Home emergency/Homecare cover

athlete76

I have had british gas homecare 400 cover for the last 4 years and I have been very happy with their service. However, the cost of this service has now went up to £27 a month. Quite expensive. While researching other products. The best product I could find was for swinton at £59 a year! Phoned up to find out more information and they offered the same service for £49.

http://home.swinton.co.uk/home_emergency/

Most other insurers apart from british gas seem to only offer up to £500 worth of labour/repairs. They offer up to £750 repairs.

Seems a good deal. Any thoughts?

gazza975526570

With the Homecare you get the cover of repair of the actual boiler. On the swinton website it doesnt state and advising to call for full details. I would imagine this isnt covered as repairs/replacement boilers are so very expensive.

You also get the yearly inspection with the BG oneI guess it depends on what your actual requirements and needs are.

You need to be carefull with some of these products as lots of them will be covered through your Home Insurance - however the plus size you generally have no xs with these services

athlete76

I think the actual boiler covered but I would have to phone to confirm. Homecare only covers some replacement parts for your boiler not the boiler itself. If they cant fix it you would have to pay for a new boiler.

Paul_Varjak

athlete76 wrote:

I think the actual boiler covered but I would have to phone to confirm. Homecare only covers some replacement parts for your boiler not the boiler itself. If they cant fix it you would have to pay for a new boiler.

I depends on the age of the boiler. Under seven years and I think they will replace it free of charge.

Paul_Varjak

athlete76 wrote:

I have had british gas homecare 400 cover for the last 4 years and I have been very happy with their service. However, the cost of this service has now went up to £27 a month. Quite expensive. While researching other products. The best product I could find was for swinton at £59 a year! Phoned up to find out more information and they offered the same service for £49.

http://home.swinton.co.uk/home_emergency/

Most other insurers apart from british gas seem to only offer up to £500 worth of labour/repairs. They offer up to £750 repairs.

Seems a good deal. Any thoughts?

I laughed at the following quote in the Swinton Policy:

"Problems with your property's gas supply can be dangerous if not fixed correctly, that's why all the gas tradesmen used within this policy are CORGI registered."

The fact is they use CORGI registered gas tradesmen because it is a legal requirement!

You aslo have to remember that the BG product is maintenance and insurance contract - the Swinton policy has insurance but no regular maintenance is offered.

jythlk

Hi

Its same what I thought. Swinton has the worst services. I have been a customer and called week before last for a boiler failure. I am still waiting without heating and hot water. I requested a manager so I can explain. Still no calls from manager. Earliest next engineers' visit that they can guarantee is six days after. What a emergency service this is. They are lying over the phone. Their service is crap. Think twice before you sign up for them.

Cheers

jythlk

Swinton has cheated my money. Becareful

markeymark

stumbled upon this old thread whilst surfing for details of swintons home emergency cover

first of all can i say this is a total joke

my situation is came back to my property yesterday morning to find bathroom flooded with water and excrement, i called home emergency at 11.00am to advise of problem a tradesman arrives at 6.30pm with his rod, spends 5 mins with it then says due to health and safety he cannot use his hose (or whaever its called!) then states its a scottish water problem and to call them, i call them and they are very helpful, at 9.30pm they call me back and apologise as they cant get anyone out till today.

Im back on phone to home emergency and get the worst manager possible to speak to, explained the situation and say that because my flat is uninhabitable i should be allowed hotel accomodation for myself and my girlfriend, she refuses this saying its down to scottish water to find me accomodation!! I then go on to explain i havenet been able to use any facilities since 11.00 am, and asked what i should do, she then went on to say if i wanted a wash to fill my sink, i asked what i do with the water when finished, she says just drain it as normal, i remind her that my drain is completely blocked and would just come back up, she then suggest i just leave the water in the sink!! Then i ask what about if i need toilet, she then says use it but dont flush it!! Totally incompetent woman im thinking. I then realise im fighting a losing battle and decide to admit defeat and end the call. I then have to get my workclothes and myself and girlfriend stay at her parents.

Ok, now today I get home from work and scottish water is at my property to meet me, he advises me that i am in fact responsible for this drain and not them as its on my boundary, the guy couldnt have been nicer to me and says he hears this kind of thing all the time with insurance companies. I then contact Environmental health and report this problem regarding raw sewage, ive to call him tomorrow and he is going to come out and inspect things

i then contact my local swinton branch and update them of whole situation, she says she will contact home emergency and get them to call me still waiting at 8.00pm! so i call them at 8.15pm, after telling my details guy puts me on hold, i then ask to speak to a manager, she comes on and starts babling on how they have a report from the plumber they sent out last night saying its scottish water's prob etc, i halt her there and advise of everything that scottish water says to me, she continues to try talk over me and cut me off while talking, she then says because i live in a flat they are not liable for this problem!! I try hold my composure and explain to her that i have had no facilites since 11.00am yesterday morning, she says its in my policy about this exclusion, not having one to hand i ask if she could email me it, she says they cannot do that! I ask her to post it then, he refuses this also and advises me to go back to my local swinton branch!!

Im totally scunnered by this whole situation, am i being unreasonable in expecting them to sort this out? especialy as i pay extra for the home emergency scheme

any advice would be appreciated folks

snapzan

DO NOT BUY TIS POLICY.
I took out a “Home Emergency Policy” with Swinton, at that time they were using Homeserve to make the necessary repairs. An engineer was called out around march 2010 to repair an existing fault on my boiler (previous engineers had failed to repair leaking diverter valve). Instead of fixing the fault properly the engineer said to Swinton I needed a Powerflush as my system was very in a bad state and that was the reason why the diverter valve kept failing. However he too changed the valve and carried out a service on my boiler. I phoned Swinton to ask what a powerflush was they explained and told me I needed to get this done, they also informed if I did not know any good plumbers they could recommend one in my area as a Powerflush was seen as remedial work not covered on the policy.[FONT=&quot]Unbeknownst to me the valve was still leaking this is when I phoned up Swinton a few times (who were now using AXA) to complain. They rudely reinterated to me that I was told I needed a Powerflush because my system was bad, and refuse to look at the leak until I carried out this work .I explained I just wanted someone to look at work done as it was guaranteedfor a few months.They kept on saying Powerflush first,and reiterated they had listened to recorded telephone conversations where I had been told to get Powerflush. They even told me to do the work if it is proven you did not need a Powerflush then we will reimbursed you, I told them I cannot afford it. They said rudely no further work will not be carried out based on the engineer report. I went to the local Swinton branch where I brought the policy t o complain quite a number of times they constantly phoned up on my behalf (Probably more than 10 times)so I had a witness and also because the customer services department were completely awful and rude. Basically money was tight and in December when we had that awful weather my system developed yet another fault. This was the icing on the cake for I live with an eldery sickly parents.I had the powerflush which cost just over £430 and time off work. To my horror the engineer told me my system was very clean, and a powerflush should not have been carried out, he even put this on his report. To add insult to injury they could not get someone to fix my boiler and told me they would reimburse me if I found my own engineer. I had been making contact with customer services through my local Swinton branch, as I needed witnesses, so they were doing all the phoning and passing the information to me. Done the work another £410 , £840 in total on 29th December. I have been trying ever since to be reimbursed , fed up of going to Swinton as they have probably denied my existence. I have had arguments with rude customer services telling I did work off my own back. The worst thing of all I cant find my annual service document [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]and AXA keeps asking me for, have phoned Homeserve but say they cant find it.(have the one 2010-2011 but not[/FONT]
For 2009-2010). I formally wrote a letter of complaint to AXA in February but the matter is still pending…..
They keep denying they told me to carry out unnecessary work, I did it off my own back they said!!!
[FONT=&quot]I am completely frustrated with the rude telephone calls ,emails denials and sheer procrastination by this company. :mad::mad:
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]I WENT ON ANOTHER SITE AND SOMEONE MENTIONED TO MAKE A COMPLAINT THROUGH THE FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN AS IT COST SWINTON/ AXA £500. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I INTEND TO DO. ALWAYS GET CORRESPONDENCE VIA EMAIL OR LETTER BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO LEG TO STAND UPON WHEN THINGS ARE SAID OVER THE PHONE:money:
[/FONT]

vaio

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

I laughed at the following quote in the Swinton Policy:

"Problems with your property's gas supply can be dangerous if not fixed correctly, that's why all the gas tradesmen used within this policy are CORGI registered."

The fact is they use CORGI registered gas tradesmen because it is a legal requirement!.........

and it's been "Gas Safe" rather than CORGI for the last couple of years

kingstreet

vaio wrote: »

and it's been "Gas Safe" rather than CORGI for the last couple of years

To be fair, the post you replied to was from 2007!