How are HomeServe still in business

keystone · 21 April 2011 at 8:54AM

yangmeily wrote: »

I rang the call centre and asked if I had the right dept. to cancel my cover.

and they said?

Cheers

frightnurse_88 · 31 May 2011 at 2:09PM

When my Homeserve Plumbing and drainage cover came up for automatic renewal in March of this year. I rang Homeserve to say I would not be renewing with them as the service I had had on two occasions in the preceding year had been unacceptable. I then was persuaded to carry on with them by being offered a huge discount on my premium. Being a pensioner on limited income this was a tempting offer and I decided to give them another chance. Wrong move!

Early May I found that the upstairs stop taps for the central heating
were weeping and decided to call out Homeserve. Fitter came , fixed them, 10 minutes of a job, easily accessible and he did not even have to turn off the water.

Result? I had TWO CLAIMS applied to my policy leaving me with no leaks cover for the rest of the year.

I thought perhaps a little discretion could have been applied here as I pointed out that if it had been a massive burst and taken hours or days it would only have been ONE claim. Was told policy states Two leaks = two claims. No argument!

I then checked when my direct debit for my insurance was due and found to my disgust that I was still paying full premium and the promised discount had not been applied.

I rang to cancel my policy and was told that for another £3 per month on top of the £10.66 I could have unlimited call outs.

No thank you! I said Sorry but I don't trust you anymore.

I am now with British Gas. Let's hope I do better with them. Fingers crossed.
And I am looking seriously at joining a simple plumbing course at the local college.

johnnytheshark · 31 May 2011 at 3:17PM

I am having the same problem as yourself with Homeserve.......should I hold out and try and get them to pay for the new parts as per the T & C's and only pay for the recommended Power Flush. I have been without a boiler now for over a week and it is not pleasant to live without hot water although I,m grateful its not snowing !!!!! Any suggestions???

s5cotty · 8 June 2011 at 10:10PM

Had a doorstep visit from Homeserve this evening. My 81yr old mum answered the door. The spiel...they were clearing the drains next-door and wanted to check if our drain was also blocked. She let them in and they had a look and said yes the drain was blocked but they could clear it for a price. She told me about this and I said to her not to allow them to do any work. If we have problems with drainage we will call someone ourselves. What I wanted to ask was is it common practice for this kind of doorstep call? Do you think they were genuinely concerned about a possible blockage at our home? Was it more likely to be a ruse to get some extra cash from a vulnerable lady? Was I just being paranoid? Should I have allowed the work to be carried out? Any thoughts on the subject welcome...

macman · 8 June 2011 at 10:15PM

Probably just going to ask cash and pocket it for themselves...a tactic usually employed by dodgy roofers working next door, who will offer to fix the 'slipped tile' (that they've just slipped before they knocked on the door) for a small cash sum.

dan909 · 10 June 2011 at 1:41PM

Hi guys,

I've read these forums and this thread in particular over the past few months and feel that it's time I told my story!

My issue is simply down to needing a Gas Safety Certificate for my property. To cut a very long story short, I needed this CP12 Certificate at the end of January 2011. After three visits from Homeserve where they refused to carry out the certificate until 'remedial work had been carried out' (a standard get out), I had my own engineer come out and sort it. By this time is was March 2011.
Six weeks and over twenty phone calls it took to resolve and it wasn't Homeserve that resolved it.

Homeserve will ALWAYS claim that 'you are not covered' and sadly it's up to you to prove that you are. My engineer told me that 'any decent engineer' would know that the work was covered (he used to do a bit of work for them).

Now here's the next part of the story; I raised a complaint stating that I would like to be reimbursed for the cost of the phonecalls to their call centre and also for the cost of the engineer who actually resolved the issue. The complaint was raised in March, it's now June. Go figure! I'm drafting another letter to Homeserve as well as a letter to the Financial Ombudsman.

I stopped paying for my policy whilst they investigated my complaint and they have now cancelled the policy. I would imagine will probably now not progress the complaint but I will not give up!

My boiler broke down shortly after Homeserve cancelled my policy. Typical! Or perhaps it's coincidental?!
I've asked the same engineer to go out and investigate and put in writing if he feels it's broken down due to an issue that should have been picked up in one of the three Homeserve visits. I feel this complaint may be escalated further...

welsman1 · 28 July 2011 at 12:13PM

An elderly friend of mine is currently being badgered by the Homeserve sales people trying to scare him over the cost of drain blockages electrical blow ups etc. I have had experience of Homeserve on two occasions; the first was a leak in the mains water pipe to the house under a cupboard in a kitchen unit. The leak was under the stop !!!! so it had to be turned off in the road. I had to call the water company to turn off the water as the Homeserve people wouldn't do it. I was told that on the phone. Then I found that the 'two hour response' was actually only to get someone to phone me up and tell me that no one was available until the following day.. when he did come the following afternoon the 'plumber' said that he had to have me sign an indemnity against him damaging anything otherwise he wouldn't play. I signed it and he proceeded to smash up the shelves in the cupboard and then knock the side panel off. He fixed the leak and then left. I had to get it all re built but it's still not the same. Oh and the leak came back after two weeks. This time a real plumber fixed it with no cupboard removal and no smashing anything. £45. I also had them come out on a previous occasion to a leak in a pipe above a hallway ceiling. Again the indemnity and this time it was a whole landing carpet up to work on an area of 3 square feet. Pipe boxing removed elsewhere - with a crowbar - and he left me with a bill for decorating and a carpet fitter. They are certainly a strange operation.

Surreygal1982 · 21 August 2011 at 11:20AM

Very unhappy with Homeserve - complete a boiler service - everything fine and safe - excellent!! More than two weeks later receive letter telling me I have to get "remedial" work carried out within 28 days!! Apparently the work isn't covered by my policy and my policy will not be reinstated until Homeserve receive proof the work has been carried out! What is the point of having cover if any work needed isn't covered anyway?!?! I have absolutely no idea how much this work will cost me and Homeserve haven't even suggested a reputable company who will do the work! Apparently my boiler isn't safe which is why the work needs to be carried out so quickly - well why didn't the engineer tell me that and why did they wait at least two weeks to inform me!! I have had previous problems with their "customer services" operators and this is the last straw! Somehow I think Homeserve will be losing my custom!!

macman · 21 August 2011 at 1:56PM

I bet they say that it needs a powerflush?
Cancel the useless policy and ue a local independent GSR RGI for future wok.

Foggyboy · 30 August 2011 at 9:05PM

DO NOT TOUCH HOMESERVE!!!!!!!!!!

They use subcontractors and pay them 40% less than their own jobs from say Yellow Pages. You are low priority and way down the list irrespective of how urgent your job is. Do you want no heat or hot water in the middle of winter?!

My story:
My boiler broke down 2weeks ago. Called Homeserve at 6.30pm one Thursday to say I had not heat or hot water and a 1yr old in the house so I needed urgent action. I was called at 9am the next day to say an engineer would be out between 9am-5pm that day. I was supposed to get a 30min phone call to say the engineer was on his way - nothing heard.

He turned up at 4.55 on Friday and was in the house for all of 2mins. I needed a part but the parts store closed early on a Friday. So he couldn't order it until MOnday morning and it can take 3-4 days. "So what am I supposed to do without hot water and a baby?" "Call Homeserve" was the reply.

I called Homeserve who simply told me there is nothing they can do without the part and the girl on the phone said "Tough". Superb customer service eh? I called on Monday (day 5 without the boiler) to make an official complaint and the boiler was fixed the next day when I mentioned that a relative works for a well-known national newspaper and would be happy to hear all about it. The boiler was fixed the next day but again between 9-5 (turned up at 3pm) and again all of 2mins in and out. I asked for my £50 call out charge back and have been repeatedly ignored. Therefore cancelled it and here I am.

Customer service is a joke - nasty staff, sub contractors who don't give a toss. Thats what your paying for!

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!! TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!!

How are HomeServe still in business

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