My renewal has just come through and gone up from £59 to £75.  For this you get a tradesman for 2hrs plus repairs up to £200.     How do you keep the tradesman working non stop for 2hrs?  How do you stop cups of tea, cigarette breaks and the odd mobile call?  Can you stop the tradesman after 2hrs and get someone else of your own choosing. You seem to be at the mercy of - well who?

Would appreciate opinions and experience.

 Thanks Community

Corvette

I reckon that all of these home emergency / applience insurances are a bit of a con.  I would only go for a company that does central heating insurance  with an annual service included.

If you add up the cost of all the individual insurances available ie home emergency £75 per year, Dishwasher £80 , washing machine £80 per year ( might be worth while if you have a large family and lots of wqashing) , TV insurance £50 per year , video insurance , iron ( £15 for a iron that cost £45 are they sure!!!) The list just goes on.

Be sensible and open an account for your own emergencies, put in £25 per month and if nothing happens in a years time have a weekend away!! 

The more I look the more I get confused! My water company Severn Trent first sent me a flyer about what is not covered by the normal Home Insurance policy. I took out their policy with Homeserve and just keep getting sent further ads about what extra cover I can have. So I looked on Homeserve website and they cover everything from pipes, drainage, electrical &c to pests, The inclusive policy is quoted at over £200 ... however, after looking at this website discussion, the consensus seems to be "don't touch them" - so I asked my Home Insurers the situation with water pipes, drainage and they said "it is covered within the boundaries of your insured property" - so the attraction with Homeserve just seemed to me - the very attractive - Call out within 2 hours from Severn Trent - I think Severn Trent would be obliged to respond quickly if a water problem arose.

I continued to look at Home Emergency and it seems that Direct Line only cover the first hour labour - not much good! Castle cover were most helpful and have their policy wording on screen - seems good at £65 - but they will not do it as a stand alone - only if you take their Home Insurance.

My Insurers(Smart & Cook brokers) use Silver Knight and I am waiting to get their policy cover. They did not reply to my letters requesting advice on how it compared with Homeserve wording! Just a vague Silver Knight leaflet.

So I ask, is it worthwhile ?

yorkkshireman

Smart and Cook eh?

Me thinks this yorkshireman may be Teeside based? I used to use the Stockton Office

Just for the record - my home town was Leeds (Horsforth) but the University of Life took me to various locations in business, leaving Yorkshire in 1956 for Belfast and back to the mainland 1966 - retired in 1986 when worked in Birmingham and now residing Solihull area.

The brokers mentioned (Smart & Cook) had various branches in England but whilst trading under their own name I think they are part of a large Group such as Axa. I hope that fills you in on personal background - and studying the various Home breakdown &c policies is getting an obsession. Cheers ... ed (Yorkshireman)