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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think that I am paying way too much for British Gas homecare cover?

32 replies

GospelTruth · 19/02/2011 16:59

Currently paying £24 per month for BGas homecare cover, in the post today I received an offer which compared to BGas seems to good to be true from Corgihomecare.co.uk who offer the same plan for £16.99 per month, takes 30 days to come in effect but will save me £7 a month, can't be bad.

OP posts:

said · 19/02/2011 17:01

How often have you needed to use any of this cover? It might be better to use neither and just save that amount each month and use it as a fund if you do need to pay for anything?

QOD · 19/02/2011 17:02

the AA one is about the same - are you over 50 by any small chance? SAGA do it for £21.99

(I'm not over 50 btw)

squeakytoy · 19/02/2011 17:02

ask any plumber about that homecare.. its all a big con..

British Gas hugely inflate the prices of any parts they need to get, and completely rip people off with this service.

Alouiseg · 19/02/2011 17:02

im paying £35 for the 400 cover, thy sucker you in and then ramp up the prices.

QuintessentialShadows · 19/02/2011 17:09

We had British Gas Homecare. All fine until we needed help. Then, under the plan I was told emergency cover meant a call out could happen anytime between me placing the call, and 14 days, as they were very busy. If I did not have a plan, I would be a new customer, and get priority, and would have somebody out within 24 hours. What is the point of the plan then? Eventually I was told I was was willing to forget about my plan, and pay, they could send an engineer out.
The engineer we got, took one look at the boiler and said, "you dont need us, you need Transco, I am surprised you did not tell us the boiler was actually hanging off the wall dripping with water, would have saved you a call out". Like I would have omitted such a fact!
Transco came out, and promptly condemned our boiler.
My local plumber installed a new boiler the next day. Costing me £2k.

Yup, British Gas homecare is a big con, in my experience.

SauvignonBlanche · 19/02/2011 17:11

I've paid them for years. The boiler has broken down and after making me wait 2 weeks they say they can't get a part.
They quoted me £3k for a new boiler, I asked another firm for a quote to complare and they said they could get the part to fix the old one.
It's a rip-off!

pointydog · 19/02/2011 17:14

I think BG overcharge for all their services and covers

TattyDevine · 19/02/2011 17:16

I had it for years and used it so much I'm surprised THEY didn't fire ME, so it was definitely worth it for us, but then we changed to PowerGen I think who do cashback if you dont use it (we've got a new system now so we dont!) so we feel we've got the right cover for us.

My friend had British Gas and during that recent snow her boiler broke and despite paying all that money, it took them 3 weeks to get to her and fix it.

Punkatheart · 19/02/2011 17:19

I subscribe to Which - so I checked out the British Gas cover - it didn't score very highly on satisfaction surveys. The best was Worcester Bosch (70% compared to scores in the 50% league for BG) - so that might be worth checking out. Couldn't find the Corgi one on the list.....

KittaKatta · 19/02/2011 17:30

puts on flame proof stuff, have this cover and recently had heating break down. We'd been away for the weekend came back on Sunday night to such a cold cold house, called them and guy was there at 10 am next morning, and did full service too. Am on the lowest bit of the plan too

squeakytoy · 19/02/2011 17:40

It is bound to be ok in some instances, but in general it is a rip-off. My husband used to run a plumbers merchants, and knows exactly how much the parts, and specifically, the boilers cost.

British Gas will mark up almost 100% on many items.

Ponks · 19/02/2011 18:09

Have to say British Gas homecare has been great for us, whenever we have had a problem they have been out immediately (i.e. same day we ring up) and sorted it.

NancyDrewHadaClue · 19/02/2011 18:25

My sister had this for a couple of years so had paid out near £500. When her boiler broke during the snow they said they were too busy to come out and due to the exceptional weather their guarantee wasn't relevant.

QOD · 19/02/2011 18:28

SAGA one guarantees response within 4 hrs

TheAtterySquash · 19/02/2011 18:30

They said they couldn't get someone out when I called to
report a fault with my fuse box...said it wasn't an emergency and would take three days. It melted down four hours later with sparks and smoke, and National Grid said if we hadn't called them then (which I only did because I'm the anxious type) the house would have burned down. I cancelled my plan after that.

Choufleur · 19/02/2011 18:32

Put the money in an account every month and save it in case of an emergency. You may never need it, but if you do can just called out a plumber/gas engineer.

roomonthebroom · 19/02/2011 18:44

I would cancel the whole thing and save the money.

BG cover is a rip off and they falsely advertise. My 84 year old gran had cover and when her heating broke down she had to wait 3 days for them to even come out. Then it took them a further 2 days to get the part (a fan) and fit it. They do call outs between 8am and 6pm in our area, so she couldn't even leave the house during the day.

When my boiler broke down, I phoned a plumber who lives in my town, he came round the next morning, diagnosed the problem (also a fan), went to get one, and had the problem fixed the same afternoon for £120, so about 5 months of premiums.

My dad used to have a plan and they were constantly saying he needed XY and Z to 'meet regulations' and then quoted him extortionate prices to do the work.

They are rip off merchants.

StiffyByng · 19/02/2011 18:48

I've never heard good feedback on this scheme. My plumber told me just the other day that they'd charged someone he knew £240 to do something he would charge £15 plus £50 call out to do. I'm another person who thinks you should just put money aside.

YourCallIsImportant · 19/02/2011 18:58

I've had BG cover for about 10 yrs and have used it every year, they always come out same day or 1st thing next morning, and have rebuilt my boiler countless times. Worth every penny for us.

pointydog · 19/02/2011 19:53

You could have put the money towards a new boiler.

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 19/02/2011 20:01

Which recently did a review of boiler cover and said British Gas was not worth the money at all - better to have no cover.

cyb · 19/02/2011 20:10

I've just found this online

About £9 a month for what I am currently paying £25 for

But no annual service included, I dont think

cyb · 19/02/2011 20:46

Is it worth getting one with an annual service as part of it?

pointydog · 19/02/2011 20:50

I pay £48 for my annual service and gas fire clean.

The boiler's about 11 years old. Over the last 8 and a half years, I had one problem that cost about £70 I think and two other little issues resolved by my heating bloke talking me through some advice on the phone for free.

Maybe I've been lucky but I just don't need cover, I need a reliable local tradesman. And if my boiler was giving me trouble every year, I would consider replacing it.

cyb · 19/02/2011 20:51

Mines only 4 years old but has had a few problems

I think I'm going to swap to someone else and save myself a few quid

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