How are HomeServe still in business

macman · 8 March 2011 at 9:33AM

Eh? They ripped you off for £140 for a call out and 15m work, and then halved that after you queried it?
And you call them 'brilliant'?

sharnad · 8 March 2011 at 7:28PM

Well called them yesterday for a blocked drain they said they would come today. Got a call from them cancelling as their man is stuck at a job so booked for between 5 to 10 tomorrow see if they turn up tommorow

francheska433 · 9 March 2011 at 1:26AM

I used to work for a company called safe and secure that have now gone bust. they had a one million pound contract with homeserve. I was a in key accounts for them. so whenever they could not get a contractor out they would phone us and try and get one from us. all I can say is safe and secure were sh*t and so was homeserve. We or them could never get out engineers on time, as promised by the homeserve and it was complete joke. speaking from someone who used to work along side them, they are total crap and never deliver. I would not bother with them.

concernedcitizen_2 · 17 March 2011 at 11:34AM

For anyone looking to take out any type of maintenance/emergency cover DO NOT USE Homeserve. Their customer service is polite, i.e. the bit about getting your money, however, their contractors are absolutely appalling.

I've experienced contractors not turning up, being rude - including an experience of one unwilling to pay for a parking ticket to visit the property, refusal to lift a man-hole cover, etc.

It's a company which takes our money and does little else.

Avoid. Major fail.

mackone_2 · 18 March 2011 at 12:37AM

So after reading these issues with Homeserve can anyone here offer some alternative companies?
I am looking for Plumbing/drains and also Gas/boiler care.

Looking at website the gas/boiler care is about half what I am currently paying Scottish Gas and Scottish Water are offering me a homeserve plumbing/drainage cover for 99p/month.
Cheers,
Mackone

macman · 18 March 2011 at 1:10AM

Use a local independent GSR RGI for your CH, and a plumber for the other work.
How often would you actually need any work on your drains?-if you don't block them up they should work just fine for many years-nothing much to go wrong otherwise.

meer53 · 22 March 2011 at 9:36PM

The week before Christmas last year i had a huge burst pipe BEHIND my newly installed kitchen cupboards. The burst pipe was in the corner of the kitchen and was boxed in (soil pipe also in this area) I have a Homeserve policy which covers emergencies like this. It happened on a Sunday afternoon luckily, if i'd been at work my house would have floated away !
I called Homeserve after managing to turn off the water at the mains. It took about 10 mins to get through but i wasn't surprised as it was minus 11 outside and several of my neighbours were also having plumbing problems (combi boilers mainly, pipes freezing, mine is an old type thankfully)
They told me someone would call me when they were on their way. Their plumber called me on Monday afternoon and was with me within the hour. He worked for 3 hours repairing the burst pipe after having to partially demolish the section which was boxed in to get to the pipe, i can't fault their service or the plumber, admittedly they couldn't get to me on the day it happened but that was due to the weather conditions ( nearly 2 feet of snow on the ground ) i spoke to people who were having to wait up to a week for a local plumber, i was only without heat or water for 24 hours.
I'm so glad that i paid for the Homeserve cover, i dread to think what it would have cost me otherwise. I can't fault them.

Lapchien · 14 April 2011 at 10:09PM

On TV tonight Watchdog featured a rip off merchant called Jim Pharaoh, the same guy that was trained to be a plumber by Reactfast - who are owned by, guess who - Homeserve!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2011/04/rogue_drains.html#more

http://www.reactfast.co.uk/htm/news_money_down_the_drain.htm

chatters73 · 15 April 2011 at 12:02AM

I'm sick to death on hearing the negativity towards HomeServe and it's time that one of it's many happy customers makes a stand. HomeServe has a huge number of members, like me, who are totally happy with the service they receive. I have had cover with other companies like bg and barclays but when it came to needing an emergency response, no one has come close to competing with HomeServe. A burst pipe leaking through a ceiling is not what i asked for on new years eve, but to their credit HomeServe arrived within the 2 hour timeframe and repaired the burst at no charge. I have no complaints about HomeServe and having used their service, i would recommend them strongly as an emergency service. Can other members please respond?

keystone · 21 April 2011 at 8:53AM

chatters73 wrote: »

I'm sick to death on hearing the negativity towards HomeServe............

Theres always the "don't read it option" though.

HomeServe has a huge number of members, like me, who are totally happy with the service they receive.

You'll forgive for observing that this sentence reads just as though it was drafted by Homeserve's marketing department.

Cheers

How are HomeServe still in business

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