Homeserve... Bad Bad Service

[TonyRead]

Our boilerstopped working 3 weeks ago!! We have insurance with Homeserve called"Home emergency" via Churchill insurance. We contacted Homeserve whosent out an engineer, and reported that the heater exchange needed to berepaired. Homeserve reported that the engineer also said the flu was not at thecorrect angle so the claim would be void as there had been water damage to theboiler although the engineer, inform us it was the heater exchange was thecause. We were advised by Homeserve the flu had to be resolved before theywould deal with the claim. There was no issue with the flu, pointing in thecorrect position, but we made sure to be on the safe side. We contacted themagain and they would now get an engineer to resolve the boiler. Homeserve wouldget there 3rd party engineer to call us back in 2 hours, but nothing. We calledback the next day they said we are still trying to find an enginner and wouldcall back, 2 days went by and no call back. The policy only covers up to £500and apparently the call out fee for the engineer was £150!! Now our policy willonly cover £350. Spoke to them last Tuesday to see what was going on and againthey still trying find an engineer, its now Saturday and had no communicationfrom them. Called again this morning and a manager will now call us back by13:00...lets see what happens.

3 weekswithout hot water, Homeserve constantly trying to get out having to pay for theclaim. No communication. Appalling service, don't just take my word for itGoogle "Homeserve complaints" there everywhere.

[TonyRead]

Homeservehave just called us back, which is the first time in a week. They have saidthat still no engineer has be assigned to the job, the lady had spoken to asenior manager to investigate in what was going on and they will now speak tothe original engineer their 3rd party. I asked if I could speak to this managerand was told "He does not talk to customers!" WHAT!?

Still nofurther forward, lets see what happens on Monday. Will my boiler ever getrepaired??

Homeservejust do NOT communicate....very frustrating!

[rebel11]

Hi Tony

 

Welcome to CAG

 

Thread moved.

 

Write a Formal Letter of Complaint , explain whats happened, explain what you want them to do. Explain that the Manger clearly didn't want to take ownership of the problem as he didn't want to speak to you. Send it to:-

Richard Harpin, Chief Executive

richard.harpin@homeserve.com

 

Some help writing the letter:- http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_195923

[ihateyes]

Our boilerstopped working 3 weeks ago!! We have insurance with Homeserve called"Home emergency" via Churchill insurance. We contacted Homeserve whosent out an engineer, and reported that the heater exchange needed to berepaired. Homeserve reported that the engineer also said the flu was not at thecorrect angle so the claim would be void as there had been water damage to theboiler although the engineer, inform us it was the heater exchange was thecause. We were advised by Homeserve the flu had to be resolved before theywould deal with the claim. There was no issue with the flu, pointing in thecorrect position, but we made sure to be on the safe side. We contacted themagain and they would now get an engineer to resolve the boiler. Homeserve wouldget there 3rd party engineer to call us back in 2 hours, but nothing. We calledback the next day they said we are still trying to find an enginner and wouldcall back, 2 days went by and no call back. The policy only covers up to £500and apparently the call out fee for the engineer was £150!! Now our policy willonly cover £350. Spoke to them last Tuesday to see what was going on and againthey still trying find an engineer, its now Saturday and had no communicationfrom them. Called again this morning and a manager will now call us back by13:00...lets see what happens.

 

3 weekswithout hot water, Homeserve constantly trying to get out having to pay for theclaim. No communication. Appalling service, don't just take my word for itGoogle "Homeserve complaints" there everywhere.

 

Couple of points...

 

Firstly. complain to Churchill... they have appointed and are paying Homeserve. Homeserve are probably dragging their heels due to Chuchill not wanting to pay.

 

This is a home emergency policy... tripe at the best.....

 

page 26 of their t&c's:

 

 

Emergency assistance:

work carried out by an authorised repairer or

suitably qualified repairer to temporarily or permanently put right an

emergency, carry out emergency repairs or prevent further damage.

 

There is no guarantee aa permanent fix may be done.

 

The problem with these policies is the companies charge a call out and thats part o the claim value. Most people that dont charge a call out will do when they do work on behalf of an insurer. £150 is excessive.

If they did come out to replace it, you would end up dipping into your pocket.... Over £400 is the norm for the heat exchanger.... probably the most expensive part of the boiler to fail... oh and 2 hrs labour as well.

 

 

If you were a paying Homeserve customer you wouldnt wait this long, the fact is they are looking after their own first, then when they are free they will attend to you.

 

Whatever happens here id be surprised if you didnt have to pay something towards the repair.

 

Oh also on Homeserves own agreements its well documented on forums if you needed a new heat exchanger they would cancel your agreement and give you £250... ie they would class your chb as Beyond economical repair, rather than paying for the repair.

[HomeServe Customer Service]

HomeServe are sorry that you are having issues please contact heretohelp @ homeserve.com and we will be happy to assist you.

[ihateyes]

HomeServe are sorry that you are having issues please contact heretohelp @ homeserve.com and we will be happy to assist you.

 

Well, hopefully OP will keep us updated. Homeserve can be difficult to deal with as they use sub contractors and neither know what the other is up to?

[MikeHar44]

A man came to service the boiler on Friday, on the Monday morning we complained to HomeServe that it would not ignite and had no hot water.

Putting us through to the service dept we were told that 24 hours had elapsed and to make a fresh claim.

The trick they had up their sleeve was to charge £50 excess.

We are now at the mercy of this bad company over £153 worse off for a boiler that was working fine.

Their second trick was to put a fault on during service - the igniter was misaligned, also it keeps reseting and switching off.

Don't touch this company they are crooks.

[ihateyes]

maybe their subbies dont have much work on.... so if they leave a fault, you will call back, the subbie comes out and gets paid by Homeserve!!

 

feckin genius, im in the wrong job!!

[TonyRead]

We had another one of their sub-contractors call us up today, to say they will be out to have a look at the boiler tomorrow. Homeserve did not update us that this would be the case. So again we had to contact Homeserve and apparently the original contractors do not want to continue with the case, for what ever reason, she was unsure. I'm now concerned that this second contractor will have a call out charge. Will this also be charged to my account?? If so, my claim just seems to be going onto call out charges and not to the repair of my boiler.

[ihateyes]

Maybe churchill were only paying a set charge for the repair, and the contractor was on a loser....

 

 

As i hae said many times, this is the reason, why people shouldnt use these emergency policies especially when the faults ae fixed by sub contractors....

 

tony i hope you get this sorted out.... i would demand any refund of an excess you might pay....

 

TCF - treating customer fairly...... its getting unreasonable now the way you have been treated

[TonyRead]

We have had the second engineer round Wednesday and he has managed to get the boiler working, fantastic!

 

Your correct they only pay the engineers a flat rate. The original engineer got it completely wrong estimating the job would be £800 and thats why they kept on refusing to do the job, this is so bad for the customer who just want the issue resolved.

The issue was a small tube at the back of the boiler that contained a lead, which contained some water, he dried the tube and the boiler fired up.

Homeserve as usual have not made any follow up call. I will not be taking these types of polices out again.

 

ihateyes – You seem to know a lot about these types of complaints, is this from experience or did you work for these types of insurance companies? Thank you for your advise.

[ihateyes]

ihateyes – You seem to know a lot about these types of complaints, is this from experience or did you work for these types of insurance companies? Thank you for your advise.

 

i work for a company in this line of business.... yes...... but not homeserve