British Gas Homecare

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

"Mary Fisher" typed

I insure as little as I can.

My building is insured (as are the contents but that's probably an apathy thing!)

I certainly don't have BG insurance or whatever the waterworks or electricity peddlars are flogging.

I use a plumber who was recommended by a local tradesman, who has since become CORGI registered.

I needed a new boiler 5 years ago, which he fitted (not cheap but reasonable IMO)

It had no attention at all until it started cutting out a few weeks ago.

I called my trusted CORGI who came round fairly promptly, checked the boiler and heating, found nothing untoward and charged £40.

I could have paid BG £lots in the past few years...

[Terence]

Wow! I certainly opened a can of worms when I started this posting!

I really, genuinely, thought I was passing on details of a very useful service.

I am a 64 y/o moderately disabled person on a fixed income. No way could I even contemplate doing any of this type of work myself as I have neither the skills or physical ability.

I was surprised to hear of the delays in attending from various posters. In the two cases in which I have used this service, the first attended the same days the call and returned at 9.00 am the following day with the required part and it was fitted by approx. midday - 24 to 28 hours after initial call. In the second (most recent) case, a call at midday resulted in an engineer arriving the following day at 2.00 pm. He didn't have the part (heat exchanger) and arranged for 9.00 am attendance following day. This part was fitted, but it became obvious that the fan needed replacing. Engineer back the next morning with fan. It then became apparent that the gas valve needed replacing - should this have been foreseen? I have no idea. Because the job had already gone on for three days, the new gas valve was couriered from Leicester to Lincoln. The Engineer tried to source one locally but the nearest was in Hull, four hours return journey time. The valve arrived at 2.30 pm, I phoned the Engineer who had gone onto another job, he returned at 3.00 pm, replaced the valve and left the system up and running perfectly.

The Engineers were pleasant and courteous and seemed to know what they were doing.

Now, that seems a reasonable service to me.

Paying the annual insurance premium means that I can budget for all repairs to the system and I am not going to be hit with a sudden large bill, or have the hassle of finding an engineer So far, I have received a fast response - I am not a priority case - unlike some other posters.

My original post was meant to be of interest to other members of the group. I have no connection whatsoever with Britisg Gas apart from being a customer.

Terence

[Mary Fisher]

So couldn't be paid

We do have PL insurance for one area of our life because it's compulsory. I wonder why domestic PLI isn't compulsory? It would make sense. Is it even available? I've never seen it offered.

It would only be for a short time :-)

'Fisher Hall' I wish! Merely 38.

Mary

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Staff jobs never pay as well *per hour* as self employed. But then you don't get sick and holiday pay etc if self employed.

[Mary Fisher]

It WAS - and is - interesting, as proved by the interest shown.

I have BG shares and am a customer but don't have the service thing but I'm lucky enough to have a clever, willing and competent husband. If he dies before me I have three clever, willing and competent sons. Not everyone is in my fortunate position.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

...

Oh Horror! How COULD you suggest such athing? It's tantamount to suggesting that someone could keep warm by wearing decent clothing. That's unacceptable these days, didn't you know?

I believe you.

Yes.

Spot on!

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Portable gas and electric fires or fan heaters for emergency use aren't expensive.

If you're not warm you're not sweaty so don't need a bath.

For nine weeks recently I couldn't have a bath or shower and had to wash using a bowl of water and a flannel. It wasn't a pleasure but it worked.

Mary

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I can beat that. My system was installed mainly by myself with pro help for the difficult bits using top quality parts. Getting on for 30 years ago. Apart from installing TRVs afterwards - and their replacements - I've had one pump, one three way valve and two thermocouples. One rebuild of the boiler with new O rings between the heat exchanger segments to cure a small leak. All DIY.

Insurance cover would have cost about 6000 quid over this time. And this is a DIY group. ;-)

[John Rumm]

It is interesting to hear the various experiances of these products.

Hence this type of service seems well suited to your needs. My mum also has a similar service contract, and again it is quite handy for her - generally they have been quite good at getting out within a reasonble time frame, although not always.

When they deliver what they promise then it probably *is* a reasonable service. However since they are asking top money for the insurance one ought to be able to expect first rate service at least most of the time.

The only thing to watch is the age and repairability of the boiler. They will quite happily keep taking your money for cover on boilers where they know full well that anything other than minor problems are not going to be fixable. Their solution there being to quote you for a new boiler (at top rates again).

[John Rumm]

It is usually included in your household insurance...

[Mary Fisher]

...

Just had a thought - doesn't SAGA (Sex and Games for the Aged) membership offer something similar but more comprehensive?

I could be wrong, it has been known.

Mary

>

[Owain]

And for someone in your circumstances the cover is therefore worthwhile for a number of reasons, even if, overall, it is not the cheapest option.

A landlord neighbour has BG cover on not just the heating but also the plumbing and wiring on his rented property, as he believes it makes dealing with repairs easier for himself and minimises inconvenience to his tenants.

Perhaps most people on this group, being DIYers, have higher expectations than this sort of service can provide. For many people, simply getting a plumber to call can be difficult and using BG cover gives them the reassurance they seek. Hopefully they will not be sadly disappointed in their hour of need.

Owain

[Andy Hall]

No it isn't, but then there should be contingency plans to cover it.

OK, but there you are describing a public sector set up.

BG is not that any longer, but is still behaving as though they are and that customers should be grateful for what they get.

That attitude is simply not acceptable in the context of a commercial business.

[Terence]

"Mary Fisher" wrote in news:44142d6e$0$819$ [e-mail]:

How nice of you to think of my welfare, Mary :-)

The trouble is if I went in for the Games, I'd be too tired for the Sex and vice versa! But I'm still young enough to dream.

Terence

[Terence]

May I beg to differ?

With a local authority you have little choice. With a commercial company, they may make whatever decisions they wish. You have a choice as to whether you use the company (with its conditions of service) or not.

If any non-subsidised commercial company makes too many wrong decisions, it will simply go out of business. I can assure you that that knowledge can tend to concentrate the mind.

Terence

[Andy Hall]

True.

That's also true. However, they still behave as though they are a public sector company, they trade on past glories and the impression of people that they are "in good hands with the gas board".

I'm fully aware of that, and frankly, they do deserve to go out of business.

The trouble is that most people are willing to put up with the crappy service that they provide, have no problem with being prioritised on some kind of "social need" basis and have bought into their misleading advertising.

Sooner or later it will fail.

[Brian G]

Its not a case of "customers should be grateful for what they get". NO repair business, whether public or private in this day and age, will ever be able to employ enough staff to ensure that no one is kept waiting at peak business times all year round. The labour and ancillary costs are just too prohibitive (hence the transfer of thousands of call centre jobs from this country to deepest India to save the companies cash to give to their shareholders) and that is a fact.

That particularly applies to emergency response works subject to weather conditions and where the demand is unknown. In this sort of business, there is a certainty that somebody will be left waiting, either for someone to attend, or the necessary spares - simply a hard fact of life, and I've been there and done it!

The biggest problem in my opinion is NOT the actual work, but a very small minority of very nasty people whose only aim in life is to make things as difficult as possible and to scream as loud as possible just to get either their own way, or wangle a bit of compensation for some perceived insult.

Once again, in my own personal experience, British Gas has always 'done the business' for me, not always problem free, but that's life, and its how you deal with those problems that sorts out the professionals from the cowboys - and BG have always been successful in doing that - but there again, I've ALWAYS treated them the same was as I like to be treated, politely and with consideration (even under stress and when sods law has kicked in to cause even more trouble).

That's the very rich tapestry of life.

Brian G

[Mary Fisher]

In that case you're not eligible :-)

Mary

[Dave Plowman (News)]

On a DIY group?

What was your motive?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

When I were a lad we had to wait for the cat to defrost and use that. Flannels are for wimps.