Cancelled British Gas Homecare. Need a new plan.

[SpaghettiMeatballs]

I've just cancelled my BG Homecare thingy because they whacked the price right up. The boiler is 2 years old and I know it is a good one (a Worcester Bosch Greenstar.... Think that's good?). It has never gone wrong.

Not sure if I should take out a new policy with a different provider or just go without insurance. Service is due this month so I'll need to get that sorted too.

I had BG for years at my old house where the boiler was old and they were really prompt with coming out to fix it so I'm a bit panicked about not having them to call if anything happened to the boiler here as I have two small DCs.

An advice or opinions really appreciated.

[SquinkiesRule]

We have Corgi home plan same thing as the BG only cheaper.

[sacbina]

and after a year apply to BG with partners name if poss. unless they've changed it there's no record from before, and you start of at lowest premium before they hike it up for no good reason. if of course you want to go back to BG, but have to admit they were brilliant when they know you have young dc.

[sacbina]

think we went for corgi too in our interim year, had to pay £100 excess for repair

[SpaghettiMeatballs]

Corgi is a lot cheaper isn't it? Have you had to call them out? Were they ok then?

It's the usual thing of not rewarding loyalty that is standard in the insurance market.

[PoppyWearer]

We cancelled British Gas after a price hike and moved to Homeserve who charge £1 a month for the first year.

We haven't had to call them out so far so I can't comment on service, but at least 9 months into the contract I am over £300 better off, with the same peace of mind.

And if I do have to spend £300 to fix something at some point this year, the money has at least earned me a little interest in the meantime.

I don't know how the prices hike up in year two.

Also, we did try HeatTeam and didn't rate them after a callout, although that was a while back.

[INeedSomeHelp]

The other utility companies provide the same service e.g. Scottish Power. I don't know how prices compare though. Have a look at one of the comparison sites - they might have these kind of services on there.

[msmorgan]

Did you ring British Gas re the price hike? They did this to me, I rang and queried the rise and said I would cancel and go with Home serve, they price matched them.

[summersoft]

Devils in the detail. Make sure you know what your paying for. Some plans include an annual service, others don't. Others charge a fixed fee for each call out, £50,£99. Includes parts and labour.
Problem with BG is they have been providing the service for years and provide 24hr 365 day call out and get their parts next day. Others take longer, 7-10 days sometimes. Heat team, Worcester or Vaillant will only look after the boiler, not the system.
Then there's all the independently Gas Safe registered companies.
If you want guaranteed service/repairs it's going to cost.

[Longdistance]

We have Eon doing our cover. We've found them very good. They do the yearly inspection and test of the boiler.

We had a leak a few years ago in some pipes, and they helped us then too. Can't recommend them enough.

[PigletJohn]

because the maintenance plans are intended to be profitable, the charges over X years are usually more than it would cost you paying for repairs as and when needed from a trusted local independent who does the annual service, with no plan.

However it may be difficult to get an emergency repair done on Christmas day without paying a substantial uplift.

It is very unlikely that an independent will have difficulty in getting parts. Sometimes they can get parts, or have parts repaired, when BG no longer carry them.

[ContentedSidewinder]

We have British Gas service cover and our heating died on Christmas Eve last year. We rang them (I believe it was late afternoon) and they could get someone to me on Christmas day.

That is the reason I stick with them. Tried and tested. I did decline Christmas day only because my children are older, we have a gas fire and I wouldn't want to deprive anyone with young children of the opportunity to have someone out on Christmas day if they needed it. So we booked for boxing day.

I did use a local independent chap a couple of years ago and he couldn't diagnose the problem and told to ring British Gas as they were offering a first fault fix for £99. Turns out it was the motherboard in the boiler that had died so I did very well for £99.

[SpaghettiMeatballs]

I did ring them msmorgan but they could only reduce the monthly cost if I agreed to a £100 excess. Given that even with a higher excess the monthly fee would be more than I have been paying I thought it was best to cancel.

Thank you for the recommendations. I have found a comparison site to check out.

A local guy has been recommended to us but as mentioned I worry what would happen if he was very busy or on holiday and we didn't have any heating.

[Graciescotland]

We have an annual plan with a local independent, he fitted our boiler, it's about 120 a year but includes annual service, call out fees. We pay for parts.

[silverfingersandtoes]

I'm looking at this at the moment too - having noticed the price BG was advertising its Homecare for new customers, I rang and asked why mine was about four times that. On pushing it turned out that I was paying additional charges now because when the system was newly installed and covered, a couple of years ago, I had had to have the engineer out several times to keep adjusting the radiators and whatnot, to get the balance right. So much for their "unlimited callouts". I think I'll go with a good local firm to cover the boiler and system - less than half of BGs price - and have discovered that several of the other things I'm paying for with BG Homecare is duplicating the cover I already have with my normal buildings insurance and with what the Water board automatically cover.

[MrsFlorrick]

It can be difficult to find a good central heating engineer who can and will do fault finding.

When DC were babies I used the British Gas cover. And was happy given that boiler (in previous home) broke down twice when DD was just 6 months old and it was actually -5c outside.
Same when DS was a baby although didn't need to call them out.
Now DC are 5 and 3, I have found a good local engineer who does fault finding and is trust worthy. And have decided we will have to just freeze if the boilers go and we have to wait for call out or part.

For the buy to let properties, I use BG landlords cover. Some of them have small DC and I couldn't stand the idea of a tenant not having heating or hot water. It works well tenant phone BG and quote my LL number and can arrange the appointment at their convenience. Plus they do the LL safety inspection annually too.

[MrsFlorrick]

Sorry. Not answered your question.
Ring BG and haggle!! I've found them to be quite open to that. I prefer their service.

[wonkylegs]

We've always used a local independent recommended by someone else.
At our old house the guy we used was fab and when our boiler died when we were snowed in with temperatures of -12, he came out, walked the last half mile, temporarily fixed the fan until he could get a new one. He charged us the normal charge out rate. Next door had a BG contract - they couldn't come out until the snow cleared a week later. Neighbours
Here the guy who does ours lives up the round and if he can't fit you in in the day he'll pop round on his way home or 1st thing. Last call out cost me £20.
Both are Worcester Bosch approved installers.
I know it can initially harder to find a good plumber/heating engineer but if you can find one they can be excellent & good value, ask your friends and neighbours.