Home Protect Insurance has xxxxxxxx by £130, refused to fix my boiler

[Purpleflowers 2]

My house insurance was due and I searched the net and decided to go with Home Protect this time instead of Barclays who were my previous insurer. I took out buildings and home emergency cover with Home Protect insurance...................I paid £230 which included £55 for the home emergency cover which included the costs of fixing the boiler/central heating...................etc and a further £35 for legal cover.

 

A few weeks into the insurance my boiler broke down, so I range home protect emergency cover, they told me they would have to charge me to fix my boiler, as it was stated in the terms and condition that my boiler had to have been serviced and the engineer would want to see this.

 

I told home protect I had never received the terms and conditions in the post and was not aware of this so called "condition" they had told me and the onus was on them to make me aware of this.

 

They refused to come and fix the boiler, so I cancelled my insurance with them, I was refunded just £99 (after having paid £230 for buildings, home emergency and legal cover)

 

I asked why was I being refunded only £99 2 weeks after having taken out the cover, I was told home emergency and legal are non refundable and its stated in the terms and conditions when I took the policy out with them.

 

I feel I was misold the home insurance and home emergency I was not made aware that the boiler had to be serviced beforehand and never received the terms and conditions in the post.

 

very very unhappy, with the service and losing over£130 which they wont refund me, i paid one lump sum so they only gave me back £99 can I take legal action against them?

 

I would advise others to stay away from Home Protect

[unclebulgaria67]

Make a complaint in writing, saying that you will involve the FOS, unless they can resolve your complaint to your satisfaction. If you went to the FOS, it would cost them a case fee of £500 and you nothing. Due to this, many companies will look to resolve a complaint, by offering an ex-gratia payment.

 

In reality, if you arranged cover online, it was up to you to read through all the information that was online. Most Insurers will have their full policy details online and there will be links to all the relevant information.

 

It is not unusual for Insurers to not refund on certain types of cover. e.g Home emergency cover and legal cover. They are allowed to charge the full amount, as these policies are different to normal Home Insurance cover and if the Insurers use outside companies to provide the cover, it may have already had to pay those companies the relevant sum.

 

So in summary, it does not look as if your complaint is totally merited, but as you are unhappy, you are entitled to make the complaint.

[ihateyes]

these 'home emergency policies' all require a service to have been done and for you to have proof. but these policies arent worth it.

 

Now on there website they have a link to T&c's page 49-52 is applicable to you. http://www.homeprotect.co.uk/media/90450/policy%20document.pdf

 

in the event of a emergancy they cover upto £500 split up as as following:

 

£100 for parts and materials, and the other £400 for 2hrs labour and call out.

 

that wont go very far!!

[HomeProtect]

Hello Layla_83

 

Could you please drop us ,using a private message through this forum, some details so we can check your policy and verify that your complaint and claim has been processed with due diligence.

 

The reason for this is that you stated on your original post that the claims handler asked you about the service history of your boiler. This could be an issue due to changes in policy wording regarding boilers and home emergency cover. We just need to clarify the purchase date, these easiest way to accomplish this is to verify your name, email address, postal code and policy number.

 

Regards

 

The HomeProtect Customer Care Team

[honeybee13]

Thank you for answering, Home Protect.

 

Layla, please let us know how you get on. We like to know and you could help someone else in the future.

 

My best, HB

[Purpleflowers 2]

I have just seen the replies to this thread, homeprotect for yourinformation

 

my complaint was basically thrown aside, I paid around £240 in one go for the insurance and when I needed help for boiler repairs 4 weeks later I was told along the lines of "sorry but our terms and conditions state you MUST have the boiler serviced in the last 12 months or else you pay......"

 

I told the advisor, I had lost the paperwork and was not made aware of this clause in the contract before I took the policy out and thus it is miss-selling

 

i am going to take this to the FOS, homeprotect have to be the worst ever insurance company i have ever dealt with, i would not recommend these people to anyone at all, stay well clear and save your money and don't up with the same problems I did

 

[

 

QUOTE=HomeProtect;3862350]Hello Layla_83

 

Could you please drop us ,using a private message through this forum, some details so we can check your policy and verify that your complaint and claim has been processed with due diligence.

 

The reason for this is that you stated on your original post that the claims handler asked you about the service history of your boiler. This could be an issue due to changes in policy wording regarding boilers and home emergency cover. We just need to clarify the purchase date, these easiest way to accomplish this is to verify your name, email address, postal code and policy number.

 

Regards

 

The HomeProtect Customer Care Team

[unclebulgaria67]

"sorry but our terms and conditions state you MUST have the boiler serviced in the last 12 months or else you pay......"

 

That would be a standard term in most if not all such policies.

[Purpleflowers 2]

i'm disgsuted that homeprotect treated me with comtempt refusing to fix my boiler by claiming claims and conditions state boiler has to have been serviced, which it was but i lost the paperwork and i told them i have small children at home, but they told me sorry you have to pay and then they only gave me back £99 of my £240 I paid them, they still owe me £140

 

and how they now have the nerve to ask me to give them my private details in pm is just plain wrong, after refusing to fix my boiler - this is just another trick to try to save face, worst insurance company ever

[dacouc]

Can you not remember who serviced your boiler, if you can you can just request confirmation they serviced the boiler.

[ihateyes]

i'm disgsuted that homeprotect treated me with comtempt refusing to fix my boiler by claiming claims and conditions state boiler has to have been serviced, which it was but i lost the paperwork and i told them i have small children at home, but they told me sorry you have to pay and then they only gave me back £99 of my £240 I paid them, they still owe me £140

 

and how they now have the nerve to ask me to give them my private details in pm is just plain wrong, after refusing to fix my boiler - this is just another trick to try to save face, worst insurance company ever

 

£240 sounds expensive for emergency cover....

 

saying that any company who doesnt have the policy t&c's online should ring alarm bells. website looks crap as well.

[scubaTed]

Be careful of this company Home Protect. They sold us insurance took the money but never gave us a policy. They then set our Direct Debit up as weekly instead of monthly we could of effectively been paying over £120.00 per month for home insurance that is if we had let them. They are a bunch of cowboys! When you speak to them you can never speak to a manger and you never get anyone who knows what they are doing. They make so many mistakes. I assume this company is run from home with remote workers.

 

Be very careful of this company

[unclebulgaria67]

Be careful of this company Home Protect. They sold us insurance took the money but never gave us a policy. They then set our Direct Debit up as weekly instead of monthly we could of effectively been paying over £120.00 per month for home insurance that is if we had let them. They are a bunch of cowboys! When you speak to them you can never speak to a manger and you never get anyone who knows what they are doing. They make so many mistakes. I assume this company is run from home with remote workers.

 

Be very careful of this company

 

Make a complaint in writing asking why they did not send any policy documents and then applied different payments, which you had not agreed to. Advise them you are extremely unhappy with their service and want to refer the matter to the FOS.

[scubaTed]

Thanks for message yes have done that, they sent me a reply to say they have eight weeks to repsond to complaint but will nto tell me if I am insured or not, so am completely stuck!

 

Ted

[unclebulgaria67]

Thanks for message yes have done that, they sent me a reply to say they have eight weeks to repsond to complaint but will nto tell me if I am insured or not, so am completely stuck!

 

Ted

 

They have to tell you whether you are insured, because that is what their business is. If they failed in that duty, they should be subject to an immediate investigations by the FCA.

 

FCA rules that apply

 

http://fshandbook.info/FS/html/FCA/ICOBS