Dreadful experience with with boiler repair. Who is in the wrong?

[atinwi]

Please excuse the long story!

so, my central heating kept tripping the fuse in the consumer unit. I read that moisture in the boiler could be the problem and had a look at the flu which, it was evident, had been leaking water into the outer flu and back into the boiler.

I chose the top rated company and told them what the issue was. They sent somebody who seemed very inexperienced as he kept having to be on the phone back to base to ask what to do. They were talking about whether it was the heat exchanger and I said that it wasn't, because I'd seen water coming in from the flu. There was a lot of water pooling in the bottom of the the boiler cabinet and general dampness. He left saying they needed to order spare parts and promised that another engineer would return in the morning. He made no effort to dry the boiler he just left it soaking wet so I dried it myself, I was charged a call-out fee of £108 for this which I have yet to pay.

The next day after promising to come within 40 minutes. 2 engineers turned up 2 hours later and proceeded to replace the the seals on the inner flue. One of them seem to be a trainee, as he was just asking questions while the other did the work. They left very quickly without testing beyond a couple of minutes to check that the gas readings were at safe levels. Within 5-minutes of them leaving and me testing the hot water and central heating, the power cut out again and there was lots more dripping, evidently lots of water remaining all through the system which they had not bothered to dry up either.

I Isolated it from the electrical mains and opened up the fuse compartment above the pump and noticed that was full of water. They had left the boiler in a very unsafe condition and not bothered to test beyond a couple of minutes. Since then I have tried to dry boiler out again, using a dehumidifier and a hair dryer on low heat to avoid damaging and components. This morning it seems to be working. However I don't believe the service that they offered was acceptable. And I very much doubt that the first engineer was gas safe registered as he seemed to be so lacking in knowledge.

They are now chasing me for payment of a total of possibly £400 even though they did not leave the jo in an acceptable manner. They left the heating is not working and the boiler in a dangerous or wet condition.

They are threatening me with with debt collection agencies if I do not pay immediately. What are your thoughts ? Thanks for any contributions.

 

[snowhead]

Firstly, is the boiler now working, not leaking and not tripping?

 

[atinwi]

Firstly, is the boiler now working, not leaking and not tripping?

Yes it is working now but I had to do about an hour or drying out and a night with a dehumidifier to make it work.. I also noticed another very small leak possibly at the base where the central heating inlet return pipe comes in to the boiler. But I think that's a separate issue and I have posted another thread about it.

But I don't think it's acceptable for them to leave it completely wet and obviously not working. Especially at the price they have charged to replace a couple of seals...

also so do they have to be gas safe registered just to open the boiler and have a look and fiddle about a bit to diagnose the problem while on the phone to people who actually know what they're talking about?

 

[Scott_D]

What make, model and approximate age is the boiler?
Are you talking about rain water getting in?
Yes they should be gas safe registered.
That’s why you probably shouldn’t be fiddling with it yourself.

 

[atinwi]

Unfortunately, I paid professionals £400 to fix it and they went away leaving it wet leaving me not much choice but to dry it out myself. The real issue if is it acceptable for them to leave the boiler wet through and go away with the problem still reoccurring despite the fact of the flu was no longer leaking.

 

[Jerry]

So, was it working when they left?

 

[atinwi]

So, was it working when they left?

As I said: Within 5-minutes of them leaving and me testing the hot water and central heating, the power cut out again and there was lots more dripping, evidently lots of water remaining all through the system which they had not bothered to dry up either.

 

[Ric2013]

The impression I get is that the fault has been properly diagnosed and rectified but that the service received still left a lot to be desired. Having only heard the customer's side of the story, I am, of course, inclined to side with the customer in this case.

Probably the first gas technician (I refuse to use the term 'engineer' for someone who does not actually design boilers) was a registered gas installer, but very inexperienced, or just not confident.

My understanding is that debt collection agencies cannot really be used to chase a debt when the customer is disputing the charges due to poor work or failure to perform, as the charge is under dispute. Incidentally, I'd love to see the court case where the customer can prove a firm immediately resorted to a debt collection agency as a means to threaten the customer when charges were disputed. Realistically, however, if the fault has been mended and the boiler is now in good order (even if only because the customer dried out the spilt water), then it may be hard to provide evidence that payment is being withheld due to the fact that the cobbler has not mended the shoes to a reasonable standard and in a reasonable time, as it were, and the customer cannot really insist that the firm come and rectify for free if there is nothing left to rectify.

No simple answer from me

 

[MOSSEP]

I would write a polite letter to them and offer to pay part of the invoice, say 75% Even though they left the boiler wet, and in a state that it still tripped the power, they did fix the issue that was causing it. If you had not employed them to deal with it, you would after all still have a boiler that needed new seals and was causing your power to trip off.

If they took you to the small claims court to recoup their costs, I think a judge would likely agree that they have fixed it. The fact that you had to spend an hour drying it out wouldn't warrant not paying them at all.

 

[Jectuser]

Reading this ordeal is like watching a horror movie where the monster is bad communication. Both sides seem to have a point. The homeowner deserves a functioning boiler, that's a given. But if the technician explained the issue clearly and the cost was agreed upon beforehand, then canceling last minute throws a wrench in the works (pun intended!).