British Gas homecare-200 won't fix my boiler and sent £87 back for 5 months

computerbar

I bought my house in October 2007 and also became HomeCare- 200 customer in October 2007 and the payment was start from my account via direct debit £17 per month from November 2007 until now. The last payment was debited from my account 2nd April 2008.
I called British Gas on 27th March 2008 that I do not have hot water and also central heating was not working. An engineer came next day. He inspected the boiler and told me that he cannot find a part for my boiler and the boiler has to be changed and also he told me that I would have to pay for the new installation.
I called the Customer Service again and they sent an engineer again on 8th April 2008 but they told me the same thing. And I’m still waiting for a call from customer service. I called Customer Service on Friday 11th April 08 again and there was no joy again. I asked for the complaint office address but they were not very happy and did not even give me the address for the office. I had to find it myself on the internet.
I wrote a letter to make a complaint and I have got the same answer from them.
Anybody please confirm they are right to do this. What is the use of homecare if they do not care. and I still have to pay for new installation.


regards

ukwoody

Yep, It has always been their policy, and really it's quite reasonable in so much that if it is impossible to get bits for it, they can't repair it. No different then your TV dying. Usually they double check the age of the boiler before starting a new policy and if it's over so many years old, they won't insure it.

At the end of the day, you've had two free visits from good engineers who have both said it's obsolete and got your money back. many people would still charge you a callout fee. If you get an independent person in he *may* be able to get a couple more parts but it's unlikely.

I would however suggest if you are going to have it replaced you then go down the independant route as BG are very expensive on new installations.

If you care to name the make and model of your boiler, one of the Corgi guys on here *might* be able to offer a bit more help as to obtaining parts.
Woody

EliteHeat

As ukwoody said above ....what's the boiler make and model? what's the problem / part needed?

I have to say that you sound as if you may be a tricky customer though

i8banks

I moved into a new home 2 years ago and asked about the homecare. An engineer came round and looked at my boiler and said he could put me on the plan but seeing as my boiler was a back boiler and around 10 years old it wouldnt be covered. I did laugh at the time as i said oh right you want me to pay a payment each month for a boiler if it goes wrong would not be fixed! at least he was an honest one fed up with british gas conning people into these homecare packages that half the time dont pay out. I wouldnt get a boiler from british gas my quote was nearly 5 grand go somewhere else.

jemw

I'm afraid it is usual to exclude obsolete parts from cover. There is a difference from the boiler being Beyond Repair and Beyond Economical Repair, usually with the latter, a (small) payment is made towards the cost of a replacement boiler.

BG have been good with you by refunding the premiums you have paid in full - presumably this is because you have only held cover for 5 months and this is the first breakdown you've experienced - therefore if they are unable to repair the boiler, you have never been an insurable risk - a lot of companies would not refund so quickly.

In answer to your question - yes, they can do this - I imagine it is a clear exclusion in your agreement with them.

However, I recommend to attempt to source the part yourself - In my experience, when my comapny has informed a customer a part is obsolete, occasionally, the customer can source elsewhere (as we only use certain suppliers). In this instance, the fitting of the part is covered under the policy and occasionally, we refund the cost of the part.

(.... and before you ask, I don't work for BG!)

HTH
Jenemw

gartshore

like it or not if the parts are obsolete your boiler is more than likley on it`s last legs & very low on efficiency costing you more than needed to run although it would help if you posted the make & model .

dld2s

As has been said, find out the part that's faulty and try elsewhere, I am on the Homecare plan and had a couple of faulty TSV's BG said they were obsolete and no longer available, they replaced them with a different style, my son's mate works in a plumbing centre, he told me they were talking mince and brought me home a couple of brand new ones of the original style. Not a big thing for me them changing the style, but it does show that it's only a select number of suppliers they use.

amcluesent

I would take this further, as clearly there is a contract in-place between you and BG as you've been paying them.

If they offered an insurance policy without inspecting the boiler, but took you money, it seems that they accepted the risk IMHO.

A 'get out' clause in the contract should be examined with reference to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, which says contract terms can't be disadvantageous to you.

Contact Watchdog etc. and copy letters to customer services at BG

moonrakerz

amcluesent wrote: »

I would take this further, as clearly there is a contract in-place between you and BG as you've been paying them.

Yes, you are right, there is a contract in place.

The Ts & Cs of that contract state that if it is impossible to repair it for reasons of obsolescence then BG don't have to. When YOU sign the contract, YOU agree to that - if YOU can't be bothered to read what you were signing...........................

MarkyMarkD

There's a difference between obsolescence and "BG can't be bothered to source the parts to repair it".

If you can obtain the parts from a legitimate UK supplier, with little effort, then they are simply defrauding you to claim that the parts are not available and to avoid your policy.

computerbar

amcluesent wrote: »

I would take this further, as clearly there is a contract in-place between you and BG as you've been paying them.

Contact Watchdog etc. and copy letters to customer services at BG

thanks
thats what I think too. when they knew that my boiler was old why would they form a contract in a first place. Now when I have break down they just return the premium.

Its like returning premium to an old dead person family :rotfl:with a note "Sorry we did not know he was that old. we can NOT pay you that 1 million for which he was paying premium for the last 5 years"

Which watchdog to contact? is it ofgem or fsa?