Boilers and British Gas Protection- RANT

[gio71]

My 8&%^*@ boiler has just given up and I need a new one. Wanted to know if anyone else has had this experience, I have for a good few years now paid for the British Gas Home Care service. When I joined it I asked the man on the phone in a variety of different ways whether it would mean that all my costs were covered in the future and clarified that basically there was nothing that could go wrong with the boiler that would mean I would have to pay anything additional to monthly payments. I was told that was the case and that a broken down boiler would be fixed to the point it couldnt be fixed anymore and then would be replaced FREE OF CHARGE. I was suspicious of the service so clarified and reclarified this. Now I am being told that is not the case. As it wasnt a BG boiler fitted in the last 7 years I will have to pay for a new one albeit with a Home Care discount (noone seems able to tell me how much this "discount" is) and the bottom line is best part of 3k for a new combi boiler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Some jumped up 10 year old on the phone asked me in a very patronising way whether I had read my T&C's and while I take that point, my point is a separate one, that if I am given specific info on the phone and I check and double check that , I SHOULD be able to rely on that information provided.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Sorry to rant mumsnetters , am v v angry and needed to vent spleen. (angry)
Oh yeah and my lovely home insurers have told me that only accidental damage is covered so know way of claiming for it!
Anyone had similar experiences? Able to recommend a cheaper company than BG to fit a new boiler?

[gio71]

used wrong brackets for my angry fce, here we go

[Tinker]

Anyone is cheaper than BG. A boiler costs about £800 to £1000 - just ring around gas engineers for quotes. Whereabouts are you?

[chopchopbusybusy]

British Gas pissed me off big time by refusing to replace my water cylinder because they told me the problem was caused by "aggressive" water. They quoted me for the work but I got a plumber to do it cheaper - and he said there was no way of knowing what caused the problem without cutting the cylinder open. Needless to say I cancelled the British Gas Service

Definitely get some other quotes.

[crokky]

Get a man from British Gas round to do a quote anyway. You don't have to go with it. Sometimes the men that come to the door are much better and kinder than the people on the phone who are only allowed to say robotic pre programmed nonsense.

My boiler broke when under BG homecare. A man came out and said basically for BG to fix it, would cost around £600 so better to get a new one. The man who comes round does the quote for the new one so he took the £600 off the price and he also took a bit more off the price - ie not charging for certain parts. Worth a try anyway.

[BreeVanDerCampLGJ]

I used to work for a heating company, the directors did not get their boilers serviced.

When I asked them why, the more forthcoming one, said if it aint broke don't fix it.

Also £3k sounds like an awful lot, I got a floor standing kingfisher 7 years ago for that.

[WendyWeber]

If just one person - who presumably got commission for selling you the cover - told you verbally that you would get your boiler replaced free, it was never going to happen.

We have BG service and every year on the annual statement thing it shows a credit figure towards a new boiler - £100 a year or something?

You can buy a fantastic combi boiler for around £1000 - ask friends/neighbours for recommendations for a local plumber.

[gio71]

house is in south manchester Tinker.
Thanks for your support people, i love mumsnet, feel better already
Will def ring round for quotes. Am just so sick of
A) call centres being rude and telling you different things, had similar experience for different reasons obviously, with NTL recently
B) Sales people saying anything to get the sale (am a salesperson myself so winds me up even more cos would never do that)
C) How bloody expensive things Britain is. Live in Italy most of the year and it hits me everytime I come back how expensive it is back home now
Oh well, next call centre call will be to get my current loan extended to cover the damn boiler
Is it ever possible to live debt free I wonder or is that another thread....

[Tinker]

Oh, oh, oh, can recommend someone. Have you got an email address you can post here?

[gio71]

Just sent you an email Tinker, thanks v much

[Tinker]

You can email me on tinkerblush at aol dot com. Not sure whether I can receive CATs or not.

[gio71]

emailed you directly Tinker
thanks

[gio71]

Hi
Just wanted to thank Tinker for her recommendation of man to fix my boiler. Have taken my time getting it sorted as been out of UK but he was 2050 cheaper than British Gas and 550 cheaper than the next cheapest quote!!! Hasnt done the work yet so lets hope am not being prematurely excited .
Am going to pursue British Gas (obviously know will get nothing back but will make me feel better) as this guy has told me there was signs of carbon monoxide leakage on boiler and BG were meant to do yearly checks as part of my useless home cover and forgot by 6 mths. When they came to look at it and wrote it off they said it hadnt started leaking but wasnt far off. Also think its disgusting that the reaction of BG when I first spoke to them was "ooh you could be looking at 4k for that!!" Had I been little old pensioner I would have keeled over at that point. Or decided to do without my heating. But its ok cos BG offered me a payment plan whereby I would have ended up paying 2k plus in interest over 10 years. It's just wrong!!
Rant part two over

[Tinker]

Oh wow, excellent news! Have just spotted this and was only wondering the other day if anything came of my recommendation. Good to know he's come up good again with another mner. Hmm, wonder if I should be on some sort of commission...