scottishpower premium boiler care

[trishj]

On 12th March 2013 my boiler had broken down and I called the Customer Service helpline on Wednesday 13th March, to log a call for an engineer to come and look at the boiler. An Engineer arrived at my property on Friday 15th March and confirmed to me that he needed to order 3 mechanical parts for the boiler to work again. I also informed him that there was a leak coming from the boiler. The engineer informed me that he had to e-mail my insurance company and seek authorisation to order the parts in which to rectify the problem with the boiler.

At this time we had very thick snow and it was sub zero temperatures and I had no heating and hot water.

On Monday 18th March I called Scottish Power again to see if they had received the e-mail from the engineer with regard to getting my boiler fixed. The sustomer Services lady that I spoke to informed me that they had received the e-mail but the boiler ID number was missing. On that note I then called the sub-contractors and the lady informed me that she had included the boiler number on the original e-mail sent to Scottish Power and had also called them with the information also. She went onto say that she would call Scottish Power again and provide them with the information again as she was concerned that I had now been without heating and hot water in sub zero temperatures for over a week. She then called me back the same day to confirm that Scottish Power were in receipt of the boiler ID number and a decision would be made in the next 24-hours, which was the Tuesday 19th March and I would be called to be informed when the Engineer would be coming to fix the boiler.

By Saturday 23rd March I still hadn’t heard anything, so I called Scottish Power again and they informed me that my claim was still with the claims department as they had been very busy due to the cold weather and that my claim still hadn’t been dealt with. The customer service agent told me he would send another e-mail to ensure that this would be dealt with on Monday 25th March as there was nobody available at weekends to get this finalised.

On the same day I e-mailed the complaints department, telling them all of this information and that I wasn’t happy at all with the service I had received to date and still some 2 weeks later I was still without heating and hot water. I also informed them that on Monday 25th March my daughter was having an operation and I needed the heating fixed for when she convalesced.

On Monday 25th March I received a telephone call (almost 2 weeks after my initial call), whilst I was at the hospital with my daughter and I was told to go and buy some heaters and I would be reimbursed.

The same lady called me on Tuesday 26th March to inform me that she had taken the £90 for the heaters off my April bill and also took my meter readings during the same telephone call. She went onto say that I would also be reimbursed for the extra electricity I was using from the heaters I had purchased.

 

Later the same day the contractor called me to inform me that my parts were now in stock and they would be fitted on Wednesday 27th March, which they did, the control panel, PCB and water diverter valve.

 

On Friday 29th March when I woke up the boiler pilot light was out, which I managed to re-start, then on Saturday 30th March when I woke up it was out again, I managed to re-start the pilot light but the control panel was dead. I went away for the evening and returned home on Sunday 31st March the whole system was dead and I couldn’t re-light the pilot light. I also noticed there was water dripping out of the bottom of the boiler, so I put a towel underneath it to catch the excess water, which was soaked by Sunday evening.

I called Scottish Power again on Sunday 31st March to inform them that the boiler had broken down again only after two days of being fixed and the customer services representative informed me that I would be marked down as an urgent case. I received a call later that day to inform me that they couldn’t get a contractor out as it was Bank Holiday but if I could find my own plumber to fix the boiler, I would be reimbursed by Scottish Power. I declined this option as I was under the impression that if a third party touched the boiler then my insurance would be void.

It took 4 days to send out another engineer who informed me that the first repair had been done incorrectly and that there was a leak which hadn't been repaired, he said the system now needed a costly repair and he would inform Scottish power of what would be required in order to carry out a proper repair.

Five weeks later and after several telephone calls pleading for information and being promised someone was dealing with my case, I was informed by a third party that my repair would not be undertaken and I would have to replace my boiler at my own cost. He said that the cost of parts and labour exceeded my limit for repairs which I have never been informed of before. My boiler is only about 6 years old and had been under a maintenance contract with Scottishpower for most of that time.

I was sold the policy over the telephone and never received a written contract but was told by the sales person that all parts and labour were covered by the premium policy, I telephoned their customer services again and was told my case was being reviewed by the complaints department, this was over two weeks ago and I have heard nothing from them since.

I have now been without central heating and hot water for nine weeks and am desperate to get my boiler fixed, Scottishpower have been completely unhelpful and seem to have washed their hands of me, I have no idea where to turn now

[dx100uk]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?388444-Scottish-Power-Platinum-Boiler-Cover

[ScottishPower Company Rep]

Hi trishJ Please e-mail us at social@scottishpower.com with your details and we will help. Thanks David

[ashmk]

These premiums are quite often a waste of time and money. You would be better off opening a savings account and putting your subs in there. When something goes wrong, get the money out and pay for the repair. Job done, no stress.

 

Companies like to use scare tactics and say 'but what if something goes wrong? Do you really want to take that risk?..... But it works both ways, what if something does not go wrong? It's a gamble. But if it does not, you win!

 

I dumped all my cover plans and put the same amount of money in the bank and in that account is a few thousand quid now. It's all mine and if something goes wrong I will call a repair guy and pay him myself. And I get the interest which is not a lot but at least I don't have to call up a company like Scottish Power argue with them over a repair and wait weeks for them [EDIT] to do something about it.

Edited May 16, 2013 by dx100uk
behave - dx