British Gas

[shona]

We have a homecare service with British Gas and the renewal quote for next month has come back as very expensive. We looked at comparison sites and British Gas came in at £45 cheaper. When we contacted them they said that was only for new customers and the could reduce our bill by 30% but still a lot more than new customers.

We want to see what else is out there and wondered if anyone had any recommendations. We live in a Lincolnshire and our boiler is 25 years old but regularly serviced. We also have heating and plumbing currently covered.

[Loulou127]

Originally Posted by shona

We have a homecare service with British Gas and the renewal quote for next month has come back as very expensive. We looked at comparison sites and British Gas came in at £45 cheaper. When we contacted them they said that was only for new customers and the could reduce our bill by 30% but still a lot more than new customers.

We want to see what else is out there and wondered if anyone had any recommendations. We live in a Lincolnshire and our boiler is 25 years old but regularly serviced. We also have heating and plumbing currently covered.

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We’ve got home emergency cover as an add on to our home insurance, regards our boiler, we’re very fortunate to have a local plumber/gas engineer that services it annually for £50 and has also come out almost immediately if we’ve had a breakdown x

[Omega1]

We’ve been BG Homecare customers for donkeys years but won’t be renewing. Last February our boiler broke down and they left us without heating nor hot water for 10 days - failed to turn up to two appointments without notice. It was at the time the engineers were in dispute about conditions and BG were using sub contractors who basically didn’t give a damn. Eventually an engineer called and fitted a new circuit board which failed within 12 hours. In the end, because BG had no appointments for two weeks we got a local engineer and claimed the money back off BG.
We’re going to stick with the local engineer for servicing and call outs.

[Moz]

Im in the same boat as you folks... mine is due to be renewed in January...wont be renewing
Last time they took 2 weeks to attend a call for a leak from the boiler... still having issues after they have been out twice

Engineer was a sub contract, not a BG engineer

will find a local company to service it now

[kiwiinabd]

I generally bounce between British Gas and Scottish Power and never renew making sure i pick up the first year discounts.

Currently the best deal is with Scottish Power at circa £21.60 per month + first 6 months 50 % off (£10.80 per month) + Topcashback £72

I think you might have an issue getting cover for a 25 year old boiler.

[FloridaNuts93]

We have also cancelled our agreement with BG. Rang them in February because we had no heating. Took three months to come out - then did a ‘repair’ which had no effect. Eventually got a local heating engineer who sorted it in half a day. All BG wanted was for us to have a power flush (£800 +). DH got four calls a day for over two weeks to arrange a date, even though we said we weren’t having it. They are a joke!

[excitedbunny79]

Another one who's cancelling. Ours is due to renew in November and we still haven't had last year's boiler service yet!

[levtweeney]

We seem to have had a different experience with British Gas. Had no hot water a few months ago and tried my upmost to get local gas engineer to come out. Quickest I could get was 2 weeks. Phoned British Gas, signed up for their yearly package and had an engineer there next day. Did all the work, no mess, no fuss. Would have cost us hundreds with local engineer. With our package only paid one call out charge of about £60, all parts and Labour included in this £60.

We will be sticking with them going forward.

[Taffy1959]

Originally Posted by FloridaNuts93

We have also cancelled our agreement with BG. Rang them in February because we had no heating. Took three months to come out - then did a ‘repair’ which had no effect. Eventually got a local heating engineer who sorted it in half a day. All BG wanted was for us to have a power flush (£800 +). DH got four calls a day for over two weeks to arrange a date, even though we said we weren’t having it. They are a joke!

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We had the same problem with British Gas we’d paid for a cover plan for over 12 years when our heating broke down in November 1999 and cut a long story short they were going to leave us with no heating or hot water until February with 4 children in the house.
They also kept trying to get us to have a power flush at a cost of £700.
We had to buy and borrow calor gas heaters to keep us warm and fortunately had an electric shower or we’d have been in a real mess.
We cancelled and their attitude when we complained stank.
We eventually after around 6 weeks managed to get someone to sort it out he diagnosed the problem in 30 mins came back the next day with the required part and we had hot water and heating in less than 2 hours.
I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole

[Mr Tom Morrow]

It is very much a Postcode Lottery as to what service you get.

Nobody was more of a supporter and advocate of BG than me and for nearly 30 years they served me well.

I have ditched them now as I have a new system with a 10 year warranty and a Mate (Ex BG) who sorts me out.

His information from his Ex Colleagues is that BG wish to ditch the service/repair side of their Business as they are losing money.