How are HomeServe still in business

Charlie20 wrote: »

Appalling experience with Homeserve which doesn’t sound unusual reading previous posts.
We called out homeserve as were frequently getting an error code F/L which required us to re-start the boiler. The engineer came out and said it was the pcb board. He didn’t have the part so booked us another appointment for the engineer to fit the part. So far so good. However, a second engineer returned a few days later and said the first engineer was wrong and that the boiler was beyond economical repair, he also said it was leaking fumes and disconnected it. Before he’d even left the house we’d received a call to be offered a replacement boiler where we’d only have to pay the installation charge - one of the ‘benefits’ of the Homeserve policy. To cut a long story short, we were quoted for the installation at an extortionate cost which was basically as much as if we’d paid for the boiler in any case (we checked with another independent heating engineer what the cost of replacing a boiler should be). We were quite suspicious of Homeserve at this point so asked an independent heating engineer to come and look at the boiler. He found there was a simple fault with the ignition cable and probe which would be straight forward to rectify. He tested the boiler and found there to be no leakage of fumes/none of the other problems identified by the last Homeserve engineer to call (which had also not been identified by the first Homeserve engineer). In addition, he expressed the view that the boiler hadn’t been serviced for some considerable length of time which obviously wouldn’t have helped it function properly. Our Homeserve policy includes an annual service and we’ve had an engineer out yearly to service boiler... I then called Homeserve to explain my problem. They said there was nothing they could do as I was no longer covered ( I hadn’t renewed the policy when it came up for renewal after the boiler was condemned as I didn’t have a boiler to insure thanks to Homeserve). I challenged this for obvious reasons at which point they transferred me 3 times to different people. They kept saying they could only go off what their engineer had said - very unhelpful. They then put the onus on us to obtain a report from the independent heating engineer, I refused to do this on principle. After asking for details of their complaints team they then agreed to send another ‘independent’ engineer out to look at the boiler (although after asking who the engineer was employed by it transpires they are still employed by a company associated with Homeserve - not so independent after all). We will see what this brings but I am not optimistic. To summarise, it appears we have been paying for insurance and servicing for a year but the boiler hasn’t been serviced properly (or even at all) and neither has it been fixed when it developed a simple fault. I find it difficult to believe an organisation can behave in such a consistently incompetent and unethical manner. I also find it a complete conflict of interest that Homeserve own the company that replaces your boiler when it is found by them to be beyond economic repair. I would never take out any kind of insurance with them again.