“I thought, ‘what is that noise?’” he said. “That’s when I went down into the basement, and my water heater was leaking.”
His son had just showered, but the noise wasn’t coming from the bathroom, but from the basement – and there shouldn’t have been any water running in the basement.
“I had been down there 15 minutes before, and there wasn’t anything wrong,” he said. “The next thing you know, I heard water running.”
The average usable lifespan of a water heater is 10 years, and the average cost to replace one is $1,200, and when one begins leaking from the tank, like John’s, it must be replaced. For most people, this would not only mean an unanticipated expense, but the inconvenience of finding an available contractor and scheduling an appointment in a hurry.
“I signed up for the water heater policy on a whim. I didn’t know if I would need it, but I thought, ‘hmm, this is not a bad one to cover.’”
And, of course, a broken water heater meant there was no hot water in the home, until it was replaced – no hot water for showers or washing clothes and dishes, unless it is heated, potful by potful, on the stove. John knew he had to act quickly.
So, for most people, replacing a water heater would be a major annoyance, but John had HomeServe emergency home repair plans that protected both his sewer line and his water heater. He had been a customer since enrolling in the sewer line plan in May 2016.
By enrolling in a HomeServe emergency repair plan, John joined thousands of other homeowners in the Philadelphia suburban area benefiting from HomeServe plans – in the past two years, HomeServe has facilitated 30,000 plumbing, electrical and HVAC repairs, including over 1,000 water heater repairs or replacements in the Philadelphia area.
“I had had the sewer line policy for over five years, I had gotten an email about it,” he said. “I was happy with it, and I signed up for the water heater policy on a whim. I didn’t know if I would need it, but I thought, ‘hmm, this is not a bad one to cover.’”
That whim saved John an actual cost of $1,450 when McClain Brothers Plumbing, a HomeServe network contractor, replaced his 40-gallon water heater. HomeServe has a nationwide network of local, licensed and insured electricians and plumbers available and takes the hassle out of finding a contractor by doing it for the homeowner.
“(McClain Brothers) called in five minutes to schedule, so that was great,” John said, adding that the communication with the HomeServe operations center in Chattanooga, Tennessee was, “great, everything was good.”
“Everything went smooth from the initial phone call to the contractor,” he said.
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