Advice on faulty youth club central heating system :(

wellygogs

I wonder if anyone can advise me before I go totally mad?!?!

I am a trustee of a youth centre, we raised £18,000 to have a central heating system fitted approximately 18 months ago. It's worked sporadically, but we're still having problems. It was supplied by British Gas:rolleyes: and they used contractors to fit the system. At the moment, the timer is faulty, we have leaks and it's costing us a bomb in telephone calls trying to actually speak to someone. I've got pages of "who did what, and when". Can anyone advise me where I can get free legal advise on this matter please as I think we're really being taken as mugs here!

Many thanks.

John_3:16

Have you tried the local press, if you are a charity they may put your case to the front of the pile? Then contact BG tellthem what you are going to do.

wellygogs

Hmmm - I hadn't thought of that one! I've told them I'm seeking legal advice so maybe that might help them to get a move on??

claire_parker

I would suggest you need a solicitor's letter to put your case to British Gas, to make it clear that you require action and lead you in the right direction. Irrespective of the length of guarantee period you would probably still be covered under the Defect Liability Act. Possible free sources for an initial consultation include Citizens Advice Bureau, any free Legal Advice that you or other committee members may have, perhaps under car insurance, etc. Also if Any money was paid to British Gas by Credit Card, then the credit card company may well have some liability and may provide you with some assistance or even pay for the system to be rectified. If you are unable to obtain free legal advice then it may well be worthwhile having a consultation with a solicitor and paying an initial fee in the hope that the matter is resolved.

If a solicitor's letter does not work then you may need to consider further Legal action. In which case you will need to employ an independent consulting engineer to carry out an inspection and produce a report on the installation to supplement the case put forward by your legal advisers. Suitable consultants (under Experts) can be found on the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineers website www.plumbers.org.uk. There are other institutes including the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers and the Institute of Domestic Heating Engineers will have similar lists, but I would suggest the CIOPHE list would be the most suitable in your case. Do not obtain a consultants report without having been advised by a Solicitor in the first instance as it may be that using a single joint expert in conjunction with British Gas would be more appropriate and necessary for any potential litigation that may occur.

The timeswitch not working may not be a faulty times switch. This may however be resulting in excessive fuel consumption therefore this should be considered by the solicitor.

Leakage from the system will undoubtedly be reducing the life expectancy of the installation therefore this needs to be rectified as soon as possible. The leakage may also be causing damage to the structural fabric. These matters should be considered by the solicitor.

I would suggest in any event you keep a photographic record and a written log of the problems you encountering to ensure they are not forgotten. Best of luck.

Hatster

Have you put in an official complaint? My husband did this for problems we were having with BT, and suddenly we had a dedicated person to liaise with in the Chairman's Office, 6 month's free line rental, and a box of chocolates. Might be worth a go, even if you don't get the chocolates

wellygogs

Claire, John and Hatster,

Thank you VERY much for all your advise. I think we've been far too soft in the past! On Monday evening, after still not hearing from the contractors, we phoned their mobile (yet again) and left a very stern message saying that if we didn't hear from them by midday the next day, we would be taking legal action. Strangely enough, we were phoned back in the next half hour by 2 people from that firm! They have been to the youth club and supposedly fixed the timer - this wasn't without even more complications!

What I've done now is put together a folder detailing everything that has happened in the past 18 months - I'm just waiting for the committee member who last dealt with them to add her bit to the file. Then we're going to go to CAB and see where we stand - phew! I'm not pessimistic by nature, but I'm betting that we'll get even more problems before too long - leaks, timers not working etc!!

Anyway, I'll post back here in a few weeks once I know what's happening.

Many thanks to you all!

Wendy