Appliance breakdown cover - The best thing ever??**UPDATE** (Norwich Union Direct)

Member Name: incbr@aol.com

Product:	Norwich Union Direct
Date:	06/09/01 (12549 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap!, Great Service!

Disadvantages: Waited a while on the phone

Don’t Waste Your Money On Extended Warranties For Your Electrical goods – Buy This Instead!!

This time 2 years ago (roughly) I was standing in Currys, looking to replace my fridge freezer which had bitten the dust that morning, along with half a cow and other delights which had defrosted into a big pile of goo onto my kitchen lino. I was highly emotional at my loss (Of the freezer, not the cow) and was slightly insane when I entered the shop and saw all the new shiny freezers that I could buy. I must have been slightly mad, because not only did come out with a sexy new fridge freezer, the crafty salesman managed to convince me to buy a new cooker and washing machine too. With that little lot, I must have put his kids through college. Anyway, I came to the till and he gave me all the extended warranty spiel. After 45 minutes of telling me how good my new appliances were, how well made they were and how my Yorkshire puddings would stop looking like digestive biscuits, he then tells me to insure them against going wrong – because “You never know what might happen”.

Feeling slightly miffed that I have just forked out £1000 for now what seemed to be useless hunks of metal, if you believe everything Dave (I think that is what his name was, I was too busy staring at his mohican style haircut to notice his name tag.) had said, I paid for my goodies in a bit of a hump and stormed out of the shop.

Next day, I was standing in the queue at Tesco’s with my mum, moaning about the “quality” service I had received the day previous. The woman who was scanning our groceries must have been listening in, as she chipped in with her two pence worth.
She told me that she had all the electrical kit in her house insured for breakdown by one person, and that it was great, and quite cheap too. She gave me the number so I could call them when I got home. Keen to protect my new shiny equipment, I gave Norwich Union
a call. (I thought they only did car insurance, but there you go.) The nice lady on the end of the phone told me it would be £8.95 a month to cover all the stuff in the house (apart from the computer unfortunately) and that I could pay by direct debit. Sounds good, I thought, gave her my details and the policy arrived the next day. Like everyone does with important documentation, I put it in a “safe” place.
(N.b – “safe” in our house means never to see the light of day again, no matter how hard you look for it.)

Anyway, that was 2 years ago, and I almost forgot that I had the breakdown policy running. That was until a few weeks ago. I was watching TV and suddenly there was an ominous noise in the middle of “this is my moment”, and no, it wasn’t one of the contestants. The screen went blank, and I cried. I thought, “What am I going to do???” I remembered the Norwich Union Policy, and went to the freezer. You may think I am off my trolley, but they give you a handy fridge magnet with their number no in case you lose your policy documents. Me lose them? Never. Anyway, I called them and they got all the details up from my name and address. The young lady on the end of the phone took a few details about the TV and said an engineer would be with me tomorrow, and he would call in the morning to let me know what time hw would be there. I nearly died of shock. No two week wait? No waiting in all day for someone who never turns up? I had to see it to believe it.

Next day, I received a phone call at 8.30am, the engineer said he would be at mine between 12 and 2pm, and sure enough he was. He had a smart uniform on, and an ID badge – very impressive. He said the TV was beyond repair – It was only 4 years old! (That’s for another OP I think – watch out Phillips!) He said he would let Norwich Union know that evening and they would arrange a replacement. I received a call the
day after from Norwich union to say they had arranged a replacement of the closest model – could my poor heart take any more?? They said they could arrange a delivery within 48 hours – I was a bit reserved about this as I was intending to replace my TV with a bigger one, with all the fancy stuff, as I was sick of watching a tiny 21incher. (Steady girls!)
I explained my worries to the lady, who said it wasn’t a problem, and arranged for vouchers for Scottish power to be sent out so I could go and put them towards a bigger TV. Sure enough, the voucher arrived 2 days later and I went and bought a new TV. Very happy? You bet I was!!

Anyway, now the boring stuff. The bits you need to know about the policy. It covers pretty much everything, apart from computers – even satellite boxes are covered, which is good. Norwich Union arrange the repairs for you, so you don’t have to spend time looking for someone in the yellow pages, and you don’t have to pay any money out at all – the engineer said his bill for call-out goes straight back to Norwich Union.

** So What Do I Think Of It??**

Overall, it is a great service as far as I have used it. One call to Norwich Union seems to get everything sorted out, which is good for lazy so-and-sos like me! Its cost seems quite low compared to the extortionate extended warranty prices, but it only covers breakdown, and not accidental damage, so make sure that your house insurance covers that if you have boisterous children like me! If they can repair an item, they will, I have never used that part of the service, but will keep this updated if I use it! If it cannot be repaired, and the appliance is under 5 years old, they will replace it free of charge.

There are a few bad bits, it took them a while to answer the phone, but it is a free number, so I suppose that’s okay, and it doesn’t cover my computer, which is a shame, as that seems to go wrong
on a regular basis. When I bought my policy, I took a five-year option, which covers any product in the house, up until it is 5 years old (they ask you for all the dates you bought stuff, so I suppose you can’t do a fiddle!)
They tried to sell me an 8-year policy, which will cover everything until it is eight years old, they will try to repair the item, but do not replace it like the 5-year option. On the plus side, they contribute 25% of the cost of a new appliance if the old one is over 5 years but less than eight.

Phew! A bit complicated, I know, I had to ask a few questions to understand it!
Anyway, I wanted to write this op as there are loads on DOOYOO slating extended warranties, so I hope this is a solution to all the shoddy customer service you guys have been receiving!!!

By the way: The phone number for them is 0800 092 9556.

***UPDATE***
After a very lond DOOYOO absence, I thought I would let you know my satellite box bit the dust!! NU again, replaced it, no fuss at all, very impressive - 2/2 now!!

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