Boiler Care companies

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Can anyone recommend a boiler/central heating emergency company? That isn't British Gas.

We've used BG because my elderly, poorly mum was living with us and so we couldn't not have heating or hot water, but it's now over £300 a year!

We would want someone who could come within a day or so but that doesn't cost the earth. We're in SE London.

Anyone please?

When I looked around, I couldn't find anyone who could credibly make the "arrive within 24 hours" claim, could credibly claim to have a parts holding and also was cheaper than British Gas. I could find plenty of people who would be cheaper, either by calling them as required or would write me some sort of contract, but their claims weren't credible. Which is not totally surprising, because having staff on call in sufficient quantity isn't cheap, and big parts holdings tie up a lot of capital.

Then my boiler started leaking mains pressure water, and BG turned up that day, figured out the (rather hidden) seal that had failed, and came back at 8 the following morning with the part and fixed it.

My experience with BG over thirty years (we inherited a contract with a house we bought, and have stayed with them after the occasion the boiler failed on Christmas day at they were out before lunch) is that they do what they say on the tin, efficiently and effectively, are quite expensive, but alternatives which are cheaper and credible don't seem to exist. So I pay up. If you get credible options, I'd be interested to hear what they are.

I have a policy with HomeServe. It’s not cheap at around £30 a month, but tbh I can’t afford not to have it as our boiler is getting to the end of its life.

The actually policy is great, we’ve had them out at least twice a year (not including services) and they’ve always arrived when they said and within 24-48 hours.

My policy is one of the most expensive because I wanted the assurance that if they couldn’t fix it they would replace it.

Let me know if you decide to go with them so I can give you a referral code (but seriously also go through topcashback, I got a month free)

I use Swale heating which is a Kent company. Been very good and will come out the same day but not at an appointed time. They prioritise calls so if your problem isnt too bad and you are a healthy adult you wont get seen until the evening

Not sure if they cover London though

British Gas tend to have the quickest call out times, plus they have their own part centres so If an engineer orders a part before 8pm it will be there the next day in most cases (unless on the rare occasion they need to source elsewhere). But they are one of the most expensive. There are others options such as insurance products where is pay a very low monthly rate but pay a one off call out rate if you need to call them out.

Try Money supermarket as you can compare lots of products. There are lots out there.