Homeserve Mis-selling

[rockwell]

I have recently discovered we have two policies with Homeserve, one for water supply pipe cover costing approx £73 per annum (not necessary as already covered) and the other for plumbing and drainage cover £120 per annum (also not necessary) both taken out by my wife approximately 10 years ago! A salesman originally called my wife and said we were not covered and subject to huge bills should a problem occur, He also said they were operating in conjunction with Anglia Water....their paperwork includes Anglia Water and Homeserve headings and logos!

I note that Homeserve initially respond to all mis-selling complaints by referring to recorded calls...well let's see if they still have ours as I'm sending a SAR in the first instance (I assume the SAR will only cover the past 6 years in any event and won't include the initial sales calls by Homeserve)

Does anyone have any advice on how to instigate a mis-selling claim? Contact with Homeserve is a complete waste of time as they simply deny any mis-selling.

Finally, If you are a Homeserve Rep lurking here...do not under any circumstances contact me!

[PlanB]

Re: Homeserve Mis-selling

Homeserve was recently fined over £30 million pounds for mis-selling some of their policies. I complained about three of mine and got back all the premiums over several years. I had kept records of the policies and had paid by DD so I didn't need to SAR.

You'll need to prove you already had cover elsewhere which was taken out (or included as part of a bank packaged account 'freebie') which started before the Homeserve policy or that the cover wasn't appropriate.

If you've ever made a claim on the policy that might present a problem. In my case they deducted one year's premium for the year in which my claim occurred but still paid up for all the others.

Make a formal complaint and then refer it to the FOS if you get no joy. Stay off the phone because it's a waste of time. You need everything in writing.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/n...insurance.html

[rockwell]

Re: Homeserve Mis-selling

Thanks for the input PlanB, probably no need for a SAR then as we too always paid by direct debit. I'll get moving on this straight away.

[PlanB]

Re: Homeserve Mis-selling

A salesman originally called my wife and said we were not covered and subject to huge bills should a problem occur, He also said they were operating in conjunction with Anglia Water....their paperwork includes Anglia Water and Homeserve headings and logos!

I note that Homeserve initially respond to all mis-selling complaints by referring to recorded calls...well let's see if they still have ours . . . . SAR will only cover the past 6 years in any event and won't include the initial sales calls by Homeserve)

Just check whether the original policy was sold to you by Homeserve and not Anglian Water which is a partner with Homeserve. Anglian Water (and 16 other water suppliers) also sell these polices direct themselves which are then administered by Homeserve. Whichever one made the call is the one which mis-sold (if they did mis-sell).

Homeserve are not known for making outbound 'cold calls'. However Anglian Water would already have had your details since you were an existing customer at the time. Mind you anything is possible 10 years ago.

I also remember that Anglian Water used to offer free emergency repairs to customers who were on certain state benefits so the policy would have been unnecessary if that were the case depending on your circumstances at the time.

Make the complaint to Homeserve regardless and see where that takes you.

[rockwell]

Re: Homeserve Mis-selling

Thank you PlanB, Interesting point! We moved to another house close by about 7-8 years ago. This house is about 100 yards from a B road, my wife was called within days (most likely by Homeserve but may have been Anglia Water) to say the distance from the road could leave us exposed to substantial bills should a problem occur, as the main water line was on the road. We discovered this to be untrue as we are already covered on one of the policies by our normal household insurance, and in the other case the main water pipe runs along the lane outside our entrance gate.

You are correct, Anglia Water had our full details from both addresses so I assume passed on our phone number to Homeserve. One issue is we have changed our household policy provider a few times over the years so it may be difficult to prove we had existing cover already in place. I'll dig through some old files over the weekend. Total premiums over this period must amount to about £1800...not an insignificant sum!

Best wishes, R