Central Heating/Plumbing Cover

[J4CKO]

been with British Gas on their Homecare thing for years, have used it on occasion but this year they want £358, £30 a month and it seems like a lot of money, house insurance isnt much more, car insurance is less.

The do provide a yearly service in that, not sure what they actually do, they do tell us the boiler needs replacing every year and have done for ten years but it keeps on trucking. they do say parts will be difficult to get so I expect they will say they cant fix it if it conks out. Do Boilers need servicing yearly ?

They have a £50 excess, so if I call them out once in a year, it costs over £400.

Anyone use anyone else for this cover ? who actually bothers ? could put £30 a month away into a separate Heating/Plumbing account.

[J4CKO]

Sheepshanks said:

J4CKO said:

been with British Gas on their Homecare thing for years, have used it on occasion but this year they want £358, £30 a month and it seems like a lot of money,

I might be missing something, but how is that much? The most expensive option on their website is £23.50/mth. CH (whole system) only is £17.

Is it like AA/RAC where you can call them up and they'll bomb the renewal price?

Yes, that was my thinking, taking the piss basically.

I called them up at told them I could get it cheaper, knocked 15 percent off so said ok, cancel it and the price came down to £24 a month and included the electrical cover, excess went up a tenner to sixty quid.

Apparently mine was higher due to the age and make of boiler, its a Valiant traditional type, not very efficient and its pretty old, we have been here twenty two years and it was by no means new then, loathe to replace it as even though its not that efficient it does the job and peole with newer ones seem to have more issues.

I would have just cancelled it but it knocked a decent amount off, got more cover but the main reason is that the wife will moan like mad if I cancel it, she likes the reassurance of the yearly service and to be fair we have used it on a semi regular basis for a few things.

Will review again next year as I think for some stuff like this, and pet insurance it is probably better to save it up each month and effectively self insure, have a few grand you dont touch and use that if you need to.

I think with this, paying the premium, plus sixty quid if you call them out is quite expensive, if you have more cash to one side its less of an issue as you just pay it, most people dont generally have a few grand to cover stuff like this so thats why they make money out of it.

[J4CKO]

Sheepshanks said:

J4CKO said:

I think with this, paying the premium, plus sixty quid if you call them out is quite expensive, if you have more cash to one side its less of an issue as you just pay it, most people dont generally have a few grand to cover stuff like this so thats why they make money out of it.

I'd say it's not that, it's more about having someone you can call. Not an issue if you know a bunch of gas safe plumbers, but not many of us do.

It's also arse covering - you've done your bit by calling BG, it doesn't matter what happens after that, it's all their fault!

Yeah, that is another point, all very well paying but finding someone who will come out and is duty bound to do so under contract is another thing.

[J4CKO]

Sheepshanks said:

Road2Ruin said:

Off the top of my head I couldn't tell you. Our boiler is less than 10 years old so it makes no odds

It does to the OP though - he said they've been telling him to change his boiler for 10 years.

Yeah, am reluctant to remove it when its working and spend two or three grand, they will still cover it to come out if it fails, just dont think they will be doing much with it.

They do replacement cover if you have a homecare agreement and they fitted it, for boilers up to seven years, am guessing they dont pay out on that so often.