Review of Homeserve Plumbing and Drains

I took out plumbing and drains Ins. with Homeserve thinking they were part of Scottish Water, which it turns out they are not, on behalf of my 86 yr, old aunt who lives some distance from me and is on her own.

She had a water leak in her kitchen which was very severe, full pressure mains cold water, and she phoned homeserve who said they would get someone out. I travelled to her house, 1hr away, and found the water still running and the kitchen etc, flooded.

After turning the water off and settling things down I phoned homeserve who asked if it was an emergency, even although the operator had on the system that the water could be heard running in the original phone call? They then said they had an engineer working 12 mins away and he would be there within the hour.

90 mins later I phoned again and they were surprised that we had not heard, but they would have someone there shortly. 1hr later I phoned again, they had someone working in Renfrewshire, 40 miles away and he would be there shortly. So far this has taken 31/2hrs. Homeserve then phoned to say someone would be with us within 2 hours. By this time it is 9 p.m.

At this I gave up and contacted a local plumner who was with us within 30 mins, made the pipework safe and came back the next morning with new valves and finished the job. Total cost £45 + £10 parts.

As Homeserne had said they would cover the cost of our own plunber I am now in the process of trying to reclaim this very modest amount, but obviously you will realise that this is going to be a long process during which I will probably give up, and I think this is what they count on.

Excuses are varied depending on who you speak to:

1. It was not an emergency as I had turned the water off (86 yr old with no toilet or drinking water, flat above also turned off.)
2. They cant find evidence that they had authorised the payment of another plumber. (The first thing you hear is that calls will be recorded for training and security purposes. Where are the recordings?)

I could go on, but in the end they will probably win as life is too short to waste on companies like this.