Has anyone ever made a successful claim using Home Emergency Cover with home insurance?

[LadyFriend]

Wondering whether to add this on to our home insurance. It’s supposed to cover emergencies, but not sure how useful it would really be.

We used to have it but once I tried claiming for a leak and they said they would only make the property ‘secure’. Which basically just meant turning off the water and I could do that myself.

I haven’t taken it out since then but wondering if we should?

I’m looking for examples where people have actually used this cover successfully. Stories where it was rejected would also be helpful - I feel there will be more of those somehow.

We have it through Aviva and have used it once with success. After that big storm in I think November last year, we noticed a damp patch on our bedroom ceiling. Called and someone came within 24 hours to look at it. Scaffolding was needed to get to the relevant part of the roof / chimney to look at, we got the scaffolding for free and the workmen sorted some flashing around the chimney.

The scaffolding alone would’ve cost far far more than we pay for the cover and it has so many things included, I think it’s a great deal and have been happy with it.

I’ve used it when a key broke in a lock and about 3 times for emergency plumber (DH believes he can do diy). Always had a great service

We've used it several times over the years. They came and boarded up a window for us after someone threw a rock through it. They sent a plumber out late on a Sunday night when a pipe under the bath burst. They also came out to a problem with the boiler. In my opinion, one of the main benefits is that when the shit hits the fan at stupid o'clock on a bank holiday, you make one phone call to the home emergency cover and they sort everything out.

We have it but I'm sure ours is free with our home insurance, although they have probably included it in the overall price, it just sounds better.

We used to have it as a separate policy before the insurance companies started including it. When we first had it over 30 years ago it was a lot better than it is now. We had a major leak in our hot water tank and they came and fiitted a new tank. We did have to pay something towards that as you only get so much for parts and labour, but it was so much cheaper than paying the full price. We had them out again when the thermostat on our boiler was broken, to fix a toilet after my husband had tried putting a new one in (don't think they would come out for that now), also for a broken light fitting and for a leak under the bath.

We haven't needed to call them out for quite a few years now.

If you do decide to have it I would check what they come out for and the exemptions. I think boilers have to be less than 15 years old? also they will only come out for a water leak if it's actually causing water damage inside the property. I think they are a lot stricter now than they used to be.

I've used it for a toilet leak that would have caused a lot of damage/would have cost a lot from an emergency plumber. I've also used it for two lock failures on our front door and back door (typical new build crap locks). I've also had the option to have them come to our boiler when it broke down but we had to go via the warranty option, but it will help when its out of warranty.

We had it on our insurance for years. We attempted to use it twice. Once when our front door was damaged in an attempted break in. The door ended up mangled and wouldn't open. The emergency cover couldn't be used as we had another working exit door (back door). Second time our downstairs toilet broke. Again the emergency cover couldn't be used as we had a second working toilet. After that I thought what a waste if time so we stopped adding it.

Get it. We had to source our own people in very stressful situation as we didn't have it. They covered other stuff but not anyone immediately coming out.

Thanks everyone, I think I’m going to add it