Homeserve Emergency home cover -negligent?

[Hanief]

Homeserve has given me an experience from hell. I shall be suing them- I work in the legal pofession so it keeps the work coming in. Their engineers failed to attend and when they did failed to identify the problems. The plumbers noted the problems and as a consequence of Homserve gross negligence it made my house a no go area and a health and safety risk!

 

The fact I had no heating and running water during the freezing conditions, resulted in me staying in a hotel but Homserve suggested this was not that bad. I am wondering whether anyone began a claim as I will be suing them for negligence!

 

Kind Regards

 

-Hanief

Edited December 11, 2010 by Hanief

[MARTIN3030]

Welcome to the site.

I saw you posted this twice so will delete the 2nd one.

Can you give some more background info to this ?

Have you made a complaint to them and if so how did you do it ?

[Hanief]

Hi Martin,

 

Thank you so much for taking an interest in this matter. Any help would be appreciated and i am happy to make a contribution from any damages i receive. This sort of site is extremely helpful. I am determined to highlight the problems i have had experience and bring a claim.

 

Kind Regards

 

Hanief

Edited December 11, 2010 by Hanief

[buzby]

You intend suing Homeserve because your pipes froze? I don't see this getting far in court. Perhaps you could identify where they were negligent in order to see whether you have a realistic chance of success.

[Hanief]

Hi

 

It's not the pipes being frozen it is the service i received. I am currently drafting everything up and will edit and highlight the poor service they provided. (e.g Engineers not turning up when i am told they been booked in to attend and this happended 4 times over two weeks. When Engineers did attend they failed to identify properly the root of the problem with the boiler. The longer it went on, i witnessed the boiler begining to leak into my kitchen with water runnnig from the boiler et al )

[MARTIN3030]

If you have the expert report from the other party you brought in to fix the problem,and can also provide some evidence of your contact and their failure in a duty of care,then you stand a good chance.

Have you calculated what it has cost you in terms of money ?

What you need to do is put your complaint in writing,setting out clearly your targets for resolution and give them 14 days to respond.

If you are claiming a fixed money amount then there is no reason why you should not file a moneyclaim online.

If you are looking at a claim under Tort then the process is much different and the pre action protocols here allow a longer period for them to respond and there are a number of things that have to be followed.

 

We have another member in these forums who is also taking legal action for similar issues to yours.

Maybe you can follow their progress ?

[Hanief]

I would be intersted in anyone else proceeding with this so please can hyou put them in touch with me. I will draft everythnig up. My immediate thoughts are breach of common law Duty of Care. That's both Homeserve and their subcontractors. I need to do the draft and costings but i am not concerned how long the process takes just so long as justice is done.

 

I wish i now studied consumer law at Uni and law college !

[buzby]

What is it you hope to achieve? How much had you paiud them?

 

I'm no fan of Homeserve, indeed there is a story in today's Times of some shoddy dealings with a pensioner - but your 'Duty of Care' will be very difficult to prove, especially if you cannot point to a situation were there have been culpable. Similarly, appointments not met is hardly a realistic complaint given that they are made in good faith based on predictions on manpower and availability and invariably a 'best guess'. Based on the recent weather, I would have expected this to be an obvious situation for service firms, but perhaps not.

 

Do also bear in mind you need to seek redress from the firm directly before turning to the courts. Even then if your complaints are seen as unreasonable or unjutified, not only will you pay the action costs, but the capped costs of the defender. If £200 is of no consequence, go for it, but it may be better to look realistically at what happened as seek redress from the firm, and if they refuse the reason given for rejecting the claim.

[Hanief]

I will need to know if i can utilise the benefit of my legal expense cover

 

They definetely missed up and i had to stay in a B&B for 7 days givne i had no water or heat.

[MARTIN3030]

Raymond-how do you calculate the £200 costs at this stage ?

The Op has not even said how much they expect to be claiming yet !

[HFO-vered]

You need to be more specific regarding the defects and the problems that you allege have occured.

 

What level of cover do you have with them - Plumbing Only - Plumbing / Heating - Gas - drains etc etc or all services

 

What is thier agreed call out response from time of you making initial service call.

 

They have a duty of care in general to ensure that the work is done by qualified persons depending upon the precise trade required. Most domestic services now come under the Building Regulations Approved Documents Scheme, and any work done by trades people comes under Competent Person Schemes. there are different qualifications fro different work areas.

 

Ive been in domestic mechanical services for 30+ years so im qualified to comment on this.

 

Did they leave the boiler unsafe from a gas point of view in your opinion ?

 

Give me a few more specific details then Ill be able to answer.

 

There is also a duty under The Sale of Goods and Services Act which encompasses these type of services

 

We can then also go on to Contract Law where ordinarily a contract (thats what it is) is "Discharged By Performance" on each and every occasion in this type of contract for service work.

[Hretha]

Hi all,

 

I am also absolutely disgusted by their "service".

What a complete waste of space. They (mis)sold my elderly neighbour their pipe and drain policy. Today she had a major burst of pipe, the water literally gushed from her bathroom ceiling into her house. The call centre (cocky and incompetent staff) informed her that the next appointment for their engineer would be on Wednesday (today is Sunday and about -7 C degrees, she would be without heating and water for three days in mid-winter). Fancy taking the money of an old and vulnerable person just to fob her off when it would matter. I am disgusted. Thankfully we have a fab neighbourhood that will offer her shelter until she can go back into her own home.

I am now considering contacting BBC Watchdog and OFT. I will get in touch with Age Concern, as these people appear to target elderly, vulnerable people. They sell their policy as an emergency policy, it is not and they do not make that clear. How on Earth can such a practice be legal?

Edited December 19, 2010 by MARTIN3030

[ITP]

It's me that is in court with DirectLine/Homeserve at the moment. They will ignore you completely, the court claim is the only way to go and even then they don't take them too seriously! Good luck.

[ihateyes]

Firstly, whenever its very busy, they will always prioritise the elderly and most vulnerable. SO if Hanief isnt a pensioner, or a very young child, then the fact you had tto wait to weeks, while uncomfortable and not what we expect, the court i think would side with homeserve...

In terms of not identifying the problem... id dont think this is court worthy.

 

Unless they left your boiler unsafe, and there was risk caused because of this then you hve a point. Hanief never really ent into too much, so im not sure what exactly the problem was.

 

ITF - good luck with your case.

 

People have to remember homeserve use mostly subbies, and there is only so much subbies in one area, and when Homeserve do work for themselves, and every other tom dick and harry outfit, then there will be times they are over prescribed in particular areas.

[sir_gilmour]

Hi

Welcome to The Consumer Action Group.

 

 

I am just letting you know that as you haven't had any replies to your post yet, it might be better if you post your message again in an appropriate sub-forum. You will get lots of help there.

 

Also take some time to read around the forum and get used to the layout. It is a big forum and takes a lot of getting used to.

 

 

Once you start to find your way, you will soon realise that it is fairly easy to get round and to get the help you need.

 

It can be bit confusing at first.