Homeserve problem

Soldato
Joined
25 Aug 2006
Posts
7,095
Evening all,

First of all i have been a customer of Homeserve for a few years and although some have had issues, i have found them to be very good. However, i would appreciate some advice with regards to a recent call out:

We recently had an electrical issue in our home and raised a claim with Homeserve on 9 Nov 19. On 10 Nov 19, an engineer visited and established that a new fuse board was required, in order to provide power to the home the engineer moved all power to one ring. The engineer advised that another engineer would visit once the new fuse board was ordered and delivered.

The following day our washing machine power/circuit board failed – we put this down to bad luck/timing.

We had another engineer visit to confirm the parts required, but who also stated that the fuse panel was left exposed. The engineer fitted covers to the exposed switches and confirmed the parts required.

On 19 Nov 19 the first engineer who visited the property arrived to fit the new fuse board. When carrying out checks he stated that the issue with the electrics was the fridge freezer and although it was working it was dangerous to use and we require a new one. It is worth noting that the washing machine and fridge freezer are located in the same room and on the same double wall socket.

Both the Fridge Freezer and washing machine are Samsung appliances, less than 5 years old and both have failed in the last 9 days since the electric was moved to one ring.

My queries are:

• Why is the fridge freezer ‘dangerous’ – this was not explained.

• Who will pay for 2 repair/replacement appliances?

• Should 2 new appliances be installed, will they both be damaged when switched on?

I'm a pragmatic type of person, so i am not sure if we need to suck up the costs of 2 new appliances or if in some way this is the fault of Homeserve for not completing the work in a legal manner - ie moving all electric to one ring and leaving live wires exposed.

I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks all
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I'd be interested to hear what the issue with the fuseboard was supposed to have been? It does sound like he couldnt find a fault and attributed it the board either through lazyness or lack of ability. What was the issue you called them for? RCD tripping?

• Why is the fridge freezer ‘dangerous’ – this was not explained.
Without knowing what was said to be wrong with it, we cant advise whether or not that makes it dangerous


• Who will pay for 2 repair/replacement appliances?
Does the policy cover appliances?

• Should 2 new appliances be installed, will they both be damaged when switched on?
I can't think of any fault that would be left in place on the fixed wiring that would cause the two new appliances to fail

I'm a pragmatic type of person, so i am not sure if we need to suck up the costs of 2 new appliances or if in some way this is the fault of Homeserve for not completing the work in a legal manner - ie moving all electric to one ring and leaving live wires exposed.

I think you can probably critisize them on a few issues:

1) Fault may not have been diagnosed correctly at first (and its unclear if it has now)
2) Live parts should *certainly* not been left exposed (Breach of EAWR there)
3) The communication appears to be very poor
 
I'd be interested to hear what the issue with the fuseboard was supposed to have been? It does sound like he couldnt find a fault and attributed it the board either through lazyness or lack of ability. What was the issue you called them for? RCD tripping?

Yes, the whole house tripped one night and after unplugging everything the switch would still not reenergise - when the engineer checked the RCD he said the switch itself was broke (it swung loosely as if snapped if that makes sense?!)

I've phoned Samsung and luckily the washing machine has a 5yr warranty and they are coming to replace the circuit/power board, as for the Fridge Freezer it looks like i have to suck up the cost of a new one and hope neither go pop when switched on.

Thanks.
 
It sounds like you have just one RCD in your fuseboard (if everything went off), covering everything then, not sure how 'putting everything on one ring' which I'm guesing means putting two rings in one MCB would deal with a knackered main RCD, unless you just had a knackered MCB and just lost some sockets? Photo with an arrow indicating the device that gave problems would me usful
 
It sounds like you have just one RCD in your fuseboard (if everything went off), covering everything then, not sure how 'putting everything on one ring' which I'm guesing means putting two rings in one MCB would deal with a knackered main RCD, unless you just had a knackered MCB and just lost some sockets? Photo with an arrow indicating the device that gave problems would me usful

The main fuseboard has been replaced, so can't show photographs :(

The whole house tripped but the board was divided into 2 RCDs. I got power engaging one RCD and so the engineer moved everything onto the one RCD. Does that make sense? I'm not an electrician, but i think what i am saying is correct!
 
The main fuseboard has been replaced, so can't show photographs :(

The whole house tripped but the board was divided into 2 RCDs. I got power engaging one RCD and so the engineer moved everything onto the one RCD. Does that make sense? I'm not an electrician, but i think what i am saying is correct!

doesnt make sense to me.

Your fusebox should have a bus bar so should be impossible to have power to One rcd only.

Seems strange to need the fuse box replacing just because one rcd is tripping, he should have been able to Pin the fault down to A circuit, may have even been the rcd itself?
 
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