HomeServe Heating 

Dreadful company! Their engineer who fitted the boiler did not seal the flue correctly. I only discovered this at my annual service when a local engineer advised me that this is causing the boiler to corrode from condensation and leak carbon monoxide - now switched off as a health hazard.
For 2 days since, I've been given the runaround by HomeServe - feel no closer to any resolution. They don't seem to have a clue what they're doing. Very cold and damp as no heating or hot water - mid winter.

We have this so called “emergency” cover as part of our Aviva insurance, attempted to use it for the first time this weekend and utterly useless, did not seem to consider water pouring through a ceiling an emergency, said we would get a call within 4 hours!! Not even an engineer, just a call back. Got another company out who we have plumbing cover with, who fixed it.

Where do I start had an incompetent sub contractor come and fit a new fan on my boiler... he caused a leak while fitting the fan and the fan wouldn’t work . Off he went to order two more parts ... over a week later and still no word from homeserve I rang to be told that they were having problems sourcing the part .When I contacted them days later was told this part was obsolete so boiler was BER in conversation found that the part they couldn’t source was neither of the two the engineer had told me he needed. My local gas engineer could amazingly source all of the parts. To cut a long story short they would give me a FREE boiler but wanted £1450 to fit it ..... a complete joke ... It’s has now been over two months with no hot water or heating. Paid my local plumber not much more to supply and fit a better boiler than homeserve offered ... and not heard anything back from homeserve in weeks although one of their managers was supposed to call weeks ago .... Stay away .... free replacement boiler a con when they want to charge extortionate amounts for fitting

Avoid this cheating company, they increase the premium from £99/year to £224/year. i never make any clean over 2 years but they doubled my premium without any reason. I will escalate to the regulator!

Posting this , as of Midday today , as had no reply from Customer Services re an E mail sent yesterday. Was going to post last night, as stated in the E-mail to Customer Services if no reply.

But I thought I would give them more time to reply, so gave then until Midday, surprise, surprise.......still no reply from Customer Services, unbelievable. Which begs the question, who is monitoring / managing 'Customer Services ' ?

I spoke to the boiler manufacturer last night, I will now be using alternative sources for servicing, as you don't have to use the installer every year re warranty compliance etc. or will I be using HomeServe again, for any other property either.

Therefore, as a Landlord, they have now lost approx 10 years servicing, plus the cost of rectifying several repeat admin errors last year / this year, additional visits to the property last year, re the installation and certification process and now this year too re admin again. This is not counting the call / hours on the phone over the last 12 months or so, again at cost to HomeServe and myself.

HomeServe need to understand the implications of errors in admin / correspondence , re the GSC process / Landlords and also HMRC / Landlords etc, ref the correct addressing etc of correspondence / certification.

Apologies / compensation are all well and good, but something is inherently wrong here and needs addressing with a matter of urgency, more importantly for HomeServe, re obvious additional costs etc.

Completely cheesed off, with repeatedly telling / requesting HomeServe staff / contractors etc, at the property and on the phone, to make sure that any correspondence is sent to the correct address, they always confirm it will be the case, but it simply does not happen.

This after telling them repeatedly , that me and my partner are Landlords (I am the main contact out of the two) and not resident at the installation / correspondence address.

Having spoken to two of the engineers I have seen, two have said , there is not a section in the software / E - form on the 'Tablet' to accommodate an additional address / Landlord and the office had all the details anyway and would sort it, one of then said and I quote, ' new software issues' re his 'Tablet'

Another engineer (eng. no 3 ) who carried out a second Gas Safety Cert last year, re an earlier error, said there WAS a section on the E-doc template for an addition address / Landlord. Stating that, the first GSC processed and 'hard copy' of same received, had the Landlords section completely blank and myself down, as the resident, at the installation / servicing address, hence another GSC having to be done, again at further cost to HomeServe.

The admin, last year and now this year has been awful, this after repeat confirmations of correspondence address, servicing / installation address, that are on their IT systems and which they confirm , but they ' can't understand why this is happening ' and apologise again.

After assurances last year and last week re a call to Sue when chasing paperwork, for this year's warranty compliance service, it still went to the wrong address again. I was paid compensation last year, for the events surrounding the issues with admin / installation and was told it would not happen again, re screen data etc.

As already stated and like this week, where two days ago, I rang in (twice) where in the first instance, I was promised amended correspondence for a service visit, they apologised again and this time they would send it by E-mail, as quicker and re the same afternoon.......it did not arrive.

So much for E-mails being quicker, the second of the two calls which were around an hour in total for both calls, re waiting times etc as the E-mail promised did not arrive, I was then told a same day response was not possible and according their IT Systems. it had only 'been requested'. That same person , Alison , apologised again for the promise made to me and said she would be 'working on it ' .

No matter and after nearly two working days, still no E-mail re promised amended document and no call from Alison, again two days ago, re stating she was 'working on it ' too.

They have all my contact details , including postal address , E-mail , landline and mobile , I find the whole communication process , dysfunctional and as a Sales Manager by profession managing sales teams , which includes customer service for over 35 years, I know when something is not right.

I simply do not have the time, to keep chasing the basics , which should be part of the service / process. As stated, I had to make extra time available last year, when I had to go back to the property TWICE re a replacement Gas Safety Cert (original GSC was incorrect) and also a water leak, re the washing machine being moved re the installation.

Though it possibly works better for residents / domestic situations, it doesn't work for me, it has been nothing but a waste of my time and a pain in the 'rear end'.

Would I recommend them for family or close contacts ?.......well.... I will leave others to answer that for me.

The service engineer on the day was polite. But HomeServe does not give any warranty on the service (beyond 24 hours). The service you get from them is useless unless for the day - because any issue afterwards and they turn their backs unless you have a cover with them.

So it’s better to get a cover and get the free service. Paying the £84 (Oct 2019) is not worth it. Go with local suppliers who will provide some warranty on the service they do - I learnt this the hard way. Now working with a local supplier having paid home serve to do the service 2 weeks ago.

Utterly disgusting, worst company.
They cancelled the policy knowing that the cylinder tank needed replacing as the coil had split, even after one of their own gas engineers told them they'd denied all knowledge... I've got it in black and white and they still deny everything. Most of their fitter/engineers are crap and have no idea what to do. After 2 radiators popping and a new pump (that wasn't needed) they cancelled it without any reason. They said they MAY continue if we have it power flushed, have spoken to an independent engineer and he said that Homeserve are always pushing the cleaners and flushes which are not always needed. I've moved to Hometree and they was straight on to fix the issue.
Please stay clear of this company.

They employ subcontractors like electricians. Who do not do the work correctly when contacted for help then they put you on hold indefinitely and plays lots of music to frustrate you! Very Sad and poor customer service.

Toilet would not stop flushing. As I am on a water meter was worried about the cost of this. Engineer came out and ordered a new ball cock..10 days later it arrived. Fortunately I was away for most of this time. Now they cannot send anyone to install it for five days. I am without a toilet! They do not seem to regard this as an emergency! Cannot describe the frustration.

I am truly disgusted by the service we have received from homeserve, we pay for plumbing insurance. Had a valid claim that the water supply pipe from our water meter into the house was blocked (due to it being galvanised steel and furring up over the years) they didnt turn up on one day after I took the day off work, when they finally arrived to assess they were late. The final decision was that we were not covered for galvanised pipes! How the hello am I supposed to know what my pipes are made from. If I had known I'd clearly not have taken this policy. We went from being told we were covered to we were not in a week! The service from homeserve has been truly awful!

Appalling service - left bare wire sticking out of the wall after removing thermostat. Received threatening letters that we hadn't made final payment yet they haven't returned to fix wires. Homeserve are COWBOYS, DO NOT USE

Stay away from this company.

They paid a visit to deal with a problem with my elderly mothers gas fire. Left it not working at all.

On a second visit identified a failed ignition part, which they were called to deal with in the first instance.

The complaints process is a farce and a denial of responsibility.

I will end up taking them to the Small Claims Court.

Starts with attractive rates then increase the price. On their website monthly charge for plumbing and drainage cover costs £1/month which is expected to go up to £8/month after 1 year. To my surprise I found that I was charged £22/month for more than 1 year. It was partly my fault as I didn't notice it on my bank statement. It was impossible to contact customer services as it was always busy. Lady on online chat told that they were very busy and asked me to keep trying whole day. Finally I had to cancel the policy without knowing why I was charged so much.

My father has a policy with Homeserve, and I manage it on his behalf, as he is elderly and vulnerable. Last week, I needed to make a claim on the policy, and couldn't have wished for a better service. Homeserve sent round Richard Wardle, who was obviously very experienced, and who would not give up until everything had been sorted out properly. He went above and beyond his remit, taking the time to use his skills and personality to relate to my dad too. He even came back later on the same day to ensure that the water board who also had to come out, knew where to find everything. As I couldn't be present later in the day, Richard ensured that I was kept informed, not only with his side of things, but with the water board too! Excellent experience with a very nice person, who I would highly recommend to anyone.

Terrible service from start to finish (still not finished)boiler doesn't work! Wouldn't reccomend this service to anyone!customer service is incompetent.

I'm so grateful to everyone for their prompt and friendly response during a worrying time. The engineer was lovely and worked quickly and efficiently. Thank you so much Ashlea Wilson. 🙂

I had a boiler fitted in November 2018 and from the start to date have had nothing but issues customer service is not good they say they’ll call back but rarely do. They pass you from one person or dept to another most of the time with no joy. If you want good service go elsewhere

I just wanted to commend the two excellent engineers, Matt Hale and Chris Brooker (Skegness) who came to re-route my radiator pipes last week. Their work ethic was phenomenal, they worked tirelessly to get the job done. They were pleasant, good humoured and polite and made the effort to triple check everything was working before they left. They also left my house clean and tidy. They are a great asset to Homeserve.

After arranging a visit to service and fix my boiler they turned up and said it needed a new pub board but did not carry them on the van so had to order the part. I was then told by HomeServe that they did keep them on the van and had to wait again for another visit. Two weeks later an engineer came and said I didn’t need a pcb board there was nothing wrong with it so he switched a wire over somewhere in the boiler cupboard and it did solve the problem I originally complained but now my boiler does not work properly at all, sorry HomeServe your engineers are inexperienced and need training never had this problem with British Gas so I think it’s time to move, such a shoddy company

Did not do a service for two years because kept postponing the date, then not turning up anyway. Rarely come at time they say will, too early, too late. Cannot stick to the time arranged, and/or a lot of confusion if I/they need to change a date. When eventually did turn up to check our boiler and central heating, would not complete the task as there was supposedly asbestos (which there wasn't, we had had it removed years ago when previous boiler was replaced) - thus entailed numerous and cumbersome long-winded and unnecessary bureaucracratic / physical checks. Had to have a new costly boiler put in and relocated, new pipes etc. Can never speak to the same person twice on the phone if you can even get through. Lackadaisical attitude. Bureaucracy involved in the H&S checks are nonsensical. Have only found Homeserve useful for simple plumbing jobs. Engineers are okay, but the customer service is abysmal.