British Gas HomeCare - I pay c£48/per month but probably saved hundreds of £s (British Gas HomeCare)

Member Name: snootybutnice

Product:	British Gas HomeCare
Date:	24/01/09 (281 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Engineer phoned ahead to give me approx ETA, no messing/just fixed the problem for me

Disadvantages: They can be more expensive than some - but prob. carry a large part stock so repairs quicker

British Gas HomeCare Agreement

We took out a homecare agreement in July 2007 after purchasing a house where the previous owners looked like they'd done a couple of bodge jobs.

Luckily this paid off - and we more than got our moneys worth with our policy. The first time we called was because the central heating had packed up. They serviced the boiler and changed a few parts. Then we had a leaking sink. They arrived and tightened/replaced the washer (how embarrasing was that!) but explained the problem with the sink was its shape which allowed water which had sprayed at the back to fall straight onto the floor because of its arched design. The next was the light over our dining table stopped working - we'd had a little bathroom flood some weeks before so the engineer checked out the electrics. Then we had another electrical problem which the engineer sorted - one of the plugs wasn't working. The engineer changed the plug socket and got our cooker working again. Then we had another issue with the timer thingy for hot water/heating - which they replaced. Then we had a leak at the back of our dishwasher - and the plumber came out again and sorted this out - it was a leaking valve/stop handle issue - which he fixed. The boiler was also given an annual service at some point too.

Then - the middle of last year we decided to upgrade to get all our kitchen appliances covered - this was because our large 6 stoved double oven looked like it was having a hissy fit one day and didn't work - and I nearly had a heart attack when I priced a new replacement oven (£800-£1000). Luckily it decided to start working again so I figured that since it was going temperamental on me I'd better get insurance quick before it went completely!

So I took insurance out on either 5 or 6 appliances (£19? extra per month) a few months later the tumble dryer started tumbling cold - we called the engineer out and he pointed to a switch on the back of the machine that you push in - its a click off switch to stop tumble dryer from overheating (well....I never knew it existed, but hey ho!) then just before Christmas the freezer started to make a funny noise - got the engineer out the first time and no noise (typical) and then got him out a second time and he fixed it. Now the washing machine isn't spinning properly. A plumber has just been out again to fit a new "thingy" (technical term) and it hasn't resolved it so I need to get around to getting them out again. I think we've more than had our money's worth out of British Gas. I can only advise that for some reason I have had a really positive service out of them (perhaps because I live in Hampshire and we have a better class of engineer here?! ;-) LOL). I would thoroughly recommend them.

The only other info to give is that since they aren't the cheapest company and financially we are going to have to make some cuts for non-essentials I will start checking out comparable companies who offer a good service at a cheaper price. So far, I've found listed on various website that the following companies (see below) do HomeCare policies - so feel free to check them out for price comparisons:

Direct Line
Home Serve
Home Call Plus
Lloyds TSB
Norwich Union
Domestic & General Heat Guard
Coverheat
MRL Insurance Home Assist
EON

Summary: Buy British Gas Homecare if you think your home is an unknown quantity or your time is precious