Npower Homecare 50 - Unhappy With Service Provided

Ladyshopper

I have just started my 3rd year on the above boiler/heating contract. So far so good, am just waiting for my 2nd year cashback to go into my account, as if you don't make any callouts you get half your payments back.

Which brings me to my current problem.....

Last week noticed a leak from a pipe in the airing cupboard. Phoned npower on Christmas Eve, described the problem in detail, and they said they could send an engineer on Boxing Day.

When the engineer came I was out, but my DS15 was in, and I had shown him problem. When I got home he told me engineer had been, said it wasn't covered under maintenance contract, and written this down on a piece of paper to show me.

Phoned Npower who re-iterated it wasnt covered, and it was in the terms and conditions what the exclusions were.

I dont' have ANY terms and conditions on the membership pack, nor was I sent any when my yearly renewal was sent through. When my boiler has its yearly service, they always have a quick look in the airing cupboard. I therefore had no reason to suspect this wasn't covered.

By having an engineer out, even though he was here less than 5 minutes and didn't do anything, I now lose my cashback for this year, costing me around £100.

My argument on the phone when I phoned to complain was that as I described the problem on the phone, it should have been pointed out to me that this was possibly an exlusion, and I therefore could have made an informed decision as to whether to have a callout. The woman kept referring me to the terms and conditions, which I kept pointing out I didn't have, nor were in my membership pack. She wasn't listening to what I was saying and kept repeating the same thing, so I thanked her for her help and politely terminated the call.

I am not happy, and think that Npower have been lacking in providing information, which has cost me more money, plus the further money I will need to find in order to get someone out to fix the problem. I think as a gesture of goodwill they should still pay out the cashback at the end of next year.

Has anyone had any similar problems, and what happened?

Do people think I have a point, or am I being unreasonable?

Any idea of who best to complain to?

HappyMJ

Boiler cover covers the boiler. You would need plumbing cover to cover the water pipes.

How much are you paying? £200 per year based on your cashback of £100. You would have been much better off calling a plumber. They would have fixed it for £50 or so (maybe not boxing day but they would have fixed it). There are plenty of exclusions in the product....http://www.npower.com/Home/Terms-and-conditions/Hometeamcareterms/index.htm

macman

Unless you can tell us what pipe was actually leaking, impossible to say if it's covered or not. A pipe in the airing cupboard is more likely to be part of the hot (or maybe cold) water systems, not necessarily the CH.
Obviously pipework is not covered at all under a boiler only contract, and a CH contract will mainly cover the CH circuit.
As above, to cover all your pipework would require a general plumbing contract
Edit: these are the components apparently covered-was it one of these? What is obviously excluded is any part of the cold water system, and the hot water system beyond the cylinder.

2.7 Central Heating System means the gas fired Central Heating System at the property including the Boiler and its Controls together with the pump, motorised valves, cylinder thermostat, time, temperature and pressure controls, radiator valves,radiators, pipe work, hot water cylinder feed and expansion tank and primary flueing.

Ladyshopper

HappyMJ wrote: »

Boiler cover covers the boiler. You would need plumbing cover to cover the water pipes.

How much are you paying? £200 per year based on your cashback of £100. You would have been much better off calling a plumber. They would have fixed it for £50 or so (maybe not boxing day but they would have fixed it). There are plenty of exclusions in the product....http://www.npower.com/Home/Terms-and-conditions/Hometeamcareterms/index.htm

And had I known this, then I would have done exactly that - called out a plumber and protected my cashback!

The leak is from a cold water combination valve on one of the pipes in the airing cupboard.

I had the exact same problem 5 years ago when I moved into the house. At this point I had a British Gas maintenance contract, similar thing, and they came out and fixed it straight away. Another reason I had no reason to suspect that this wouldn't be covered.

Obviously I am not a trained plumber/engineer, which is why I've had one of these contracts for years. Given the fact I had previously had it fixed (but with a different company), I had described the problem on the phone, and npower always look in the airing cupboard every year at service time, I genuinely had no reason to suspect I wasn't covered, and I feel this should have been pointed out to me. I guess thats why I'm cross, as it almost feels as it Npower deliberately witheld from telling me knowing that it was a possibility, and therefore meaning I lost my cashback.

macman

The cold water system is clearly not covered by that contract. What happened 5 years ago is that the engineer decided to fix a fault that wasn't covered, or that he didn't realise wasn't covered-or maybe just decided to fix it anyway because he was nice, and it was a small job.
If the hot water system is covered by the service contract then yes, they would look in the airing cupboard to check the hot tank, gate valves etc. That doesn't mean that every pipe in the airing cupboard is covered.

Ladyshopper

macman wrote: »

The cold water system is clearly not covered by that contract. What happened 5 years ago is that the engineer decided to fix a fault that wasn't covered, or that he didn't realise wasn't covered-or maybe just decided to fix it anyway because he was nice, and it was a small job.
If the hot water system is covered by the service contract then yes, they would look in the airing cupboard to check the hot tank, gate valves etc. That doesn't mean that every pipe in the airing cupboard is covered.

I accept that, but my point is, why didn't they tell me that on the phone?

ollski

There are terms and conditions for all contracts, unfortunately they are the same whether you have received them in written form or not. They will almost certainly be online aswell.
Your british gas contract would have covered a heap more, what you are really paying for is half the contract for half the price via a end of year refund.

macman

Ladyshopper wrote: »

I accept that, but my point is, why didn't they tell me that on the phone?

Because they don't know on the phone what the fault is?
You didn't know yourself what part of the system the leak was on, so how could the call centre bod know?

Ladyshopper

Just an update on this:

I complained in writing, and have been contacted today to say they are willing to reinstate the cashback, so am really pleased and think that they have shown great customer service in doing this.

In the meantime I have had the problem fixed, parts were very expensive, so cost me £237, so am even more grateful to have the cashback re-instated!