Boiler Troubles - Please Help

davidjwest

I've just paid for our boiler to be repaired, all seemed to be fine at first but then about half an hour after the repair man left it stopped working.

He said due to the age of the boiler he couldn't guarantee the work and I now need a new boiler.

Am I within my rights to cancel the cheque I paid him with?

His initial inspection suggested we need a new gas valve and air-vent (or something like that) and it would be fine for a few more years.

Thanks for any advice.

BaldPlumber

Not really, it could be a different fault. You at least ought to call the bloke back first.

davidjwest

I have called him, said he'd take a look at it tomorrow, which isn't what he said first time!

So for now will leave it at that, my thinking is I've paid him to fix the boiler and he hasn't done so and therefore he's broken our contract, but I am not a lawyer. If he's reasonable with me then I will return the favour.

Thanks.

phill99

Diagnostics on boilers are not as clear cut as you would have hoped. With due diligence, the engineer would have given you an indicatio as to what he believed the problem to be. But thyere is no way he could guarantee a) that what he believed to be the problem was actually the problem and b) by rectifying that fault that the boiler would be in good working order.

Diagnostics on old boilers is even more difficult. Even if he rang Technical Support at the Manufacturers, they would also not guarantee that what they suggest would actually fix the problem.

In fairness, he has acted in good faith and acted professionally. It doesn't seem that you are disatisfied with his service or quaility of work, just his diagnostics.
If you cancelled the cheque, he would have every right to take you to small claims, and I thinkl he would win.

No doubt some gas fitters will be along in a minute to offer their advice.

davidjwest

To be fair he didn't sound interested first time I rang him, hence my post.

His initial diagnosis was the gas valve was faulty and it needed a new one and a new air valve/intake and it would take 90 mins to sort, quoted £240.

In the end it took 2 and a half hours so total £290 which I paid without any argument so I have been very fair.

The last call I made he was more helpful and has said he'll come back to look at it tomorrow, so we'll see what he says.

Thanks.

My concern is he says it's either uneconomic to repair or it's going to be another £300, when I'm going to start thinking a new boiler might have been a more economic option.

phill99

Its always a difficult call when a boiler is moving towards the end of its life. Should you try and get a couple more years by spending a few pounds or biting the bullet and getting a new one.

keystone

phill99 wrote: »

If you cancelled the cheque, he would have every right to take you to small claims, and I thinkl he would win.

I don't think he would win. I know he would win. The only defence you would have would be a complete failure of consideration where you would have to prove that he wasn't entitled to a single penny of the amount covered.

Cheers

davidjwest

Thanks everyone, the repair man came back this morning and the problem was some kind of trip switch had tripped, as the boiler had overheated. He reset it and it worked fine, but it is now tripping all the time when it gets hot.

It's fine for hot water to the kitchen taps but we can't use the central heating, not a big problem at the moment though with summer coming.

Anyone got any ideas what might be causing this? I've rung the repair man again and he's coming back next week but would be nice to know if it's going to cost me another £300 or not!

Thanks.

kaya

lol, your engineer sounds like a ploker, if he failed to do his job and fix the fault what is he charging you for? maybe he sees it as a training exercise that he believes you should fund? boilers are not that complicated if you know what you are doing and understand how they work, it astounds me how many people nowdays will walk into somebodies home and charge them to NOT fix the appliance, if he fitted parts that didnt cure the initial fault then its pretty clear that he has no idea what he is doing, do you think it right that you should be paying for parts you dont need due to his incompetance and lack of knowledge? i would tell him to remove the parts you didnt need(im sure there is some law against ripping people off) and refit the original parts he removed , then if he is incapable of diagnosing the fault to jog on, i could go around all day charging people to not fix there appliances but im way too honest to do that, have you tried phoning the manufacturer of your boiler and using their own factory trained engineers ? would you pay me £20 to mow your lawn if i turned up with my mower, smoked some cigarettes and then left without cutting the grass? i hope not, so why are you paying some clown to do the same with your boiler?

davidjwest

Thanks, the problem is I know nothing about boilers so got someone out who I thought could fix it, he seemed confident enough when he gave me his quote and diagnosis.

I'm now wondering if the initial problem was that the switch had tripped and he's just fitted me a £200 part for no reason, wonder if the old one is still working, I've still got it, is it easy to test?

Just rang the "engineer" again and he's told me to stick tape over the switch to stop it tripping. How safe is that? Doesn't sound very safe to me........

gas4you

That is the worst advice to give about a safety device and he should know that. It sounds like the overheat stat is tripping.

Interfering with a safety device renders the boiler immediately dangerous.

What make and model is your boiler and what was the original fault you called him in for?