an easy access savings account.

I'd also query whether it's worth having cover for the Neff electric oven and Neff gas cooker. AFAIK they're quality brands and not at high risk of going wrong, especially as they don't have powerful motors and revolving parts. The Miele fridge freezer is much the same, obviously it has a motor but it's designed to operate 24/7 and it has an easy life because all it has to do is spin round.

Washing machines are more complex, but the bathtub curve applies and I doubt BG would provide New for Old cover, if it eventually failed you'd probably get only a nominal amount.

The only insurance cover I bother with is for the car (you have no choice) and the house (it's unlikely to burn down or fall down, but disastrous if it did, so not worth saving a hundred or two but risking a loss of hundreds of thousands).

otb666

We bought Boiler with BG 5 years ago also Worcester. They reduced the care plan to 27pm now we pay 34pm. They reduced it for first five years. I thought about heat pump but as gas is a quarter of price of electric decided to stick to what we know. We once had a Home care with another provider some time ago and they took 10 engineers to never fix it as said they needed to remove a wall. Then went with BG who fixed it straight away as just a dodgy switch. We would never consider anyone else now.