Homeserve

History

The Company was originally established by Richard Harpin in 1993 as a joint venture between South Staffordshire Water and himself under the name of Fastfix. Fastfix advertised heavily in Yellow Pages, generating significant demand nationally despite not having plumbers available in some of the areas it advertised in. Plumbers bought franchises for £5000 with the promise of £25,000 turnover. Several franchisees later took legal action against the company.

In 1994 the Company launched a subscription based plumbing and drainage repair service for customers under the South Staffordshire Water brand. Called the "Home Service Scheme" it was sold almost entirely via direct mail. Subsequently South Staffordshire Water licensed the product to all other major water companies.

By 2000 Home Service ltd had over 1 million UK customers.

New products providing cover for wiring, heating, and gas leaks were successfully developed and licensed via a range of utility and retail companies including npower and Homebase. Fastfix's Yellow Pages based business closed in 2001.

It launched Doméo, a joint venture in France in 2001, and Home Service in the United States in 2003. Attempts to launch in Australia failed, after objections were raised in the Australian Parliament. The water business was demerged from the rest of the Group in 2004 and the name of the Company was changed to HomeServe PLC.

The Company bought property repair company Reparalia in Spain in 2007, the French warranty provider SFG in 2009 and National Grid's service contract business in the United States in 2010. In 2010, it was also announced that HomeServe will be the official sponsor of Premier League football club West Bromwich Albion for the 2010/11 season.

The Company suspended all sales activity amid claims of mis-selling by its call centre staff in 2011. Earlier in the year HomeServe was investigated by Ofcom after it was suggested call centre staff were ringing homes and then abandoning the calls before speaking, leaving customers with silence. In February 2012 HomeServe announced that it was to pay off 200 staff and in April 2012 Ofcom imposed a fine of £750,000 for making silent and abandoned calls to prospective customers. In May 2012 they announced that they were failing an investigation by the Financial Services Authority over 'certain historic issues'. In January 2014, the company received a £34m penalty for mis-selling practices.

Operations

HomeServe provides boiler & heating repairs, plumbing repairs and appliance repairs. It also offers home emergency insurance extending to plumbing & drainage cover, boiler & heating insurance and landlords' insurance policies.