Boiler servicing - annual cover or not..

[Frontpaw]

Does anyone have British Gas annual cover? I was wondering if it was really worth it, especially since our hot water is cutting out once in a while (usually when you have a full head of shampoo).

We've had it for several years now. We got a very good discount when we first signed up but it has gone up quite a bit over the last few years. I think we now pay about £250 pa. This includes a service. I think it is just about worth it for us. Our boiler and the controls are a bit elderly and do break down every so often. I think we've had to call out an engineer almost every year we've had the cover and would probably have paid more if we didn't have the cover. They also come out very quickly, although I have stressed that we have young kids and no hot water/ heating as appropriate. When we get a newer and more reliable boiler I'll probably cancel the cover.

I personally think BG annual cover is a rip-off. We use an independent plumber to service our boiler every year and he's reliable and reasonably priced. If you're concerned that parts might need to be replaced, you could always keep some money aside in a separate savings account, rather than hand it over to BG.

There are other companies that offer cheaper deals than BG. I use Domestic & General. More info from Money Saving Expert.

BG intend to make a profit out of it, so IF you can find a well-recommended local independent, and verify that he is gas-safe registered, and that he is very familiar with your make and model, it should work out cheaper. Service contracts do not usually cover sludge and corrosion problems which are very common in old systems.

I used to have BG cover on my old boiler, and had a small number of parts and repairs, but also a brand-new cylinder when the old one leaked. My new boiler has a 5-year parts and labour guarantee so I have cancelled the service contract. I am not a gas engineer but can do all the plumbing, controls and electrical work myself if I can be bothered.

Modern boilers need very little routine servicing, they mostly get a visual inspection and a sniff with the flue gas analyser. Frequently taking them apart and putting them back together for an internal clean and polish distubs them and reduces reliability (this is true). If it is an old boiler it is important to have it checked for gas emissions.

The cost of a repair can be hundreds of pounds, so if money is tight, try tucking your Service Contract money into an Emergency fund and not spending it on gin and chocolate

p.s. Frontpaw "hot water is cutting out once in a while "

If you have a combi, it is probably either insufficient hot water flow (e.g. someone has turned on a cold tap, or pressure is poor, or the shower mixer is too cool, or clogged) or the flow switch is for some reason not detecting the flow and turning the boiler on.

Start by descaling your shower head. Then squirt it into a bucket and see how many litres of hot water it delivers per minute.

Good tips. DH always yelling 'turn off the taaaaap!' but it's not that, as we know the system is rubbish and you can't turn on the kitchen taps if someone is in the shower! The shower is a mixer thingy - the pressure is pretty good so we didn't need to get a pump one fixed. The hot water does go off in the kitchen too. I am dreading a plumber coming around and saying 'you need a new boiler!'. It's about 10 years old now and had the fan replaced about 18 months ago. Do you think the boilers poor little arteries are clogged with limescale? Is it slowly having a stroke?

older combis do suffer from blocked heat exchangers. Old-fashioned plumbers clean them out with acid, young ones fit replacement parts. Yours is very unlikely to have stainless steel internals; mine does, I wouldn't have anything else now. Combis are more complicated and go wrong more often than conventional boilers.

If you decide to get a new combi, also get a larger water supply pipe, all the way to the boiler. Certainly inside the house and a larger stopcock. If not too difficult and expensive, right out to the road. I know this will be too much for lots of people, but it does improve the flow.

"Does anyone have British Gas annual cover? I was wondering if it was really worth it"

Yes and yes. No I don't work for them, but we have had BG out in bad snow, on an icy Easter Sunday and at other times. I have never regretted paying out for peace of mind, and in my experience, excellent service.

We have used the contract several times and it has been well worth it. A few times we had no heating when it was the coldest temperatures we had all year round, so yes it was well worth it!!

We have also had our dishwasher fixed a few times since we got the contract (may cost extra, not sure).

Our British Gas man is here as I type servicing our old boiler. We took the cover out a Few years ago because the boiler is 20 years old and we knew it would need new parts or replacing soon.
I feel it is worth the money as you get the annual service included.

DH thinks not. What about excess? I am worrying that the one thing that breaks will be the one thing they don't cover! Last year it went kaput when we had all that really bad snow - no heating, no not water - brrrrrrr!

There is no excess on my contract, everything is included, parts, labour, annual service.

For me, it's worth it for the peace of mind.

That's pretty good. I am wondering now... Set it up and have the check done now, before it blows up!

It would have been mighty expensive to get ours repaired during the cold snap, so glad we had it covered. It's worth paying (IMO) just for the peace of mind, especially in the winter.

I had British gas, never called them up and was paying £25 a month

I changed to n power for £12 a month because BG wouldn't reduce their charge

When I phoned to cancel was passed to Simon in accounts who hey presto matched the n power price.

Too late!

I figure it's worth it

It's worth checking online, there ae lots cheaper than BG and their engineers all told me different stories about what was wrong with my boiler

But you don't necessarily get peace of mind as the small print states that the "guaranteed" response time is subject to exceptional circumstances ... such as a cold spell. When I had BG cover, I had to wait 3 days for them to come. Admittedly, at the time, I was low priority case as was 20-something, healthy with no DC but it was really frustrating staying in waiting for them only to be called after several hours & be told they couldn't come after all. I've subsequently found independent, local plumbers to be much better BUT we have a fairly new boiler & are fortunate enough to be in a position that if we have to fork out a hundred pounds for a part, then we should be able to afford it without having to worry too much about how we're going to pay for other essentials that month.

We got seen within hours the same day by BG when out boiler broke down (twice) in a cold spell mainly because we have small children. Very fast and efficient service.

I have BG cover and like it for the peace of mind. As someone who is rubbish at putting money away and not touching it, it works for me because I know I don't need to worry about an unexpexted repair bill.
But I would definitely shop around to see what other companies charge.