I have been a Scottish power Home Comfort customer for 2 years. I contacted SP this morning to report a fault and an engineer was sent to my property. I had removed the cover from the boiler this morning, following the maintenance instructions in the boiler's manual. But, as I'm not an engineer, I decided to leave it be until the engineer arrived. Upon seeing the cover had been removed the engineer refused to repair the boiler. He advised he could repair it (it is repairable), but would not because I had breached my policy by removing the cover. This means my wife, our 4-day-old daughter, and myself are left with out heat and hot water and a £300 bill from Glowworm to repair the boiler sometime next week. The engineer was rude, abrupt, disinterested, and completely unsympathetic to our problem. Terrible service from SP. I previously had problems with SP. Here's a link to last year's problems: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?290116-Scottish-Power-Home-Comfort-cover-problems/page4 Fellow consumer, AVOID SP at all costs!

Alas, still no hot water!

Heating is still working, but we remain without hot water. 4 weeks now. This is a disgrace, Scottish Power.

The engineer from SP's subcontractor has just left. He managed to get the heating to work, but no hot water! More part are required. I very much doubt this will be repaired before Tuesday of next week. (I'm pretty sure Easter weekend = suppliers closed!) Scottish Power, please try to have this resolved ASAP for us?!

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David, I have been in contact with one of your colleagues for over 2 weeks now. In addition, I have emailed that email address you posted above probably half a dozen times since I reported the fault on March 5th.

I have a feeling we're going to go over Easter without hot water and central heating. I'm tempted to pay Vaillant the £260 fixed-cost fee they charge to repair any Vaillant boiler, and take SP to the small claims courts to secure a refund. I've just emailed our family solicitor now to request info on this.

***Update*** It gets even worse. After daily calls to both SP and the subcontractor they are using - a company named 0800REPAIR - it was agreed that an engineer would come out this afternoon to stem the leak and 'fit the parts that had arrived' - not all the necessary parts had arrived, despite having been orederd 17 days ago! The engineer arrived and immediately advised that more parts would be required since the water-damage, caused by the 17-day-long leak, will have invariably damaged other components of the boiler. However, he agreed to fit the part he had come to fit, to at least stop the water leak, which is causing such damage to the area around our boiler. He was here for two and half hours fitting the part and generally fiddling around. He left advising that he had done all he could and that he'd contact SP to arrange ordering the additional parts which were now necessary as a result of the failure to stop the leak when I first reported it on March 5th - 17 days ago. However, as soon as he left I realised the replacement part he had fitted was leaking - so evidently it is a damaged part and/or he failed to fit it properly. I have spent the hour since then attempting to contact both SP and 0800REPAIR to arrange a revisit. No joy so far. It looks like another weekend, and probably another week too, without heating and hot water (sub zero temperatures) and a continuation of water-damage to the area around our boiler. (It's leaking 2 buckets of water a day). I urge anybody considering joining SP 'HomeComfort' to strongly reconsider. If this isn't repaired by Monday (21 days since I reported it) I'll be contacting relevant authorities and consumer rights groups.

We're two and half weeks without central heating and hot water now - remember it is snowing and below zero outside, and room thermostat advises 7 degrees in the house. It is true that SP has agreed to compensate us for a couple of electric heaters, but, hey, what about hot water and the water-damage that's being done to our brand new kitchen because of the bucket-load of water leaking from the boiler every day for the past two and half weeks?! When we were covered through Vaillant/Home Serve we never waited more than 2 days for a repair (including when parts were needed). How I regret joining 'HomeComfort'!

After 2 weeks without hot water or heating, SP has agreed to offer some form of compensation. (They've agreed to cover the cost of 2 electrical heaters I was forced to purchase.) Nevertheless, we remain without hot water and central heating. The boiler was supposed to have been repaired early last week 'at the latest' ... It's now 'estimated' that it'll be repaired end of this week. Certainly, I am thankful that SP has agreed to compensate me for the purchase I made, but, nevertheless, I'll be returning to Vaillant/Home Serve when my SP contract expires in Nov.

Hi all, Like many who have posted in the thread previously, I have found myself proverbially-kicking myself for changing providers to save a few quid. (Joined SP after 3 yrs as a Home Serve customer, and always had faultless service). I reported a boiler fault on Tues 5th March, and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised that an engineer was immediately sent to my home to investigate. Regrettably the engineer was unable to repair the boiler because parts were needed. I was advised that SP aims to resolve all boiler faults within 2 working days, but that repairs may take 5 days if parts are necessary. This, of course, is perfectly understandable. However, I have now been without hot water and/or central heating for 8 days and recent contact with SP advises that I have to wait close to another week before the repair can be attempted. Given that the current outdoor temperature is below freezing, and the indoor temperature is only 7 degrees, according to my room thermostat, my wife, child, and I are struggling, to say the least. I have advised SP that they may wish to reconsider the wording of their '5 day guarantee', which is baseless. In fact, it only applies from the date that SP 'authorise' the engineer's order for parts, and this can take days, weeks even. It is SP's 'get-out-of-jail' card. However, after looking through my policy details I can't find any mention of this 'loophole', leading me to believe it may actually contravene advertising standards. So much for 8.2 of their T&Cs - 'emergency response' to breakdowns when policy-holders have no heating or hot water! Yes, I am a 'newbie', but I have been a lurker for many years. I'm not intending to scaremonger here, but a word of warning to others; if it's a case of paying a tried-and-tested, reliable provider a slightly higher premium to renew or to save a few quid (about a tenner in my case) to join SP, pay the extra and stay with your current provider. (After haggling them down from the price on the renewal of course!) I really regret my decision to leave Vaillant/HomeServe.