11 days for boiler repair??

GadgetGuru

After some advice on what do with the below?
I'm not sure what my next step is? Financial Ombudsmen??


Brief version - boiler pump failed. Vulnerable people in household. No heating or hot water. A private gas registered company said could fixed next day. Decided to go via the home emergency cover that came with my LV home insurance. They took 4 days just to authorise the works, then said it would be another week to get the part and engineer on site to repair! 
In the end I had a gas registered company fix it on the same day I phoned them! - Of course at my cost. However, it was half the price at what the insurance engineer had submit to the insurer!
Trying to get reimbursement from the home emergency cover....


Full timeline:

Sat 25th Feb 2023

• Claim filed via LV, who pass the claim on to their home emergency supplier - CET-UK. 
• Boiler pump failure. No hot water or heating. 
• CET were advised I had children and elderly parents in the household. 

Sun 26th Feb 2023

• Contracted engineer attended, approx 2pm, took some images, and left stating he would be in touch with the insurer for further confirmation on whether to proceed with work. 
• Received text message stating engineer had been and job had been closed. 
• Called CET to be told case was still open. Parts would be quoted for and normally received within 24 hours. Engineer would then be back on site for repair 1-3 days after parts had arrived. Was told I would be looking at a fix by the end of the week (3rd Mar 2023) latest.
• Asked if I could have the boiler repaired privately and pass CET the invoice for reimbursement - was told this was not possible. 

Tues 28th Feb 2023

• Received text message requesting proof of boiler service. 
• Responded within 5 mins of reaching text with the requested paperwork.
• Called CET to confirm they had received.
• CET representative confirmed it had arrived and the network manager would authorise. Parts would be ordered within 24 hours and then 1-3 days for engineer to fix - same as I had been informed 2 days prior.
• Again asked if I could have the boiler repaired privately and pass CET the invoice for reimbursement - was told this was not possible. 

Weds 1st Mar 2023

• Contacted CET to chase. 
• Informed the network manager had authorised the work. 
• Again informed parts would be ordered within 24 hours and 1-3 days for engineer to repair. Have been informed this every time I have called so far - the same timeframe as I was provided 3 days prior. 
• Informed the parts generally come in quickly and if they came in the morning an engineer could possible come out in the same afternoon to repair. 
• Was looking at repair by end of week, or the following Monday - 5th Mar 2023 - as the latest. 
• Informed I could be placed in a hotel but with a max budget of £250 for the entire duration of stay - for 5 people! Considering i could be staying for several days this was clearly not enough. I stated I would consider it but it would mean the children would be further from schooling and other commitments, so not practical. 

Thurs 2nd Mar 2023

• Received text message stating the engineer had been booked to repair the boiler for 8th Mar 2023 - almost an entire week away. 
• This would mean 11 days since filing the claim!
• Called CET in the morning and asked to speak to manager.
• Received call back from manager named ‘Louie’ in the morning. He offered £60 to purchase heaters - this was clearly not enough to heat a 5 bedroom home!
• Stated he would speak to his manager to see if he could extend the hotel allowance and get back to me in the afternoon.
• Stated he would try to get an engineer out sooner if the parts arrived sooner, although this was unlikely due to issues with Royal Mail strikes and slow mail. I advised that I have been using post and have encountered no delays at this point in time so this was no excuse. 
• Stated that the repair quote generated by the original engineer was just above their normal threshold of £1000, hence why the network manager had to check and authorise, causing a delay.
• He agreed that the overall timeframe was not acceptable and outside of their usual expected repair timescale. He would contact me back asap.
• I informed him my children were getting ill due to the cold temperature at home, which was now at 8 degrees indoors, as well as the freezing cold water. 
• Again asked if I could have the boiler repaired privately and pass CET the invoice for reimbursement - was told this was not possible since the parts had now been ordered. Advised I had been requesting this since the beginning but kept being refused. No response. 

• The manager ‘Louie’ did not call me back any further, as he had promised (and has not done so to date). 

• I therefore contacted ‘London Local Gas Heating & Electrical Services’ at approx 5:30pm to see if they could help. This company was able to source the part and had the boiler repaired within hours. 
• By 7:30pm the boiler had been repaired. 
• I was informed the parts were easy to source and were stocked by all the major retailers since they are quite common and nothing specialised. 
• Photo evidence of repair, as well as invoice have been retained. 

• Complaint logged with reimbursements@cet-uk.com - sent invoice and image evidence of repair requesting reimbursement of my costs.

Fri 3rd Mar 2023

• No response to complaint sent to reimbursements@cet-uk.com
• Complaint forwarded to customer.relations@cet-uk.com. Received autoresponse promising a response within 24-48 hours.

Mon 6th Mar 2023

• No response to complaint. No further contact whatsoever. 

knightstyle

So what does your contract say?  usually there are clauses about time scales and delays.

GadgetGuru

Here is the policy documentation: https://www.lv.com/-/insurance/media/gi/home-insurance/pdfs/home-emergency/0034127-2021-standard-home-emergency

In it is stated:
" Repairers chosen by you (Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Scilly Isles, Scottish Islands only). Where possible we’ll try to use one of our approved repairers to provide assistance as soon as we can. However, if it’s easier for you to find your own repairer, we’ll allow you to do this providing you have called us first to agree that your claim is covered. We’ll pay you the cost of obtaining emergency assistance up to a maximum of £1,000 (including call out, parts, labour and VAT) for any one emergency.
Where you choose your own repairer, the contract for services will be between you and your chosen repairer. In these cases, we can’t be held responsible for any shortfall in the service they provide."


I'm based in London, so guess I fall outside the scope of the above, but I still feel an 11 day turnaround is unacceptable. There is no mention in any documentation of repair timescales etc, just that it depends on part availability, even though the part I needed (pump) is readily available (the person I used was able to purchase and repair same day!).

Had a call back today from CET who state they only act on the insurer, who are LV in tis case, so they are passing the complaint across to LV.......

TELLIT01

Good luck getting anything back from the emergency cover company.  I think you have more chance of tripping over rocking horse poo. 

Jumblebumble

IftiBashir said:

After some advice on what do with the below?
I'm not sure what my next step is? Financial Ombudsmen??


Brief version - boiler pump failed. Vulnerable people in household. No heating or hot water. A private gas registered company said could fixed next day. Decided to go via the home emergency cover that came with my LV home insurance. They took 4 days just to authorise the works, then said it would be another week to get the part and engineer on site to repair! 
In the end I had a gas registered company fix it on the same day I phoned them! - Of course at my cost. However, it was half the price at what the insurance engineer had submit to the insurer!
Trying to get reimbursement from the home emergency cover....


Full timeline:

Sat 25th Feb 2023

• Claim filed via LV, who pass the claim on to their home emergency supplier - CET-UK. 
• Boiler pump failure. No hot water or heating. 
• CET were advised I had children and elderly parents in the household. 

Sun 26th Feb 2023

• Contracted engineer attended, approx 2pm, took some images, and left stating he would be in touch with the insurer for further confirmation on whether to proceed with work. 
• Received text message stating engineer had been and job had been closed. 
• Called CET to be told case was still open. Parts would be quoted for and normally received within 24 hours. Engineer would then be back on site for repair 1-3 days after parts had arrived. Was told I would be looking at a fix by the end of the week (3rd Mar 2023) latest.
• Asked if I could have the boiler repaired privately and pass CET the invoice for reimbursement - was told this was not possible. 

Tues 28th Feb 2023

• Received text message requesting proof of boiler service. 
• Responded within 5 mins of reaching text with the requested paperwork.
• Called CET to confirm they had received.
• CET representative confirmed it had arrived and the network manager would authorise. Parts would be ordered within 24 hours and then 1-3 days for engineer to fix - same as I had been informed 2 days prior.
• Again asked if I could have the boiler repaired privately and pass CET the invoice for reimbursement - was told this was not possible. 

Weds 1st Mar 2023

• Contacted CET to chase. 
• Informed the network manager had authorised the work. 
• Again informed parts would be ordered within 24 hours and 1-3 days for engineer to repair. Have been informed this every time I have called so far - the same timeframe as I was provided 3 days prior. 
• Informed the parts generally come in quickly and if they came in the morning an engineer could possible come out in the same afternoon to repair. 
• Was looking at repair by end of week, or the following Monday - 5th Mar 2023 - as the latest. 
• Informed I could be placed in a hotel but with a max budget of £250 for the entire duration of stay - for 5 people! Considering i could be staying for several days this was clearly not enough. I stated I would consider it but it would mean the children would be further from schooling and other commitments, so not practical. 

Thurs 2nd Mar 2023

• Received text message stating the engineer had been booked to repair the boiler for 8th Mar 2023 - almost an entire week away. 
• This would mean 11 days since filing the claim!
• Called CET in the morning and asked to speak to manager.
• Received call back from manager named ‘Louie’ in the morning. He offered £60 to purchase heaters - this was clearly not enough to heat a 5 bedroom home!
• Stated he would speak to his manager to see if he could extend the hotel allowance and get back to me in the afternoon.
• Stated he would try to get an engineer out sooner if the parts arrived sooner, although this was unlikely due to issues with Royal Mail strikes and slow mail. I advised that I have been using post and have encountered no delays at this point in time so this was no excuse. 
• Stated that the repair quote generated by the original engineer was just above their normal threshold of £1000, hence why the network manager had to check and authorise, causing a delay.
• He agreed that the overall timeframe was not acceptable and outside of their usual expected repair timescale. He would contact me back asap.
• I informed him my children were getting ill due to the cold temperature at home, which was now at 8 degrees indoors, as well as the freezing cold water. 
• Again asked if I could have the boiler repaired privately and pass CET the invoice for reimbursement - was told this was not possible since the parts had now been ordered. Advised I had been requesting this since the beginning but kept being refused. No response. 

• The manager ‘Louie’ did not call me back any further, as he had promised (and has not done so to date). 

• I therefore contacted ‘London Local Gas Heating & Electrical Services’ at approx 5:30pm to see if they could help. This company was able to source the part and had the boiler repaired within hours. 
• By 7:30pm the boiler had been repaired. 
• I was informed the parts were easy to source and were stocked by all the major retailers since they are quite common and nothing specialised. 
• Photo evidence of repair, as well as invoice have been retained. 

• Complaint logged with reimbursements@cet-uk.com - sent invoice and image evidence of repair requesting reimbursement of my costs.

Fri 3rd Mar 2023

• No response to complaint sent to reimbursements@cet-uk.com
• Complaint forwarded to customer.relations@cet-uk.com. Received autoresponse promising a response within 24-48 hours.

Mon 6th Mar 2023

• No response to complaint. No further contact whatsoever. 

You don't appear to have any contract with cet-uk and so they can legitimately  refuse to discuss any financial matters with you

GadgetGuru

Yes they have passed the complaint across to LV as they ar the insurer I have the contract etc with. Just waiting for LV to contact me once they've investigated.....

GadgetGuru

TELLIT01 said:

Good luck getting anything back from the emergency cover company.  I think you have more chance of tripping over rocking horse poo. 

I think you're most likely right to be fair. 
Just though it wouldn't hurt to try!

SaverRate

Ive had to deal with CET previously when I was insured with Churchill. I made a home emergency claim which in the end resulted in me cancelling my insurance early and moving elsewhere.

I know it doesn't help but IMO I would avoid any insurer using CET for home emergency 

macman

Pump failure shouldn't have stopped you getting hot water?
Make and model would help.

GadgetGuru

macman said:

Pump failure shouldn't have stopped you getting hot water?
Make and model would help.

Vailant combi boiler. 

Ecotec Pro 28. 

The pump had gone and was leaking water. Hence the water inlet had to be turned off. 

GadgetGuru

Just a small update on this - was able to recover all my costs as well as some compensation from the insurer in the end!
Case closed!