The Price of Pride: Embarrassing Home Emergencies Are Costing Bashful Brits Dear
- 15% of Brits are ashamed to call experts to deal with home emergencies - 22% will wait up to a week to call a tradesman to assess embarrassing blockages - Average cost of an embarrassing emergency is over GBP 100
(firmenpresse) - WALSALL, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/13 -- Saving their blushes is costing the public GBP 62 million a year, as millions of bashful Brits admit they refuse to call out tradesmen to deal with a host of embarrassing home emergencies.(1)
New research from , has found that 15% of Britons in the last five years have put off or refused to call out a tradesperson for a household mishap because they were too embarrassed, with a blocked toilet (19% of delayed call outs) the most common cause for consternation.
One in seven (13%) have also delayed calling someone out due to a drain being blocked with an 'embarrassing' substance, with the same proportion too perturbed to get professional help for a pest infestation.
But it's not just squeamishness that means homeowners are putting off the plumber. A house-proud fifth (20%) have delayed calling in a tradesman because they felt their home was too messy to let someone in while another 13% have been too shame-faced to call in the experts to deal with a problem that they'd tried to fix themselves - only to make it worse.
But despite the pressing nature of many blocks and breakages, nearly a quarter of people (22%) admit to waiting a week or more to call in a relevant expert.
And these delays can be costly, with one in 10 people (11%) admitting that the problem got worse and eventually forced them to call in a tradesperson. The average cost of a delayed repair is GBP 104, with over one in 10 (12%) ending up paying more than GBP 200.
Although many see the grim subject of human waste as the most embarrassing reason to call out a plumber (31%), it's not all blockages or bodily functions. Some 35% of Brits are afraid to lose face by calling in tradespeople for issues they feel are relatively minor, with a further three in 10 (31%) embarrassed to seek help when they feel they should know how to fix the problem themselves.
HomeServe Membership's CEO Jonathan King said: "Saving your blushes won't save you money - quite the opposite. Hoping that a relatively minor problem will fix itself can often just end up costing you more. Remember, engineers have seen everything - from toes in taps to all manner of things stuck in pipes, drains and toilets, so there's no need to feel embarrassed.
"We'd recommend that homeowners call in the experts sooner rather than later, as this can save you money in the long run. Alternatively, a home emergency insurance policy that does not limit the number of call outs - such as - will help limit the amount of unexpected expenditure you face."
Notes to editors:
All research conducted online by Canadean Consumer on behalf of HomeServe, July 2013 among a representative sample of 2,000 UK adults.
(1) There are 48,844,900 UK adults (ONS). 15% have delayed calling out a tradesman because a home emergency was too embarrassing, 41% of whom eventually did call someone out. The average cost of a delayed call out is GBP 104. Therefore: 48,844,900 x 0.15 x 0.41 x 104 = GBP 312,411,980.40 or GBP 62,482,396.08 a year.
About HomeServe
HomeServe was established in 1993, with the aim of being the first place people turn to for home emergencies and repairs. With over 1,700 directly employed and sub-contracted engineers, HomeServe is a national home emergency repair company backed by a 24 hour claims handling team.
HomeServe offers insurance cover for plumbing, drains, electrical wiring and gas central heating. Our product range also includes locksmith servicing and .
HomeServe works with many major utility companies, boiler manufacturers and other companies that have an affinity with our products.
HomeServe also has a strong international presence with 4.9m customers across the UK, US, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
Contacts:
Michael Sheen
020 7861 3013
Themen in dieser Pressemitteilung:
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 26.07.2013 - 09:00 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 282079
Anzahl Zeichen: 0
contact information:
Town:
WALSALL, UNITED KINGDOM
Kategorie:
Family
Diese Pressemitteilung wurde bisher 217 mal aufgerufen.
Die Pressemitteilung mit dem Titel:
"The Price of Pride: Embarrassing Home Emergencies Are Costing Bashful Brits Dear"
steht unter der journalistisch-redaktionellen Verantwortung von
HomeServe UK (Nachricht senden)
Beachten Sie bitte die weiteren Informationen zum Haftungsauschluß (gemäß TMG - TeleMedianGesetz) und dem Datenschutz (gemäß der DSGVO).
