Installing a new boiler

[bengasman]

...and in that situation, if a central heating pump/zone valve/thermostat/programmer/rad valve/existing fitting on pipework failed or developed a fault and you were happy to pay for those repairs yourself, fair enough!

That is a non sequitur.
The question was not, will I guarantee existing materials for 5 years free of charge, but: what will give the customer better value for money: 3 years on the boiler or 2 years on a cleaned and treated rad/valve.
If we take the hundreds of thousands of posts on this forum as sufficient empirical evidence to generalise, we can draw two conclusions:
1. Not a single post of somebody complaining about leaking rad/valve of a system that was flushed, pressure tested, and treated with inhibitor.
2. Hundreds, if not thousands of posts about faults on boilers of less than 5 years old.

just because an installation "probably wont" have a problem doesnt mean theres not value in the cover.

Again, that was not the question. Anything can go wrong, even the best quality materials installed fully to spec. It is more along the lines of: is it worth £1000 p/a to take out building insurance on your home against earthquake damage in London, or would you be better of spending money on protection against identity theft? [/b]

 

[DP]

and in that situation, if a central heating pump/zone valve/thermostat/programmer/rad valve/existing fitting on pipework failed or developed a fault and you were happy to pay for those repairs yourself, fair enough!

Inform the customer these parts unlikely to fail (but could happen). When an installer has good working relationship with the end user, cannot see above beiing an issue. Of course there are customers who are hell bent on getting blood from stone and let us not forget, there are installers who have difficulty picking their nose. I say to customer, trust is a two way thing. For me it is to provide a quality of service that the client will not have issues with and for them it is to trust what is being done is necessary and they are in control of the costs at all times. If the customer fails to see it that way, then there is no need to proceed with appointed task.

 

[bengasman]

...and in that situation, if a central heating pump/zone valve/thermostat/programmer/rad valve/existing fitting on pipework failed or developed a fault and you were happy to pay for those repairs yourself, fair enough!...

I personally only ever had one problem in the stated category, and that was solved foc.
In fact, at BG prices and t/c, I'd be happy to give 10 years warrantee on the lot.

 

[hansthebear]

without getting drawn into an argument (which is what seems to happen in every thread on this forum), I meant that if the customer is happy with that situation then thats what matters. If self employed RGI's want to add £250 onto their quotation and extend the boiler guarantee to cover all components on the central heating then that too is fair enough.

my point was simply that people are too fast to rip into a BG quote without realising whats actually included.


hence my amazement that someone can offer an equivalent quotation for £1650 or whatever it was

 

[biasnetworks]

I've got Homecare 400 cover. There is a blockage somewhere in the system. On taking off the two way valve I noticed that the ball-barings that close the valves at either side are not there. I think they are the cause of the blockage which I think is in the boiler hence getting a quote from BG. I now need to tackle them about the Homecare cover as it states and I quote

"A repair and maintenance service for your whole central heating system, including radiators, piecework, cylinder and tanks."

I'm going to try to get them to honour their side of the contract and do the work to find the blockage FOC. My fall back position if the blockage turns out to be in the boiler is I'll pay for the new pooler but BG cover all the boiler installation costs as well as materials for any pipework that they feel needs replacing.

The system has been power flushed twice but has had no effect on the blockage.

I'm seeing one of their technical surveyors next week to try to resolve the problems.

 

[bengasman]

...my point was simply that people are too fast to rip into a BG quote without realising whats actually included...

A quote is a quote, and if people are happy to pay that price for that job, then that is nobody's business but their own.

What annoys me, is BG, and other companies, purposely misleading the unsuspecting customer by using the old gasboard reputation, or other unrelated issues of quality.

Offering a "free" two year warrantee, where the boiler has that anyway, and the cover on the rest does not start until proven it is extremely unlikely to fail, borders on a con.

"Trade in" discounts are total bullshit, as are the CO alarms and a number of other items.
The list goes on.
It is not the price I have a problem with; it is the false pretenses that I resent, and that certainly includes ads ( subsequently banned by the ASA ) that they are better because they are "the real gascompany"

 

[bengasman]

I've got Homecare 400 cover. There is a blockage somewhere in the system. On taking off the two way valve I noticed that the ball-barings that close the valves at either side are not there.

That could well be because zonevalves don't have ball bearings.

 

[biasnetworks]

Excuse my ignorance here. The valve I am talking about allows the hot water cylinder and CH. I've replace it (Tower valve) with a Honeywell one and that had what looks like ball bearings in it.

 

[Agile]

Ball bearings ( note spelling ) are not used in motor valves.

I think that you are refering to the rubber sealing ball !

Suppose your sealing ball disintegrated and the bits then blocked your boiler would you expect BG to cover the repair to your boiler even though the actual cause was a failed motor valve and your cover was only on the boiler?

Tony

 

[biasnetworks]

Thanks for the explanation of the "balls". As I have HomeCare 400 and it covers the whole central heating system with the exception of powerflush I would expect BG to resolve the problem at their cost after all they have been taking £40 a month off me.

 

[Agile]

Is that really £480 per annum?

I thought boiler cover was about £180, full system about £80 more and water plumbing a supply pipes about £37 more again?

EDIT Just looked it up and it includes electrics as well. But says cover is "from £27 per month".

Why is yours an extra £13 p.m.?

Tony

 

[biasnetworks]

Luckily my wife pays that particular bill but be it £300 or £480 it's still a lot of money over the years that we have had it and only had a few callouts.

 

[Agile]

We always expect posters on forums to use their best endeavours to only quote correct advice as duff info can cause others to become wrongly informed.

 

[biasnetworks]

OK I accept that and will try to be more accurate in future but the point I was making was that we have paid regularly for maintenance of the system for a number of years without any call out and they have inspected the system annually so when the CH in effect isn't working correctly I expect them to correct it.

 

[bengasman]

The valve I am talking about allows the hot water cylinder and CH. I've replace it (Tower valve) with a Honeywell

Why did you replace that when you have heating cover?