Alpha Combi - HE CB25/33

I certainly would not have anything to do with BG. A typical story from a mate the other day. Couple in 70/80s had a boiler problem on Friday last. BG pitched up, could not fix it and so cut off the gas at the meter, leaving then without heating of a cooking hob and pissed off for the bank holiday.

Yes the problem is with most of these big promise contracts, they tend to use local contractors and if you get an idiot, you are stuffed. I've heard similar stories about BG. Often I get the feeling that if its over about five years old they try to flog the customer a new one. I'm glad I have no gas any more! Brian

I've had a HE CB33 for a good few years now (looking at the paperwork, it is 10 years old in September), and it has been more reliable than the Vailant I had before. Only two failures- the hot water diaphragm switch failed recently- it cost about £100 including labour to fix, and the pressure vessel failed, so we have an external one.

We did have Apha's service contract, but their local agent wasn't that good, so we haven't bothered for the last 5-6 years as we have a good, reliable local heating engineer.

Against my wishes the wife has a service contract with British Gas, boiler, leaks etc. They ain't cheap. Over the years I've called them out several times. They have been very prompt, have always sorted the problem and saved me messing about trying to find the "local man".