“Avoid CET Home Emergency Services - Unreliable and Poorly Managed
I used CET Home Emergency Services for pest control through my home insurance with LV, and the experience was beyond disappointing. Originally scheduled for an appointment on Wednesday, 6th November, CET canceled it without notifying me and rescheduled for Thursday, 7th November, between 8 AM and 5 PM.
I called four times throughout the day to confirm that the engineer was still coming, and each time, I was assured they’d arrive as planned. By 4:40 PM, I was still being told they were on schedule. Yet, by 6:15 PM, no one had shown up, and my calls were left unanswered.
The lack of communication and reliability is completely unacceptable, especially in emergency services. I would strongly advise against using CET Home Emergency Services if you value timely and”
“Got a renewal from this company 30% increase 3 text messages and 1 email. Spoke to a lovely lady they had me on automatic renewal dispite the fact l didn't select this, l never do. She offered me a 10% discount if l renewed so now only a 20% increase dispite no claim.
Next day at 9ish get a phone call from HEA to discuss my renewal. I refused to go through the excessive security questions as I'd already in less than 24 hours discussed my policy. The phone call was presented as we need to talk to you about your policy urgently. And can't discuss this with out security checks. I didn't fall for it. I had less than a mth to go on tbe policy and hadn't started comparing which l always do. Week later another call. So l logged a complaint asking them to stop calling me weekly to discuss my renewal. I was told they would note l didn't want more harrassing calls. Apparently they take 6/8 weeks to respond to complaints.
I've been fairly polite up to this point. Until l get another call this time this women was fairly aggressive and rude! I spoke to a manager I've told them I've never been harassed so much l won't be renewing with your company. I've still got some time to go before it ends!! I've looked at their reviews posted on different sights it's appalling how they have treated ppl and how they're still allowed to trade l do hope many ppl are taking them to the financial onbudsman. I've cancelled my direct debit as I've paid them in full. I'd never use this company again and after reading some of the appalling ways they have treated their customers l certainly got of lightly. Seems they can harrass you for money but very slow if anything to resolve your complaint or query. I'd read the reviews and avoid”
“Truly awful company - PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY buying home emergency cover from them - it'll be cheaper just to pay for the work to be done out of your own pocket, given the very little that they actually cover when it comes down to it. I have been left with dangerously large holes right next to a public fottpath - despite one section saying 'REINSTATEMENT
Work carried out to make good any surfaces or flooring which has been excavated in order to provide you with assistance. We will fill in any excavation and leave the surface level where we have made access to an external drain or external water supply pipe, however we are not responsible for reinstating floor coverings, fixtures or fittings to their original standards' then later wriggle out of it by saying we do not reinstate. Outrageously misleading”
“I have a service plan with this company . I arranged my annual boiler service , the company they use boiler central another company to avoid !
The engineer arrived two hours later and then said he could not do my service because a shelf was in the way and I needed to drill two holes so he could get to the screws ! I did not need to do this , my husband who was unfortunately at work used a right angled screwdriver, no nothing fancy, something you would expect an engineer to have in his toolbox.
Anyhow I went to rebook my service as the engineer advised , when I could casing off !!!! After several calls to Home Energy Assist , because on one occasion I got cut off after waiting half an hour and on two separate occasions agents not calling me back! I have now been told I have to pay a call out charge to get my annual service ! Apparently it’s in the small print ! What a waste of £140 so please avoid this company at all costs. It’s funny how I have had 4 phones calls to renew my policy but nobody wants to help with my problem. I will be taking this matter further as this cannot be fair , I certainly have not received what I paid for .PLEASE AVOID and if I could have given zero stars I would have .”
“My annual policy expired last month(February). . I had not claimed all year. But several days before it expired I found a small puddle on bathroom floor. Cleared it up but water seeping around edges of vinyl tile. I phoned Home Emergency Assist to ask for advice. I held on for half an hour on my mobile, but after 15 minutes also tried with my landline. 2 phones. Second call answered before first. Described problem. Operator went away to get advice and came back to say this was a “Trace & Test” situation and I wasn’t covered!! She explained that anything which needed a floor covering removed or a hole in the wall to a cable was not covered! How is that emergency cover? I am over 80 and live alone. I felt so upset, let down, and later, angry. I have since checked reviews and saw there were many other people who had been duped like me. I agree with other reviewers. Please, never risk buying a policy from this company. I too would have given 0 for a review but you need to give 1 star to gain access to this comments box.”
“I phoned Monday morning to say my toilet had stopped filling up, they asked when I first noticed the problem? I replied it’s always been a slow filler, but yesterday when I was out my daughter phoned me to say the toilet is not filling up.
They declined my claim because I should have phoned them within 48 hours when my toilet first started to fill up slowly.
I said it’s always been a slow filler but they refused to change their mind on my declined claim.
I had been with them for years and never claimed before.”
“If I could have given a 0 I would have done. This is the worst company I have ever been unfortunate enough to deal with and they will be securing no business from me in the future. They sent a technician to service a perfectly working boiler who then left it with a fault. I phoned several times to try and secure some help with the matter and received the worst customer service I have ever received and after being told someone would call me that day to help I was then told it was under investigation and someone would call in 3-5 days, leaving me with no hot water for my young family across a weekend due to a mistake they commisioned. I repeatedly asked to speak to a manager but the manager refused to take my call and then once the operative had had enough he hung up on me. I had asked to make a formal complaint and again was told 3-5 working days. I have since found a local company who came out on a Saturday night to try and help and found that the technician they sent had left the gas to the boiler off. Something that was easily fixed, but ultimately at my cost. My formal complaint will be sent today and copied to a number of relevent parties, as i refuse to wait 3-5 working days to raise my issue with this company.”
“Rude, bad, harassing phone calls FOREVER.
Imagine the weeks after your Dad dies. Awful, yes? Then you have to deal with his payments and unfortunately one of them is with Home Emergency Assist.
As the funeral happened, they phoned. As we buried him, they phoned. Weeks later as we painfully unpicked his life, they phoned. They phoned at least twice a day for weeks after we cancelled the contract claiming they had no record of us notifying them that he had passed away and at one point even asking to speak to him to confirm...
We started off polite, then we turned angry, then we went full ballistic. We swore at them, we repeated ourselves endlessly then finally we switched off his phone.
Memories of the weeks after his passing when which should have been private family time were ruined by this company.
Never sign up or deal with them. They are truly awful.
We found out by looking through his bank statements that they'd been charging him small amounts on direct debits for appliances he didn't even have......”
“Unbelievably bad.
I took out this insurance when I moved into a new area where I had no contacts with tradespeople. I went for the complete premium cover, thinking it would take the stress out of any household emergency that I might have.
Nine months later, at around 7.30 on a Friday night, I saw water coming through the ceiling from the bathroom above. I switched off the main stop tap, leaving myself with no water, and called HEA. However they had no record of my cover and no way of checking (because it was out of hours). I had my policy number and the letter confirming cover right in front of me, but this wasn’t good enough. In desperation, I agreed to pay £165 for someone to come out, which they said would be refunded if they confirmed the next day that I did have cover.
I waited up until about midnight but nobody turned up and a phone call confirmed that nobody would be coming that night. The next day, I waited a while and then called them. At this point, they agreed that I did have cover, but said it would take 7-10 days to refund my £165. A nice earner for HEA if they do this regularly, with interest rates at current levels. Then the bombshell – they couldn’t actually find me a plumber, and helpfully informed me that it was very difficult to find one at the weekend. I pointed out that this was literally the whole the point of their service, but to no avail. I was told they’d check if I was authorised to find my own plumber and invoice them for a call-out. This was presented as if they were doing me a favour.
This was all starting to feel quite surreal. The point of HEA’s service was that I didn’t have to cancel my plans and spend my day ringing round desperately trying to find an emergency plumber, and yet that’s what I had to do. No doubt I’ll now go through a world of pain trying to get HEA to reimburse me for this.
I did find a lovely local plumber and it would have been hugely less stressful to do this myself in the first place.
The staff I spoke to at HEA's various inter-related companies were all polite and did their best, but there was nothing they could do to help me. Avoid if you want a company that actually delivers on its promises.”
“Called Home Emergency Assist on 22 Feb 2023 . They did send an engineer out but he wasn’t able to fix the problem. 5 weeks later I am still waiting for someone to come out who can fix it . They never call back , they really are a dreadful company , I wish I had never heard of them .”
“Very unprofessional, avoid this company at all costs. They avoid paying out for anything. All just a money making scam. They avoid paying for boiler contributions and make several excuses to pay for normal repairs. Will never be returning to this company ever again. Smart Cover is a much better company.”
“would give - 10 if i could, unable to get a response to my boiler service or to get my money, trying to get through is a job in itself. A total joke of a company.”
“Where do I start with this company! Please avoid, avoid, avoid!
A couple of weeks before Christmas our central heating stopped working (typically at the time when the temperatures dropped to nearly zero). Initial call was picked up fairly quickly but soon went downhill from there. Had to chase twice (first time I was told the reason I hadn't been contacted was that the initial call handler had noted down my number wrong) and eventually had an engineer attend. Very little information from him but he had got it working and all should be ok but the boiler needed a new part as aparantly there was a loose connection on the board.
Needless to say we never heard anything regarding this work and our heating stopped working again a couple of days later. From that point on myself and my wife spent over 5 hours on hold and many of those calls got cut off and never answered. My wife also spent an age using WhatsApp to try and get an update on when the problem would be fixed.
I work in education and my wife the NHS so spending time on the phone during the day chasing this is difficult.
Needless to say it got to almost 2 weeks passing since the initial engineer visit and we had no choice but to get a local company to come out and fix the problem. The lack of communication was appalling. On the rare occasion we did speak to someone the amount of different companies involved to get an issue fixed is crazy. It seems faults and repairs have to get approved by various different people and companies before anything will be done.
The local company were superb and fixed the issue. It turns out the boiler never needed a new board, there was nothing wrong with it and they were astounded that the engineer was going to replace it!
We have raised a complaint and are awaiting their findings. Needless to say I contacted them informing that due to a complete lack of service I would be cancelling my direct debit.
I have since received an email from the company who deal with payments threatening action and demanding £53 due to a missed payment. It's amazing how quick they are to contact you when it involves payments to them.
I recommend you avoid this poor excuse of a company and put £25 a month into a separate account and save up to use a local company who care about their customers when you need any boiler problems fixing. That's what we are doing.”
“Absolutely appalling service from home emergency assist, having been trying since August to get our boiler serviced . 4 months of being passed from pillar to post and fobbed off and hours on the phone and still nothing. All the phone calls have been from myself except one ( lost track of the numerous calls I have made) Told so many times that an engineer would contact me, nothing. They are taking money out of our account every month, absolutely nothing to show for it”
“If I could give zero stars, I would. Terrible company, only needed assistance once in the year for a blocked drain and they wriggled out of it. HomeServe etc MUCH BETTER.
DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR AND USE A DIFFERENT COMPANY.”
“DO NOT GO NEAR THIS COMPANY. we had a break down and called them , we were asked to call another company who told us we have to pay a 50. They cannot come and repair the washing machine until a month later. I was charged for 35 cancellation of my policy . Their policy was not clear and it is a form of extortion. Avoid them completely .
If I can give less than 1 star I would have.”
