HomeServe

Now with the pandemic, they wear masks to protect me because I'm old lady, and I'm from high risk with diabetes and a heart condition. There's no question about wearing a mask. They come with the mask right on. With HomeServe, I don't have to wait for days for a contractor to come out. Sometimes, if you go through HomeServe, they come right away. The only that disappointed me was that I thought when I got the water in the water lines and drain lines, they would cover if there’s a leak underneath my bathroom sink. If the drain is rusted through and it's leaking, I thought it would cover that but it didn't. I wasn't mad about it. I just misunderstood that it covered the actual sewer lines, not the little drain thing under the bathroom sink.

With the money I paid them for the year, I've already more than got back for my furnace and my air conditioning calls. When an auxiliary heater in my garage broke, I called HomeServe and I found out that the warranty I had didn't cover that little heater in the garage. It had to have its own separate warranty. They did send somebody. He came and he fixed it and I paid for it. Then I called back and I got a warranty on that heating thing in the garage. So if it breaks again, I'll have a warranty on that too. I'm pretty well covered. It's always very good work and good people. If something happens again, they'll send them again. They don’t give me a hard time. So for the peace of mind and that I don't have to write out a check for $1,000, it's worth every penny.

The first time I called HomeServe I told them it was a drain under the washer that the water was coming up from. But somehow, the plumbing company didn't get that memo. The plumbing company could have contacted me directly and I could have even told them directly what the issue was. That would have solved the first call out. We were without taking a shower for three days because of all of that communication. It could have been cleared up with the first time they came out.

The plumbing company sent a young kid who was on his own for a while the first time. I don't think that he had enough skill set to really know what was going on. My son said he was there for four hours and he should have figured it out in those hours. Then it was the next morning that my son showered that it came back up again. So then I had to call them, go through the whole process again, and sit there and call, and make sure somebody was gonna come out and do it right, and have to be there. I'm okay with all of it. But it wasn't a smooth situation.

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.

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.