I have gas boiler cover with Heating Energy Services which expires in January. I was previously with E.ON, which transferred me over to HES.
I recently had to call them out – for the first time in two years – after I had a fault with the central heating boiler and a leaking radiator. After five visits by its engineers, the faults are still there.
As a result I decided to change suppliers, and attempted to cancel the direct debit – but HES states that I either pay the remaining eight months tariff, or for the call-outs. The lesser amount was £192 – the remaining eight months on my contract at £24 a month. I have since found I can get an equivalent service elsewhere at half the price. JL, Mansfield
This is not the first complaint we have had about HES, which bought E.ON’s boiler business. You would have thought, having failed in five visits, it would not only have released you from the contract, but also repaid your premium.
A spokesman for HES told us that it is “standard practice to waive cancellation fees should the cancellation be the result of genuine problems with our service delivery”, but it seems that on this occasion the correct process has not been followed.
As a result it has apologised and agreed to cancel without penalty. It asked for one last go to try to fix the problems – attended by its technical service manager and a lead engineer. The radiator leak is now fixed, but the boiler is still proving troublesome.
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