Beware of useless boiler maintenance contracts?

I don't think British Gas are necessarily any better. We had a British Gas jobsworth do the same to a boiler in a cupboard because he couldn't work out how to ease the cover off. Admittedly it was an awkward location but every engineer before him managed without fuss. Probably overran on the previous job and wanted to get home for tea.

The old certificate had a few weeks to run but because he put the sticker on, the tenants panicked and assumed the boiler had been a death trap throughout their tenancy and we were trying to kill them.

Unsurprisingly a different engineer (Corgi back in the day) went through the boiler and found nothing wrong. Never went with a contract since.

I had a leak from a boiler and called out the emergency cover. There were two leaks and he said that he'd have to order parts, I got a call from the insurance, £1500 repair bill, and the insurance would only cover £500 of it £130 already used for first call out. I called a local plumber who fixed one leak for £30 and had to get the boiler manufacturers out for the other leak which cost £150

All my properties are with British Gas for this cover. They too condemn boilers on a whim. Also their website for booking engineers or account management rarely works. During the recent cold spell a tenant needed an engineer but the website wasnt working and phonelines never answered. I used a local engineers directly and had a far better service. So I'm cancelling ALL British Gas policies.

I've had numerous British Gas Homecare plans and still do. They are not saints either. Normally when a part is gone like the expansion vessel, they typically 'pump it up or inflate it again' then leave. That is prolonging the problem making it worse than really resolving it. It is like a puncture in a tyre and all they are doing is inflate it for it to be leaking again. Some of their engineers also offered to do homers jobs on site quoting against their own British Gas quotes which is not allowed. What they want is us to pay the monthly cover fee and once we leave the the plan, the problem is passed on and they've made their money. The experience of the flue is just like you say bad service which i find in many service sector including Utility companies, the Dwp etc. The list goes on...

Surely, it doesn't require a "gas engineer" to put a simple grill cover on a flue pipe. It's something you could do yourself.

As for these maintenance contracts they are money for old rope. Better to self insure - put the premiums to one side and when you need a repair, use it to pay a local safe gas registered engineer to carry out the repair.

Unfortunately you only discover if an insurance policy is any good when you come to try and claim on the policy. Most of them aren’t worth the paper they are written on. Your best bet is to find a local contractor that you can trust and stick with them. I also understand and appreciate they are thin on the ground and hard to find.

Reply to the comment left by Smartermind at 18/02/2021 - 10:34
It might not require a gas engineer to fit a grille but it would require one to remove the sticker.

Having experienced boiler contracts in the past, I do NOT have any contract on the boilers in my 4 properties. If the boiler fails, I pay for the repair. I pay for a local registered Gas Safe man to do the annual clean, check and certificate. A couple of years ago, whilst doing the annual check he called me saying that the external part of the flue and its cover needed replacing before he could issue a certificate and it would be £20 plus parts plus VAT. I of course replied "Do it". The idea of an engineer leaving the property with a "Do Not Use" sticker on the boiler for a trivial fix is just unacceptable. By the way, my checks are done in June/July when a day or two without heat and hot water can be tolerated if it comes to that.

You may be interested to know that British Gas engineers have sales targets - a real incentive to fail your system.

Randomly AA engineers also have sales targets to meet. Offering you an upgraded breakdown contact or perhaps car insurance, I know of one who couldn't stand the demands of these targets so left the company.

I only called out British gas once.
I had to pay £150 in advance.
The helpdesk asked me if the engineer needed a ladder.
I replied that I already had one.
The engineer came out and immediately refused to work on the boiler as he would need to go two steps up a ladder or stand on a chair.
But he did tell me the simple fix that was required.
It took me three months to get my £150 back out of British Gas.
So no support contracts and no British Gas.
I have, however, employed ex British Gas engineers who were gas safe registered and had started their own companies.
One was good.
The other one appeared to be very professional, with all the right equipment, a very impressive van and switched on. I watched him heat up an iron pipe until it glowed bright orange.
It was at this point that I informed him that there was no gas in the pipe.............