General Chat

Friday evening realised my overflow was going - water pouring on to the conservatory roof

Saturday morning still going so ring Homeserve to see if I am covered. They confirm that I am and say a plumber will ring me within the hour to make an appointment to call

No one calls so at 1:30 I call Homeserve again - they apologise and say they will contct the plumber again - wait for him to call me

No one calls, so at 6:00 pm I call Homeserve again - they apologise again and say they will ring a different plumber

An hour later a plumber rings and informs me they are in Swansea - I am in Cardiff! I remark that it seems a bit stupid for them to come to Cardiff at such a late hour - they agree and say they will ring Homeserve

I hear nothing and at 9:30 pm I ring Homeserve again who then inform me I am not covered!!! I am indignant but it is late and I leave it - the overflow is still going and I am on a water meter

I do nothing on Sunday as I feel Sunday rates will be too high.

Monday morrning I am due at the GP for a fasting blood test so decide to stay in bed as long as possible because I canlt have breakfast and my appointment is for 10.45 am.

At 8:15 am there is a ring on the doorbell - I go downstairs and there are two men with a lorry - we've come to dig up your drive - you have a leak!!! I point out that I have an overflow problem and they leave

I go to the GP and am called in to the phlebotomist - she asks for the form which the GP has left at reception for me - I presumed she would have had it but I went to Reception and they did not have it - the GP had forgotten to leave it for me. I cannot have the bloodtests - they are now booked for Tuesday

I go home and call Homeserve and explode - they are sympathetic and inform me that I cancelled my cover last March - which I most definitely did not do - I have all my home emergency cover with them

I search the web for their address and look on all my policies but there is no address on anything - I contact them by email to get the address and whilst surfing the web for thir address I find a stack of websites regarding their business - on Saturday following a shedload of complaints they apparently had to dismiss 200 call centre staff and send all their management for retraining!!! Reuters even have a website on it

I am in the process of writing a blistering letter of complaint with a copy to the media

my plumber called, fixed the problem and charged me £10:00

I am cancelling all my policies with Homeserve

I am going to ask Steven Speilberg if he would like to make this into a film - horror of course!! I would like Jennifer Aniston to play me, Brad Pitt can play my saviour of a plumber, Little and Large for the ones who wanted to dig up my drive, Peter Cushing for the phlebotomist

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-S :-S :-S :-S

Ann,

What a terrible situation to be in, over the weekend.

If your policy was in force, and they didn't come to your assistance, they should be liable for the cost of all the water being wasted surely. I would bill them for the cost.

I hope all goes well with your blood test.

Elisabeth x

Edit: Can you see - from your bank statements, that the policy was still in force? Some people pay an annual fee and others monthly.

thank you Elisabeth - I have yet to check my bank statements - it seems Homeserve, on whom I have relied since my husband died, are not all they're cracked up to be - I was horrified when I went on the net to find their address

I am composing my written resoponse to them - it should be quite blistering!!!

My blood tests will be fine - checking cholesterol levels!!!

Ann XXX

What a weekend Anne and what a lot of wasted water. Home serve should be ashamed. I am surprised if it had got to that stage that it had not made the media. glad you got the overflow sorted anyway. :-)

it was overflowing from the header tank in the attic - a new washer was needed

the plumber is a family friend so I had an excellent rate

what he did tell me, which might be worth passing on is that if your overflow is going, turn the cold water off at the stopcock and open a hot tap and let it run and the overflow will stop

I shall pass that tip on to he who does Ann thanks.

This has reminded me that about 10 years ago, when my husband was working away, we had the same problem.

I climbed up into the attic, tied up the ballcock and went off to the builder's merchants for a new ballcock complete. Fitted the new apparatus - and felt very proud of myself!

The leak in the flat roof was another story - when the snow began to melt it leaked into the lounge. Climbed out of a bedroom window armed with some spreadable bitumen. Problem solved temporarily.New roofing fitted when the weather improved - but by a roofing contractor, not me!

I don't like to be beaten.

Elisabeth xx

Hello AnnofGG.....blimey girl you do get into some situations! Thank you for that useful bit of info:)
l am sorry you had such a bad time getting it sorted though!

Take care:)
Are you over your fall now??

jude :-)

AGG, this made me laugh - I know I shouldn't, but it's the way you tell 'em :-D

Hope all is OK now, including your blood pressure!

We used to have a Homeserve policy, until 2 winters ago, when an outside pipe burst and they said that wasn't covered, so we got a plumber to fix it and cancelled our policy.

Hello Ann .
What a carry on for you .I would ask for compensation .Barbra x.

you have to laugh at it Wend - what else can you do - I was spitting feathers at the time and I have yet to write my blistering letter!!!

Over my fall thanks Jude

Bloods taken - always a problem, poor veins - look as if I've had a major op - cotton wool and plasters everywhere!!

Strange - article in Daily Mxxl today re this company and not a good writeup as I recall.

Just put "Homeserve" in google and you will see a stack of sites come up regarding their bad practices

In the D Mail I think they are in trouble for mis-selling insurance, it says customers may be entitled to a refund.

Sounds like you had a horrible time of it :-(

Last year I could hear water running in the pipes. Turned out it was our stopcock,the house is over 100yrs old,It was covered and replaced.It did take about 4 days till they got the part though.I'm sure it was through Scottish water who use homeserve.abt £35 per year. If you had the same thing it only covers pipes outside your house not plumbing inside. I think you can get cover for that too.

I'm hoping we dot have such cold and nasty weather as last year.


Marion

I have inside and outside water cover, electricity and kitchen appliances with Homeserve - not for much longer though!!! :-D

I'd keep on at them Ann.thats no good.

can I add a small piece to that?

if it is your hot water header tank then yes that advice works, but if you have an older type of boiler system,( as we have) then the central heating header?/expansion tank is a different matter!!

that can be either the expansion overdoing it......or the ball valve not shutting off, as in A gg's case.......(i've recently had to do mine.....)

Bob

We were with homeserve, but found out that really you are not covered for most things. :-D