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Hard sell from the water board

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    Hard sell from the water board

    I regularly get letters from the water company trying to sell me pipe insurance - with scare stories along the lines of "if the pipe between your house and the road bursts you could be in for a massive bill" etc...

    Does anyone else get these? has anyone bought the insurance? What is the likelihood of such a catastrophic water pipe rupture?
    "Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. "


    Thomas Jefferson

    #2
    Yes
    No
    Low (hence the pushing of the nice little earner)
    The court heard Darren Upton had written a letter to Judge Sally Cahill QC saying he wasn’t “a typical inmate of prison”.

    But the judge said: “That simply demonstrates your arrogance continues. You are typical. Inmates of prison are people who are dishonest. You are a thoroughly dishonestly man motivated by your own selfish greed.”

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      #3
      My view is that all insurances are designed to make more money for the insurer than they pay out to the insured. Therefore, unless the likely bill is more than you are going to be able to afford should the worst happen (eg £100k to rebuild your house, £25k to replace your car etc) then it's not worth getting the insurance. In this case a few hundred quid maybe.

      Bin it.
      Guy Fawkes - "The last man to enter Parliament with honourable intentions."

      Comment


        #4
        I've not had any of the letters, but I do have some recent experience of exterior pipework problems following a drain collapse. Additional insurance is NOT needed as the work is either covered by your own household insurance policy or by the Water Company depending where the break occurs and of course how it's caused.

        It seems to me that this type of insurance policy is a type of scam similar to payment protection.

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          #5
          Originally posted by Alf W View Post
          My view is that all insurances are designed to make more money for the insurer than they pay out to the insured.
          That sums up the business model.

          Originally posted by TykeMerc View Post
          It seems to me that this type of insurance policy is a type of scam similar to payment protection.
          Quite!

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Ruprect View Post
            I regularly get letters from the water company trying to sell me pipe insurance - with scare stories along the lines of "if the pipe between your house and the road bursts you could be in for a massive bill" etc...

            Does anyone else get these? has anyone bought the insurance? What is the likelihood of such a catastrophic water pipe rupture?
            Who owns the pipe? Isn't the mains water pipe and the bit that goes to your house owned by the water company and used as a means for delivering their product to your home and making a profit from said product?

            This is like a furniture company asking you to buy insurance for their delivery vans, or indeed a milkman asking you to insure his float.
            And what exactly is wrong with an "ad hominem" argument? Dodgy Agent, 16-5-2014

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Mich the Tester View Post
              Who owns the pipe? Isn't the mains water pipe and the bit that goes to your house owned by the water company and used as a means for delivering their product to your home and making a profit from said product?

              This is like a furniture company asking you to buy insurance for their delivery vans, or indeed a milkman asking you to insure his float.
              That's the crux of the issue I had to resolve as with an older (150 years) property the Water Board and Council maps are a bit inaccurate and there was protracted debate over who had to pay. The default position of the home insurer was that it was the water companies problem so refused to cough up until the evidence was shoved down their throats. They caved and paid up in the long run though and there was never any debate that the responsibility lay clearly with one of two parties without needing seperate insurance.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Mich the Tester View Post
                Who owns the pipe? Isn't the mains water pipe and the bit that goes to your house owned by the water company and used as a means for delivering their product to your home and making a profit from said product?

                This is like a furniture company asking you to buy insurance for their delivery vans, or indeed a milkman asking you to insure his float.

                The water company claim they only own the pipe upto the boundary of the property or location of the water meter. So the pipe from there to the house itself can be a grey are, either being excluded from some house insurance policies or if the householder has not house insurance then completely uninsured.
                This default font is sooooooooooooo boring and so are short usernames

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by MPwannadecentincome View Post
                  The water company claim they only own the pipe upto the boundary of the property or location of the water meter.
                  There's a big difference. I guess you'd have to trudge through years of legal documents to determine which is true.
                  And what exactly is wrong with an "ad hominem" argument? Dodgy Agent, 16-5-2014

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Might not be such a bad idea for me. There's a giant tree growing near the building, and its roots are gradually compacting the drain. A builder quoted £50,000 to fix the problem, and spread over 5 lessees that's still £10K each

                    P.S. Anyone know how to kill a mature plane tree without leaving any trace? I tried researching this, but apparently they are as tough as old boots and can survive anything short of a direct nuclear strike (hence the reason so many are planted in cities).

                    Cutting a strip of bark away round the base is no good, because the council would know there had been foul play, and in their eyes damaging a tree is practically high treason these days and we'd be the prime suspects living right next to the perishing (I wish) thing.
                    Work in the public sector? Read the IR35 FAQ here

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