A man from Kingsdown has been involved in a dispute with his insurance company after contractors quoted repairs nearly five times the actual cost.

David Bassett, of Queensdown Road, Kingsdown, was living with no hot water or heating for nearly three weeks before his boiler was finally fixed – by his previous insurance provider.

Mr Bassett, 49, said that he was with British Gas for 10 years but decided to go for cheaper home insurance with Admiral in July this year.

Last month, his boiler broke and Admiral sent out a contractor from Boilerguard, part of AXA Assistance.

The engineer claimed the problem was caused by a build-up of sludge and would cost more than £900 to fix.

Mr Bassett said: “If I was 85 or more naive, I could have spent the £900.”

Mr Bassett was told that he would not be covered on his insurance, so he contacted British Gas for help.

They sent an engineer who said there was an electrical fault with the temperature sensor that would cost less than £200 to remedy.

“You wonder how many other cases there is of them taking customers on and then saying it’s not covered and they have to pay thousands of pounds to do something that is not warranted,” Mr Bassett said.

British Gas fixed the boiler at the end of last week.

After the Mercury contacted Admiral, it has been confirmed that Mr Bassett will be given a full refund for his policy and the work will be covered by his insurance.

“We are very sorry for any delays we caused to the repair of Mr Bassett’s boiler." - spokesman for Admiral.

A spokesman from Admiral said: “We are very sorry for any delays we caused to the repair of Mr Bassett’s boiler.

“We feel AXA Assistance are responsible for dealing with complaints relating to Home Emergency Cover, because they administer this part of his policy.

“However, we appreciate it is part of his contract of insurance with us, and as such we must also accept some of this responsibility.

“Please be reassured we are currently liaising with AXA Assistance to improve the lines of communication between us to prevent similar delays in future.”

A spokesman from AXA said: “We are sorry to hear that Mr Bassett is unhappy with the service he received from one of our boiler service engineers.

“AXA Assistance manages a nationwide network of independent contractors who are regularly monitored and assessed to ensure they comply with our required standards. When a customer feels the service they’ve experienced hasn’t met their expectations, we fully investigate and take whatever action is required to rectify the matter and take the necessary steps to prevent reoccurrence.

“In this instance it was appropriate to compensate Mr Bassett for the additional costs incurred.”