Any experience of central heating/boiler cover??
 

NPower and British Gas, and others offer central heating and boiler cover....

Has anyone used these companies, and if so was your experience positive or not?

From my brief research it seems Npower is the cheapest....but please do let me know if there are better alternatives out there!

NPower get marked down very badly on Customer Service!!!

I have BG and think its a fair deal ... they do a yearly service and protect me for breakdowns.

BG are VERY annoying with their scare tactics saying that your boiler is obsolete and that spares may become rare .... however, they can offer 10% off a new boiler (which is 80% more expensive than it should be!) - if you are wise enough to ignore this blatant scare tactic then I recommend BG.

Been with BG for about 10 years and no problems , agree with Pete though about the scare tactics , just ignore them .

Have taken out a service agreement with Bg for one of the houses I rent out. I haven't received any paperwork as yet, an engineer did the survey thing 6 weeks ago. BG are virtually uncontactable on the phone and don't reply to emails.

Anyone used Npower..?....they are cheaper......but are they nastier?!

Used to get BG to service the boiler. Monthly contract. Gave up on them as all they did was service it once a year - and if they needed a second visit they c*cked up! Will just pay to get it serviced from now on.

Dave

Don't use Homeserve or Heatcall (or both: one does service t'other does repair).

Unless you want to get caught up in a chain of buck passing and inept contract plumbers who couldn't turn off a tap yet alone fix or service a boiler. Not to mention the steams of automated letters when you do actually complain, assuming the "situation" is resolved; In pure hope that you'll give up or the automated letter gets "lost" in the post.

Oh dear N power seem to use Homeserve............

Just pay £50 a year to get your boiler serviced..job done :thumb:

If you use a half decent, reputable, local registered person he/she will tell you what condition your boiler's in.

I know it happens, but how often has your boiler blown up in the last 10 years :Whatever_



edited to say this is intended for the average property owner...not all you landlords

Im a plumber and I dont see why people bother with all that crap. Just hire a corgi guy to come have a look at it, and if something goes wrong get that same local corgi guy to fix it.

Save money :D

Been there done that , try getting any sort of plumber round here is a nightmare , unless you want the full system fitting their not interested , its the only reason I have a contract with BG , no one else wants to know ! paying over the odds , but a least they turn up and do the job .

I'm with BG. My experience is not to go for the full cover if you're even a little bit handy with a spanner. I've had a pump and a 3 way valve go in the last 10 years and fixed both myself for less than 1 years cover. I just go for the boiler bit so that I get the annual safety check that the boiler's not making CO and if it did then it would be outside not in the house.

Even that's a pain in the a**e, every year they write and tell me they're coming in a month on this day. I phone and eventaully get through and say no you're not I'm working. They always sound incredulous that one of their customers works for a living and isn't sat around all day every day for their convenience. We always fix a mutually acceptable day in the end but a real pain.

Agree with Pete :eek::eek:

I'm with Scottish Gas, but it's the same as BG. I pay about £15 per month and this has been repaid many times over in getting my crappy Feroli boiler fixed four times in the past year :razz::razz:

Scare tactics the same as well :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Yeah, 3 kids, moaning missus cos the heating and water is off and then try to get a plumber, it took weeks to get one to do a few jobs, not turning up to quote, turning up and then not sending a quote back, so I dont want to be at the mercy of plumbers should we need one in an emergency as I get the feeling they either wont turn up or fleece us for the absolute maximum they can get away with.

Not saying all plumbers are like this but we have had nightmares in the past with them so British Gas get the gig so come February when then heting coks they are obliged to come out and sort it, in the past we have called them a few times and had a pump replaced, flue fan, control board and the system bled when the boiler wouldnt start.

Its expensive but worth it until I can find a reliable local plumber.

Save money!!!!???? Corgi guys charge more per hour than open heart surgeons!

I pay 12 x £14 although I have the most reliable boiler money can buy [a Worcester Bosch £1200 [trade] boiler]. BG have done 8 visits this year and replaced 2 PCB's, hot water water flow meter etc etc A Corgi quick buck man's cost would have bankrupted me [not that he'd have turned up again after it all started getting a bit tricky].

BG bashed the cost up this month but I swiftly got 10% off by calling them up merntioning the virtues of a Corgi independent;) LOL

Worked for me...:)

D

Most Corgis I have ever encountered will fleece you for every hand they can get out of you, no holds barred, if they can blag £000s out of you, they will do it, no morals, no professionalism etc.

Ive heard about good corgis, but am yet to meet one. Usually the ones who appear to be good at first sight, never get back to you with quotes, never return calls.....

I think BG is deffo the way forward....

I have the British Gas service cover too. In January they made numerous vsits to our house with scare tactics about how the boiler needed replacing. On the 10th visit they sent someone who wasn;t quite so interested about commission for selling us a new system. He spent hours on the phone to Ariston (yuck) and since then no more visits.

BG definitely worth it when it goes wrong, as thats when you won;t find a Corgi man!

British Gas actually answered the phone within 5 seconds, I'm impressed!

if you bank with lloyds tsb they have an a/c called the premier a/c and you get home emergency cover that covers electrics, central heating, boilers, drains ect...

First impressions of BG not so good...

Took out cover, took about 5 mins to get through to a women with such a thick scottish accent I could barely make out a word she said.....Indian call centres speak better english than that!!

lol: same here - must.ve been the same lady i spoke to a week or so ago - going to ring later on again.....

Raf