Cental heating cover

[stan lee]

What is the best central heating cover. I am disabled and heating is essential. I have just got my yearly bill from British Gas and it costs me £

202.36. Its a homecare 200 and it covers me for Central heating, central heating boiler and breakdown . there must be a better deal than this or is their

Thanks

Stan

[Cash]

Stan,

I'm on the same cover with BG and have been for many years [1]. Some time ago, I had the same thoughts as you and did an internet and local search for a cheaper cover - and found several, *but* these usually stuck a cash limit on the amount of work they would do in the year, a limit on the number of 'call-outs' they would cover and some would only cover the first hour or so of work.

The closest cover I could find to that of BG standard (and slightly cheaper) was my local electricity company [2] - and the quotes were so close, it wasn't worth changing.

There are firms doing this sort of thing cheaper, but look at their terms and conditions very carefully before changing.

The other way is to cancel the agreement, and put the money into a separate bank account or ISA and only pay when you have a problem with the system.

[1] Contrary to what has been written by one or two in the Usenet hierarchy, over the years I have found BG to be almost exemplary in their service and customer care - but some have not found that so. [2] I still use different companies for gas and electricity.

[stan lee]

Thank you Cash that is great advice, its not worth the hassle, looks like i am a good deal, . so i will stay where i am

cheers Mate

[Hugo Nebula]

Be very wary of Homeserve, if my experience is anything to go by. They may be cheaper, but it comes at a price.

They appear to be providing the engineers, but they are simply a 'call centre' and/or insurer (never quite got to the bottom of what they actually bring to the table). Their 24-hour emergency number is anything but (I suspect it's staffed 24 hours per week). When you need an engineer to call out, they can only give a day. They can't say whether it will be a morning or afternoon visit, which means one has to take a full day off work.

[stan lee]

[Howard]

I have house insurance with saga,. reasonably cheap. Last summer they asked me if I wanted to take out home emergency cover for £5 on top of what I pay. Covers Central heating pipes leccy etc Wasn't going to bother as boiler was only about 2 years old. But luck was with me. within 3months had 3 call outs and a new fan fitted. They even asked on the phone when was my boiler serviced, I said can't remember. No probs said they. Unlimited call outs. parts and labour covered. I think someone has made a mistake, but hey ho.

[Cash]

Thanks for that info Howard, my BG gas service contract is due for renewal in the next couple of months and I'll have a look at Saga before then.

Cash