return visit cost

[splinterdream]

Did a CP12 yesterday morning for a private landlord on 3 appliances, one being an ideal response ff80. The tenant complained of a noisy boiler when i arrived and as the boiler had no pressure, i topped it up and left it all working. Got a call from tenant in the afternoon as boiler not working, so i went back thinking i may have left a switch off or something however, on investigation i find the main heat exchanger leaking on the inside and stopping the electrode from lighting the gas.
Now the landlord is on holiday and i'm struggling to make contact, I think the heat exchanger is obselete and i need to invoice. Would you charge a diagnosis charge for calling back to the appliance in the afternoon for split heat exchanger as it did take a good 30-45 mins to figure out what was going on. I think £35 extra is fair. What do you do if they refuse to pay for the whole bill thinking it was my fault?

 

[secret squirrel]

Depends,

Have you worked for the land lord before, are you his regular gas chap, do you normally do work for him and invoice him and he never argues?

Personally, I don't think £35 is unfair, the argument could be why didn't you check it in the first place? (yes, I know, you top up the boiler and the problem has gone so why look further and I'd agree but thats not the point of your post)

I'd invoice for the job but if you get too much hassel then get paid for the cp12 and don't stress about the £35. (bitter pill to swallow) If you get the job to replace the heat exchanger (if not obsolete) or the boiler replacement then add the £35 to that.........

 

[blayedrunner]

One thing you learn from this type of thing is to check more than you initially think. One quick look inside would of shown the leak. I have made similar mistakes in the past but dont make them again.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

I had similar case before ,did lots of visits to few property's and after invoiced for £300.00 ! did get my £ but was hard ,since if land lord sends me on the job I am collecting payment on the completion of job ! Or tenant to pay me I do not care who! but will not do leave it till later on and bill grows large amount of £

 

[splinterdream]

@secret squirrel - i have never worked for landlord before. @ blayedrunner - the response has a burner inserted into a kebab heat exhanger (like worcester design). If you remove the burner you have to replace the seals which you cant do on a CP12 (inpracticel), you can however remove the fan which exposes the injector and inner of burner and you can FGA to get accurate combustion analysis. The way you find one leaking is if you remove the electrodes (as i did) and water comes out. Its not a check you carry out CP12's.

 

[mfgs]

Its just unlucky, you are well within you rights to charge him. But I have a feeling he will probably kick up a fuss, just stick with it and make sure you get your money.