Homecare insurance: Is it really worth it?
Published: 19 September 2007
By MoneyhighStreet Staff 26 Comments
Updated: 5 September 2011
(Updated – 5 Sep 11)
Home emergency insurance plans can provide a valuable service for homeowners, offering quick and efficient repairs for all kinds of household problems. But with annual costs up to around £350+ for more comprehensive plans, are they really worth it?
Home emergency insurance provides peace of mind for millions of homeowners in Britain, guaranteeing repairs to household problems such as broken heating systems, plumbing problems and electrical problems at no extra cost.
All repairs are carried out by certified professionals and there is usually no limit to the number of call outs.
The home emergency insurance plans available in the United Kingdom market today range from the very basic, which only cover repairs to your boiler, to the very comprehensive, which usually cover heating systems, electrics, plumbing and drainage, and appliances.
There are a number of suppliers offering home emergency insurance. Here we look at 4 of them – British Gas, npower hometeam, HomeServe and Direct Line.
British Gas
With British Gas Homecare you don’t have to worry about breakdowns or expensive boiler repairs. From as little as £10.50 a month, you’ll have peace of mind that you can call our customer helpline day or night and an engineer will be with you as soon as possible. You’ll also have the benefit of an annual service check by one of our engineers to ensure that your boiler is working safely and efficiently.
British Gas Homecare® offers a number of benefits
- Unlimited call outs during the policy year
- Parts and labour included (excess may apply)
- Annual Service of your boiler
- Manned customer breakdown line 24/7
- Over 7,000 highly qualified and Gas Safe registered (formerly CORGI registered ) engineers
Click here to get a Homecare ® quote
Hometeam
npower hometeam provides gas services including boiler installations, servicing, repairs and boiler maintenance schemes.
You can get all the details on the npower hometeam website but to highlight
- new boiler installations with exclusive energy efficient A-rated boiler installation offer with 10 year warranty
- gas boiler service to keep your boiler working safely and efficiently and help reduce your energy bill by up to 15%
- central heating care plan includes 50% cash-back for npower gas and electricity customers if you don’t need to call them out.
HomeServe
HomeServe aim to be the first place people turn to when it comes to fixing, maintaining and looking after your home.’
With HomeServe you can get a variety of covers to suit your needs – see all the details on the HomeServe website.
For example there’s the ‘EasyPay Gas Boiler Breakdown Cover’ now only £6.95 per month. This covers your gas boiler repairs, boiler pump repairs and gas boiler electrical fault repairs and if your boiler is found to be beyond economical repair you’ll get up to £200 cash contribution to a new gas boiler.
As an EasyPay option, there’s a lower annual fixed fee but there’s a £50 fee each time a claim is made.
On the HomeServe website there’s all the information on the various covers that are available and an easy to follow grid showing these and detailing the monthly costs.
Direct Line
Another provider is Direct Line, offering a rival service that provides similar flexible cover that is also popular with consumers.
Price wise, it is not easy to directly assess as the two competitors have different approaches to costing their service.
Direct Line offer their Response packages which cover plumbing & drainage, electrics, heating and security of external locks, doors and windows. The basic Response service covers call-out fees and the first hour of labour. The Total response package covers call-out fees and parts and labour fees up to £1,000 inc VAT.
With Direct Line if you do not want all aspects covered then you can purchase flexible membership which allows you to pick and choose which emergency covers you want.
Existing home, car or breakdown insurance cover customers with Direct Line can benefit from a 15% online discount for the first year on the Response packages.
With annual premiums for comprehensive plans for your central heating system costing over £200 a year, home care plans may not be for everyone.
Consumer review websites generally suggest that they are worthwhile if you are living in an older property where you are more likely to have problems with heating, plumbing and electrics. If you live in a newly built home with a modern heating system, it is probably more economical to pay for problems as they arise.
Clearly though the emergency cover plans offered by the different suppliers need to be assessed and costed for the level of service you need.
If you are considering purchasing homecare insurance, you should first consider how many repairs you have needed in your home over recent years and how much these cost. Compare this to the premium you would pay for your home care insurance for your home and see if it would really save you money.
If you do opt for homecare insurance, be sure to shop around. Here we cover some of the most popular services, but others include: Domestic & General HeatGuard, HomeCall+, CoverHeat **, MRL Insurance Home Assist and EON (was Powergen) Care plans.
Note: ** As at 25 April 2009, CoverHeat appear to have ceased trading, according to an article in the Guardian.
I have british home care 400. was very happy so far but recently they have started to mislead customers. They started to charge for heat exchanger in combi boilers. They want to powerwash your system for £650.00 which is too high the charge which otherwise cost between £350/£450. Heat exchanger will not be descale even if you powerwash the system it need to replaced or remove and descale.
I have had exactly the same experience as Vic. I also have the British Gas Flexi 400. I have experienced problems with my boiler and British Gas first tried to insist that it required a new heat exchanger and now insist that the system needs a power flush at a cost of £650. British Gas have said that unless I have the power flush done they will no longer repair the boiler.
We have British Gas Home Care400 plan. We have had this high level of cover for a good few years but like Vic and Paul we are now searching for another provider as the same situation has arisen. British Gas are insisting that unless we buy the power flush from them at £650 they will not cover boiler repairs etc. We agree with the others that this is way over priced and have told BG that we will have it done professionally and provide proof but they still wont accept this. We will be voting with our feet as they say! I can’t believe that British Gas are prepared to treat long term customers in this way.
Also having the same problems with British Gas, seems its a standard thing for them to suggest you have a Power Flush for almost £700. You report one problem and they come up with major repairs. Does anyone know anyone who provides the same cover but who are more reliable and dont try to rip you off. Also someone whose response time is better than 6 hours. unbelievable, we actually have to work so we can pay these plans!!!
British gas has just been ripping the consumers pocket. we have been a customer for years and yet when we make a claim they will turn up and say they don’t cover the repair (even if im on a home care 400)because of silly reasons then will offer you that they can repair it for a cost of £76 per hour.. how ridiculous. i have cancelled my policy coz this happens a few times and looking for reliable honest and efficient provider .
I have also had exactly the same experience- I was quoted £650 for a power flush- this then went up to £1200. A private heating engineer repaired the system (it needed a new pump) for under £200. Needless to say I have cancelled the policy.
May 1, 2010
British Gas is a rip off organisation. I suffered the same fate as others POWERFLUSH SAGA!!
I was desperate as the boiler was noisy and would not heat the house. They refused to come
back till I do the powerflush. They told me if I insisted on them coming back they will have to charge me for the visit. This is pure blackmail!. 10 days ago they had put a new pump and sill I had a problem. Out of desperation I called an independent engineer only to be told that British Gas had put a faulty pump. He changed the pump and everything was fine. He even told me that there is no need for powerflush as the water is clean in the radiators. I a now cancelling my agreement and moving elsewhere. Any advice?
“I was desperate as the boiler was noisy and would not heat the house. They refused to come
back till I do the powerflush. They told me if I insisted on them coming back they will have to charge me for the visit. This is pure blackmail!. 10 days ago they had put a new pump and still I had a problem. Out of desperation I called an independent engineer only to be told that British Gas had put in a faulty pump. He changed the pump and everything was fine. He even told me that there is no need for powerflush as the water is clean in the radiators. I a now cancelling my agreement and moving elsewhere. Any advice?”
Try taking them to court. They didn’t honour the terms of the agreement. You could go to CAB and they’ll tell you how to do it. Or ask on the forums of moneysaver.com
hi..i used to have british gas flexi 400.never made a claim for 3 yrs and then my toilet cystern started leaking..yes u guessed it…..it wasnt covered…then they try and charge me 50 quid for telling me it wasnt covered….complete rip off.cancelled policy straight away
We are a long term customer of British Gas Homecare 400 with no claims for years. We then had one call out last year to repair a fan in the boiler (well it was actually counted as 2 call outs because their engineer did not fix the problem at the first instance). Then on this year’s renew they raised the premimium from £27 to £37 per month. I challenged them why such a huge hike on price but did not get anywhere. So I decided to cancel the agreement at end of June. Just recently my wife realized they were collecting monthly direct debit all these months even though my contract was to be cancelled 3 months ago. Phoned them up to complain but only was told, “yeah we made mistake but will refund your money. If you have any problems write to our customer relation team on the address you can find from your original terms and condition sheet”!! Such a rude and arrogant organization.
We have the HomeCare 400 Plan. I must say over the last few months Scottish Gas have been as much use as a chocolate teapot. Our sewers blocked several times and they eventually said that part of the sewer had collapsed and our drive would have to be dug up for the sewer to be replaced – but not to worry it was on the insurance – nobody has bothered to contact us regarding this in four months. Obviously it is going to be expensive and I think they are just ignoring us. Our condensing boiler froze up 3 days before Christmas and we were left for 24 hours until an engineer could get to us – it was minus 12 degrees. A rather rude engineer arrived and defrosted the pipe with my hairdryer and then left the hairdryer in the garage covered with snow. His whole attitude was one of could-not-care-less. His parting shot was that he was sure it would freeze up again that night – we were lucky though it didn’t freeze that night it froze late on Christmas Day – we were then without central heating and hot water for 3 days – Christmas was totally wrecked. They are now going to install a heated wire in the outside pipe so this does not happen again – at a cost to us of £200! We then had a light that wasn’t working and they organised an electrician to come out – he stated that it was just a loose connection and he had put the bulb in more securely – 10 minutes after he left the light went out again – so much for loose connections. The latest installment in this sorry saga is that we came home on Friday night to find water pouring through the hall ceiling. We rang them immediately and they said to call back the following morning. We turned the water off and rang the following morning and were told that a plumber would be with us within the next 4 hours. We waited and waited and after 4 or 5 calls we eventually told at 5 p.m. that they couldn’t get to us that day but that a plumber was booked for between 8 and 10 a.m. Sunday morning. On Sunday morning were told that it was more than likely the plumber would not be with us until late afternoon. We had now lost all confidence in their abilities. I rang the telephone number on the HomeCare Agreement and asked for the name and address of a senior manager so that I could write a letter of complaint. The individual on the other end of the line just didn’t seem to comprehend what I was asking and kept saying “Is it a complaint about the call centre or the service” and I said “BOTH” in the end I gave up with her. We are now seeking another source of home care and are considering what action to take against them.
Hello – I read Lesley’s long message with interest – we had similar problems a few years ago when the carbon monoxide alarm went off – still don’t know why – and our gas was turned off by BG people and then kept promising to come and put it back on after testing the supply inside our house and this was over the New Year. No one turned up – day after day. So it was time to act – on the complaints on-line facility I sent an e-mail – and repeated it x 10 every few minutes – I was determined to choke the system up if they would not respond which they soon did. Whilst doing that I was already making plans to film myself and then put on You Tube in what I called a letter to the CEO and or anyone else at BG. But then I found quite by chance after scouring th8e internet the
direct line e-mail of the CEO of Cenitrica and sent a 3 page e-mail complaining. Within one hour his secretary ran me and left a message on my a/mc saying that a senior customer manager would contact me within 24 hrs to take my complaints, by this time I could now prove that BG call centre staff had lied to me and I had their names. Not 24 hrs later but in less than 24 minutes the senior customer service person was on my phone arranging to deal with my complaints. I did not have to You Tube in the end but did send an e-mail to the CEO to thank him. I was a police officer for 30 years so I am not easily defeated you have to be persistent. Always remember 99% of the time the customer can get the last word.
Does anyone know if what British Gas is doing is fully legal. I.e. telling people that in order for you to receive the insurance you’ve spent years paying for, you must have a flush done by them at an unegotiable price…and that the equivalent work certified by another company would not be acceptable…this just sounds so dodgy.
It would also be interesting to know if the service engineers work on a commission basis?
Sounds like we are lucky. I have never had a problem with the attitude of engineers or suffered the ‘Powerflush’ saga. My bone of contention is with their pricing. Having had the Homecare 400 agreement for several years I recently took out another agreement for a second house and was offered a price £114 cheaper than my existing agreement. As soon as I queried this the droped the price immediately – Moral of this story Never accept the priced offered and tell them you can get it cheaper somewhere else ( you almost certainly can)!!
We have cover with EON – taken out early Feb as I recall. We had the obligatory (free) initial inspection done, and all was well.
Early/mid March we noticed a damp patch in the lounge ceiling – beneath the airing cupboard. We called EON, who sent an engineer 2 days later. His advice was “leave it, see if it gets worse – if so we’ll lift floorboards in the airing cupboard to investigate”. Late march, it was obviously worse, we called again. 2 days later, another engineer: “Leave it, see if it gets worse, if so, we’ll go in through the ceiling”. This morning, the ceiling collapsed, and we’ve had to shut down our heating and water supply for safety. Despite advising them we have a 5 month old in the house, they dont consider our lack of heating and water to be an emergency, and wont get anyone out before tomorrow.
Worth the money? Hell no. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!
We have cover with British Gas and our shower wouldn’t stay hot. We had 3 British Gas engineers out one of which told us we needed a new shower. We got a new shower and this problem still kept occurring. In the end we actually found out it was the lime scale around the thermostat!!
Why 3 times and us buying a brand new shower!!!!
Be careful!
Have BG cover for water pipes. Recently main burst outside house. BG sent a third party contractor who excavated and repaired the pipe. In doing so they got grit/dirt into the pipe which blocked the eater valve. The contractors denied that they had allowed dirt/grit into the pipe and made up a story about the water pressure being low before they started. In dispute with BG and going to ombudsman. In the process of preparing for this requested copy of notes/tel calls on job from third party contractor to BG.
They claimed £730 from my homecare insurance policy. Part of this was for using specialist equipment to find the water valve (£205+VAT) the contractors also claimed that the water main had multiple burst over a length of 3 to 5 metres. Got independent inspection done myself – water valve is on pavement in clear view 18 feet from my front gate. The repair was re-excavated and found to be a single burst – length of replacement pipe 30 centimetres.
BG are not interested in investigating the overcharge on my insurance policy. I think the overcharging is a deliberate ploy as the max claim/year is £1000 – anything beyond that you pay for. So your £1000 of mains pipe cover becomes only £400 when you take into account their exaggerated/inflated costings. This is a racket and needs to be investigated – has anyone else experienced this?
Same here, i have homecare 200, bgas have gone to the property and changed a few parts, and now are saying they cannot reset the boiler until i have a “power flush” done for £700!,,,is this even true that they cant reset it!!
I am faced with substantial increase in BG homecare 400 after being a customer for many years….while all of you have said you cancelled policy no one mentioned whom they moved to …it would be very helpful to know what s the equivalent of homecare 400 at better price
I am a landlord in scotland and pay over 5k a year for this cover with scottish gas .Over the past year all i get is tenants calling me saying british gas wont come out unless my systems get a power flush .Just recently whilst on holiday they told my tenant they wouldn’t come back unless she got a power flush and when I sent an independent plumber he fixed boiler and took photographs to show it didn’t require a power flush at all.So much for peace of mind .Total con I will be cancelling my polices.
Dev,
I can’t advise on the ‘reset’ issue, without knowing the make/model of your boiler.
There is nothing to stop you from seeking a 2nd opinion from another heating engineer.
There is also no clause in your contract that says you have to have a ‘powerflush’ carried out by
BG. You can have whoever you like to carry out the flush. If it is a combi, I would recommend
you have a filter installed, such as a Fernox TF1 or a Magnaclean to keep future muck out of the boiler.
£700 is a lot of money, so well worth finding a local guy to give an opinion 1st on whether it is needed.
Go to one of the local heating merchants and ask the guy on the counter for the name of a good experienced local engineer.
I have a Homecare 400 plan phoned them at 7am on 24th December to advise toilet would not flush- was asked if this was the only toilet in the house to which I replied yes, then asked if there were any vulnerable adults in the house and replied no- the soonest I could get an apointment is Wednesday 28th December -but I did get the option of a morning or afterrnoon slot & was asked if they could help me with anything else! Lets just say I will cancel this policy in the new year.
We have a British Gas Homecare 400 plan and like many of you I consider it to be a total rip off- The last boiler service took precisely 10 mins and all the engineer did was plug a computer in and then stare at the boiler, A few minutes later he said it was fine. We shall be cancelling this as soon as the contract is up for renewal
He then went on to say that because the boiler was 10 years old they could not get parts and we should buy a new boiler. Having made enquiries i have discovered that they should remove the front of the boiler and clean it, this has never been done. I also found out that for our particular boiler there are plenty of spare parts available.
British Gas are only interested in selling selling selling – They attempted to sell a friend of mine a boiler which could have heated a shopping centre let alone a 2 bedroom apartment on the first floor of a 3 floor block.
I have BG100 and the renewal for this year is £18.66 pcm- new customers can purchase cover for £13.50 pcm, almost 40% cheaper! In addition, BG did not contact me to arrange annual boiler service but luckily I remembered in time & phoned today, one day before end of contract. If they could not have arranged service tomorrow they would have refunded a measly £30 in lieu of missed service – where can you get a boiler service for £30?
They have been great over last 20 years but I feel they are ripping existing customers off – I have cancelled renewal.
hI
We have had homecare400 for about 15 years and the last call out we had was in 2005. We are pleased with the service we get but not the price! The boiler is serviced every year. On renewal next month our policy has gone up by £4 a month to £31 a month. Does anyone know of another company who offers the same cover (Homecare 400) but cheaper….. bearing in mind that our boiler is now over 10 years old…. and would a new supplier automatically say we needed a new one? If so, then are we better staying with B.Gas?
Spoken to BGas re renewal costs and they are prepared to reduce to £27 a month if I do it today!!! Or reduce to £19 a month but with us paying £50 excess on all call outs. We have had no call outs for 6 years but you can bet the minute we go down this route we will need to call them out. We are both pensioners now and so money is really tight. HELP. Any suggestions what we should do?
I’ve had a British Gas Homecare 400 agreement since the early 1980′s. I truly have witnessed changes since they signed up with the mother company, Centrica. The latter has been in the news and investigated by Ofgem for profiteering – so beware! (Not the only energy company to be criticised either.)
My recent experience proved a literal nightmare with an engineer who tried to repair a motorised valve unbenown to me at the time on my central heating system. The fault had started with all radiators cold and the boiler firing up to supply only hot water. The engineer had told me from the start the fault lay with this actuator/motorised valve but nothing was documented on his engineer’s report for that day! Subsequently, sometimes I experienced when I came back from work the room temperature was chilly and the rads: lukewarm, other times the heating was fully kicking in. The heating was complelety erractic.Three further visits ensued, where a powerhead and valves were replaced, then the whole pump – before suddenly I was back to square one with NO central at all. (During the course of these visits I’d had to take off time from the small business I run and was losing money fast.) Lucky for me that a RELIEF manager intervened who recommended the motorised valve was replaced entirely, as opposed to being tinkered with. Thie incompetent engineer prior had been reliant upon on his OWN field manager. (The latter individual had tried to sell me a Power Flush at £897 to include a magnabooster – strangely enough I had baulked at the price!) Please don’t fall into the trap – the sales pitch is distinctly noticeable..
Note for fact, BG engineers take commission from the products they sell. Their field managers are subject to target figures and seeking promotion.They ‘seem’ to deploy scare tactics by commenting on how your central heating system should be upgraded, and endless products are listed on their reports. Some £1200′s worth to include a Power Flush!
Look out for yourselves, British Gas make exclusions to your policy if you don’t abide by their Terms of Agreement by acceding to a Power Flush, (and all besides). For, if they have advised you on a previous occasion of these products they can, and will compromise you under their insurance policy.
A form of blackmail no less as I see it.
My situation would not have been resolved by having a Power Flush. The engineer proved incompetent instead. Since the motorised valve was finally replaced my heating has been fine and back to normal. It’s been a trouble-free system for donkey years.