HomeServe

He said he was gonna cut my cabinet. I was like, “You’re gonna cut my wall? How big is it?” “Oh, it’s gonna be a small cut.” He proceeded to cut the wall all the way down. He stood there and said, “I’ve never seen a problem like this before.” Then he was like, “I can’t fix it.” And I said, “Why?” When he opened up the wall, he said, “Your pipe is leaning, and so I can't change the whole new pipe.” I said, “Well, that's fine. Would you just snake it?” He was like, “No. Can’t snake it either.” I said, “Would you jet it?” “Nope. Can’t do that either.” I said, “So, you’re gonna just leave it like this and put the piece on?” He said, “Yeah. ‘Cause you got plumbing damaged.” He called the home structure damaged. I said, “Let me tell you something. There is four pieces up there, and one of them is damaged, one 2 x 4. So, don't tell me that.” He was like, “I can’t do it.” And he left.

So, I called HomeServe and I said, “Don't send them back at my house ever again.” They sent the fourth guy out. His name was Richard. I love him to death. He came and just looked at it. He snaked the 25 feet out through my kitchen and the bathroom. It was fixed. Somebody called me from HomeServe and checked and made sure the fourth guy did it right. They made sure everything was right. So, I would recommend HomeServe because they did everything to fix the issue.

But I was not really happy with my recent claim experience. I was seconds away from canceling everything with Homeserve because of what they did to me. I have a sewer system and I had an issue over the weekend. They told me that I was covered. They sent a plumber to my house and he said, “You don't have an issue inside, you have an issue outside. You’re not covered.” I said that was impossible. I would never not take additional coverage for the outside of my house. I have it for everything else. He said, “They're telling me that you're not covered.”

I called HomeServe back. I said it was impossible. The rep said, “No, you opted out of it.” I said, “No, I would never opt out of anything. Just like the phone calls are recorded, every time you guys call me, you tell me the phone call is recorded. Well then pull up the recording of when I took out the policy because I'm telling you that I'm covered.” She said, “No ma'am. We can't do that. You're not covered.” So I had to pay the plumber $350. But then he returned to my house 20 minutes later to tell me that he got a phone call from HomeServe that we actually were covered. They had to refund us the money. Everything is working fine now.

The recent service request I had still was one of the drains. It was the main drain that had backed up and I caught it before it got too bad down the basement. It just had a little pool of water and lots of toilet paper and ick. Over the last six years, they have had to clear the drain many times and they can't ever find anything that will be stopping it. When the drain was cleared the time before, the plumber mentioned that if this would continue, I should probably have someone come in with a scope and check it out and see where exactly the problem was because it kept happening all the time.

Other than having grandkids or family over every once in a while, it's just me here in the house. So the amount of toilet paper or whatever that would stop it up, I don't know how that's happening. We went to Northern. That was what the plumber told me as one of the better toilet paper to use to have something soft. We don't use any tampons and we also don't use any of those wipes that you use for a baby to throw in there.

This is an old home and it has had a lot of renovations over the years. The other problem I've had over the years is that I've sprung leaks on my water lines three times downstairs. The plumbers had to either patch or replace some of the water lines. Luckily, the last one was covered by the policy I have with HomeServe. I got the sewer inside, sewer outside, and the water lines covered. The first two times it happened, I didn't have that and they told me that eventually, because of the age of the home and the condition of the pipes that I would probably have to have all of those replaced at one time. But other than these things that I've encountered, I've been very thrilled with all the service that HomeServe has covered for me.

The guy that came yesterday for the heating thing said that one of the parts that was leaking, even though that it's part of the heating system, because we have the plumbing plan, that I should call back and have a plumber come look at that. Having no heat and then having heat was my first priority. But I just found that a bit strange that he wouldn't communicate that information to HomeServe directly, that the job was more than half done because he restored the heat. However, there is a part that is leaking in the heating system that he said he doesn't readily have parts for, but the plumbing people would. That was a little disconnect. Why would I get that information more so than Homeserve so they could finish the job? Because I don't expect that if something's leaking, that it's gonna not leak at some other time.

He's the technician, he sees that something is leaking, he knows it’s temporarily stopped, but that doesn't mean it's not going to happen again. It has never happened before. So I just thought that was just weird, that I was expected to follow up with that, versus him saying, “All right, I fixed this part. But this part is not something I have in my car, so I'll have the plumbing people come and fix this for you, or schedule an appointment.”

Other than that, he was very professional, nice and thorough, because I had a question for him as well. Also, my heating is working. It's not heating up to what I'm setting the thermostat to, which is a little concerning because I haven't had that happen before. But it's 24 hours post the technician coming to my house, and I had no heat at all Sunday. I'm going to give it another 24 hours and see what happens. I'm happy that the people who recommended HomeServe did recommend them. And so far, so good.

I use HomeServe when I need them. They’ve come through and they follow through well. They were able to do everything that I called them for. I asked about some other things like appliances and if they expanded their services. That’s all I do and they say yes or no. If it’s something I need, I get it. I’ve got confidence in Home Serve and they have not been a letdown. I've called several times. I had a pipe that burst in the basement that went out to the street. We didn't know it was bad because they came and fixed the first part and then we realized that it didn't solve the problem. The problem was the pipe that went into the walls to the outside. They came back and fixed that. We also had someone come in and fix the toilet, and then the cables on the second floor about a month ago.

I've recommended HomeServe because a young lady friend of mine had a problem with her sewer’s line from the street to the house. I told her to get that coverage way before the problem came up and she procrastinated. Then, the problem came. She asked what the insurance was that I was telling her about. But by the time she told me, she had already hired another company to come in to take care of that. She spent a whole lot of money because she didn't have it covered.

4) The Service person came out and said the unit could not be repaired but would need to be replaced but they could not do it for a week. 5) I contacted the same person at Home Serve and told them what Total Plumbing said and asked if I could use our plumber to do the work immediately. She said that would be alright and I should submit the bill to Home Serve. I did that and included pictures of the before and after with the bill for the job. 6) I then received 2 copies of contracts for Water Heater and Plumbing which were NOT what I had contracted with you, copies included. 7) At this point I was told that NO payment would be made to resolve the problem with the Water Heater. 8) I sent a copy of the original contract that I signed up for and was told that it was not valid and no payment would be made.

electric, natural gas, or propane water heater (“Water Heater”) for which You have sole responsibility, that supports Your Residence. You must call HomeServe to arrange for service in order for repairs to be covered. See “How to Call for Repairs” Which is what I did. 11) I then contacted your representative again to try to resolve these issues but to no effect. Before I move forward, I would like to give you an opportunity to resolve this issue. PS I am not able to upload the PDI's that I referred to so please let me know how to do this.