Home SOS Domestic Emergency Cover - Absolute Nightmare!

nicolethai1

Hi, just wondering whether anyone has any experience of this company?

We have a Barclays Additions Plus account which covers lots of things (including domestic emergency) and I understand Barclays switched their domestic emergency provider recently to Home SOS.

9 days ago our boiler stopped working and we called this company. The next day an engineer came out but in a hire van with absolutely no parts. After a cursory glance at the boiler (took about 2 mins) he said that the fan had gone and he'd have to order a new one for us.

Since that time I have spent many many hours on the phone to the company trying to find out where the part is/when they might be able to fit it. We have had no heating or hot water for all this time. I have 2 children and my son has asthma and I am concerned that he might become ill (which I have explained to them). Many callbacks have been promised but none have been forthcoming...I have had to chase them day and night to try to find out what is going on.

On Monday morning I was told that they had the part but that it might take 2 days for an engineer to fit it! A few hours later, I called back but I was then told that the part was not in fact in.

Yesterday I was told that an engineer had been booked to fit the part that afternoon. When they didn't show I called up, only to be told that they had no idea why I was told that, and that they still didn't know where the part was. :mad:

In frustration I have joined British Gas Homecare (although obviously they wouldn't be responsible for this pre-existing fault). I got BG to come and do their initial inspection this morning...after a thorough inspection it turns out that Home SOS had misdiagnosed the fault..the fan is fine, but it's the circuit board that is faulty. In fact the BG engineer could smell a slight burning and has turned the boiler off for safety reasons...so if the fan had been fitted, we could have been at risk! BG have quoted about £330 to replace the board, which they are able to do straight away as they have all the parts.

I have lodged an official complaint with Barclays (since Monday) but so far have got nowhere and have been told that I need to take it up with the company direct (I guess I haven't been trying hard enough, eh?)

I'm so stressed and at my wits end and have now issued an ultimatum that it Home SOS can't fit the correct part by end of play on Friday then we will get BG to do it. Either they should pay for it (as they are not in a position to meet their responsibilities) or if not then I have said that we will pay for it (which we can ill afford) and then take them to the Small Claims Court to recover the money plus expenses. Am still waiting for their response!

Any thoughts/advice/similar experiences?

Many thanks!

Gerrard_8_lfc

Instead of paying £330 wht dont you just go for repair and care ?

£99 repair included parts and labour then £20 a month with basically the same cover as a homecare 200 ?

Just a thought

nicolethai1

Thanks Gerrard - I hadn't heard about this option.

Luckily my hardball tactics have finally worked with Home SOS - after several more conversations this morning they finally agreed to send an engineer out today with both parts.

He has just left and the boiler is now working again. HOORAY!!

It turns out that Home SOS were wrong - it was the PCB board as the British Gas engineer had said.

Any other Barclays customers out there - please be warned and don't rely on their dreadful excuse for domestic emergency cover!

Thank goodness I didn't have to shell out £330!:T

Kat001

I have just come across this after doing a search as i am going through the same problem.
Wednesday last week my boiler just stopped working, no power into it at all. After calling around to a few friends one of them confirmed to me it was the PCB.
I then called HOME SOS as i have an additions plus account with Barclays to log the fault. I explained to them that i had no heating and hot water. I also explained what it was that was wrong and asked if the engineers carried parts. It was confirmed to me on that call that they did carry parts and after expalining the urgency i was told an engineer would come out to me as a first call.
I sat at home waiting all day, i made a call at 11.00 to chase and told it could be until 6.00pm that evening until a engineer arrived on site, after not hearing anything again by 3.00 that afternoon i called them again.
An hour later i received a call from the engineer who said he would be with me in an hours time. When he arrived i asked where he had been as i was promised a morning call, he showed me his phone where he had received my details at 3.15. I also explained that it was the PCB and after a 2 minute look over he agreed that the part broken was the PCB. He tole me at that point they do not carry parts (RED FACED NOW) i then asked when the part would be available. The engineer puts a call in to the office and he then tells me that the part would be ordered then and would arrive in Aylesbury the following morning at 7.30, at that point then he would come back and install.
On friday i heard nothing so by lunch time i called them to see what time the engineer would be coming to replace the part... GUESS WHAT! They hadnt even ordered it! I get told it could be 3 - 5 days for this part to arrive...
After reading your above case i am going to call them again and persist until i have some information, I am also going to make an official complaint.
Thank you for making me aware of these clowns, i will now also look into alternative cover options.

macman

Don't look into any alternative care options. if your boiler or CH breaks down, call a recommended local independent RGI who will most likely give you prompt service and at a much lower price than BG Homecare, Home SOS or any of the others.
All a complete waste of money. Put your monthly sub into a savings account and that will easily pay for an annual service and a call out should you need one.

jcorbygas

Full agreement with Macman - find yourself (by word of mouth ie asking neighbours, friends) a good ENGINEER and get your boiler serviced by them annually and as per our working methods, if you have any problems during the year they will come out asap (on the same day generally) order parts if required, which we get by the next day and come and fit it for you that day.
Save up what you would have paid BG or similar for a contract and then if parts are needed you have the money there or if nothing goes wrong you can put the savings towards a new boiler in the future (ie when your existing one is actually totally irrepairable and not just coz you are told you will save money on your gas bill!)

Pincher

Find yourself a good engineer :rotfl:

It's about on a par with "find yourself a good woman":
it ain't that easy.

I have one whom I always try to get to come if at all possible. He can charge what he thinks is right, and I'm always ready with tea and rush out to get parts so he doesn't waste time. And I still end up having to find somebody else because he is just so in demand.

lapto

Kat001 wrote: »

I have just come across this after doing a search as i am going through the same problem.
Wednesday last week my boiler just stopped working, no power into it at all. After calling around to a few friends one of them confirmed to me it was the PCB.
I then called HOME SOS as i have an additions plus account with Barclays to log the fault. I explained to them that i had no heating and hot water. I also explained what it was that was wrong and asked if the engineers carried parts. It was confirmed to me on that call that they did carry parts and after expalining the urgency i was told an engineer would come out to me as a first call.
I sat at home waiting all day, i made a call at 11.00 to chase and told it could be until 6.00pm that evening until a engineer arrived on site, after not hearing anything again by 3.00 that afternoon i called them again.
An hour later i received a call from the engineer who said he would be with me in an hours time. When he arrived i asked where he had been as i was promised a morning call, he showed me his phone where he had received my details at 3.15. I also explained that it was the PCB and after a 2 minute look over he agreed that the part broken was the PCB. He tole me at that point they do not carry parts (RED FACED NOW) i then asked when the part would be available. The engineer puts a call in to the office and he then tells me that the part would be ordered then and would arrive in Aylesbury the following morning at 7.30, at that point then he would come back and install.
On friday i heard nothing so by lunch time i called them to see what time the engineer would be coming to replace the part... GUESS WHAT! They hadnt even ordered it! I get told it could be 3 - 5 days for this part to arrive...
After reading your above case i am going to call them again and persist until i have some information, I am also going to make an official complaint.
Thank you for making me aware of these clowns, i will now also look into alternative cover options.

Had the same poor service. Does anybody know what I can do apart from sending my complain to the appropriate body (and i'm not even sure which body I need to contact since this is not a "bank-related" problem). Anyway, here my experience:

Monday my boiler (electric only) broke. Opened a case with HomeSoS on Monday at 8PM and was told someone would call me back within 1 hour. Nobody did.
I called the following day at 8AM and was told that somebody would come after 5PM. At 6PM I enquired with HomeSOS, they told me that the engineer was definitely supposed to come so I requested a call back by the engineer. At 7.30PM the engineer calls me to tell me that he won’t be arriving at my place today. So I call HomeSoS to tell them that nobody is coming, my boiler is broken and have no hot water. They insist that somebody is coming. So, I trust them and wait. Two hours later, I call back HomeSOS and they told me that somebody is definively supposed to come today (8.30PM this time). I inform the person that nobody is coming today!!! The guy calls the service provider and tells me that the service provider will call me back. I ask to speak to a manager. There is no manager. I ask to speak to the escalation point. there is no escalation point! I can only open a complain which will be actioned in 48hours. (This is an emergency service by the way!)
You cannot imagine how much angry I was at that time but tomorrow is a new day ;-)
So, here’s the log from the second day (today):
Called at 7.30. Somebody is coming. You will receive a call back by 9.30
Called them at 10 (was told they would call me back by 9.30). As usual, they are sorry and they repeat the same thing. By the way, by now I probably opened 20000 complaints with Barclays. Did not hear from them.
Called at 12.30. A new engineer has been assigned!!!
Called a 2. Somebody is supposed to come today between 12 and 6. I ask to receive a call back from the engineer. Won’t hear from any engineer on second day.
Called at 3.30. Same as above
Called at 5.30 (was told that the engineer is supposed to call me. “They just sent him a text message”)
Called at 6 and was told that engineer was calling as we speak. Don't hear from anybody.
Call Barclays on a different number to see if I can get somebody to chase this for me (0800 282 390 from barclays site]). Different type of apologies, same joke. Problem not solved.
Called at 7.30, somebody is coming! Yahoo!
At 8 I receive a call that the van of the engineer is broke but another van is on the way and will be at my place by 9.30!
Called them (calling now one of the intermediate companies as I got their number from previous call) at 9.20 to tell them that nobody is here. They tell me to wait 20 extra minutes. I request a call back (still spending time and money on this joke)
Don’t hear from them at 9.50 so I call them. They tell me the engineer does not answer the phone and she wants to speak to her manager to see how we can progress…

Rest of story? Don’t know yet since it’s happening today. I’m disappointed, frustrated and won’t touch anything from Barclays anymore! Ever!!! I now officially hate this company and will try my best to keep away people from its service and always highlight all these failings which by the way I believe is mis-selling. They don’t have any escalation point, they don’t have any emergency procedures? How can they claim this is an emergency service?

By the way, this is not the first time I use one of the service offered by Barclays. My feedback:
Solitors: another joke.
Car repair. Only ok service. Called them twice and apart from a small delay everything was ok.
HomeSoS (before it was called HomeSoS): had another problem almost 2 year ago. The plumber came but didn’t solve the problem because he had no easy access to the pipe (I live in a new flat where everything in my en-suite is cramped in 4 square meters). In the end I had to call my building insurance and fill a claim but at least the plumber stopped the leak in 10 minutes without destroying the toilet (as the HomeSoS plumber suggested!)

Please, for you mental health, stay away from Barclays!

Pincher

It's so good to vent, isn't it?
There, there, nobody will use Barclays ever again.
I closed my Barclaycard 15 years ago, and life goes on.

lapto

yes, it is very good to vent it saves me money I would have spent on psychotherapy after using this service.

PS called them this morning already 3 times and the only thing they told me is that somebody is coming today (same line as yesterday and the day before).

Does anybody know if I can ask for compensation for all the days I had to spend at home?

Pincher

I'm fairly sure there was a case a few weeks ago where somebody did get his money for time wasted . Had to go to court, I think.