coverheat - full central heating cover

thor

jcorbygas wrote: »

I think a major point that was made by Coverheat in the Guardian article was that pcb's are not covered by their policy which makes it a total waste of peoples money to take out one of their policies.
We have replaced 2 pcb's this week and I would say it is in our top 10 of breakdown repairs.
It would also be very easy for a Coverheat 'engineer' to say that it was a pcb which was the problem with a boiler breakdown and that it wasnt covered, so the customer would then have to get a second opinion and pay for that.
Coverheat did send us an email some while back trying to get us to sub-contract from them and the terms and conditions were such that not many people would want to work with them unless they were hard up for work, which if you are a good engineer and run a good business, even in the current climate you have enough/plenty of work.

For a lot of people the best way to cover yourself in the way of heating, is to self-insure (put your monthly premium in an account to cover any future repairs) and find a local engineer who like us will service your boiler annually and will come out within a day (2 max) if you have a problem.
Ask neighbours, friends etc to recommend someone.

Exactly what is the problem with these pcbs? Why is that they are so vulnerable to failure?

chao_xian

Here's the irony:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/nov/17/moneysupplement.householdbills

Miles Brignall recommends Cover Heat in the last paragraph and gets it wrong in saying Cover Heat use their own engineers... I don't know if that was correct back in 2007!

and now:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jan/10/coverheat-heating-insurance

I've contacted helen.wale@westsussex.gov.uk to register our grievance to help her case against Cover Heat. She responded very promptly and was very helpful.

Our boiler broke down Monday 12th Jan (two days after I saw the Guardian's recent article about how bad Cover Heat are!). The next day an engineer from Gas Care who Cover Heat have sub-contracted. The Gas Care engineer we have to say was excellent. He quickly identified a failed PCB and immediately had it on order. We assumed that as soon as the part became available that he would be back to fit it.

A week goes by and we contact Gas Care who tell us they are waiting on Cover Heat. The call centre staff at Gas Care tell us the emails from Gas Care had not been forwarded(!) on to their works department (so I assume, Cover Heat themselves). Daily calls to Cover Heat, and we hear the same story from each, different call centre operator: that they themselves are unable to communicate with the "works department" other than by email and that we have to simply wait them to approve the work that Gas Care have quoted.

I decided to read up on Cover Heat and found this thread. The mention of the recent Guardian article stating that Cover Heat don't cover PCBs was like a punch in the stomach (I didn't remember despite having read it myself - babies depriving you of sleep will do that).

It's been nearly 2 weeks and Cover Heat have done nothing. Not even to tell us what we already know - that they won't cover us!

So we tried to take matters into our own hands by calling Gas Care and asking if we could pay ourselves as we know Cover Heat won't. Unfortunately, it's against their contract with Cover Heat... We have to wait for Cover Heat to say no, then they'll likely offer to charge us an excess to have to work done at whatever cost (probably more than what Gas Care will charge). If they won't fix it at all, we can only cancel the policy and let someone else do it, according to the advice from the Gas Care people. Cancelling the policy now will take days, and I'm loathe to pay them just to cancel a policy that has been next to useless.

In fact I recall that our boiler has been louder since the first service by Cover Heat back in 2007...

Luckily I took some initiative and bought a couple of oil-filled electric heaters to try and keep our baby warm. But this is beyond a joke.

Any useful advice from MoneySavingExperts?

emmrecs

emmrecs wrote: »

What's the betting I will receive ANY reply, either from Coverheat or the "engineer"?

Well, I see this thread's been quite busy since I last posted, and I did say I would update the info as anything happened.

My last call to CoverHeat was on Monday January 12. When no reply had been received by Wednesday January 14, and in accordance with the advice from Helen Wales, West Sussex Trading Standards, I wrote and informed them that they had until Wednesday January 21 to carry out the work "to my full and complete satisfaction" or I would instruct a local plumber to carry out the work and send CoverHeat the bill to include the cost of my many phone calls (it is an 0845 number and we're not with BT for our calls). This was sent Recorded Delivery so I know they received it.

Lo and behold, Friday I receive a call from the engineer and, to cut a long story reasonably short, we arrange for him to come and do the work on the first day that either my wife or I can be at home, Wednesday January 21. It takes approximately five minutes for him to diagnose the problem as a faulty PRV (Pressure Release Valve) and a further ten minutes for him to replace it (cost of part: £15), but some ten to fifteen minutes is wasted as he has to seek CoverHeat's agreement by phone to pay him for the part and for his time! After some prevarication they agree to pay the cost.

And we now have a fully-functioning heating system again, but only after numerous phone calls, a letter and some three and a half weeks of enduring a boiler that might or might not work!

The final irony: in the post on Wednesday January 21 I received a letter from CoverHeat inviting me to renew my policy with them!!! Hmm....

Celeareth

How I wish I had found this thread before I signed up with coverheat last year. Our initial check with them was ok, no problems with engineer coming out. On Fri 30th Jan our boiler went off with a warning light showing fan or flue problem. Rang coverheat and they took details of our availability for next few days from me which proved to be a waste of time as the 'scheduling people' did not contact me. I have rung every day since for an update only to be told that I can't speak to scheduling direct, and that they only have email access to them! :mad: We have now had no heating or hot water for 7 days with no end in sight. After reading the previous posts I realise there is a slim to no chance of me getting any joy from them. I think I'll cut my losses and get someone into fix the problem and kick Coverheat into touch and report to anyone that will listen about their lack of service on their Home protection plan. Off to contact trading standards now and report them.

keitheric

i wish i had read all the comments on this forum before i took out a coverheat plan. i had been paying for the plan for 11 months when my boiler broke down and i had to call them out. for 5 days i waited for an engineer to come out to me during the coldest days we have had so far. an engineer never did arrive but i managed to find out that the phone number you have to ring is only a call centre and they deal with lots of different companies. that is why they are unable to help you. they are only there to pass messages on. needless to say i cancelled my contract and add my warning to all the others not to deal with this company. i have tried to get them to respond to my letters of complaint to no avail. i believe they are a scam.

G_M

My Co-op house insurance comes with emergency cover for heating breakdown, electric faults etc - free for the 1st year. The renewal notice showed a mamoth jump in premium (as well as a charge to continue the emergency cover) but by going online and 'applying' again from scratch I got the same low initial rate and emergency cover again.

chrispatch

keitheric wrote: »

i wish i had read all the comments on this forum before i took out a coverheat plan. i had been paying for the plan for 11 months when my boiler broke down and i had to call them out. for 5 days i waited for an engineer to come out to me during the coldest days we have had so far. an engineer never did arrive but i managed to find out that the phone number you have to ring is only a call centre and they deal with lots of different companies. that is why they are unable to help you. they are only there to pass messages on. needless to say i cancelled my contract and add my warning to all the others not to deal with this company. i have tried to get them to respond to my letters of complaint to no avail. i believe they are a scam.

Well said mate, I have just cancelled mine. last year I waited in 6 days for service to turn up and when he did he didn't want to be here, moaned about a credit job and not cash, moaned about being too far to come and not worth it, he was a subbie from a subbie. I had to find a book of the boiler as he hadn't done one before, it was an Ideal only 18 months old, and what he did I could have done a better job. I wrote a 2 page complaint and never got a reply. I only renewed as when I phoned to not renew I was told they had changed contractors and it should be ok now. I booked the service for this year and it was changed 3times and in the conversation it emerged that as the service was now overdue and breakdown would have to be paid for even though they had taken £39 for this quarter. That did it, I told them to stuff it.
It looks good on price and service on paper but be warned. Luckily I didn't have a system breakdown as I dread to think.

Worran

I have also had terrible trouble with Coverheat, I joined a year ago, called them out once a few months ago, the chap messed around, claimed he'd fixed the problem which he hadn't, it then became impossible for them to re-send someone else, instead sending an invoice for work they said was needed yet was not, their error. Worst of all, I tried to cancel my direct debit annual payment (£150) two months before the renewal date - I sent them letters, three emails, spoke to them several times, ALL to get it cancelled in time ... guess what, they billed me at the end of Feb. and have still not cancelled my policy. Their call centre is a disaster - they never let me talk with anyone higher, they say they'll pass my request onto the right people yet never have they called me back. I will need legal advice to get my money back for year 2 I believe. Coverheat in my opinion are highly amateurish, badly organised (a mess really) and I will certainly be avoiding them in future - once I am able to get my money back for the annual debit. Be warned. You do get the feeling that they're in it for a quick buck and to get out with monies not theirs or properly earned - very cowboyish in my experience. I have lost a good deal of money in calling them regularly so I can get my money back! The disappointment and distress they have caused me is very high indeed.

baron2

I had a bad bad experience with coverheat. My gas boiler went down, it took 5 days for an engineer to call after constant phone calls to their call centre.It then cost me £275 as part was not covered plus a charge for labour I have been with the company for 18 months, I shall not be renewing my premium with them.

aronggep

Dreadfull company I would NEVER recomend them to anyone,:mad: I have to agree with every bad thing everyone has said about them, I'm still waiting for a reply from them about their engineers total incompitance.