Halifax home emergency - pointless cover.

jakebullet64

Hi all, i wanted to share my experience of the poor service from Halifax, Axa as part of the home emergency cover offered to their ultimate reward account holders.


Reference numbers;

Axa – via Halifax– a16512

Halifax– 08451 21 14 00

Help-link – 0113 238 5130


I wish to express my discontentwith the service offered by Halifax/ Axa as part of an Ultimate reward account.The service expected differs greatly to the service I have received. The amountof time my wife and I have been left waiting for repairs, calls andcommunication in general leaves a lot to be desired.

30.01.13 – Statement [1] I returned from work and wasinformed by my wife that there was no hot water and the heating won’t come on.I looked at the boiler and the red light was flashing. I filled the boiler asper the user manual found on the Glow worm website. I found that the hot waterwas running luke-warm and the pressure within the boiler was droppingregularly. I called Halifaxultimate reward a/c benefits and spoke to Saeed, who logged the job. Saeed asked whether there were any children at the address to whichI informed that I had my 13 year-old son. Sayid asked whether there was anyonewith a disability / illness. I informed him that my wife has MS (multiplesclerosis). Later that evening I had a call from help-link to inform that therewas no-one available to attend tonight and that someone will attend in themorning.


31.01.13.Chris, an engineer from help-link attended. He informed my wife that he was nothere to repair the boiler but to write a report. There has been no clarity fromHalifaxregarding this step in the process. The wording of the benefits and theimpression given by the information available from Halifax implied that the repair would be madeswiftly. Chris advised that to reduce the number of times needed to refill theboiler to turn the heating temp down on the boiler to half way.


From page 25 of the Ultimate reward accountbooklet.

‘From a burstpipe to a break-in, home emergencies can happen to anyone. And you can betthey’ll

happen at the most inconvenient time. But as anUltimate Reward Current Account holder, you can

relax, safe in the knowledge that you’re alreadycovered for a wide range of emergencies. A home

emergency is a sudden, unexpected event which needsimmediate action in order to make your home

safe or secure, avoid damage or more damage, make yourhome fit to live in or restore electricity, gas

or water.’



From page 83, T&C of the cover indicated that a homeemergency is defined as, Please note item 3!!

Home Emergency

A sudden event that was not expected by anyof Your Family

and which needs immediate action to:

• make the Home safe or secure

• avoid damage or more damage to Your Home

• make Your Home fit to live in

• restore electricity, gas or water services to Your Home if

they have totallyfailed.



01.02.13. Statement [2]. I received no contact at all fromanyone today. Therefore I called the number for help-link and was informed thatthe report had been written and sent to Halifax/Axa. From here-on-in I was sentfrom pillar to post to various call operatives who either didn’t know what thenext step was or was sure that it was someone else’s problem. Eventually I wasput through to axa and on two occasions I sat in a virtual queue for an amountof time of between 5-20 mins. On both occasions I opted to have a call back andentered all the required details. On both occasions I did not have a call back.



02.02.13. No calls were made / received on Saturday



03.02.13. No calls were made / received on Sunday



On 04.02.13 I called Halifaxand spoke to ‘Emma’. On this occasion I informed Emma of Statements [1] &[2]. Emma took all the details and promised to call me back with arepresentative from Axa on the line. After about 30mins Emma called back and Iwas put through to ‘Silver’; who informed me that the engineers reportindicated that we needed a Power-flush and therefore this made the agreementinvalid. I explained to Silver statements [1], [3] & [4]. I was informedthat we should have had a filter fitted, something until now I’d never heardof, please see Statement [5]. After a period of time and being informed bysilver that she is not an engineer I was advised to get back in touch withHelp-link.





05.02.13. Telephone call to Julie @ help-link. InformedJulie that Axa has advised that I have a power-flush done. I was calling toenquire whether help-link provides this service. Julie informed that shebelieved that they do but there was nothing on the engineers report to indicatethat this was needed!! Julie stated that the engineers report indicated a blockedexpansion vessel due to debris and a blocked heat exchanger. I informed Juliethat regardless of the decision by Halifax / Axa and that the boiler continuedto provide only luke-warm water and the house was cold due to the heatinghaving to be turned down I needed to have the boiler repaired. Julie statedthat she would speak to an engineer and collate some prices and call me backlater.



05.02.13 – voicemail received from Julie @ Help-link toinform that she has the prices and could I call her on 06.02.13



06.02.13 – t/c to help-link and spoke to Julie, Julieinformed that she has spoken to several colleagues and ascertained thatinhibitor would be used to reduce the chances of debris building up in thesystem. Julie had also collected the prices and factored in 4 hours labour. Thetotal cost would be £782.47p. The parts ordered would include a PRV, Expansionvessel, heat exchanger and a magnaclean filter.



06.02.13. Telephone call to Halifax / Axa. Spoke to Claire.Discussed with Claire statements [1] –[6]. Claire stated that she can do one oftwo things, 1, call Help-link to ascertain the details or 2, escalate this to amanager. I requested that the case is escalated as I feel that Halifax / Axahave failed me and my wife.



06.02.13. Telephone call received by my wife at approx1510hrs from ‘Abigail’ @ Axa. Requested Abigail to call back at around 1545hrswhen I would be back from collecting the children from school. No further callswere received.



07.02.13. 0800hrs.Telephone call to British gas. Informedthem of my previous custom and of statement [1]. Arranged for an engineer toattend today between 10-2pm. The engineer attended at 0945hrs. began strippingdown the boiler and by 1300hrs was finished, having installed a magnet filter,cleaned and replaced the heat exchanger and pipe to the expansion vessel. Therewas no need to touch or replace the expansion vessel as this was not defectivewhatsoever!! The boiler was serviced and the heating and hot water are nowfully operational. The cost?? £300!!!



07.02.13. 1030hrs. Telephone call to Axa via HalifaxUltimate reward number. Spoke to Emma. Details left and was advised I wouldhave a call back within 10-15 mins. At 1645hrs, I’m still waiting for the call.



07.02.13. 1100hrs. Telephone call to Help-link, Spoke toJulie, informed that British gas have attended today and are currently in theprocess of repairing the boiler. Requested refund for payment made yesterdayand agreed for job to be cancelled.



07.02.13. 1630hrs. Telephone call to Axa via HalifaxUltimate reward number. Waited for 10mins and then decided to use the call backservice.



07.02.13. 1640hrs. Telephone call to Local Halifax branch tospeak to the manager to inform of the appalling service I have received as a Halifax customer and of thepathetic level of communication from Axa. Manager not available, advised by hercolleague to write a letter to the branch as there was no email available.



As you can see from the details above, there is a clearcontradiction between Axa and help-link regarding the power-flush. There is nomention in any of the T&C’s that a filter is required / necessary. My wife and I feel let down by Halifax / Axa.The situation is apparent that you are happy to receive payments for ‘insurancecover’ but when the time comes to make a claim you are quick to pass the buck.



As you may be able to see, since we began banking with Halifax we have taken outseveral accounts, current, credit cards, young persons saving and onlinesavings. Our credit history is good and we put all of our money into yourproducts. We would have been long term customers (I last banked with Lloydsfrom 1994 – 2012!!).



Due to the above fiasco created by Axa and compounded by Halifax. I am seriouslyconsidering moving all of my money and accounts to anywhere away from HBOS /Halifax.



I expect to get what I pay for and then some.



I would like Halifax / Axa to reverse the decision not topay for the repairs, after all you’re only going to pay ‘upto £250 towards thecosts’ that still leaves me with £532.47p to find. But the £250 would havehelped and would have secured my custom for years to come.





Below are the Statements, I have formatted it this way toreduce repetition.



Statement [3] the current boiler, a glow worm 24ci wasfitted about 3 ½ - 4 years ago by British Gas. The boiler was fitted to replacea saunier duval combi, which had failed due to several issues caused by debris.The British gas engineers power-flushed the system, fitted the new boiler andadded inhibitor to the system.



Statement [4] after the new boiler was fitted we took outcover with British Gas called priority response. This cover was stopped inJanuary 2012 when we took out a Halifaxaccount and the ultimate rewards benefits - a decision I am currently regretting.



Statement [5] at no point were we advised by any engineersto fit a filter / magnet etc either during the annual services.



Statement [6] please note that the cover offered by Halifax ultimate rewardaccount does not offer an annual service such as the cover provided by BritishGas.

08.02.13. 1040hrs. Telephone call from Ella Bliss @ Halifaxcomplaints, acknowledging my complaint made last night via the Halifax website. Ella took details andadvised that this would be escalated to Specialist complaints to handle.



08.02.13. Telephone call from Matt @ Halifax complaints. Matt stated that he hasread the details of the complaint and recognised that there has been an amountof distress caused by the episode. Matt stated that there are a number ofdetails that needed to be explored by Axa and on behalf of Halifax offered £35 compensation. I Thanked Matt for the offer but declined,stating that Halifax and Axa have let me and my wife down right at the point weneeded the service. I informed Matt that we had been left waiting for adecision and had to do a lot of the chasing myself. Matt concluded that aletter would be sent detailing our conversation and me declining the £35.



08.02.13. Telephone call from Paul Keller @ Help-link. Paulstated that he has read my complaint, which was sent via email with interestand concluded that there are a number of training needs identified for theengineer, Chris. Paul stated that Axa are clear that they will not pay forrepairs due to sludge or needing a power flush. Paul stated that there are anumber of communication errors which they can learn from. Paul offered toforward my complaint letter to Axa, which I agreed to. I informed Paul thatBritish Gas arrived at 0945hrs yesterday after I called them at 0800hrs and by1300hrs the boiler was up and running. Paul stated that this may be something Help-linkcould learn from as they intend to repair on the initial visit. We discussed asto why parts were quoted for and clearly not needed as BG didn’t need toinstall these to repair the boiler. Paul then repeated that BG had conducted a‘Temporary Repair’.

We concluded with Paul stating that he would be interestedinto Axa’s opinion of the situation.

jonesMUFCforever

I have only read first paragragh - where you say that water was luke warm etc etc.
Home emergency IMO (I get mine from Lloyds same stable) is for when you have no heating/hot water whatsoever not when it does not work properly.
So IMO you needed a plumber or central heating cover such as B gas etc.
As I say I haven't read the rest of your War and Peace post.

SuperHan

tl;dr - maybe a summary would be more useful?

somalt

Please feel free to correct me if I have misunderstood anything in your wall of text.
You have home home insurance with Halifax underwritten by AXA. There is a Home emergency cover provided by Help-line.
You had a problem with your boiler and contacted Help-line, they came out and advised you how to minimise the problem (Ie turn it down so you needed to fill it less often.) They sent a report on the problem to AXA who wouldn't help as the problem isn't due to an insured event. Help-line wouldn't cover you beyond the first visit.
And British Gas came and fixed it for £300.

The part of the complaint I think maybe justified is the delays in telling you that it wouldn't be covered.

But, the policy parts you've quoted talk about home emergency if for example there is a leaking pipe, and as I understand it there wasn't. They also refer to"total failure" of services such as gas. From your post the boiler was working, just not as well as it should so I can understand why they wouldn't agree it's a home emergency.

Usually with home emergency cover, they attend and if there is for example a leaking pipe and carry out temporary repairs. Those policies don't normally cover for permanent repairs or maintenance.

I think maybe you are saying that you had boiler cover with British Gas and thought this Home Emergency cover would be the same thing. But it isn't.

But perhaps I have missed something in all that detail.

On_My_Lonesome

AXA also underwrite my home emergency policy and the 2 times I have had to call them have both resulted in complaints. They cannot even handle complaints correctly and within FOS guidelines.

I must admit I didn't make it to the end of your mammoth post but just wanted to let you know you are not the only one unhappy with them and that although it took an age i did finally get a resolution from them both times.


Good Luck their service ranks just above Virgin who in my experience have the worst service ever imaginable.