I have recently discovered that my automatically renewed HomeCare 4 boiler insurance with British Gas has been ramped up to an astonishing £895 a year. I think when we originally signed up the cost was under £20 a month. Our mistake has been to let this roll on year to year without ever checking the price as we assumed, wrongly, that the cost would simply rise with the RPI or inflation.
We are now paying an annual cost equivalent to a brand new boiler each and every year in order to insure our old boiler. British Gas claims it has sent emails advising us of the renewal price each year – but, like much corporate mail that comes in – we probably just ignored it assuming it was junk mail. A quick check shows that we have had roughly 20 emails in from British Gas in the past few months.
I have now cancelled our policy but it is insisting I pay a final monthly instalment of £75. On principle – as, by my reckoning, we have paid over £4,000 for HomeCare insurance over the past five years – I feel this is rubbing salt into the wound.
Do I have a right to withhold the final payment? I’m assuming British Gas would pursue this and it would affect my credit rating. I would be happy to see them in court.
CT, SE London
I think you may have unwittingly set a new record as the household which has paid the most to British Gas to cover their boiler and central heating. You are understandably furious that you hadn’t spotted this earlier, and that you have paid so much. I suspect that the reason this happened is because you elected to go paperless.
It is never a good idea to opt for paperless billing – with your bank account, credit card ... and particularly for things that you buy annually. I cannot repeat this enough.
Emails often go missing and are the reason why stories like this keep emerging.
British Gas tells me that it stands by the £895 annual premium, which was £740 the previous year, but declined to go into details citing commercial sensitivity.
“In common with most insurers, our renewal prices reflect the varying cost of providing cover, and renewal prices are based upon our assessment of risk on a variety of factors. This means our customers are offered a fair price relating to the risk insured,” it says.
You have to wonder how many other customers have missed this and ended up paying more than the cost of a new boiler. Can anyone else beat this annual British Gas premium? Email the usual address.
To answer the question, technically you could have been required to pay the last £75. However, the company has told us that it will not be chasing you for the money, so at least you won’t have to suffer that indignity.
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