British Gas Homecare - Terrible Service

[BritishGas66]

My elderly parent has a British Gas Home Care agreement for which they pay between £600 and £900 per year. This is supposed to cover servicing the appliances as well as boiler and plumbing cover. Massively over priced but supposedly offers peace of mind.

They have charged my parent £61 per month for the past 15 months and have done nothing for them. The charge includes a boiler and appliance service fee for a seervice that has not been carried out for almost two years.

After hours on the phone (parent was unable to access the system) they agreed to come and do the service that had been paid for. I took time off work and travelled - 250+ miles - to parents home to be there. They have just phoned - less than 24 hours before the appointment - to say they are not coming.

AIBU to be incandescent and suggest that you all avoid this “service” like the plague.

Yes = YABU people should be happy to pay for nothing.
No= If you pay for a service the company should provide it.

Why on earth are they paying GBP61.00 per month? Have they had the policy for years and just let it roll over, increasing the policy amount each time? Have they ever called at renewal time to ask for a reduction or looked for a better alternative - which you should do with any insurance tbh. I’ve been a customer for years and I ring every renewal and they pretty much always reduce it back to the previous years amount rather than me cancel. As for the no show, unfortunately that’s a standard thing for BG on the first appointment, OFGEM have a ruling that if they cancel your appointment they must pay you GBP30.00 but you will have to call them to get them to pay it (they’ll owe you more if they don’t cough up within 10 days too).

Also why haven’t they carried out a service for two years? Did you not book a service in? They usually send a reminder for when it’s due.

They've always been crap. I'd get hold of the CEO and email them a complaint.

British Gas don’t care about anything but profits. Their recent treatment of their staff shows that. Complain to them but cancel the plan and use a local company instead. It’ll be much cheaper and better in the long run!

I've had BT Homecare and found it great value for money, but I'm confused why your parents are paying so much, as even the highest level 4 is only £23 a month at full price. Plus they don't automatically come and do repairs and services - you have to book what you want done on the app.

They are paying a ridiculous price so should cancel it as it is costing far more than any repairs they would need. Also unsure why you had to take time off work and drive 250 miles for a boiler service or why you would be incandescent about something like this.

They have not been great throughout Covid - very difficult to get hold of and only doing absolute emergencies. Your parents are seriously overpaying. I'd downgrade to plumbing and electrical cover and ditch the appliance stuff. I pay about £20 ish for this and it's been worth its weight in gold. But yanbu about level of service during the pandemic.

They could just have a new boiler fitted every two years and still save money.

(Unless they paid British Gas to fit it of course - think of a number and triple it.)

But yanbu about level of service during the pandemic.
For a big chunk of that time their engineers have been on strike because of the awful way BG treats them.

There was a time that I would have told everyone with their own home to have British Gas insurance, they were far superior to any other gas insurance on the market.
Unfortunately, they became greedy and royally screwed all their staff which meant most of them left, in turn that caused them to be unable to fulfill their contracts, they stopped selling the product because they knew they couldn't fulfill it.

Take it further and get your parents money back

They are utter shite.
I've complained and got some money back but not enough to make up for the godawful service.

I feel sorry for their call centre staff. I was polite with them as I know it's not their fault but they must get a lot of irate customers.

Also why haven’t they carried out a service for two years? Did you not book a service in? They usually send a reminder for when it’s due.

Parent in their 90s tried on many occasions to book a service visit during Covid but could not use British Gas’s automated system. Basically it does not cater for anyone unable to use a PC or download an app. Many of their Home Care customers are in this position and the whole demographic is locked out.

I tried myself and it took me 5 calls and at least an hour to get through to a person.

Sadly elderly parent does not like to admit they can not do something. But British Gas should cater for their whole customer base, not just the tech savvy. They are VERY GOOD at taking money from the elderly.

British Gas has a chronic shortage of gas engineers. This is because a few months back they had the bright idea that they would force their employees to sign up to new contracts with much harsher terms (longer hours, less flexibility etc). They fully expected their engineers to all sign on the dotted line but hundreds did not. They voted with their feet. British gas bosses - in their pursuit of more shareholder payouts and lower wages for their workers - fucked themselves and in doing so have fucked everyone who uses them. Your parents will be much better off with a small local firm, OP.

I book mine by phoning them, I don’t use their online booking system either because I can’t usually get an appointment in the time frame I need (ie their timings on there are too vague) . They’ve also visited twice during covid for services and repair - they just wear masks and ask you to do the same.

You should be able to find a good local company that offers a similar service and insurance plan, probably for a much better price.

British Gas regard an annual service as being anything up to 23 months. They also have a reputation for cancelling planned visits the day before or the day of the visit.

They have a shocking reputation. I use a local guy who just works for himself.

For decades they had a literal monopoly in the domestic gas market, and they still trade on that. A lot of people think that if they need anything to do with gas they should go for the best - British Gas. This pretty much absolves BG from the need to actually be any good, or even just mediocre, and for many years they've been providing an atrocious overpriced shoddy service because of their name.

@NanaNorasNaughtyKnickers

For decades they had a literal monopoly in the domestic gas market, and they still trade on that. A lot of people think that if they need anything to do with gas they should go for the best - British Gas. This pretty much absolves BG from the need to actually be any good, or even just mediocre, and for many years they've been providing an atrocious overpriced shoddy service because of their name.

this, 100%.

Shite!!

They are lazy and crap. We cut them loose a year or so ago. Very keen to take our money but not keen to see the boiler or service it. YANBU

Get in touch with them as they have just refunded me £130 for missed services etc

Please cancel their contract and get a recommendation for a local engineer, even better if it's one of the engineers BG sacked for not agreeing to crappy employment terms. Your parents will save money and you'll be supporting a local more ethical business.

This might also be a local thing. Am in South Wales and the guys who come out here are great. It's just a fucking nightmare getting BG to answer the phone in the first place - you have to be willing to listen to all their pre recorded message shite before you get to an actual human. Once you do, they are lovely. But BG as an organisation are terrible.

I would ring them and explain your parents are vulnerable and that it's not on to charge for services they haven't been able/willing to provide and cancel at short notice when they do finally have an appointment. See if you can get some money back.

Anything to do with British Gas should be avoided.

I had their service plan for a few years, and was once left with a serious gas leak after one of their "repairs".

Also one van would turn up, after a while another, then another, and they all had long tea breaks.

One of the few organisations even worse than British Gas is Openreach- never let them in your house- they will break something which was working before, and leave the main problem untouched.

Same also with vans- when they see one there another few also stop by!

But as to your question about these contracts- at the moment they are not worth it- you can never get through to call them an they don't do the annual service, or come out for repairs.

So it probably better to just pay for an annual service, and any problems as they arise.

Have just cancelled my dms homecare 'agreement', as the agreement seemed to be she pays through the nose and they do Jack shit! She had half her rads not working and intermittent hot water and their rapid response time? 5 weeks! For an elderly woman living alone in winter. Disgraceful! I read a daily mail consumer article only last week about what rip off service they offer. When we cancelled they refunded the annual service fee as they hadn't completed it, it had been cancelled and rebooked 3 times in 6 months. We now have an excellent local corgi registered plumber who does the service and offers next day visit for any plumbing breakdowns. That is peace if mind at a fraction of the price.