Boiler call out rip off

gas4you

jimjames wrote: »

It's a good point. If you require the service of a tradesman which includes them travelling to you plus all their other costs then it needs to be paid for. Bear in mind that the tradesman has to book you a slot which is time they aren't charging other customers. Worth making sure you check the call out cost first though - although with our recent call out I was more interesting in getting someone in to fix the problem than how much (within reason) The repair was £80 for around an hours work which included a small piece of copper pipe.

£72 does sound rather steep though, how much is your attendance charge?

A little bit less at £60, but it will depend on the area of country as well as the company itself

jimjames

gas4you wrote: »

A little bit less at £60, but it will depend on the area of country as well as the company itself

£60 vs £72 is not a massive difference so it would appear to the OP that the charge he is being asked to pay is actually fairly standard and not the rip off suggested.

Swipe

jimjames wrote: »

£60 vs £72 is not a massive difference so it would appear to the OP that the charge he is being asked to pay is actually fairly standard and not the rip off suggested.

Agreed. However, the rip off is the misdiagnosis received during the visit for the pleasure of £72

bengasman

Swipe wrote: »

Agreed. However, the rip off is the misdiagnosis received during the visit for the pleasure of £72

Nope, that is not a rip off. It may have been a flawed diagnosis, but that would have sorted itself out as soon as he had attempted the repair and found out it made no difference. He would then have been obliged to diagnose again.
The op shot himself in the foot by getting a third party out to do the job, without giving the first plumber a chance to rectify his mistake.
Their have been hundreds of courtcases about this situation, and the courts have always filed against the party who did not give the tradesman the opportunity to rectify.

Premier_2

dgs31 wrote: »

Hi
i called out a plumber to check out why my boiler was working but getting no hot water. Fault code was flashing. In the mean i'd asked a plumber friend (not very experienced) to come out with his technican (experienced) to also take a look.

The first plumber came out, tested nothing on the boiler (he didn't even touch it) and just ran the hot tap for about 5 seconds and said i needed a new compansion vessel and would change it in 2 days time.

My friend then came with his technican and said he was having my eyes out, they pumped up the vessel and said it didnt need replacing, but my air pressure switch did need replacing which was in line with the fault code and they would do it the next day. I told the first plumber straight away that i didnt need him to call back.
My pressure switch was replaced and now all is good.

The first plumber is now charging me £72 call out !! I find it shocking that he is charging me for a 2 min call out where he didnt even touch my boiler.

Do i have a good enough reason not to pay it? Ive already left a message on his answer phone asking to justify the fee and that he didn't actually do anything.

thanks for your advice.
David

2 minutes? Where does he live? Next door?

Irrespective, you presumably agreed terms of the contract before employing his services, and it is quite normal for a plumber to charge an emergency call out fee which is typically about the same as 1 hours labour charge (and may include up to 30 minutes on site work)
This charge covers the the on-call emergency service itself, the time of travelling to the customer, the cost of fuel, the overheads of running the van (maintenance, insurance, depreciation), etc.

So you called the plumber out and he came out. Why are you so shocked he has now invoiced you for the call out you requested? :huh:

The fact you later decided (and informed the plumber) you no longer wished any futher services from him was entirely your choice (and right). If you had opted to continue with his services, it sounds like you would probably have been billed the call out charge on the final bill (together with the cost of the repair he was going to do).

gas4you

I'm not VAT registered any more, but if the OP's plumber is, then his call out is the same as mine plus the VAT

C_Mababejive

Hang on..the first chap diagnosed a faulty expansion vessel on your combi.

Was he right or wrong..? Well the second guy says he pumped it up which would lead us to believe that two people now believe the expansion vessel was devoid of pressure but wait..for i shall share my knowledge free of charge so that there is no quibbling about the bill....

A faulty expansion vessel would not in itself generally cause the boiler to stop working unless the water pressure in the boiler had dropped significantly..


Further,if the vessel was devoid of pressure,how did that happen?

If that is the case then it may well be faulty and it will only be a matter of time as to its re-occurence.

Did you see them re-charge it..(pump it up) ?

pro bono

Mr_Ted

This is typical of the quality of "TRADESMEN" today

There was a time when anything to do with GAS was dealt with by an indentured City & Guilds qualified GAS FITTER, not a 6 weeks wonder??????????

You pay for the service of a qualified person, far to often you dont get that, a piece of paper only means they passed an exam which can be done by anyone experienced enough to use the internet these days???

You canot buy experience, or expect to get paid for the lack of it???????????

There also seems to be a lot of ARMCHAIR "TRADESMEN ABOUT????

DONT PAY

C_Mababejive

Mr_Ted wrote: »

This is typical of the quality of "TRADESMEN" today

There was a time when anything to do with GAS was dealt with by an indentured City & Guilds qualified GAS FITTER, not a 6 weeks wonder??????????

You pay for the service of a qualified person, far to often you dont get that, a piece of paper only means they passed an exam which can be done by anyone experienced enough to use the internet these days???

You canot buy experience, or expect to get paid for the lack of it???????????

There also seems to be a lot of ARMCHAIR "TRADESMEN ABOUT????

DONT PAY

GSR and its predecessor,CORGI shares part of the blame. They are happy to allow training centres to rubberstamp mediocrity..

dgs31

thanks for all the replies,

The charge is £60 + £12 VAT = £72

My boiler is Baxi 105HE

The fact is yes i called him out. He did not even once, lay one of his fingers on the boiler, he simply ran the hot tap for a few seconds and said the EV needed replacing. He was in the house no longer than 2-3 minutes. Although i'm no plumber, i'm not that stupid. I rang my friend up as a second opinion (he is a trainee plumber) and he and his qualified technicain come round free of charge and pumped up the EV and said it did not need replacing. They told me he was "having my eyes out" and asked if he tested anything or tried pumping it up.

The fault code flashing was the "FAN OR FLUE" (does that have anything to do with the EV??) and they ended up replaced the air pressure switch, along with the Pressure Release Value which was causing a leak. They did some tests and there was one other part which needed replacing. They charged me a total of £100 which was obviously a mates rate (i know to call them out in the future) and i know i should of just rang them first.

I have not heard from the first plumber, i doubt he has even listened to my message.

I am not going to pay the £72, no way.