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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

British Gas Breakdown Cover Terrible

21 replies

PencilStreet · 15/12/2017 14:41

Boiler stopped working yesterday - no heating since yesterday morning. Have emergency cover with British Gas and been waiting in all day for them to arrive just received a call saying they now can't come out until Monday! That's 90 hours after a reported breakdown. I've got two visiting children coming this weekend and now got to go any buy electric heaters - British Gas person whilst polite was basically saying "too bad, can't help" Monday it is then - almost take it or leave it attitude.

Am I being unreasonable or is this seriously bad service?

OP posts:

CharlieWork · 15/12/2017 19:52

What does the contract say? Personally, I've only heard bad things about boiler cover. If you stick the £30 or whatever it is you pay, you can buy a new boiler every 10 or so years!

myusernamewastaken · 15/12/2017 20:07

I'm surprised anyone bothers with BG...Homeserve etc....like the poster above says put a bit away each month and if something goes wrong call out a local tradesman.

IncyWincyGrownUp · 15/12/2017 20:16

I had that in my old house. They were knobheads. Took our money every month for years, then when we did have an issue they told us it was tough as they weren’t prepared to fix the problem!

Welshmaenad · 15/12/2017 20:35

Homeserve have always been awesome with me. Fixed a boiler issue very quickly. Came out for a leak (we have extended cover) and ended up doing a repair that would have cost over £400. New pipework routing, the works. We're there within an hour of us calling.

Have heard nothing but complaints about the BG cover though.

myusernamewastaken · 15/12/2017 20:59

Are you serious??? Just google Homeserve and read the reviews...I wouldnt touch them with a bargepole..

Whatamuddleduck · 15/12/2017 21:04

They've been great with us too. Thought the boiler was knackered, engineer spent two days here and it's brilliant now. Busy time of year now I guess.

user1486076969 · 15/12/2017 21:06

Never had boiler cover, just pay as and when required......seems to have worked out much cheaper.

myusernamewastaken · 15/12/2017 21:07

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1780007

Bluntness100 · 15/12/2017 21:09

I was quite surprised with British Gas. My boiler went down and they charged me 90 odd quid to come out. Then I had a leak and they charged me 50quid to send a plumber out. I honestly thought if you paid the monthly fee and had an emergency they came out for free. They really don’t.

SouthWestmom · 15/12/2017 21:13

We've always had amazing service from BG. Service each year, out in an emergency, no charges. Replaced leaking cylinder.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 15/12/2017 21:18

Same here Noeuf. We were with them for years and they were great. The couple of times we did have a problem they compensated without us requesting anything. We only cancelled as a former neighbour has his own business and we've decided to put the money aside and use him.

beautifulgirls · 15/12/2017 21:19

That's a shame, I've had really good service from them when I have needed them on a couple of occasions. I had same day service one time and next day another time with good engineers who clearly knew their boilers properly and got the job done.

mumtomaxwell · 15/12/2017 22:35

I have a policy with Scottish Power - they are absolutely shocking. We’ve had no heating or hot water since Monday. I’ve had to ring them several times a day to try and get a response about progress. I was told all week it’d be fixed today, got a phone call at lunchtime to say it’ll now be Monday. As others have said we’re seriously considering getting rid of the boiler care policy and just putting the money aside for future breakdowns.

RedHelenB · 15/12/2017 22:42

YABU service annually and always out the same day when I've called them. Think it may depend whereabouts you live perhaps?

hamptonhangingpork · 15/12/2017 23:10

BG cover stiffed my parents. The engineer "found" a fault during a service (of a new boiler) that required multiple callouts for him and another engineer. They had to disconnect the boiler during this period.

They were clearly milking their own contract with BG which meant my parents had no heating or hot water for a couple of weeks.

Take the money you'd spend on one of these contracts, stick it into a savings account and find your own reputable engineer via the boiler manufacturer's trusted installer bit on their website or though recommendation.

purpleme12 · 15/12/2017 23:24

No ynbu. Why have they said they can't come out till then? Is it supposed to be an emergency policy? Cos if it is you shouldn't have to wait this long. Make a complaint.

CoffeeBreakIn5 · 15/12/2017 23:31

British Gas have been brilliant for me! I've paid for Homecare for around 4 years - I've never had to wait more than 1 day for an engineer and they've always fixed it for no extra charge.

Give them a ring and tell them if you're not satisfied.

idontlikealdi · 15/12/2017 23:36

I don't have cover but called them for repair when my boiler blew up last week - three weeks before anyone could come out and they tried to sell me cover at the same time.

Got a local bloke to come out, new boiler done.

I think cover is a waste of money.

SquirrelPlantedBeech · 15/12/2017 23:40

Wait till you try to cancel thecover. Took me three phone calls and Iwas passed to and from several departments answering the same questions each time.

AntiHop · 15/12/2017 23:53

We've had their cover for 10 years and we've definitely got our money's worth. They have fixed our boiler many times. However, a few years ago they were trying to push a power flush on us, which I wasn't happy about.

The only time they've charged us was when the boiler broke down in-between us taking out the cover and having our first service, which was a few weeks. That was annoying.

Our boiler broke down recently, they fixed it quickly.

InspMorse · 16/12/2017 07:09

I'm surprised anyone bothers with BG...Homeserve etc....like the poster above says put a bit away each month and if something goes wrong call out a local tradesman.

Easier said than done here.
We've tried to use local tradesmen so many times - boiler, cooler, washing machine. Each time we ended up calling homeserve/ domestic&general & paying them ££££ instead.
After ringing round each time we have needed anything mended we've come to the conclusion that local tradesmen just dont want to fix stuff or don't reply in the first place.

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