WARNING...Anglian Water Insurance.

Ken68

The water supply pipe insurance info that I in the mail this morning shows an offer of first year at £12 and no mention of resulting years costs. This I believe to be £60 p.a.
Yet anyone signing the direct debit form without checking is in for shock later on.
Anglian Water would do well to ditch HOMESERVE.

HomeServe_company_representative

Hi Ken68

Thank you for your feedback, which we always welcome. For clarity, you will find the second year pricing clearly displayed in the “things you need to know” section of the material – positioned immediately above the part a Customer would complete if they wished to apply for the product. We also talk about this section and its importance throughout the material. It’s also worth advising that we give all Customers details of their renewal which includes the price prior to their renewal date.

If you have any further concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. You can find our contact details on our profile page.

Kind regards
Dana
Here To Help Team
HomeServe

Ken68

Yes you are right, Dana, tis in the small print.
It would be more obvious on the Reply Form.

macman

More to the point, why would anyone need this ridiculous cover anyway?

Cardew

macman wrote: »

More to the point, why would anyone need this ridiculous cover anyway?

Especially given the company's reputation!


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1780007


In this area(Severn Trent) every property gets a 'flyer' addressed to 'The Householder.'


The Severn Trent Services motif figures prominently on this flyer and customers can easily be fooled into thinking it is an official Severn Trent service.


Yet further down in the small print you can read that Home Serve is not part of Severn Trent - they only introduce the product.


You can also read that Severn Trent may repair your water supply pipe free of charge.


The list of General Exclusions paragraphs 'a' to 'p' give Homeserve every opportunity to decline a repair in lots of situations.


IMO the whole Homeserve set-up is little short of a disgrace; and Severn Trent are also culpable for giving the firm credibility.

matelodave

I keep getting invites from HomeServe or Anglian Water to take up this amazing offer, but as far as I know AW don't do free repairs - well they didn't last year when I had a leak. The AW engineer handed me another invite to join when he checked my meter
However, when I checked my house insurance, I was already covered so paying extra for a Homeserve policy would have been a waste of money anyway. My insurance sorted it all out without all the Homeserve exclusions and reinstated my driveway as well.

I suppose £12 a year for it is a reasonable deal, but £60 is getting silly.

FreddieM

matelodave wrote: »

I keep getting invites from HomeServe or Anglian Water to take up this amazing offer, but as far as I know AW don't do free repairs - well they didn't last year when I had a leak. The AW engineer handed me another invite to join when he checked my meter
However, when I checked my house insurance, I was already covered so paying extra for a Homeserve policy would have been a waste of money anyway. My insurance sorted it all out without all the Homeserve exclusions and reinstated my driveway as well.

I suppose £12 a year for it is a reasonable deal, but £60 is getting silly.

I recently received a letter from AW advising that my usage had trebled over the last 12 month period. I phoned and questioned this as I am very astute with my water saving methods. They advised I carry out tests with/without my stopcock being on. Cut a long story short, there was a leak. Engineer turned up found leak, gave me a meter reading and advised that an appt would be booked with me to fix the leak, which it was a week later. I was given another reading on the day and advised to pass this on to AW and take a further reading 2 weeks later. AW calculated the loss of water and advised they would make a "one off gratis payment" to offset the loss of water. I've learned from this that initially they told me to deal with it through house insurance, I said no it is your responsibility, we argued and they agreed to send an engineer out, otherwise I'd be claiming on my house insurance for a water leak coming directly from their water meter, (No Sir). My query in all this which they would not answer is, (1) if the leak is down to your pipes why should I be liable in the first place??? (2) My meter is actually on council land not within my property deeds, why then am I responsible for all future leaks? So I guess the moral of the story is AW DO carry out repairs but you have to stand firm with them.

matelodave

This is all the help I got from AW when I reported my leak last year




"If the leak isn’t repaired within 30 days of the leak being confirmed, we’ll start the


Defective Water Fittings enforcement process under Sections 75(2) (b) and 170 of


the Water Industry Act 1991. If you fail to carry out the necessary repairs within the


period stated in this notice, we shall take some or all of the following steps:


a. Carry out the work ourselves and recover any cost from you.


b. Prosecute you under Water Industry Act 1991 Section 73 for allowing your water


fittings to be or remain in a defective condition. The maximum fine is £1,000."

Cardew

FreddieM wrote: »

I said no it is your responsibility, we argued and they agreed to send an engineer out, otherwise I'd be claiming on my house insurance for a water leak coming directly from their water meter, (No Sir). My query in all this which they would not answer is, (1) if the leak is down to your pipes why should I be liable in the first place??? (2) My meter is actually on council land not within my property deeds, why then am I responsible for all future leaks? So I guess the moral of the story is AW DO carry out repairs but you have to stand firm with them.

The Consumer Council for Water(who represent consumers) have quite a good website on all aspects of water/drainage.

http://ccwater.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7/kw/water%20leaks

What can I do if I suspect there is a leak on my private water supply?
Published 23/11/2007 04.01 PM | Updated 17/09/2012 10.03 AM
What can I do if I suspect there is a leak on my private water supply?
Leaks are not always obvious. The first indication may be an unusually high bill.

The responsibility for repairing a leak depends on its location. The supply pipe from your house to the boundary of your property where the outside stop valve and meter are normally located is your responsibility. Water companies are responsible only for the water main and the communication pipe linking the main to your supply pipe.

If you can observe that your meter dial is spinning when all water-using appliances are turned off this may indicate unexpected water consumption or a leak. If you turn off your inside stop valve, a spinning meter dial could indicate a leak on your outside supply pipe.

If your meter is outside, check it only if it is safe to do so. You may need to kneel or bend down to open the inspection cover. You may wish to use a kneeling pad and a torch.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LIFT A HEAVY METAL COVER.

Lift the inspection cover using a screwdriver blade. Remove the polystyrene protector, if there is one, to reveal the meter face. The meter could be a few feet below ground level.

Meters record water usage in cubic meters (m3). Black on white or white on black dials usually indicate cubic metres, tens of cubic metres, hundreds of cubic metres, etc. Red on white on red dials represent decimal places (tenths of cubic metres, hundredths of cubic metres, etc).

Check for movement on the white on red (or red on white) dials. If you have closed your inside stop valve, movement on the meter may indicate a supply pipe leak. If there is no movement, open the inside stop valve and return to the meter. If it moves, it may indicate a leak inside your property.

If you suspect there is a leak inside your property you must get it repaired at your or the homeowner's own expense. If you are a domestic customer and there is a leak on the supply pipe, contact your water company to find out how they can offer you one-off assistance in locating and repairing the pipe. The conditions of the repair vary from company to company, so check their policy directly with them. Depending on the condition of the pipe, you may want to ask the company about replacement to prevent further leaks.

When the leak has been repaired, your company should normally offer a leakage allowance for the lost water. As this is a one-off allowance, you may wish to consider the actual cost of the leaked water. You may also want to check with your insurer whether your contents insurance covers the cost of lost metered water. If you are in a new house, check whether you have a warranty with NHBC or another scheme.

Even if you are not given an allowance for water supply charges (or you are a commercial customer), ask your sewerage company for an allowance for the amount of water lost through leakage that did not return to the sewer (in many cases it simply drains away into the ground).

It is quite clear that the customer's responsibility is only from the boundary of their land. So as your meter is on council land it would appear they are responsible for the pipe from the meter to your boundary.

However leaks on the pipe under your land are your responsibility; and any repair is done by the water company on a goodwill basis(usually a one-off).