HomeServe Heating 

Can’t get through to get a plumbing problem sorted - I thought giving them one star was being over generous

Our boiler broke down one week into lockdown. They managed to get an engineer out to us within a couple of days who then told us we had to get a new boiler. Then it was downhill from there.
• We were both vunerable during the pandemic yet the engineers didn't have masks or shoe covers. They also didn't social distance themselves correctly and left half eaten food in our kitchen.
• It took 13 visits over the course of 4 weeks to get the new boiler working with our system. (We were trying to shield so this was very stressful)
• Our toilet got destroyed because the engineers dumped acidic fluid down it. Burned stains into the porcelain. They left handprints everywhere and black stains on my towels.
• The communication throughout the whole process was a joke, we were not kept up to date and sometimes had no idea if an engineer was coming out to us or not. We were left for days with no idea if someone was coming back to fix the problem.
• They finally fixed the problem and we were given some compensation but it doesn't end there...
• we've been waiting for weeks to be informed what the remaining amount is for the installation payment. I've even chased them as money is not as issue! Next thing you know I have a court order letter through the post claimed by Homeserve's solicitors saying we owe 3 times the amount we actually owe them. This is without being called or warned directly by Homserve. Apprently their finance department don't communicate with customer relations at all!! Customer relations are also pointless and big fat liars! Currently trying to resolve this myself as Homeserve clearly don't care. They should be ashamed of themselves and who they are as a company.
Please take this as a warning and avoid them at all costs!

I had been an Homeserve customer for years and In November 2016 I had issues with my boiler.
I called Homeserve because I was desperate to get my boiler fixed as I had a two-month-old baby.
It took them a few days to send the engineer to diagnose the issue and they diagnosed it wrong. Another engineer came a couple days later to take a water sample and said that he will need to send it to get it checked and it can take 10 days for the results to come back.
I had to move to a local hotel until I got the issue resolves as it was very cold and I could not stay in my house with a new born.
Due to the delays I got an engineer in myself and he said that the issue was with the circuit board. Got it replaced and the boiler started working and the following week I got the system flushed.
While I got the boiler fixed myself, I had been going back and forth with Homeserve as they did not diagnose the issue properly and failed to fix it. Yu an see from the review I left back in Nov 2016, I was clearly unhappy with their service and asked them to cancel my policy with immediate effect.
As far as I was concerned, that was it as Homeserve failed to deliver the service I had been paying for over several years.
In Mar 2020 I happened to check my Direct Debits and noticed that they were still taking money out of my account – Dec 2016 to March 2020 > 3 years and 3 months!!
I wrote to Homeserve regarding taking money out of my account without my authorisation and on 8th of April received an email confirming that my policy should have been cancelled back in Dec 2016 as requested and they will process a refund for the amount paid within 14 days.
28th April and no refund so I emailed them back and they said that they will chase it for me.
5th May and still no refund so I chased it up again and on 6th of May I received an email stating that they will not be able to process the refund.
Quote from the email “A note on our system shows that in December 2016 when we called you advising of the remedial work that needed to be carried out, you advised us that this work had been completed. Our agent advised you would need to provide us with evidence.”
The agent conveniently failed to leave a “note” that I had clearly asked to cancel my policy.
Also, why should I send Homserve proof of work done when I had carried out the repairs myself at my expense?
Between getting the issue fixed and the hotel, it cost me £940.00 and a week of inconvenience.
Three plus years of taking money from my account without my authorisation, Homserve is offering me £211.00 and £50.00 compensation.
So, in short…..they first confirm that the policy should have been cancelled in Dec 2016 and I will receive a full refund and now they change the story as they could not locate the recordings (conveniently) and offering me £211.00.
It does not make sense at all that Homserve would normally cancel the policy but, since I got the work carried out myself, they wouldn't have cancelled it?!?!
If you check my Trustpilot review I left, it would be very clear that I was not happy and had cancelled and was also advising any new potential users Not to use Homserve……….
Why would anyone in their right mind continue paying for something where they are not receiving any service? Would you?
I am going to take this matter up with the Financial Ombudsman as the service Homeserve offer is appalling.
If you are looking for cover, look somewhere else.

I had the unfortunate experience of taking out a policy for my OAP mother. Everything is well maintained and I was going on holiday so wanted peace of mind -worst decision ever made was the home-serve policy. I had the boiler recently serviced so I knew it was working well. They said they must do a service, so I arranged it to be done within a week as I was planning on leaving and could not come to the property. They came out, disconnected the air pump and said the water pump had just gone and I needed a new boiler.They left without reconnecting everything as they were told I would make a decision by phone. I called out an independent engineer hearing that my mother had no running hot water and he told me the air pump was disconnected and is now working. I complained to Homeserve and cancelled my policy before 14 days and they sent me an invoice for the cost of the service. I thus reported them to the gas safe register, after getting a third engineer to check that the boiler and specifically the water pump had several years of life left, and HomeServe retaliated by sending the invoice to a debt collector. I told the debt collector they will have to take me to court and they said given circumstances they will return the debt to Homeserve as I had lots of proof that it was a service not done and it was a false claim by them. Homeserve then wanted me to continue paying premiums which I had to have 7-12 phone calls on an always busy customer service line which probably cost me more than the plan.

Chris Cocks from HomeServe always on time, polite and helpful. Always goes the extra mile to make sure the jobs done well. Thoroughly recommend HomeServe and hope you’re lucky enough to get Chris too!

Do not ever consider taking out boiler cover with Homeserve I agree with all comments hear you pay for years and then they say your boiler is beyondn econmical and try to charge you doulbe or more for a new one conmen is all I can say. As for complaints they are a b...dy joke, offer minimum amount I contacted ombudsman who have at the present time agred with Homeserve that £30 for years of being a customer is fair, really. ISTATE DO NOT USE THESE BUNCH OF INCOMPETANT FOOLS

Following up from my previous review.
I have an open case with you through Ms Lindon, but 12 days now I have gotten no response and felt the urge to escalate.

I notice an alarming lack of engagement on my case, especially thinking of the reprucussions of your negligence.
Let me refresh your memory

Loses that amount to:
- 4 working days ( approximately £700)
- a powerflush that stuck our pump (partial refund out of the £700 paid)
- 2 weeks without heating
- purchase of electrical heaters to heat our house (£150)
- hiring an external engineer to fix the issue (£714)
- faulty installation - request a partial refund out of the £3,255.21 that it cost
- putting our property at risk of flooding, causing water damage on multiple levels

This means that you owe us £1564 + a partial refund out of 3,955.21 + compensation for loss of heating/ putting property at risk.
Not to mention misseling of services since allegedly an engineer would be at my property withing 24 hours
Not to mention countless hours waiting on a phone line, trying desperately to connect.
Not to mention working with subcontractors that treated my wife disrespectfully and in a sexist manner, causing her severe distraught.

I hope I have your attention now and that my issue will be dealt promptly. There is no more patience from my end, I have been treated like a nobody from your company.

Regards,

I have used HomeServe several times over the past few years and can honestly say they are the worst company I’ve ever had to deal with. Firstly their heating cover, they attend reasonably quickly but god forbid if your system needs new parts, they only have one parts provider, usually not local and takes several days to get parts, so you’re left without heat and hot water. Their service men are generally incompetent, I had to google the boiler fault code for their “engineer” and he changed several parts before declaring the boiler beyond repair. 5 days without heat or water. A second opinion from a proper heating engineer (not HomeServe) found the fault in half an hour, it was a small overheat sensor. Oh and their upholstery team wrecked a perfectly good sofa after a manufacture recall. DO NOT USE THEM.

Avoid Homeserve, you'll b doing itself a major favour. Third party contractor, Right Gas engineer, refused 2 show ID, called customer a -unt, capital C!! Over 3 months Homeserve customer services & office of CEO have obfuscated, & 2day e mail erroneously claims "an apology was issued via telephone" the day after the abusive language/misconduct. No support/ accountability. Office of CEO now instructing my e emails will not be attended to. Mistakes happen, we're all human, but if it with Homeserve, then be prepared, when mistakes happen, they treat you as the problem.

Stay well clear of this lot. My father in laws boiler packed in on a friday . They came on saturday afternoon to sort it. The engineer said it was a circuit board. But he did not have 1 one his horse. They did not bother to come on sunday. They said he would be the first one one monday morning. Suppose it does not matter that he is 86 years old. By the way, the first thing monday morning was 2 in the afternoon. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. If you still stay with this lot. Have some water , and a bale of hay for his horse.

Steer clear of this company they condemn your boiler in order to sell you another one, when a local gas engineer could put it right. They then try to say it is free but installation is £1450. Could buy a boiler for that and install it. Do not take out cover plan as it does not include installation. So after pay premium every month to them for years you get nothing.

I am very disapointed with Homeserve not covering Smart Thermostats in their cover. I recently upgraded to a smart Thermostat only to be told its not covered under their policy. As I am half way through the policy, I still have to pay the remaining term, even though they wont cover it. This is a disgusting approach by homeserve, if anyone is considering Homeserve than please AVOID! Smart devices are becoming more common and its surprising Homeserve are so behind the times compared with British Gas. And British Gas are surprisingly cheaper with a more superior product offering.

DO NOT USE HOMESERVE. They mislead and defraud customers. Homeserve arranged a service via text in Julu 2019 but no engineer attended. After waiting in for the engineer, I phoned to complain. I was told it was a system glitch and I was not due for a service until the end of the year. I did not receive a service. In Janaury 2020 I cancelled my policy and asked for a full refund as I was deceived into continuing payments for a service they did not provide. My last payment was on 6th January 2020 and I cancelled on 8th January. They did not refund January's payment and only offered to refund £67 of which they claim is the service element. I should have been refunded at a very minimum. Back to July where they failed to provide a service. Had I known I would not have been receiving a service the policy would have been cancelled in July 2019. Also note I was paying almost double what they were advertising and the service element they advertised was 30.4% of the cover they advertised but they did not offer me 30.4% of what I had paid. They said the cheaper policy cover they advertise is for new customers only but worked my refund for the service element on the new customer rate and not the rate they were charging me.

Don't buy landlord cover with 'free' service and CP12 gas safety its not worth it. In fact others such as EDF are offering much better service for quarter of the price.

Is it really acceptable to keep people waiting for 30 minutes on call and give a customer a colossal 6 HOUR time slot to wait all day during the week losing your day at work?

These useless service men don't work weekends either. Better to pay your local CP12 guy they only charge £50 for a service and get a much cheaper company for emergency breakdown cover. Homeserve charge £40p/m...others do this for £15p/m!

After having to call out an engineer last year to rectify a problem following a service (which was resolved after a complaint) the same happened again after my October 2019 service. This time it was escalated to a complaint and after waiting two months it still had not been resolved. In the interim I did receive a couple of letters apologising for the delay but advising me that they were very busy. Before a third letter was due to come out I did receive a phone call apologising for delay and telling me that another letter was due out imminently. I advised him that I had made alternative arrangements to sort the problem. When my boiler is due to be serviced this October it is highly unlikely that I will be using this company. One final matter. Most of the phone lines for this company are premium rate numbers so they are ripping customers off. Not customer oriented.

Absolute waste of time, their policies are not worth the paper they are written.My pensioner parents ( ages 78/ 80 ) were told an engineer would not be available until sometime on Saturday 28th Dec after their heating broke down on Boxing Day. So that would've been 3 days without heating! My parents had no choice but to get a local engineer in who solved the problem the next morning. The 2 policies they have - one for the heating / boiler and the other for pipes & drainage have been a waste of over £500.00 per year as neither policy when called upon have delivered the service it promises. DO NOT TOUCH THIS COMPANY- USE A LOCAL ENGINEER !! I wouldn't have even given 1 star if I could've !

This Company ripped me off for two monthly payments towards my boiler which was broken down at the time. I forgot to cancel and they are refusing to refund my money. Absolutely appalling customer service.

i had my furnace worked on 4 times .still isn't working right. .would not recommend home service to anyone for heating...

Absolute rip off never using again!!!! So rude kn the phone too

In had policy with Homeserve. My boiler broke down and an engineer was sent down. After the engineers report they called me and said that the boiler is beyond repair. They offered a new boiler ( brand: Ideal 28 kilo watt) with a condition that i have to use only their installation team and they were charging me a starting price of £1300 just to install the free boiler. A total ripoff.
Better to use local gas engineer.
I have brought a new boiler and got it fitted and its worked out cheaper then what they were offering me.
I was with no hot water and heating for 3 weeks with kids in the house.
My 2 year policy with Homeserve went down the drain. Total waste of money.