British Gas homecare

[ihateyes]

maybe u need a magna clean filter??? did they point this out before?? if they did u aint got a leg to stand on if not..... ring them....

[trevk008]

Right so if your £200 valve pump on your boiler brakes. Who will replace that for free ? ..... Homecare will. Sorry but replacing a £350 fusebox when it breaks on a £4.50 a month electrical service is NOT crap.

 

From the experience I have had with BritishGas home care I think you will be VERY luck if you manage to get them to repair it.

 

I had a British Gas Home Care agreement with them for going on seven years, I had them out to do their so called "Yearly Service", every year, lasting typically twenty minutes, they were the only ones looking after boiler during that time. Six months ago I had a problem with the pressure valve, it was dripping water outside, they came out and replaced it. But did not look at why it overheated. Six months later I had a leak from an internal valve, so I rung them up to come out.

 

The "engineer" came out and replaced the part, then left. The next morning I went to have a shower, no hot water, the boiler wouldn't fire up, I called British Gas back, they looked at it and said the heat pump needed replacing, and that they would not do it as "Boiler was old and repair was not viable", and that it would cost me, £398.91 + VAT for the part and £270 for labour to replace it!

 

After I had paid them close to £2,000(!!!!!) over the years, they now wanted me to pay near £700 quid to fix my boiler, a boiler that before their "engineer" turned up was working fine, I had hot water and heating before he arrived, none after he had gone!

 

I rang British Gas, told them I was not happy, they then decided that it was not covered under the agreement because I needed a flush, and that this had caused problems, they based this on the valve I had replaced six months earlier, this is despite the HomeCare Checklist that the engineer left not mentioning this at all, and the only comment on there being about the fact that the engineer didn't think it was a viable replacement.

 

I told them I had no hot water or heating, and it was Friday morning, and I was not going to hang up until I got agreement someone come out to fix the boiler, as I didn't want to spend the weekend with no hot water and heating.

 

Eventually we got to a stale mate, they would not escalate to someone directly, an "Engineer Manager" would have to call me back, I insisted it had to be on Friday, so we could have someone in worse case Saturday. They said ok.

 

To make a long story short, I did not hear from their "Engineer Manager" until 20 days(!!!!) later, they expected me and the family to go without heat and hot water for twenty days!!!!

 

I didn't of course, I went to a local Cogi registered guy, got him to fix it on the Monday. When I finally got a call from the manager, he said "well now that you have fixed it, there is nothing I can do" I pointed out that waiting 20days for a follow up, what the hell did he want me to do???

 

People, trust me, I have made this mistake, I have nothing to gain from you buying or not buying the Homecare agreement, but I can tell you from experience that if you do, YOU WILL REGRET IT!

 

Keep far, far away.

[ihateyes]

From the experience I have had with BritishGas home care I think you will be VERY luck if you manage to get them to repair it.

 

I had a British Gas Home Care agreement with them for going on seven years, I had them out to do their so called "Yearly Service", every year, lasting typically twenty minutes, they were the only ones looking after boiler during that time. Six months ago I had a problem with the pressure valve, it was dripping water outside, they came out and replaced it. But did not look at why it overheated. Six months later I had a leak from an internal valve, so I rung them up to come out.

 

The "engineer" came out and replaced the part, then left. The next morning I went to have a shower, no hot water, the boiler wouldn't fire up, I called British Gas back, they looked at it and said the heat pump needed replacing, and that they would not do it as "Boiler was old and repair was not viable", and that it would cost me, £398.91 + VAT for the part and £270 for labour to replace it!

 

After I had paid them close to £2,000(!!!!!) over the years, they now wanted me to pay near £700 quid to fix my boiler, a boiler that before their "engineer" turned up was working fine, I had hot water and heating before he arrived, none after he had gone!

 

I rang British Gas, told them I was not happy, they then decided that it was not covered under the agreement because I needed a flush, and that this had caused problems, they based this on the valve I had replaced six months earlier, this is despite the HomeCare Checklist that the engineer left not mentioning this at all, and the only comment on there being about the fact that the engineer didn't think it was a viable replacement.

 

I told them I had no hot water or heating, and it was Friday morning, and I was not going to hang up until I got agreement someone come out to fix the boiler, as I didn't want to spend the weekend with no hot water and heating.

 

Eventually we got to a stale mate, they would not escalate to someone directly, an "Engineer Manager" would have to call me back, I insisted it had to be on Friday, so we could have someone in worse case Saturday. They said ok.

 

To make a long story short, I did not hear from their "Engineer Manager" until 20 days(!!!!) later, they expected me and the family to go without heat and hot water for twenty days!!!!

 

I didn't of course, I went to a local Cogi registered guy, got him to fix it on the Monday. When I finally got a call from the manager, he said "well now that you have fixed it, there is nothing I can do" I pointed out that waiting 20days for a follow up, what the hell did he want me to do???

 

People, trust me, I have made this mistake, I have nothing to gain from you buying or not buying the Homecare agreement, but I can tell you from experience that if you do, YOU WILL REGRET IT!

 

Keep far, far away.

 

And that is a personal experience.

If you have been advised a powerflush is required, and one hasnt been carried out, thats why agreements like homecare wont fix the fault. some locals will be happy to replace that expensive heat exchanger, cos they know youll be back within mths for another one, or a powerflush!! more work for them.

 

The unfortunate thing is people dont bother reading what is or isnt covered.... people see the £ signs and thats it.

[trevk008]

And that is a personal experience.

If you have been advised a powerflush is required, and one hasnt been carried out, thats why agreements like homecare wont fix the fault. some locals will be happy to replace that expensive heat exchanger, cos they know youll be back within mths for another one, or a powerflush!! more work for them.

 

The unfortunate thing is people dont bother reading what is or isnt covered.... people see the £ signs and thats it.

 

I was not actually advised I needed a power flush until they decided that this was a useful excuse to get out of the repair, as I said the "engineer" that came onsite, after the first "engineer" broke the boiler, said nothing about a flush or blockage, it was the guy on the phone who went through the earlier records that decided this was the problem, even though he had not been onsite and two of his "engineers" had. Why did the "engineer" not mentioned blockage? Cause they could see I had a chemical flush (true it wasn't a power flush) after the repair six month previous.

 

In my experience British Gas will use any excuse to wiggle out of their obligations, they, supposedly, "looked after" this system for going on seven years, they should have maintained it to a level to make sure there would be no excuse to wiggle out of their obligation.

 

Again, I can't be more clear, STAY AWAY!

[ihateyes]

Mr friend had them out several times, over 3 months..... after engineer visits, th sevice manager came out, and adv British Gas want to install a new boiler, as the repairs were now beyond Economical repair......

Yes my friend had a 5yr boiler, and British Gas installed it under their homecare agreement.

 

To me its all about personal experience.

[custodian]

Homecare -What a joke!!

I sued British Gas last year. They paid up after a fight.

 

Usual story: boiler service; 7 year old boiler installed by them.

 

Boiler faulty, system needs a pressure flush and a new boiler: £3000 please

 

Disputed diagnosis; paid local plumber who repaired system which now works more efficiently than it ever did.

 

I sued BG for £850 to cover plumbers costs plus aggravation.

 

BT paid up with costs.

 

I found out from a BG engineer that they get paid commission for boiler sales and pressure washes ordered following their service visits. This particular engineer had made £5000 from these commission in the previous year.

[VJR15]

Hi all, i have a british gas homecare account for the last 13 months and although i have had a minor repair to my heating system (the 2 way water valve) i have never had a service.

I have checked in my contract and it says all new contracts taken out will have a service on services covered within 28 days of contract and subsequently every year. 13 months have now passed, no letter, no phone calls, what should i do as for £16 a month i feel like i have somewhat lost out.

Any advice very much appreciated

thanks again

 

Last year, while we were overseas British Gas hiked our HomeCare 400 payment but over £140, we didn't notice until it was too late. On the bill it said that they had worked out their prices for the coming year after looking at our breakdown history, we had one breakdown the year before and it seems the £140 price hike was to cover that.

 

As it was our fault that we hadn't noticed the huge price hike until it appeared on our bank statement (unfortunately we had opted to pay in one payment - never again) we took the hit and decided that we would shop around for a cheaper supplier. Whilst doing just that I looked for our annual service report as I need this for some suppliers, who need to know that your boiler has been regularly serviced. I couldn't find it so I phoned them to check if it had been serviced in this contract period, it hadn't, they had not sent one single piece of communication regarding the service.

 

So for £580+ we got no service that year. As our policy ends in a few days they flatly refused to send an engineer as we were not renewing with them. Despite my protests that I was covered for a service and was still within the period of the policy I was only offered a £42 refund, which bearing in mind would cost £88 to have their own engineer come out and do the service is just an insult to injury. I then explored the option of taking out the very basic Homecare policy that covers repairs and includes a service HomeCare 200 and the price they came back with was £399pa which is disgraceful given that I could buy it online today as a new customer for for £216, even after he offered to discount this it was still £120 pa more for me, a loyal (and obviously stupid) customer of more nearly 20 years. They told me that this price is just for the first year as after that they know what boiler you have and your breakdown history and price the policy accordingly.

 

My new policy (actually with my gas supplier) is just under £200 and provides the same cover as the HomeCare200 as its on a special offer at the moment. So for £180 pa I get the equivalent policy, which also includes a service and I save £139pa. I wonder what would have if my boiler was to break down in these last few days before I change providers...... let's hope I don't find out.

 

My advice would be to change provider every year as they clearly penalise loyalty, plus the british gas call centre person informed me that they only keep your details on their system for 4 months so if you skipped a year with them you would be counted as a new customer if you went back the following year. I will shop around again this time next year but will never use British Gas again. I found out later that they also failed to send my father and mother in law reminder letters for the annual service, it seems that the practice may be wide spread. If you have a HomeCare agreement which includes a service MAKE SURE YOU'VE HAD IT!

Edited November 22, 2012 by Conniff

[Conniff]

I've read on post how they always seem to find something wrong when they come to service, something that isn't covered by the policy.

 

Work out how much you are paying, have a look in B&Q for the cost of a similar boiler or some of the parts that can wear out or go faulty and weigh that up against the cost of the policy. You will probably find in some cases it is cheaper to get a new boiler every couple of years.

 

Of course all these threads are just made up, I've seen the nice man on the adverts and he is ever so helpfull and wil rush to you faster than an ambulance and covers everything,

Edited November 22, 2012 by Conniff

[Dilettante]

A fair spread of views here and it is very easy to make negative comments about BG. I think its because so many people dont see BG as a standalone commercial enterprise. They are still stuck in the mindset of the halcyon days of nationalised industries which did lots of stuff for free or cheaply. You must comapre like with like and you must therefore compare BG Service division to any other and the independents.

 

Now looking on BGs website i see that you can get annual service and boiler/controls cover for £11 pm

 

http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/boilers-and-central-heating/cover/homecare/homecare-200.html

 

That looks like good value to me...

 

 

Also a one off breakdown repair from £79...sounds good to me given the price of spares for modern boilers...

 

I would agree that conventional BF and CF boilers should have a full strip down inspection,the heat exchanger brushed out and burners cleaned/washed/dried.

 

Modern forced draught boilers...I'd say a visual inspection,functional check and flue gas analysis.

 

Taking it apart would be pointless in many cases.

 

 

Look at some of the breakdown services offered by other companies...many are very poor. They have cut costs to the bone ,cant employ enough /good quality staff and the service is often appalling.

 

Indies? Fine if you get a good one but what if you dont? What if he rips you off,charges you a fortune for bits ,it isnt fixed so he charges you again? What if he doesnt come back when it still wont work?

 

Seems to me there are too many variables.

 

Sure if you know a good indie,hang on to him and look after him but other than that,the dependability and guarantee that comes with a big brand like BG seems good value for £11pm.

 

Remember..you only hear the bad stories...

[Leakie]

Trouble is there are to many bad stories

and allot more you do not hear about,

 

People are set in there ways they trust BG

then wham can not get parts need new boiler £4000-5000 thank you

 

reality probably the average cost £2000-2500 from an indy as you put it

 

£121 for a service on a newish boiler

 

is a good return considering they only stick a prob in the flue and if the readings are OK

Average boiler service out side London £40-60

 

year 1- 2 under warranty from the manufacturer , so parts covered

 

Numbers game very High return.

 

Leakie

[Climate]

Trouble is there are to many bad stories

and allot more you do not hear about,

 

People are set in there ways they trust BG

then wham can not get parts need new boiler £4000-5000 thank you

 

reality probably the average cost £2000-2500 from an indy as you put it

 

£121 for a service on a newish boiler

 

is a good return considering they only stick a prob in the flue and if the readings are OK

Average boiler service out side London £40-60

 

year 1- 2 under warranty from the manufacturer , so parts covered

 

Numbers game very High return.

 

Leakie

 

As I have stated a number of times, I am a former British Gas employee.

 

Some of what you post is very true, some is complete rubbish.

 

For me, the proof in the pudding is having seen first hand what British Gas charge for the cover, what they offer and what they deliver. Would I take out a Homecare agreement having worked for the company? NO WAY.

 

Your service is cancelled, even in summer (I know that overtime was being thrown out left, right and centre as a mate still works there). I know that if it snows you will be waiting upto a week with no heating or hot water and they will offer to pay for a £20 electric heater for you. (LOL). They do not have the resources to match the demand this winter. They didn't have them in the summer. Yes, you can kick off and they will 'fit you in' but I can 110% guarantee it will get cancelled as soon as a drop of snow lands.

 

The Homecare service is crap. That's a compliment.

 

£4-5k for a boiler though? Seriously lad, take your head for a wobble. I only paid around that for a full installation of a wood pellet boiler, (I took the pipes between the rads to be ceramic coated by a friend) and 13 rads being fitted into an old stone 1880's property.

[SoniaLe]

In 2012, unfortunately, my boiler was “diagnosed” by British Gas as condemned, and after replacing it, British Gas let me know that their call centre had made a mistake. Interestingly enough, I’d just taken out an insurance policy with them, which included my boiler. Even more interestingly, my first service mentioned nothing about my boiler being condemned. In fact, it only found two issues, which were easily solvable, and for a significantly smaller amount of money. So what, I hear you ask. Well, after condemning my boiler (just after I took out insurance), they also condemned my electrics (covered in the same insurance policy). They condemned my electrics, after investigating a blown fuse, by telling my tenants that if they touched anything, they would be electrocuted. A nice message to deliver, when there are small children in the house. More interesting than all of that, is that a few weeks prior, I was living in the house, with a working boiler, and working electrics. No shocks, no electrocution, no lack of heating… all of it… working. Doesn’t it seem odd – they’ve just insured my boiler and electrics, and now they’re telling me to replace both, at my own cost of course. Seems awfully convenient from where I’m standing! Their excuse for the boiler – the plumber that replaced it should have known better, and should have gone against what British Gas had said. They’ve deftly avoided the electrics issue.

 

After a year of battling with British Gas, receiving little understanding, empathy, or in fact any sincere acceptance of responsibility on their part, I’ve exhausted negotiations. I am no longer able to discuss, on a reasonable level, how appalling their service is, how badly they treat customers, and how their actions have expensive consequences, which I have had to pay for. They have now reverted to illogical, absurd explanations and given that I’ve spent a year fighting with them, I have no energy left to try and decipher their condescending, patronizing, and arrogant posturing. I spent £1650 because of their mistake, and the original compensation offered was a meager £30. That’s what I’m worth to them. The phone calls I’ve made cost more than that. I’m now up to a whopping £180 after the year of explaining and fighting.

 

British Gas should be avoided at all costs!

[ihateyes]

In 2012, unfortunately, my boiler was “diagnosed” by British Gas as condemned, and after replacing it, British Gas let me know that their call centre had made a mistake. Interestingly enough, I’d just taken out an insurance policy with them, which included my boiler. Even more interestingly, my first service mentioned nothing about my boiler being condemned. In fact, it only found two issues, which were easily solvable, and for a significantly smaller amount of money. So what, I hear you ask. Well, after condemning my boiler (just after I took out insurance), they also condemned my electrics (covered in the same insurance policy). They condemned my electrics, after investigating a blown fuse, by telling my tenants that if they touched anything, they would be electrocuted. A nice message to deliver, when there are small children in the house. More interesting than all of that, is that a few weeks prior, I was living in the house, with a working boiler, and working electrics. No shocks, no electrocution, no lack of heating… all of it… working. Doesn’t it seem odd – they’ve just insured my boiler and electrics, and now they’re telling me to replace both, at my own cost of course. Seems awfully convenient from where I’m standing! Their excuse for the boiler – the plumber that replaced it should have known better, and should have gone against what British Gas had said. They’ve deftly avoided the electrics issue.

 

After a year of battling with British Gas, receiving little understanding, empathy, or in fact any sincere acceptance of responsibility on their part, I’ve exhausted negotiations. I am no longer able to discuss, on a reasonable level, how appalling their service is, how badly they treat customers, and how their actions have expensive consequences, which I have had to pay for. They have now reverted to illogical, absurd explanations and given that I’ve spent a year fighting with them, I have no energy left to try and decipher their condescending, patronizing, and arrogant posturing. I spent £1650 because of their mistake, and the original compensation offered was a meager £30. That’s what I’m worth to them. The phone calls I’ve made cost more than that. I’m now up to a whopping £180 after the year of explaining and fighting.

 

British Gas should be avoided at all costs!

 

Sounds like some experience... I'm confused about 'the call centre made a mistake'. Call centre staff aren't technically trained. What mistake did they make.

If you have independent reports, create a small claim against British gas. That will get there undivided attention