Exterior Water Service Line Coverage
$7.95/mo
$23.85/qtr
$95.40/yr
Marcia C. has saved more than $15,000 with her HomeServe policies to date.
It all started with a notice she received in the mail announcing that the City of Spencer, Iowa, had allied with HomeServe to make available service line repair plans to residents. Marcia had recently lost her husband and keenly felt the loss of him and his handyman skills.
"The City of Spencer had sent out a mailing and recommended we consider our service lines," she said. "My husband had just passed away – he could do just about anything – and I knew I couldn’t count on that anymore. I didn’t want to have to rely on my son all of the time, either, so I signed up for three different plans, and they have been beneficial."
Marcia signed up for the interior plumbing and drainage, exterior sewer line and exterior water line plans and had occasion to use all of them several times, saving her thousands of dollars.
The first time she needed to help was in November 2019 when she experienced a clogged drain. That was when Marcia first encountered network contractor Ikon Konnections and technician Memphis.
"Memphis is amazing," she said. "He’s a very caring person and I am confident in him that he’s going to do professional work. He explains things well and that gives me peace of mind."
"They were very explicit about how it would work: the plumber would text me and we would stay in the loop together."
It was a relatively simple fix – Memphis simply snaked the sewer line, removing the blockage, but the cost to Marcia would have been $425 without a HomeServe protection plan.
Then, in March 2021, cold weather struck, and Marcia wasn’t getting any water in her home. She thought her water lines might be frozen, because the two events occurred simultaneously. However, she wasn’t left without water service long because HomeServe and Ikon Konnections came to her aid again.
Her water service line was galvanized steel – notorious for corroding from the inside out – and once Ikon technicians inspected the line, they realized cold weather was the least of Marcia’s problems. The entire 40-foot line was in poor condition and needed to be replaced at a cost of $7,100. Additionally, another five feet of the line and a shutoff valve inside her home were leaking and needed to be repaired. If Marcia hadn’t taken the precautionary step of enrolling in an interior plumbing and drainage plan with HomeServe, it would have cost her another $660.
Most recently, in September, Marcia noticed a faint, but unpleasant odor when she used her washing machine.
"My sister was visiting from Texas, and we were using more water than usual, because I live alone," she said. "Then it started to back up in the basement."
By this time, Marcia knew the drill and called HomeServe.
"They were very explicit about how it would work: the plumber would text me and we would stay in the loop together," she said. "I always had good communication."
The result of Ikon Konnections’ visit would have been bad news for Marcia if she wasn’t protected by HomeServe – 18 feet of her sewer service line needed to be replaced at a grand total of $7,500.
"I’m sure I would have had to take it out of my savings," she said. "Right now, that’s tough, because I’m down to one income and retired."
When asked if it was a relief to know that HomeServe has her back, she had a one-word answer: "Absolutely."
Published Oct 27, 2022