DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Potterton promax sl 15 boiler is 9yrs old giving little trouble supplied and fitted by Bristish gas on the basis it was efficient and reliable.it broke down within 3 months needing i think the heat exchanger changed. checking our renewals from last year of British gas Homecare I feel we are being ripped off. the cost rising from £286. 54 to £351.12 prompting a complaint so it was reduced to £281.01. are we being ripped off
by homecare who offer full cover level 2 of central heating with no other charges.
many thanks

It can't be quantified that easy, how fast is the repair when required? And can you afford to pay our as required? I don't have a care plan, if the boiler fails, I can afford to replace it, and I have a open fire to use while I wait for it to be replaced.

I personally had a lot of problems with Homecare, my father-in-laws central heating was old, over 25 years old, and my brother-in-law after it broke down (not the boiler it was the motorised valve that failed) wanted to get some one who could maintain it without him travelling 100 miles to sort it out.

So new radiator fitted, found there was no radiator in living room, two new motorised valves fitted, system had to be emptied and refilled of course for work to be done, and new inhibitor added.

So then he got Homecare, it needed an inspection first, they came and said system needed flushing, seemed odd since only just refilled, anyway got it flushed and yet more inhibitor added, they returned and again said it needed flushing, so my bother-in-law had to travel 100 miles 4 times to try and get Homecare to take over the system, then father-in-law died, and house went up for sale and still Homecare had not taken over the system, so when sold they still had not taken it over, so asked for money back, that also became a problem, they wanted to transfer to new owners, but had not completed on time for that to happen. Anyway new owners ripped out the old boiler.

I was called on to let the inspector in, it seems he had simply not turned up, brother-in-law travelled 100 miles to be told sorry will be there tomorrow.

I would say whole idea is they turn up quickly if there is a problem when arranged, they wanted to arrive during the day, not when it suited us, so they cost us a lot of money for zero service.

So for me would not care if it was £25 a year, would not use them. Once bitten twice shy. But it is really a personal thing, maybe we were just unlucky, the whole idea is hassle free, if some thing goes wrong, one phone call, and you get a guy to repair it before house cools down, clearly next day, or next week not good enough, you pay a premium to get this call out.

I use local plumber, and as a result it depends on how much work he has on, it could be fixed next day, it may take a week, but I have an open fire.

Only you can decide if worth that premium, to get it fixed in 8 hours from failing. If that is their response time?

Thanks ericmark