Simon Whipple, a semi retired solicitor living in Woodgreen, first noticed his bathroom was leaking into his kitchen on Saturday, January 4.
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Living by himself and having just undergone a knee replacement surgery, Simon was already struggling to manage alone, and the leak meant he could not use hot water in the bathroom or lighting in the kitchen, so cooking outside of daylight hours was not possible.
As he insures with Hastings Direct, Simon contacted them at midday on Sunday, January 5 to resolve the issue, with the call handler saying it would be resolved “within six hours”.
Simon felt he could not safely use electricity or turn his hot water on due to the leak (Image: Simon Whipple)Simon said: “The personal impact on me is just another nuisance when life is already quite tough.
“The only person able to give me any support told me that actually they had found and sent the (information] to a nationwide plumbing firm which repairs to anywhere in the country. But they emailed back saying ‘we don’t deal with that in Woodgreen’.
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“It was several hours before anyone picked up this email and when I spoke to the call handler last night (Sunday night) he took the decision that they were not going to try anything that evening.”
He claimed that the call handler said if he could find a plumber himself, they would reimburse him for the costs.
The leak on the kitchen ceiling (Image: Simon Whipple)
Simon said: “The point of having home insurance cover is you don’t have to phone around looking for a plumber to do a job.
“Clearly it has been a very busy period for any home emergency service but insurances services are meant to be able to cope with that. Insurance is meant to deal with the unexpected.”
Since speaking with the Journal, a plumber has visited to sort the problems. This was mid-afternoon on Tuesday, January 7.
A Hastings Direct spokesperson said: “We are very sorry about the issues Mr Whipple has faced and recognise that the service received fell below the high standard we strive to deliver.
“A technician has now visited Mr Whipple and resolved the home emergency.”