Can see what you are saying Bernie, but can I correct you on British Gas
They are not doing any favours and are taking advantage of people,especially people on low incomes as so many big boys have found they can do
They are Charging £160 a year for cover, sometimes more, depending on cover, they have now said that you can join when your boiler has broken down instead of before were you had to wait a period before you could claim, they have changed the rules, just like the AA did, you can now call them out and join when you have a car break down
Why, because they get you to join their expensive cover scheme, sign a direct debit for in this case of £160 a year, say 13.70 a month, minimun year cover and then they have you,all for the sake of a £70 bill
Then as you say it becomes a numbers game, how many people will cancel once on scheme, cancel and next week your boiler may fail and cost you £200, all for you saving £13.70 on this months payment, that’s if you get that far, most people will forget about it and they have you for life, because now we are not talking £160 or full bill but £13.70 or possible big bill, even I would think about it, if I had not done the figures
Say you do not use there service again for five years, that repair has just cost you £800
I think anyone would have done the repair cheaper
Yes you say but if my boiler breaks down a few times a year, or once a year, I may be up, what I would say to you is if you have a boiler breaking down twice a year or every couple of years, it should not be there
Which, is what British gas will tell you, when you do call them back after 5 years of payments, they may repair if you are lucky and you get another £ 70 free repair for £ 800 but if boiler over 7 years old will tell you parts hard to get will have to wait two weeks ect, advise new boiler required, which is not covered and give you an over priced quotation, now you have paid them to come and sell you a new boiler
Admittedly their prices have come down in the last few years, but that is because they do not have the reputation of good workmanship any more and more people go for other quotes but to combat this, they allow payment to be spread over a certain time added to the gas bills, which also has the added benefit of keeping that customer not only on their cover policy but also ties them down to them as a gas supplier, which means they can not go to the cheapest gas provider any more unless they settle the account up in full.
Unless your are on a really tight budget, say away from the above
Over ten years you will be paying £1600, if you are paying anywhere near that in repairs, you have a big, big problem and it is not the Boiler, then on top of that you are going to splash out the cost for a new boiler
Also you may have to pay for repairs anyway, each year over the cold snap, I would say I do at least 5 jobs, being conservative, that are covered by British Gas, because they can not get there for a few days, if they can, because they are short staffed, they say the part needs ordering, will take a week, gives them time to get the cold snap over and back on top of things, I seem to find part on shelf or next day delivery and fit
What I advise customers who ask is put the same money in a savings account, pay any bills and after ten years go on holiday with the balance or put it towards a new boiler
I am all for insurance, spread the cost of repairs ect among a few, spread the risk, customers save and the company makes a fair profit, if this was the case the cover would be about £ 60 a year
But this is not such a cover, each person is paying for any repairs over a period of time and giving an individual profit to the company, so un-fair ,have given figures for one person, lets take a street of 120 houses,60 on one side 60 on the other
On the figures above that is £ 19,200 a year or £192,000 over ten years plus your boiler changers over ten years each property will have one, you have your foot in the door so lets say you get 60 (50% conservative I feel) say £1000 profit on each, that’s another 60,000 which gives you £252,000 or back to yearly £25,000
Now let me take you down a little estate, you know the kind of thing, lots of lots of semis down the streets or down the main road and point out four rows of streets and say to you, all I want you to do is sit here in your van, any time someone living down those four and ¼ streets rings up,(giving you a1/4 of a street to cover materials, you will still have change)you have to go and fix their heating and I will give you £100,000 a year, think any plumber would do the job, most could take on 4 times as many streets and still be on a 30 hr week for £400,000 a year
On Those figures we all would looooooove plumbing
