If you take out a gold or a platinum plan then it entitles you to an annual service. As an insurance plan then they are obliged to at least investigate the possibility of refunds if there is dual cover. I work for domestic and general customer services and I am usually very cynical but more often than not d+g will at the very least refund monies paid since the last renewal certificate was sent out. I can say that d+g are pretty good when it comes to this sort of thing...

I know that this post is quite old but just in case it benefits anyone now. The way it would work with Domestic and general is that provided you can send them proof of the dual cover so a document alluding to the british gas cover and a bank statement with the money going out then they have to refund you. Another helpful thing would be to call their customer services be nice to the agent and ask them to speak on their behalf to the accounts department (accounts won't speak directly with customers) if that doesn't work, raise it as a complaint and it will be investigated. Domestic and general are generally pretty good when it comes to these sort of things. I'm suprised this was what your mother was told...

Hi there, Be very careful when dealing with Harvey and Thompson as I had the great misfortune of taking out a payday loan with them. On top of unnecessary "holding fees" they used my account information to take out £560 from my account when I got paid despite my promise to pay them £100. Aparently this was all legal.