homeserve watch out

[joziejo]

I have just found that I have been paying for seven months £15.11 each month to Homeserve (just for boiler basic cover). They have been taking this from my bank account since April. I purchased through a plumber a new boiler over two years ago which had a two year warranty for breakdown which I sent off to Valliant (the boiler manufacturer). They had my details (bank card) from my purchase. Homeserve say I have been paying them since this time four pounds something until March this year when warranty on boiler ceased. They then automatically took this money when they exteneded this (without my permission) in April. I never paid this four pound to them each month, I was just under a purchase warranty, the first payment ever to them was in April. I had never given them my bank details or agreed to them 'extending such'. Even on their web-site the cover they quote for maximum cover including a 'service' each year and electricity cover is £9.50. I have complained and stopped this bogus policy. But after speaking to 3 different depts, they said it has to go through four channels before it is resolved? I asked for reimbursment to no avail (I pay already a lot less for whole home cover through my house/home insurance.) They said they would write to me...
Should I write to some sort of Ombudsman?

"I had never given them my bank details "

eh?

so how do you think they created a direct debit?

I have found Homeserve very transparent, friendly and fast. Log a complaint as their complaints department is great. An engineer accidentally flooded my bathroom and the complaints centre logged it, wrote to me with timescales for the investigation and offered me compensation within a month.

Could it not have been in the small print of the warranty that you sent off as some type of free trial whereby after a couple of months you have to either cancel it or pay? If this is the case I'm not sure that you would be entitled to your money back.

I decided to sign up to Homeserve last year. I joined online which was a better price and had no problems - eg no highlighted fields telling me I hadn't filled it in correctly. I received an email response confirming my membership. About two weeks later I got a letter in the post saying there was a problem with my details. As it was a busy time at home I didn't deal with it straight away then the next week I received a second letter flagged in red saying telling me all sorts of strong reminders that I hadn't paid my fee. I had already given my credit card details on my online application which were authorised online and I have no credit issues. I was really annoyed and rang them to cancel as I didn't like their approach. The person I spoke to sounded cold and harsh. When I later looked at my credit card it was due to expire within a few months and I did wonder if that is why my application was flagged up, as online accounts are hooked into ongoing direct debits.

The details of my bank card were given on the purchase of the boiler when I paid in 2011, it came with a free warranty and the details I was given were purly the boiler company's. (I paid in full, never using a Direct Debit mandate). I had never paid anything to homeserve so you can see my surprise at suddenly getting this amount stopped through my bank, I had to look up who they were on the internet. They have since been in touch and have told me that this was 'automatically' renewed and continued payment on their system after the warranty had ceased. They said they had sent to me full policy documentation in April this year. This I had never received, (or wanted). Anyway, they have agreed to cancel the said policy and refund in full all of the amounts taken so far since April this year. I have to wait up to 28 days to receive. I don't think what they did was ethical, if you buy a TV from John Lewis you get a free five year warranty, you do not expect to have payments after this time (without paying anything previously and not filling a direct debit form) just taken from your account. Still, I hope that this is the end of the fiasco and that my money is returned. Thank you for your replies