Hooray! Finally got full settlement (see previous post) after the ombudsman reminded Homeserve that they were legally bound to pay the award in full. In fact, they not only paid the outstanding amount but also added £40 as a goodwill gesture. I would like to think that they have had a change of heart as far as customer service is concerned but I think I'll wait awhile before committing to that view. It took more than 2 years but I got there in the end. Never give up, never surrender.

Good luck but you will need to have a final letter from Homeserve saying that the case is closed as far as they are concerned. They should then send you details of how to complain to the ombudsman Part of the reason why I won the case was that the ombudsman thought it unfair that Homeserve did not specify exactly what the BER condition actually meant. Homeserve have a sliding scale of values depending on boiler type and in my case they valued the boiler at £470. Any claim costing more than this would automatically be rejected and the contract terminated. The ombudsman took the view that had the figure of £470 been published, it was unlikely that the customer would have been prepared to pay a premium of over £200 to get that level of cover. By keeping the level of cover secret Homeserve can give the impression that you are fully covered when you are not. Many people might assume that BER only relates to older boilers where parts are difficult to obtain. In my case the boiler was only 3 years old. British Gas, despite their faults, have no such conditions attached to their Homecare policy.

Hello, seems like there are a lot of us with cause for complaint against Homeserve. My partner's elderly parents had a '5 star maintenance agreement' with Homeserve and renewed it in early January 2008. One week later their boiler started to leak and Homeserve declared it 'beyond economical repair', cancelled the contract and refused to return any of the premium, leaving them with no heating in the middle of January. This was before they started offering the £200 for cases of 'beyond economical repair'. I complained on their behalf,going up the line of command and finally writing to the CEO (Richard Harpin) at his home address in Nun Monkton, Yorkshire. The most that I was offered was a return of premium. I then complained to the financial ombudsman's office and the complaint was upheld with an award of £548 (the original cost of repair). Homeserve refused to accept the decision of the adjudicator and it was referred to the ombudsman proper who upheld the original decision and awarded interest. Homeserve have paid the £548 but not the interest of £88, despite the fact that they are legally bound to do so. I have written requesting payment of the interest but my letters have been ignored. I have now requested help from the ombudsman service to get the interest paid. I will post again when the matter is resolved. In the meantime, my advice to anybody considering a Homeserve product is - Don't even think about it!