HomeServe

I had an independent contractor. I paid over $500 for them to come up and run a camera. The pipe is about 10 feet out that has a deep dip in it. What happened, stuff built up in that area and eventually, it caused the backup. It may take a while to do it, but eventually, it does. I passed that on to Haynes. When that came out, I showed them that. They said there was no problem. I’d always have water in the pipes. I said okay. But then, I had another backup that came back out. They ran another camera down there. It was the same thing. They said it’s slow, but there was no major problem. They cleared it. Then it started backing up again.

Then they came out and ran another camera. They said I had a broken pipe, which I suspected that. They replaced a portion of the pipe, but it didn't replace the part where the dip was. About two weeks ago, I had another backup. I called them and the guy came out. At first, he couldn't get it ‘cause he had a little smaller snake. He called back and a guy came out with a larger snake. He went back to clear the line.

I was explaining to him the same problem I was having. I said it's gonna be back up again eventually. Haynes came out and they looked at it. Homeserve was calling another company ‘cause another company came out this Wednesday. They ran a camera down there. The same thing that I've been telling Haynes and my contractor that paid for, the problem was that dip in the pipe. They just confirmed everything that I had to say. They sent the paperwork to Homeserve.

HomeServe is going to replace that section of pipe, but they haven’t done that. I'm just praying right now I don’t get another backup before this occurs. But Homeserve seems very cooperative with me, and they’re very nice and very pleasant. But the problem hasn’t really been solved as of yet. I would recommend them because Homeserve is not doing the work themselves. They have contractors and they go by what the contractor says.

The person that did the work was very good. He seemed to be very informed and he seemed to know his craft. My son spoke with him as well. He said he couldn't find a leak, which that had been the ongoing explanation whenever we would get somebody out to check it and yet my bill was still going. I was hoping that he would’ve been able to find something, but he said the same thing everybody else had been saying. I figured he knew what he was doing. He also checked the outside.

When we call Homeserve, nobody seems to know anybody and I always have to keep on explaining my case over and over. There were times when they said they were gonna follow up with us and they never did. At one point, we were waiting to speak to an agent and the agent said that they were busy and then we kinda heard them in the background kinda laughing. So it almost seemed like I started to lose trust in the company, thinking that it was a scam.

When we call someone, we expect to be able to speak to them and never wanna give out their last name. I was trying to write down who I speaking to because it was a big issue but they never wanna give their last names, and I kinda felt like they were hiding stuff and they were giving me a big runaround. But eventually, somebody from the advocacy department got involved and everything is supposed to be resolved and we are supposed to be getting reimbursed here soon. So we're waiting to see how that's gonna go.

I had a big problem about five years ago though, and I’m still not satisfied with that. The first time the guy from Plumb Genius came, I had a leak in the drain under the house. There was water standing under the house. They came out but didn't have a sump pump and I didn't have one either. They told me it was my responsibility to pump the water out from under the house. I did that but I thought that was BS. They came back out and they said they found possum tracks under my house, so they refuse to go under the house until I capture the possum. I've never captured a wild animal before in my life but I have a grandson who loaned me a live trapper but all I caught was a really irate squirrel.

But now, even with these many years later, I don't leave the vent grilles open and the fan. There's this stench that comes up from under the house. I guess that'll be there until I die and this house is passed on to somebody else. I feel sorry for that person, but there's nothing I can do about it.

After the initial deal, I didn't realize that there would be a problem like this. Once the leak was stopped and it dried up, there's always this problem. I will never use Plumb Genius locally either because they were just inept. The two guys that actually fixed it, they were good. Initially, if they had come out and fixed it, they had the equipment and they wouldn't have been afraid of the possum, it would have been fixed while it was just water from the washer or something like that.

They would've eventually gotten it right, but I needed a faster turnaround than they were able to provide. I ended up hiring my own plumber and ended up with a huge job. I have pictures of how it was misdiagnosed and I imagine the original company would've figured this out. I need to go back and resubmit the claim but there’s a lot of paperwork. So, except for this last contractor who got a little bit beyond what they thought they were doing in their contract and it was basically to come out and address a leak, the contractors have been fine.

For simple things, if there really is no huge problem, then the HomeServe warranty is awesome. I’ve had that done a couple times. It’s certainly good for getting the drains cleared, and the turnaround’s real quick which is typically within 24 hours. But if there is a leak and walls have to be torn out and appliances have to be replaced, I don’t feel the service is able to respond in a manner that’s prompt enough for me because my properties are rentals and I have to respond to tenants. While HomeServe doesn’t provide 360 coverage for my plumbing, they are good for what it’s good for.