AXA home emergency & 0800 repair,complaint.

Custardman

Hello,has anyone else had this happen to them?

My elderly parents boiler stopped working on Easter Sunday,pressure had gone to zero,and it was dripping from the prv outside,so I rang Axa home emergency,which they have through Hastings insurance.

I explained what the problem was,they said an engineer would be in touch shortly.

Engineer rang,I explained and he said all he could do was come out later and top the boiler up,parts wouldn't be available until Tuesday at the earliest.

I said I'll top the boiler back up to 1 bar,as my dad has to be washed multiple times during the day and the need hot water.

He agreed,so I topped it up a couple of times a day until they showed up on FRIDAY.Emergency cover?

Engineer arrived,was there 2 hours and was supposed to fit a new prv and an expansion vessel.

He fitted the prv,but said the expansion vessel was the wrong part,he boxed it back up and left.

He also left the loop valve open so there was barely any  hot water flow upstairs,so I closed it.

I next got a text on Wednesday saying the claim was closed.

I rang 0800 repair and they said AXA was denying the claim,and I had to ring them.

I rang them and they said the repair had reached the claim limit of £500 and for the repair to proceed it would cost another £250.

I couldn't believe my ears.£750 to replace an expansion vessel and prv!

I asked them what 0800 repair had billed them for.it was for parts and 4 hours labour.

I explained the parts were £150 max and the engineer was there,on camera,for 2 hours,and he took the new vessel with him anyway.

He seemed to not give a damn that it appeared that 0800 repair were maybe committing fraud.

I asked him to launch an investigation and he said he would.

Next day I got a text,repair was denied,0800 repair said boiler was rusty and hadn't been maintained.

They must of decided this after he took the boiler to bits and fitted the new prv?

Long story short,it took them 5 days to come out for an emergency boiler repair,still didn't fix it,0800 repair got paid £500 and then lied about the state of the boiler.

What can I do?I am going to leave a review on trust pilot about this.

herbalme

That sounds incredibly frustrating – especially when you’re dealing with it for your parents as well.

I had a similar situation with a home emergency policy a while back and one thing I learned quickly is that these policies often have quite strict limits and exclusions, and the contractors they send out can vary a lot in quality.

A couple of things I’d suggest based on my experience:

1. Request a full breakdown of the claim – ask AXA for the itemised invoice from 0800 Repair (parts, labour, time on site etc). You’re entitled to see exactly what was charged.
2. Raise a formal complaint with AXA – don’t just rely on phone calls. Do it in writing/email so it’s logged properly.
3. Challenge the “lack of maintenance” point – they often use this to decline claims, but they should be able to justify it properly (not just say “rusty”).
4. Get an independent heating engineer’s opinion – even a quick written note can help if you need to dispute what was done or charged.
5. If AXA don’t resolve it, you can escalate it to the Financial Ombudsman Service – they’ll look at whether the claim was handled fairly.

The £750 figure does sound high for what you’ve described, especially if parts weren’t even fitted properly, so definitely worth pushing back on that.

Also worth noting – the fact the engineer left things in a worse state (like the loop valve) is something I’d specifically include in your complaint.

Hope you get it sorted – situations like this are a nightmare but they do usually move once you escalate it properly.

born_again

If it is a true insurance policy, then raise a complaint. If it is not resolved then you can take it to FOS (subject to timescales)

Other option is not to renew & find a local recommended company to do the work going forward for them.

As well as, if it is a old boiler, perhaps invest in a new one.