Vaillant service contract worth it?

[Albumen]

I have a Vaillant ecoTec plus 831. I'm having problems with the DHW. From the manual/feeling the pipes/threads on this forum I'm fairly sure it's the diverter valve. But what do I know.

We both work, have got young children and no other means of heating water, so to get on with things I started ringing round today. One CH engineer advised - 'get Vaillant to do it, you could get half a dozen components replaced before an independant finds the fault, Vaillant carry all the parts and will fix it right'. Or words to that effect.

So a Vaillant engineer is coming tomorrow. £215 fixed price (unless its the heat exchanger or pressure vessel). That's fine with me.

While I was booking the call I talked about Vaillant service. They charge:

£135 for an annual service (by Vaillant engineers)

£179 for annual service plus 3* care (via Homeserve). Which as far as I can tell means replacing anything that needs it. Reading Homeserve's site carefully I don't think this means 24/7 callout. Just that the claims line is open 24/7.

Is the extra £44 for the latter worth it? Presumably we bump up against some sort of 'beyond the cost of economical repair' clause. And probably that's their decision. So not quite the lifetime guarrantee it appears to be. The boiler's 2.5 years old.

Or would I be best just getting a local independant that I trust to do the annual service?

Thanks.

 

[Trouble666]

As an engineer, the £135 for an Annual Service does seem quite steep;
With regards to HomeServe, they have a cap of £600 parts and labour per callout, so that could be something worth finding out; If they charge say x for callout, then y per hour, then what is it really worth??

I'd be inclined to get a trusted independent to get the boiler serviced, and as long as does a thorough job, it'll probably be cheaper

That's obvioulsy just my opinion.

 

[simond]

I would suggest getting Vaillant service to fix the thing on a fixed charge and then get an independent to service it thereafter.

As a guide, we currently charge £88.13 to service an ecoTEC. Others will charge more or less, of course.

 

[Albumen]

Yes, looking at Homeserve's conditions they've got a 'not beyond economical cost' clause. If they figure the boiler is 'worth' less than the repair. Though how anybody comes to a value for a second hand boiler, that's in situ is beyond me.

So the idea that the annual service plus 3* cover guarrantees my boiler for all time is nonsense. Obviously.

I quite like the idea of Vaillant engineers servicing it. If they really are Vaillant engineers, know the weak points of the boiler and are on the look out for them.

My experience of lots of industries is that practically everything gets subbed out.

In which case, as you said, good local independant who's main concern is keeping long term customers (and vica versa).