Boiler cover, do you have it?

darknite

darknite

darknite

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Norfolk
My deal is up for renewal with British Gas. As normal they have upped the price, I phoned up for a bit of a rant about new customer deals and not looking after their existing customers, got a small discount. Then a friend pointed me at Homeserve. Looks like same cover, but half the price....

Anyone with BG or Homeserve for their boiler cover? Experience of either?

Do you bother with any cover? Do you have annual service?

Just looking at other routes to see what is better really.

Cheers all
 
Yes, i've had for years and always got my money's worth. It gets serviced annually and before our last boiler finally died, we must have called them 3 or 4 times a year. We've already had an engineer out for our 3 year old boiler.

What's more important, they'll send someone around next day.. Our boiler one year broke down a few days before Christmas and was sorted before. Try getting a plumber that short notice.

Like most cover, they are only useful when you need them, but it's worth having the peace of mind because heating repairs can be damn expensive.

edit - Direct Line home cover includes boiler cover.. but no annual service.
 
Been with BG for years, mostly for peace of mind. Its not cheap, but the last 2 times we needed to call them out, it was same day service and all working in the single visit.

It probably helps that our entire estate has the same boilers, so they know the area and have all the spares in the vans already. Also, from just walking around in the area, dropping kids off at friends' houses, there must be half a dozen engineers living within a 3 mile radius judging by the vans I see parked in the same drives of an evening.
 
Cancelled it and put the same money aside and I've always found it works out cheaper (touchwood) mind you I don't bother with an annual service of my boiler as personally I thinks it's a load of nonsense.
 
Hmm I would prefer to have cover as if my boiler dies while under BG cover they pay a good chunk for a new boiler.... Its just homeserve seems to offer the same cover.

Admiral Huddy who are you with?
 
My home insurance has the following included under a section called Home Assistance.

Emergencies covered include:

• Breakdown of the main heating system -

The total failure or or complete breakdown whether or not caused by accidental damage of the main heating system in Your Home (including a Central Heating Boiler, tanks) in Your Home.

• Plumbing and drainage problems

• Damage to, or failure of Your Home’s security, including locks and

windows

• Breakage of the sole toilet unit

• Loss of domestic power supply

• Vermin infestation

• Alternative accommodation costs

All permanent repairs are guaranteed for 12 months.

There is no cost showing against it on the insurance documents, I am wondering whether I should add on specific boiler cover as well (boiler is about 4 years old) to include the service (home server £5 a month offering) for peace of mind?
 
a1ex2001 said:
Cancelled it and put the same money aside and I've always found it works out cheaper (touchwood) mind you I don't bother with an annual service of my boiler as personally I thinks it's a load of nonsense.
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You could say the same about cars?? I'd rather have the peace of mind that i have a functioning boiler, that is checked for any poisonous emissions and wil work when i need it to. I wouldn't put my family under any risk because I thought it was nonsense

darknite said:
Hmm I would prefer to have cover as if my boiler dies while under BG cover they pay a good chunk for a new boiler.... Its just homeserve seems to offer the same cover.

Admiral Huddy who are you with?
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British Gas.

We had them out earlier in the year in fact. I could hear a slight knocking noise and wanted it checked. Came out next day, tightened a few things up, re-pressured the system and we were up..

I started getting BG cover because the day I brought my new born home from hospital and my heating system failed, and it was a freezing November. I couldn't get a plumber of for 3 days earliest.. Some things are just worth having.
 
Admiral Huddy said:
You could say the same about cars?? I'd rather have the peace of mind that i have a functioning boiler, that is checked for any poisonous emissions and wil work when i need it to. I wouldn't put my family under any risk because I thought it was nonsense
.
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The chances of a correctly installed modern boiler in a house with a monoxide detector killing you are pretty much non-existent, it's not like the old balanced flue days when nobody had detectors and any only cowboy could install them. The annual service of a gas appliance is just a money generation scheme for a man with a mini vac and a set of screw drivers (cue lots of Gas fitters telling me it's super complex and dangerous etc etc etc) we have ours serviced every 3-4 years to keep it ticking over. A service is no guarantee it willwork when you want it to it's not like a boiler is full of bits that slowly wear out with indicators saying they will fail.

Obviously each to there own, a car is hardly comparable as it has loads of consumable parts that require regular replacement and adjustment.
 
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Servicing every 3 or 4 years is fine as long as you don't then want any cover on the boiler from insurance or anything as tey will usually all have a stipulation in them saying that the boiler has to have been serviced in the past twelve months to be covered.
 
Again, you could say the same about cars.. but we do it for peace of mind.. and it's included in the cost so it's of no expense.

For me the cost having an engineer out over the last 5 years far out weighs what I've put in.. but like i also said, the important thing for me is having someone that can come out next day or sometimes the same day. Experience has prove that this is invaluable.
 
Admiral Huddy said:
Again, you could say the same about cars.. but we do it for peace of mind.. and it's included in the cost so it's of no expense.

For me the cost having an engineer out over the last 5 years far out weighs what I've put in.. but like i also said, the important thing for me is having someone that can come out next day or sometimes the same day. Experience has prove that this is invaluable.
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As I said everyone's millage will vary! Car's really is a rubbish comparison though with parts essential for safety (Brakes, Tyres etc) designed to wear out regularly during the vehicles lifetime boilers have no parts that should need replacing in a ten year period.

You must have been incredibly unlucky with boiler break downs though my cheapo crappy Ravenheat has broken down four times in ten years twice I fixed it myself by swapping a sensor which is known to fail regularly (cost £8 on ebay and clipped onto the central heating return pipe) and the other two I got a British gas fix price repair carried out within a couple of days one a different sensor cost the minum £75 or so the other a main ciruit board swap which cost me £200 so compared to a £20-30 a month deal i'm quids in.

I have a young family but would happily turn on a fan heater and light the fire for a few days while we wait for a repair we have an electric shower in the second bathroom so at least we can wash!
 
You say unlucky but isn't that the point.. leaving nothing to chance. :)

I would never touch my boiler.. I couldn't live with myself if anything was to happen.. I find it amusing that people are prepared to pay £40 pm for an iPhone contract or £50 plus for sky TV but skimp around a boiler contract. :D
 
Had it for a number of years now, sometimes it gets used, sometimes it doesnt.

This year they have been out 3 times already so its paid for itself! One of the biggest bonuses for me is that its almost always same/next day (always same day for us this year as we have a baby).

Its sometimes incredibly hard to find a reliable independent gas boiler company/indy who comes out asap and when they say they will, so thats the main reason i have it vs putting money aside.
 
Admiral Huddy said:
You say unlucky but isn't that the point.. leaving nothing to chance. :)

I would never touch my boiler.. I couldn't live with myself if anything was to happen.. I find it amusing that people are prepared to pay £40 pm for an iPhone contract or £50 plus for sky TV but skimp around a boiler contract. :D
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You always leave something to chance though you are chancing that your boiler will break down regularly so you will cover your costs others must have more reliable boilers otherwise British Gas would be going bust!

People are really funny about boilers, I wouldn't work on the gas side or anythingvrequiringbspecislist knowledge/tools but I'm not paying someone money to unclip two wires Swap a clip on sensor and re-attach the wires something which could never kill you!

I have a £16 a month iPhone contract and have never paid for a sky subscription I don't like wasting money hence no boiler cover! People on this thread have been really unlucky to have a boiler break down 2/3 times a year which makes the annual service look doubly pointless!
 
Well after having British Gas call me I decided to cancel. Had another discuession about new customers getting discounts and vouchers. They offered me £1.08 off my monthly DD. Went with homeserve after some reading online. British Gas top plan £19.50 per month, Homeserve £12.50. Same cover.
 
darknite said:
Well after having British Gas call me I decided to cancel. Had another discuession about new customers getting discounts and vouchers. They offered me £1.08 off my monthly DD. Went with homeserve after some reading online. British Gas top plan £19.50 per month, Homeserve £12.50. Same cover.
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Always worth shopping around and checking quidco etc it's the classic insurance scam where new customers get all the deals and everyone who just sticks gets scrwed!
 
I know my warranty doesn't include a service but if my Baxi boiler has one of the 7 year extended warranties on it, do I really need to bother paying for something like Homeserve or BG?

I know some of these policies extend to pipework and other bits but purely for boiler cover im talking about.
 
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