Review of Homeserve Home Emergency Cover

I had a leak in a pipe in my garage. I have Homeserve through my bank so called to see if they could get me a plumber. They told me I wasn't covered for a pipe in a garage even though I explained the garage was integral. They gave me the numbers of plumbers I could call.

My additional problem was that the water company need to replace their stop cock so I can't turn off the water supply, they told me I should get a plumber to freeze the pipe and repair it. None of the plumbers wanted to do that.

Called the water company again and they sugested I take out instant emergency cover and directed me to a link on their web site. I phoned the number explained the situation fully and was told they could cover me for £115. They sent a plumber who told me I should contact the water company to get the water turned off because he couldn't repair the pipe and did not have freezing capabilities. He fiddled about trying to push the metal over the hole in the pipe. It's a lead pipe which I can't replace because the water company won't do the repair on their stop cock. The plumber left. At this point I realised the instant cover was with Homeserve, same company as the policy I get through my bank.

I called Homeserve and a helpful opertor eventually managed to arrange a plumber with a freezing machine for the next day. A plumber arrived with no freezing machine. After some time he found a freezer pack in his van. He tried to freeze the pipe with the aerosol pack but decided the job would take longer then the 30 minutes before it started to defrost. He cut a piece of rubber from a pipe and fixed it over the hole in the pipe securing it with a metal clamp, he removed the earth wire from the pipe whilst he did this and told me I'd have to get someone else to fix that. Then he left saying it was a temporary repair and someone would call me when they could come with a machine to freeze the pipe.

10 minutes later Homeserve called saying they had fulfilled their contract with me as the emergency had been dealt with and it was now up to me to find a plumber to repair the pipe. I was astounded. £115 for 2 plumbers, a bit of rubber and a hose pipe clamp and a lot of waiting around.

In addition I read the policy for my contract through the bank and I had been wrongly informed about integral garages so I had paid £115 when I need not have. I asked for a refund. They told me I must get a receipt from Homeserve and send it to Homeserve then I would be refunded because they had given me the wrong information. Does that make sense? I know that the call centres were different but it's the same company. You would have thought that when I took out the instant cover they might have noticed I already had a contract with them.

This company has a very wierd idea of a home emergency and having taken out the cover to give me piece of mind I found nothing but stress because of the incompetence of this organisation. I still have a leaking pipe as well.