Big warranties/go assist- anyone come across them?

moneywastingdue

I wish I read reviews about them... they were annoyingly persuasive 
I have paid GBP 139 for an engineer to come and have a look at our oven. We had a problem with the ignition, which 

wouldn't stop and keep going while the oven was working. 

It took a few day for the engineer to come. Took him about 10 min to figure out that we need a new ignition in the oven.

He said we will be contacted by their team. We were quoted GBP 121 for the parts, which we paid straight away. 

They said the parts will be delivered within 10 days. I was tracking this. Than it got delayed for another week, than

for another 2 weeks. The first contact was made on the 04th Sep. On the 07th Oct we got a message saying the appliance 

is "beyond economical repair" and they offer us some GBP 40 voucher... which was a total joke. 

I contacted their support via chat and managed to get GBP 121 for the parts back, but they wouldn't refund GBP 139 for the

engineer. 

Totally unacceptable service - the job is not done and money and time are completely wasted. 

Jennyjt19

I would not touch this company. I got them to repair a washing machine but was not interested in a warranty. The man on the phone said I could cancel but 10 months later they’re still taking money. I initially got my bank to put a block on payment as well as emailing them (getting their email address is excruciating). They then changed the name very slightly and the payment went through. I finally got them to refund the payment. They took one more payment of circa. £10 and I thought that I could live with that as long as it was definitely cancelled. 10 months later and I noticed once again £69.99 has been taken from my account!!!  

cruchy_apples

Subject: Warning: Go Assist – Failed Cooker Repair, Elderly Customer Left Out of Pocket

I’m posting this to warn others, especially elderly or vulnerable customers, about my mum’s experience with Go Assist.

She’s 84, lives independently, and in late October 2024 her Creda Concept Solaplus electric cooker (bought in 1998) needed repair. She contacted Go Assist after they assured her they could fix it.

Here’s the timeline:

• End of October 2024 – Go Assist quoted £139 for an engineer visit, saying there’d be no extra charge if repairable on-site (parts extra). Mum agreed.
• 31 Oct 2024 – Engineer visited, confirmed it could be repaired but needed parts.
• 1 Nov 2024 – Mum paid £221.24 for the parts.
• 29 Nov 2024 – Engineer returned. At this point she was told the part for the front right hob ring had been ordered incorrectly, and the correct part no longer existed. They replaced the back left ring instead and said everything was fine.
• Within 24 hours – Mum reported the replaced ring was unsafe (heating uncontrollably to full power) and the front right ring still didn’t work.
• Early Dec 2024 – After multiple calls, she was told her cooker was “beyond repair” and offered 40% off a new one.

She received a refund for the unavailable part (£48.38), but is still £311.86 out of pocket for a “repair” that:

• Left one hob ring still broken
• Made the other unsafe
• Took over a month from first visit to “completion”
• Involved repeated rudeness, talking over her, and attempts to blame her for the fault

Go Assist initially offered her £100, then £120 “as a goodwill gesture” — which doesn’t even begin to cover the loss.

The worst part is that they assured her from the outset that they specialised in fixing this model, yet clearly didn’t check parts availability before taking her money.

My mum is now forced to buy a new cooker. If she didn’t have savings, she’d be without a safe way to cook.

Please be careful before using this company

go_assist_review

GO ASSIST / BIG WARRANTIES

TL/DR:
Have you been effected by this firm's misleading advertisments and unfair business practices?

Report your concerns to the Financial Conduct Authority, Trading Standards and Google.

HOW THEY DO IT

The business operates a deceptive model designed to exploit consumers, particularly those in vulnerable situations requiring urgent home appliance repairs.

Consumers are lured by prominent false "No Fix, No Fee" guarantees shown in Google advertisements and an artificially inflated online reputation. The reality is a national call centre that charges an exorbitant, non-refundable fee of approximately £140 under the guise of a "diagnosis," even when no repair is performed. This directly contradicts their primary advertising promise. They also make claims that parts are included in the price, when they are charged separately and at extortionately marked up costs that consumers are pressured into paying.

This post details the initial deception, the financial harm caused by price gouging and hidden fees, and, critically, the calculated strategy of online review manipulation used to conceal the vast number of negative consumer outcomes. Evidence gathered from numerous independent review platforms and consumer forums demonstrates a consistent pattern of deception, financial exploitation, and breaches of UK consumer protection law. 

 "No Fix, No Fee" vs. The £140 "Diagnosis" 

The company's marketing cornerstone claim via Google Ads: the "No Fix, No Fee" promise. This promise is a primary tool used to gain consumer trust from users seeing their Google advertisements enticing them to click and call/enquire.

However, the operational reality is the opposite.

The Promise (The "Bait"): They prominently feature promises of "No Fix, No Fee," at the very top of Google, often alongside claims of low starting prices. This leads any reasonable consumer to believe they will not be charged if their appliance is not successfully repaired, or that repair costs are genuinely low.

• Evidence 2.1 (Website Content - Low Price Bait):

• Image 2 displays "WASHING MACHINE REPAIRS FROM £69.00 INC. VAT," creating an impression of affordability.

• Evidence 2.2 (Website Content - "No Call Out Fees"):

• Image 7 prominently features "CALL OUT FEES CANCELLED" with text stating, "We simply don't charge call out fees, ever. All call outs include the engineer diagnosis as well as all of the labour as standard, including return visits."

• Evidence 2.3 (Google Ad Content - "No Fix No Fee"):

• Image 5 shows a Google Ad for "Go Assist" stating "No Fix, No Fee."

• Evidence 2.4 (Website Content - "No Hidden Costs" & "Parts Included"):

• Image 8 (from their FAQs) explicitly states: "What is included in a fixed price appliance repair? We will provide the labour and parts (if required) for the repair of your appliance, there are no hidden costs and we guarantee our parts for an entire 365 days." This is a fundamental false claim.

• Image 9 (from the FAQs) also states: "Our price covers not only the call out but also all labour associated with the repair. We eradicate that option and simplify it all down to 1 small payment. The price we charge includes returning visits, you are not required to pay anything more other than for parts (Where required)." The "where required" is the loophole.

The Reality (The "Switch"): Once a consumer has booked, an engineer (a third-party subcontractor) attends the property. In a vast number of cases, the engineer diagnoses the problem and either states it cannot be fixed or provides an extortionate quote for parts - This is typically not the third-party subcontractor's fault as they are forced to quote all spare parts to Go Assist who then add extortionate mark up to the costs and quote the customer. 

If the customer declines the repair, they are told the initial £140 fee (as shown in Image 1 below) is for the "callout and diagnosis" and is therefore non-refundable.

This directly contradicts "No Fix, No Fee," "Call Out Fees Cancelled," and the implication that labour covers a repair. The £140 becomes a charge for a diagnosis, not a repair, if no repair is undertaken.

• Evidence 2.5 (Booking Quote - £139):

• Image 1 shows "Your quote £139.00 inc. VAT" for a "Washing machine repair." Under "YOUR QUOTE INCLUDES...", it lists "Call out and all labour to carry out the repair," directly implying the £139 covers a repair, not just a non-refundable diagnosis.

Evidence of Widespread Consumer Harm

The following evidence is compiled from public consumer reviews across multiple platforms, excluding the manipulated environment of TrustPilot. These reviews demonstrate consistent, repeating patterns of harm and echo the same as the stories told in this forum post.

Category A: The "No Fix, No Fee" Deception in Practice

Consumers explicitly report being scammed by the misleading promise, paying a high fee for no resolution.

• Source: Google Reviews
  "Absolute SCAM. NO FIX NO FEE IS A LIE. Charged £139 for a 5-minute visit to tell me my washing machine was unfixable... a local engineer later fixed it for £60. They are thieves."

• Source: Yelp Reviews
  "Do not use this company. Their 'no fix no fee' is a complete fabrication. They took £140 from me to tell me what I already knew - that the freezer was broken. No attempt at a repair was made. Customer service was abysmal when I challenged this."

• Source: ReviewCentre
  "Quoted £140 for call out and labour. Engineer came, said it needed a part that costs £200. I said no thanks. He left and I was still charged the £140. How is that 'no fix no fee'? It's a con."

Category B: Systematic Price Gouging and Financial Exploitation (Hidden Fees & Inflated Costs)

Go Assist charges a callout/diagnosis fee that is nearly three times the industry average (£140 vs. ~£50). They further exploit customers with grossly inflated quotes for parts, knowing the customer has already sunk £140 and is desperate. This is exacerbated by hidden membership renewals and cancellation fees.

• Evidence 3.1 (High Initial Fee):

• Image 1 above clearly shows a quote of £139.00 inc. VAT for a washing machine repair. This is significantly higher than industry averages for a callout, especially if it's merely for diagnosis without repair. It DOES NOT include parts as they claim on their website.

• Evidence 3.2 (Hidden Membership & Auto-Renewal):

• Image 1 shows a checkbox: "I have read and agreed to the repair terms and conditions, and confirm that I understand the home membership benefits and auto-renewal conditions." The terms are not immediately visible and are designed to enroll customers into an automatically renewing "Free home membership (Worth £400)" as seen under "YOUR QUOTE INCLUDES….

• Image 6 provides a pop-up explanation of the "12 MONTHS FREE Home Membership included on all products! Normally £69.99." It states, "You will immediately receive £400 in credits. Each time you book with us £40 credits will be applied, saving you £40 on any services relating to the following..." This membership then auto-renews at £69.99 without explicit, clear consent.

• Image 3 clearly highlights: "Automatically renews 12 months later for £69.99 without customer's consent using the card information obtained for this purchase." This is a clear breach of consumer trust and likely FCA regulations if considered an insurance product.

• Evidence 3.3 (Hidden Cancellation Fee):

• Image 3 (annotated) points to tiny text in the footer, stating a "£50 cancellation fee" is associated with policies cancelled within one year. The annotation correctly notes: "They use the words 'fifty pounds' to not draw user's attention to £ symbol as it details a hidden charge." This fee is charged even within the 14-day cooling-off period, as evidenced by consumer complaints.

• Image 5 (Google Ad) includes the text: "There are multiple hidden fees including the £50 cancellation fee charged when customers cancel the insurance they didn't realise they'd taken out. One year later they are charged £69.00 for an annual renewal of a membership they didn't know they had..

• Evidence 3.4 (Inflated Parts Costs):

• Image 8 makes the false claim that "parts (if required)" are included in the fixed price. This is directly contradicted by numerous customer experiences.

• Source: Google Reviews
  "Daylight robbery. They quoted me £280 for a fan oven element. I declined, paid the £139 callout, and then bought the same part online for £25. A local guy fitted it for £45. Go Assist tried to charge me almost 6 times the actual cost. This is price gouging at its worst."

• Source: MoneySavingExpert Forum
  "They had me trapped. After paying the upfront fee, they said my dishwasher needed a new pump and it would be £350 on top. I felt I had no choice but to pay."

Category C: Deception of "Local" Service

The company's use of around 100 geo-targeted websites (e.g., glasgowappliancerepair.co.uk) and multiple ad slots is a deliberate tactic to deceive customers into thinking they are hiring a small, local, and accountable business, while simultaneously flooding local areas with online advertising that breaches Google’s “Unfair Advantage” policy that prohibits advertisers from showing multiple websites for the same business.

• Evidence 3.5 (Multiple Google Ad Slots):

• Image 5 clearly shows "Go Assist" occupying at least two sponsored ad slots for "appliance repair liverpool." One ad links to repairz.co.uk (yet another of Go Assist's unregistered trading names) and another to go-assist.co.uk This demonstrates an intentional strategy to dominate search results and gain an unfair advantage over genuine local companies by breaking Google's advertising policies in order to surpress REAL local companies.

"Repaiz" and "Go Assist" are NOT competitors despite taking up the top 2 ad slots and appearing like two seperate businesses. 

Google Ads “Unfair Advantage” policy is very clear that advertisers cannot show multiple websites for the same business. This is evidenced as Repairz shows the TrustPilot widget from Go Assist and Repairz claims to be a trading name of Go Assist Ltd in tiny writing in the footer of the website.

They have circumvented Google Ads Advertiser Identity Verification checks by paying for Go Assist as Big Warranties Ltd and paying for Repairz as Go Assist Ltd. The reality is they all funnel into the same operation.

After researching Go Assist's business it was clear that they have around 100 different local websites named like "Leeds Appliance Repair", "Glasgow Appliance Repair" etc and lots of them are designed to look like a local company to mislead users.

• Source: Reddit (r/glasgow)
  "Just a warning to avoid a company called Glasgow Appliance Repairs... They look like a local company but it's just a front for a national call centre called Go Assist."

Category Widespread, Direct Accusations of Fraudulent Activity

Consumers repeatedly use language that indicates they believe they have been victims of a crime, not just poor service. The terms "scam," "con," "fraud," "thieves," and "criminal" appear in dozens of reviews.

• Source: Reviews.co.uk
  "This is not a repair company, it is a scam designed to take £140 from you legally. That is their entire business model. It needs to be investigated by Trading Standards."

• Source: Google Reviews
  "A complete and utter fraud. They have no intention of fixing anything. They just want the call-out fee. The positive reviews you see elsewhere are fake. Read the real reviews here. They are thieves."

The Mechanism of Deception: Online Review Manipulation

A crucial element of this operation is the active and intentional manipulation of online reviews to create a façade of credibility, which is then used to draw in more unsuspecting customers towards their various trading names. 

The stark contrast between their TrustPilot score and all other independent review platforms is not accidental; it is by design.

The "Pre-Service Review" Strategy

The high TrustPilot score is achieved by soliciting reviews at the only positive point in the customer journey: the initial booking call.

• The Tactic: Immediately after a customer has booked and paid, the friendly call handler pressures them to leave a TrustPilot review based on the phone call itself. The customer, relieved to have a booking secured, is inclined to leave a positive review for the helpful agent.

• The Result: This floods their TrustPilot profile with 5-star reviews that have no bearing on the actual service quality. They typically read: "Sarah was so helpful and reassuring on the phone! She booked me in straight away. Great service so far."

• The Deception: This review is solicited and posted before the engineer has attended, before the "no fix, no fee" deception has occurred, and before the price gouging on parts, hidden memberships, and cancellation fees have been revealed. The genuine 1-star reviews detailing the actual negative experience are systematically diluted and buried by this wave of irrelevant, pre-service praise which most customers will be unlikely to easily amend retrospectively.

Misrepresentation Across a Network of Domains (Review Siphoning)

The company leverages this artificially high TrustPilot score by unlawfully displaying it across their entire network of deceptive websites under various trading names all appearing in the same Google Ads search results. 

• The Tactic: Websites like Repairz-co-uk and glasgowappliancerepair-co-uk feature a prominent TrustPilot widget showing the high rating for go-assist-co-uk.

• The Impact: This misleads consumers into believing that these separate entities (Repairz, Glasgow Appliance Repair, etc.) are all independently well-regarded, when in fact they are merely funnels for the same problematic service, displaying a reputation they have not earned. In fact, "Repairz" claims to have 19,275 reviews on TrustPilot yet has only 5 reviews (all 1 star) with customers saying they were scammed and/or bombarded with unsolicited calls.

Source: Repairz TrustPilot Page

• Evidence 4.3 (Definitive Proof): The TrustPilot platform itself has already issued a formal warning on the Repairz.co.uk profile. The banner reads: "This company is displaying TrustPilot content in a misleading way." This proves the company is knowingly in breach of these rules and continues the practice across its other domains.

Conclusion & Recommended Actions

Have you been effected by this firm's misleading advertisments and unfair business practices?

Report your concerns to the Financial Conduct Authority, Trading Standards and/or Google.


You can make a report about misconduct to the Financial Ombudsman / FCA here:
(sorry - MSE won't let a link be posted)

You can make a report to Trading Standards through Citizen's Advice:
(sorry - MSE won't let a link be posted)

You can make a report about misleading advertisements to Google here:
(sorry - MSE won't let a link be posted)

By working together we can tackle misconduct and stop firms like this from taking advantage of vulnerable members of the public. The authorities will only listen if enough people speak out about their experience.

Yours faithfully

- A fellow disgruntled consumer advocate.

go_assist_review

A few years back the director of Go Assist also made a complaint to Google to have TrustPilot removed on the basis of "defamation" (note these are automated removals)... This was before they used the telephone trick to manipulate their TrustPilot score, instead opting to suppress the consumer harm by making false defamation complaints and calling customers "trolls"









Rather than acknowledge that they are harming customers, they instead claim TrustPilot has been "hijacked" by trolls writing daily 1 star reviews.

Money Saving Export, Reddit, 20+ Google Review profiles, Facebook, Reviews.io have all been hijacked too apparently!

What a joke