Would that you pay 200 each year for a heating repair plan if you knew the fact that most it could shell out for the single breakdown was 400?
If that you’re among the list of a huge number of households who have bought npower’s boiler and heating care plan, you may well unwittingly discovered yourself with this position C especially if own an old gas boiler.
Npower told Guardian Money reader Nick Howden it will not carry out a 450 repair to his eight-year-old Worcester Bosch boiler considering that the cost exceeded its estimate of your boiler’s economic importance of 397. Instead, it quoted 3,160 to setup new ones.
Howden’s problems began when his boiler started losing pressure. The areospace engineer, who resides in Malvern, called out npower’s engineer who told him it needed a whole new, 300, heat exchanger, which could cost 450 with installation and VAT.
However, Howden was astonished once the company refused to use the work claiming it was actually “beyond economic repair”, despite having paid the 200-a-year premiums.
As compared to other boiler cover plans and policies, npower contains a term within the manual that states it certainly can’t repair a boiler if ever the cost exceeds its value. Npower valued Howden’s boiler under 400, although its valuation method was curious understandably. A letter sent by npower states that a member of its staff found a brand new type of his Worcester boiler on the market on eBay for 1,420. Npower then applied 9%-a-year depreciation over eight years, which lead to a monetary valuation of the boiler of 397.
“I am confident that the economic valuation of your boiler is across the sum of 397 plus or minus a few pounds,” npower said, ignoring any installation costs.
When Howden complained, he was told it has been as much as npower the calculated the BER (Beyond Economic Repair) figure which isn’t budging. To include insult to injury he states the utilities firm didn’t even offer to repay him the 400, instead it offered him a 450 discount within the 3,160 it quoted to switch his boiler; as long as he used npower’s “approved installer”. Whilst complained, npower told him the services not taught in Financial Ombudsman Service because it is not an insurance product. Instead, it advised him to see the Citizens Advice Bureau. They have told him if he takes the difficulty towards the courts any claim will likely be robustly defended, and threatened who’s would seek costs.
In the completed Howden asked the company, Worcester Bosch, to mend the problem. Its engineer charged him 300 C 150 below npower wanted, much less than the npower BER figure. The company has given him a year’s warranty about the boiler in addition.
“Npower won’t even admit that you’ve got a problem. You have to wonder how many other owners of older boilers who buy 200-a-year cover from npower are aware that if any repair cost exceeds 400 perhaps, the provider will refuse to pay. It’s extraordinary. I will likely be trying to take this,” says Howden.
The company denies this and says there isn’t any limits over the volume of callouts or valuation of repairs during the agreement period, on condition that the boiler is not really beyond economical repair. It says it can be unfair to decide that your most it can ever fork out is 400, as each calculation depends on the age and value of their particular boiler.
“Our boiler care cream however allowed multiple repairs in every 1 year. Our records show we’d performed two previous repairs at a cost of 477, until the customer’s boiler was deemed beyond economical repair. We never feel we’re accountable, once we have acted fairly also in accordance together with the conditions within the customer’s maintenance systems,” says an npower spokesman.