@adrian Not sure what your point is Adrian. I feel I was lucky with the install team, who did a really good job. The problem lies with BG management and their lack of commitment to supporting heat pumps. There is a core failure too in installers and manufacturers not having help desks or those that do not having them staffed with people able to assist the customer with resolving some basic issues rather than being just a recording point.ie They ought to have a proper triage help desk.

As a bye the way I needed and wanted a complete repipe, so was very happy that BG did that, whereas Octopus would not. Though I am obviously very disappointed with the post install support. 

@editor No, I don’t think you are being cynical Mars, just realistic! We don’t have glycol to check but, I don’t know that with my poor vision, I would feel confident (or even competent) to carry out anything beyond cleaning out the ‘Y’ filter.

Having said that, competence to carry out the servicing work requires a certain skill but should those with that skill be so well rewarded for carrying out the job*? Would I go as far as to say it is blackmail I wonder - I don’t know, but I would certainly say it is exploitation.

*I doubt that the peripatetic plumber receives that much of the ‘service charge’ as I suspect the ‘office’ swallows a fair proportion of the total paid. 

We need fairness - more power to your keyboard Mars! Regards, Toodles.

@terry1812 sorry didn’t mean to offend. That’s lucky their policy did overlap with your requirement. For me there was no need for repipe (22 & 15mm copper pipes throughout), so it seemed like insanity to insist on it. The surveyor was nice and understanding that’s that was a no go for me. Definitely the problem is management and their probable inability to let go of the gas in the company name.

@adrian No offence. I just wanted to balance the discussion. What I find interesting though is how it seems often to depend on the surveyor and who you talk to. While Octopus told me they didn’t do full re-pipes, I have seen many people who did get a full repipe from Octopus. At the same time, your surveyor said it was their standard to do a full repipe, but there are many people who did not have a full repipe from BG. A very mixed picture, which seems to be par for the course with everything heat pump related!

I had a Daikin 8kw installed by Octopus in September.

I took out their £9 a month plan which covers warranty and an annual service for 5 years.

The 1st year is free.

I also took out the optional plan for a one off cost of £221 which increases the warranty for a further 2 years, 7 years in total.

Reading the charges on here for an annual service cost  I think the octopus deal is quite cheap.

@njt Yes, I think that the OE deal is what others should be levelling down to; it seems reasonable and realistic to me. Toodles.

Posted by: @njt

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I had a Daikin 8kw installed by Octopus in September.

I took out their £9 a month plan which covers warranty and an annual service for 5 years.

The 1st year is free.

I also took out the optional plan for a one off cost of £221 which increases the warranty for a further 2 years, 7 years in total.

Reading the charges on here for an annual service cost  I think the octopus deal is quite cheap.

That is a good deal, I like the extended warranty bit too.

Posted by: @njt

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I took out their £9 a month plan which covers warranty and an annual service for 5 years.

The 1st year is free.

That's a far more reasonable price. I'll be curious to see how your first service goes later this. Please post an update when it happens.

£168 a year from our installer.  I don’t think that’s to bad.  Maybe I’m wrong. 

@drew-pa that’s one of the cheaper ones so far.

@njt I paid my installer £330 for about 90 minutes work which did include washing the outside of the HP!

i am wondering if Octopus would offer their service plan to HPs not installed by them?

if not there’s a gap in the market for an enterprising and competent independent servicing company. 

think ill be looking at local people that can do mine when its installed. im quite competent to do it myself but doubt Vaillant would see it that way. so will be in the maintenance eco system until the warranty expires at least.

for comparison my Intergas service about 7 years ago including stripping the thing down to clean the heat exchanger was £50. last year i had it checked but not stripped as would require a new seal £75. this is the sort of price id expect for what essentially seems to be a quick clean of the heat exchanger and some box ticking.