Homeserve policy

Carerlsr

Hi. I have just found out my 93 year old dad is paying £77.09 per month for Homeserve cover for boiler,water and electrics cover. This seems way too high. Can anyone tell me if this is correct?

IAmWales

That is incredibly high. What did they say when you asked them about the cost?

Linda32

I haven't got the details of our policy to hand but we pay about £50.00 every three months for plumbing and drainage cover.

It sounds like your Dad had got a policy for everything they offer.

dingdongsaving

We get this as part of another policy we pay £10 per month for, so yes...very high.

Carerlsr

He says it covers everything but does not have all the details. I have looked at their website and there is nothing on there that would add up to this much.

caronc

It does sound pretty much on par for the full "no-excess" package for boiler/heating, plumbing, electrics and either other gas appliances (gas fire?) or kitchen apppliance cover under their "old-style" package no longer shown on the website. For a £60 excess per call out he can half this but still get the same cover if he wants it. What might be a tricky is to change is it is an annual package paid monthly so worth checking when it runs out. Definitely worth a phone call to customer services.

ouraggie

I feel for you. We have had quite a bit of this kind of thing with my partners mum, who's 81. She fiercely insists she wants to manage her own money, so the best we can do is try to go through her mail with her and pick up what info we can from chatting to her.
However, we have spoken to all the utility companies etc and got her file marked as vulnerable/confused/hard of hearing etc and we signed her up to the MPS. The utilities etc won't usually copy correspondence to you unless you have POA but a useful tactic is to phone them with him there (to authorise you to speak on his behalf), then while you're on the phone to them ask them to set him up an online account, using your email address (just don't tell them or him), then at least you can monitor it all from there.
Our golden oldie is always making phone calls to 0870 numbers, which doubles her phone bill. Nowadays, if her bill is suddenly £78 I can just look up on her online account and Google all the 0870/0845 numbers she's been ringing. I then find a 0800 replacement and add this to a list I've made her.
Hope this is of use. Please do PM me if I might be of further assistance. Happy to help.

poppystar

The cost goes up a lot if you ever call them out so if your father has needed them in the past the annual charge will have risen. As a rule of thumb they seem to add their cost for a call out on to whatever you have been paying when it comes to renewal.
…...e.g. for just plumbing cover £7 a month rose to £16 after a single call out that took them less than 15 minutes on site to sort.

They will sometimes negotiate if you call at renewal. It might even be worth calling now as I think that they do reimburse if you cancel at a pro rata rate for how many months are outstanding…not absolutely sure but think that is what they said. Nothing to be lost by checking.

To be honest if it includes everything then it seems to be about what you might expect to pay after any initial new customer discount ends.

Lindlou

I was with them years ago...lured in by a very cheap introductory offer which TBF was a good price. Cancelled it as soon as the price escalated. Got the same cover now with my buildings and contents insurer for £69 a year.....