Upset customer wants refund

[johnmcginty]

I did a towel rad swap last week on a ladies house and would like your opinions on the matter. I agreed the price with her which was £60 for a swap of an old small rad for a towel rad system is indirect with pumped c/h. I asked the lady to turn off the boiler and she did, I then did a drain down and swapped the rad and filled up, bleeding every rad. Then the boiler would'nt come on , it was an automatic pilot and I tried everything the mi said, still to no avail, it looks as if she did'nt turn off the boiler as mi stated. She paid me cash before this. Initially thought it may be an air lock so bled all rads again. Nothing happened. The boiler has no sticker saying any inspection took place last year just one from 2008, no c/h inhibitor had been used also. She then informed me that it was a coincil house and if she got a callout for it they may see the new rad I installed and charge her for it. She got angry said she was'nt happy and told me to leave even though I said I could come back as it was 9pm,

What do you think went wrong possible causes? this has not happened to me before, if this can be diagnosed over the internet with the info I have given, can't remember make of boiler?

I got a letter from her stating services of goods act 1982. I spoke to consumer direct and they said she would have to prove it was my fault the boiler would'nt light. If you guys know why it happened and think it may have been something I have done then I will give her a full refund. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[buff]

surely if you asked her to switch of the boiler and you didnt touch it then how is it your fault
how do you know if boiler was working?
bob

 

[dontknowitall]

Happened to me once - I'd locked the boiler out and all it took was holding the reset button for 3 seconds (or something like that). Cost me £30!!!

 

[johnmcginty]

I tried to find a master reset though there was just a pole swith near it that was it. The fact is she is saying that I did'nt follow the job through but what could I have done differently ? or at 9pm, I spent ages trying.

 

[markfxy]

Your price was to install the towel rail not fault find the boiler you should charge her for the extra work you have done.

 

[dontknowitall]

If my boiler was working and I had a chappie(ess) in to put in a new radiator I'd expect the boiler to be working by the time they'd finished the job. Unfortunately, it's one of life's little glitches, in my opinion.

 

[easyt]

If you finished at 9pm and offered to return to try and sort it I think that you acted fairly. The only thing I would have done that I initially thought you had done would have been to make sure the boiler was turned off myself if that was a necessary operation.

 

[johnmcginty]

I will do from now on , she was just stood right next to it that was the only reason. I also feel that if I were the customer i would expect the boiler to be working when the plumber finished , it was just so hard to explain anything to her.

 

[Toddyplumb]

Send her the receipt for the £60

 

[dontknowitall]

Johnmcginty - Chin up!! Next customer's round the corner.

I often begin to feel really confident only to be knocked back with something. Recently went to fix an overflow - to find it was an unvented and it was the first I've come across since my exam in January. PANIC!!! Made all sorts of excuses. Got a plumber friend to come and look and he told me what I had to do.

Customer looked at me sideways but seemed to appreciate the honesty.

When I fitted the new part he asked me to service his boilers - then I asked him if he had the manuals ... !!!

Still, serviced one, cleaned the other and now he's asked me to quote for a replacement for one of them.

Funny old world this plumbing lark.

 

[Blackcatgas]

Id probably use the left jab to gauge the distance then follow up with a straight right to her husbands chin (I dont hit women) then maybe Id check that the room stat was turned up, the boiler hadnt locked out and needed resetting, shed turned it back on properly, there was gas in the card meter, the control was set to go on etc tec etc, Dont work all day till 9pm for £60 John.

 

[Dannypipe]

Oh dear. It's probably something simple like Blackcat has suggested. Did you work all day till 9pm for £60? Don't even consider refunding that. You've not broken her boiler.

A quick story for you....a plumber mate of mine did some work on a system, moving a rad. When he filled it back up, a rad wouldn't vent or fill. The lady of the house said it had worked before and insisted he fixed it. Long story short he discovered after much agrevation, it had been disconected from the system and there was no way it had been working for a long time, he traced the feeds back to cut off ends.

He sent them another bill for his time and got paid. There are a lot of guys out there who could have reacted violently and filled her husband in, but is it really worth getting in trouble with the law!?

 

[johnmcginty]

Cheers for the advice guys, and no I did'nt work all day for that it was actually just round the corner and I thought if it was cash I would do her a favour I did it about 11 and ended up til about half one so was'nt too bad for £60 cash as had two more jobs on in afternoon, checked stats and everything seemed ok so I though it may kick in later as it may have been programmer issue told her to phone me if it did'nt come on so she did screming and ranting the exact time I had a double viewing for a room in my house at 9pm oh dear . i'll bet it was something simple too and would have sorted it in the morn if she was'nt so rude and told me to get out her house, what gets me is she is council so does'nt that mean she gets a free callout from the gas man? was dodgy anyway no inhibitor or recent stickers on cover. Oh well looks like the verdict is in i'll have to spend that £60 just cant decide ...wet vac or pressure washer? Cheers for the input

 

[Avatar]

Plumbing basics:

- you only are responsible for what you work on. If her boiler is faulty, beyond venting air from the system, then I would ask to be paid more. You should have shut the boiler down yourself though - never let a customer do something like that (as you will be held responsible!)

- Always check the system first to see if it is working, and how the fault is.

- Charge more - it is always the bloody charity jobs which turn out nightmares! Used to do it myself - not anymore! Charge them to the max. I may have quoted £150 to replace a towel rad, as it could be an hour if you are lucky . . . 9 times out of ten you are not and you spend hours piddling around with the system trying to get it to work again . . .

NO charity work!!!

Some customer seem to think as soon as a plumber walks into their house, that they become responsible for every water appliance therein - wctch out for this!

In fact i remember a job where i was called in to replace a tiolet siphon to get it to flush. Told the customer that i was not happy with broken overflow and loose tiolet handle. I did do some (charity) work on the handle, and to cut a long story short, when the overflow pipe leaked all over the bathroom floor and through to the kitchen ceiling (like i told them it would day 1), I was duely blamed, and the chap became quite agressive demanding a refund. I then sent him a breakdown of my 'uncharitable' bill for all the extra work, plus the cost of a county court summons.

Didnt hear from him again!

In fact I will take before and after pictures, along with contracts on bigger jobs, but it is the small ones which trip you up!!

Good luck mate - Ps: go for the wet vac, its one of the best bits of kit I have!!!

 

[Phil]

This happend to me aswell, I drained down a system with an Ideal Elan regular boiler, upon refilling the boiler worked fine for hours but kept going to lockout. It was fine beforehand, I bled every single bleed valve including the ones on the top of the boiler, Just when I thought I had curred it she rang back again to say it had locked out.

She used to ring at 8:30am on the dot and at 8:25am I used to break out in a cold sweat in anticipation! This happend all week if I remember correctly. Eventually I got an RGI in at great expense and it was the high limit thermostat that had gone, just happend to go when I drained down?

She was a nice lady though and she re-embursed me the money and now she is a regular customer, in fact I was round there this afternoon, her basin waste had become uncoupled under the floor. She lives in a posh flat with a neighbour underneath!

Sorry John but your 'customer' is an unresonable witch!!