I don't agree with these schemes, I've only ever met three people who have been in them and all three reported bad things, BG saying that the boiler needs replacing as it's beyond repair ( this is where they offer you a boiler for about £800 fitted) also there's too much small print in the contract making it harder to claim for things, I'll agree that you have been lucky(!) inthat your boiler parts were covered - many are not - although I still don't see the attraction of the scheme, you have been in it for at least two years judging by your post, meaning you've paid about £330, you can buy a new boiler for that.
You will pay £163 next year as well, and the year after and so on.
Even if the boiler had a lifetime of as little as 5 years you would be better off putting the money into a cash savings account.
Over a lifetime of ten years, even paying for repairs, and depositing the money annually, you would almost certainly have enough to replace the boiler.
Quite possibly. OTOH BG will not replace the boiler if it's over a certain age. So I'm saving up.
Meanwhile, over the last four years:
4 CO2 and other boiler checks New large copper cylinder and a lot of pipework reconfiguration New pump New 3 way valve New isolator valve New ball valve on feed tank New programmer
And they've always responded quickly, unlike the local plumbers (though I understand it's not like that ATM).
I gave them up several years ago, when they couldn't refix a baffle plate on the balanced flue of my boiler even after three or four visits. Their regional manager visited me and wasn't very sympathetic at all.
You and the OP have had a bad run. If all BGs customers had that level of claims they would find themselves losing money.
Really the only things that BG can offer is:
1) They probably are better placed to respond to emergencies (however plenty of people find that they can't get them out ATM).
In fact I've been to a couple of jobs recently where people have said they weren't prepared to wait a week for BG.
2) They save you the hassle of having to find someone if you can't do it yourself.
Breakdown cover is just one of a number of insurance products that form a spectrum from (at one end) Buildings and Liability through to Appliance and Pets at the other. Insurance companies are there to make money for themselves! If you can afford (however unpleasant) the worst case claim you will always in the long run do better to not insure.
BTW I opted for 2,500 GBP excess (not just on subsidence but on all claims) on the buildings insurance for my house and got a 50% discount. I suspect that actuarially the premium is somewhat poor but its cheaper than any other premium so I save.
Then you really haven't lived. I've had British Gas three star cover on my heating system now since 1988 and the only thing the won't cover is a boiler replacement. Under my agreement with them, they will repair any part of my boiler right up until such time as the spare parts become unavailable - on any day of the year!
The attraction of the scheme - that's easy, if a fault develops in ANY part of my heating system from a blown fuse, boiler breakdown, leaking pipe or cylinder, leaking rad, timer, roomstat etc - I pick up the 'phone and they come and fix it, as simple as that!
Ok I pay for the service, but I pay a damn site more insurance for my car, house and car breakdown cover and I hope I never have to claim off those - but I can guarantee that with the state of my heating system, I will be ringing BG AT LEAST twice a year.
Remember, that's all it is *is insurance cover* you can get it cheaper, but like everything else its the small print that counts - and I must admit, that over the years with BG, their repair engineers have never bothered looking at that.
A case in point here. My son had a fault on his gas heating, he called out BG and took the option of theit three star cover, fault repaired. A few days later, *he* decided to fit some thermostatic valves and then hit a major problem refilling his system - after about two days of trying to get things working, he surrendered and called BG, he explained to them what he had done in its entirety (fully expecting them to make a charge) and they turned up the next day, found the problem, alered a section or two of pipe, got the system working and when he asked for the bill the answer he got as -- nothing sir, free of charge, covered by you three star sir, have a nice day!
Try that with a cheaper firm and see the answer and bill you would get.
I've used BG a number of times both profesionally and at home. On each occasion, they've been cheaper than the local company and done an excelent job. In the case above, it's probably easier for the fitter to say "no charge sir" than fill out the forms. We don't have BG cover but called them recently to replace a leaking component on our boiler. Result - two visits, job done, one callout fee and no charge for parts. I can't figure it but I'm very happy about it.
I also use BG homecare and I have no doubt that they havre made good money from me because of my low call out rate over the years - however one good reason for belonging to the scheme is the knowledge that a single phone call will get me service in a reasonable period rather than hours wasted chasing disinterested service engineering firms to provide me with a service some time next month if I am lucky!
"peter" wrote in news:A0GQf.878$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net:
However:
British Gas chaos leaves thousands without heat
Saturday March 11, 2006 The Guardian
Thousands of British Gas customers have been left without heating or hot water for days - and in some cases weeks - during the coldest part of winter because the company's HomeCare insurance operation is in chaos.
A whistleblower who works for British Gas has revealed that staff were told customers without central heating "no longer constituted a priority", even though they have paid around £200 a year for emergency call-out insurance.
More than 3.4 million people have such policies promising "expert boiler care", but thousands have endured long waits in the cold for engineers who often fail to arrive or don't have the correct parts.
The whistleblower contacted the Guardian after reading our report on how it took British Gas three months and seven appointments to fix a minor problem in an oven in Surrey.
He says call centre staff deal with similar instances every day, and every "third or fourth call is currently from someone complaining about the poor service they have received".
He reveals that appointments to fix boilers are frequently cancelled without informing the customer. Around Christmas it was taking the company six days to fix some boilers - longer if new parts were required. While the system was unable to cope, he says the company continued to press staff to sell policies to new customers.
British Gas admitted it has experienced problems with its HomeCare operation, but denied several of the whistleblower's claims.
Some years ago, I had one of their policies on a boiler and had exactly this experience. The pilot was failing to light and remain on. I called BG and asked for a call out, expecting no worse than next day. They asked if I had young children or elderly people in the house because they were prioritising as a result of staff shortage. Since I didn't, they told me that the best that they could do was five days.
Clearly that isn't acceptable. They are being paid to deliver a service, not act as social workers. At the prices they are charging, they need to arrange sub contracted assistance if they can't cover the work themselves.
I had a "discussion" with them and the contract price was refunded in full.
I repaired the boiler myself using a standard thermocouple costing £3.
I would - IF you can afford the worst case claim. However, most people can't afford a worst case claim of buildings, and often contents too. There is also the point that for buildings, the worst case claim is not the value of the building but a multi-million pound injury lawsuit when a slate off your roof falls onto a school bus which crashes and leaves
30 pupils brain damaged. Public liability insurance is almost always worth having because it's unlikely to be needed (hence the premium is low) but if it is needed the claim would be unmeetable from one's own resources.
I wouldn't regard taking the viewpoint that if Fisher Hall collapses then one can shrug one's shoulders and live in the caravan as being prudent however :-)
You shouldn't need to ask. Who puts up the most expensive buildings in the most expensive city of the UK? Not corner shop grocers, that's for sure.
The issue is that 'the long run' may be hundreds of years when it comes to relatively infrequent but expensive events like a house burning down. Taken over thousands of years, it will certainly be more expensive to insure a house than it will be to rebuild it every time it burns. The thing is, the risk doesn't average out per year, it comes in a big lump to a very unlucky (or careless) owner. Insurance is a type of gambling, where you bet on something bad happening and the insurance company bets that it won't, at least during the period of the bet. The house percentage favours the insurer, but you still might not want to win the bet.
If the event is small enough that you expect to be able to cover the cost, then it's proabably better not to insure. It's only if the cost of an event would bankrupt you, particularly if it happened a couple of times in fairly quick succession, that it's worth insurance. Unless, of course, you have reason to suspect that the odds may not be what the insurance company thinks they are, in which case you will meet someone called a 'loss adjuster'.
The vast majority of people live out their entire lives having given money to insurance companies. The few who make money from the companies are either very unlucky or make it their business to make a profit. The insurance companies take a dim view of this activity.
ok so BG are experiencing staff shortages, i am currently studying for domestic gas Qualifications, i have looked at BG's website. if you think of gas you think of BG, what a prestigeous company. i read up on thier entry requirements, you have to be experienced, highly experienced, loads of gcse's AND thier wage aint as good as some self employed fitters/engineers get. so its no wonder that they cant get staff!
i did email them and ask about any placement/apprentice schemes(read my post further up for the low down on my situ)they had and i got a reply saying that they have customer service positions available! i am currently working/gaining knowledge for free on placement! why wont they take on people who want to learn!
its going to be a situation where the young cant learn the tricks from the old cos the old are retired or dead and the knowledge went with them!
They seem to have the same problem most winters recently. We were lucky when the cylinder burst last year about this time...called in Sunday night, guy arrived Monday, checked the cylinder, measured up and left. CH guy arrived first thing Tuesday and worked most of the day. Job done. I had no time to do that, and it would have taken a LOT longer (starting with sourcing the right size cylinder).
Having said that, a couple of the people we've had round have been shicking. One of them replaced the ball valve on the header tank, and didn't trim the pipe so the joint was skewed. Water everywhere, at which point a single mum friend phoned us and asked us to look after two under fives at 10 mins notice as her other daughter (who had cancer) was being rushed back to London. At that point BG sent out an older guy who was excellent (once he'd finished cursing his predecessor). Did the job properly and fitted an isolation valve too.
I visit our local PO delivery office every morning, and see the BG fitters' 'social club', when they pick up parts for the day. Hearing them talk about jobs is an eye opener...
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