British Gas Home Insurance

I had building & contents insurance through British Gas Home insurance in 2020, at Quite a reasonable rate for the property and what I wanted to be covered on. BG had set up the policy on auto renew and luckily I picked up the new policy priceing.

A reminder of your cover

✔ Buildings and Contents cover including Accidental Damage £613.95

✔ Legal Expenses cover £25.99

✔ Home Assistance cover £45.00

Your total renewal price is: £684.94

Your total price last year was: £353.30

I contacted them as there had been no change to the property and no claims made - but was just told they didn't know why but thats the price - so I cancelled and immediately found a reputably insurer for better cover at £348. I only relay this story to warn people do not Auto renew with British gas home insurance.

Had a fault with my boiler late last year. Engineer called and carried out what I can only describe as a temporary fix.

This proved correct, as the identical issue arose about 3 weeks ago. Requested a further engineer visit and received an email confirming my appointment slot for Tuesday 23/3/21, which was about a two week wait.

However, 3 days before engineer was due to call, BG phoned to say the engineer visit was cancelled and they would be able to re-arrange the visit for sometime in June. ( several months away) Suffice to say I found this to be totally unacceptable. I had a confirmed appointment slot and failed to see why this could not be honoured. I have had to pay for an engineer to call out and complete a proper repair to my boiler, which wasn't cheap. Cancelled my direct debit with this bunch of robbers and will never deal with BG again.

Let me say straight off that the engineers who have visited have been knowledgeable, efficient and friendly, nice blokes all of them. And the cover is quite comprehensive, and reasonable value for money.

My main gripe is based on the fact that, like many others, my boiler died in the grip of the "Beast from the East". It took the best part of 24 hours (yes, 24 hours) to get through, I kept getting a message telling me "the other person has hung up" or alternately "calls to this number are currently not being accepted".And when I finally did get through, was given an appointment 7 days away.

OK I know they were busy, overwhelmed in fact, but surely the bigwigs could have used some of their vast profits to ensure more staff (calltakers and engineers) were on duty or standby, as the cold snap was accurately predicted well in advance.

...and leads to countless letters from them stating I have "cancelled" my policy and countless calls on my part to them to verify the renewal payment was made which they then confirm and state will get corrected on their system which never does. Leads to all kinds of headaches when we need to call them out. Rubbish IT systems and incompetence in fixing their error on NUMEROUS occasions (6 times and counting...)...

Terrible service. Despite having British Gas HomeCare cover that covers our plumbing & drains we are left waiting more than 2 weeks for a repair since the initial engineer diagnosed a supply pipe leak, (because they don't have enough engineers and equipment apparently). Customer services promise to ring you back, then don't and then write you a letter promising to resolve your complaint within 8 WEEKS!!! Meanwhile we have a leaking supply pipe, flooded kitchen, limited access to water, unknown extent of water damage and still no repair. It would have been easier and quicker for us to arrange a repair ourselves... they've been a waste of money so far!

He was a very kind and polite when he was arrived at home. He put his own disposable thing to covered his shoes he said he treated the house as his own house so he don't want to get dirts. He was fixed our electricity problem. He done very very professional. I would recommend his professionalism services to everyone. He will be one of the British gas assets employee. But unfortunately I can not tell his name here I wish I can, because he deserved to have a reward from them.

I recently had reason to call the engineer, due to a leak on the boiler. Engineer attended same day and leaking seal appeared fixed. However two days later leak started again, engineer attended same day and identified a difficult to see crack in plastic fitting where seal located. Had to wait 24 hours for part to be obtained (boiler still usable) then leak satisfactorily repaired - over a week now with no leaks.

As an ex marine engineer I could fix the water (not GAS SAFE registered)plumbing myself but British Gas can probably source the item quicker than me.

We have had the occasional problem with heating system over the years; service from British Gas has been excellent and HOMESERVE is well worth the cost

I thought I had peace of mind with my Homecare 400 policy, covering everything from Central Heating to Plumbing. Then, when I experienced a leak going under my (wooden) kitchen floor, I called on my Homecare insurance to sort it out. The plumber that was sent spent less than 10 minutes in the house; and on his way out he arbitrarily blamed the problem on the regeneration cycle of the water softener, which isn't covered under the policy. Faced with such utterly useless and unhelpful service, I cancelled my policy the very next day, which I'm delighted about because it will save me a fortune and I can use the savings to call in local tradesmen who will may actually deliver some level of service and may actually solve my problems in future. To be fair there was some attempt at a follow up from the Homecare Customer Services, but this was really too little too late. While I was a policy holder I was also underwhelmed by the "Annual Service" which seemed to be a very cursory and not-that-detailed check that involved turning everything on and pronouncing it to be working fine.

I have been receiving mail from british gas despite asking them not to contact me Why ? you may ask.. a few years ago i was clearly missold home insurance, and despite me being very clear on what i wanted covered and numerous assurances from the staff at british gas, when the problem arose, they simply did not want to know, and i was left with a £2000 bill !!!!!

Managers would not phone back, senior managers would not phone back, they simply did not care in any way.

On top of that they are overpriced, monthly boiler service is extremely expensive, just get a local qualified plumber in once a year for £50, absolute shambles, with not a care in the world.

Called them to a leaking pump valve. Engineer arrive doing nothing but moaning about the shifts he works (weekends etc) not what I want hear MD!

I left him to do the repair and he handed the paperwork back in 10 mins?? I thought bloody hell he's good? So I went upstairs to find the valves had been completely covered in silicone of some sort??

Cancelled the very next day!