£500 boiler repair! Can I do anything?

RobCrin

Hey all,
My boiler recently broke, and I called out some gas people that quite recently serviced my boiler as they seemed quite good, polite etc. One person came round, he spent about 20 mins on the phone to the suppliers of the boiler (which I could have done!) then decided he needed to get a new circuit board, so he went for an hour or so, came back with one, but then found out it was the fan which had gone which had burnt out the circuit board so then he had to drive to the same place he had just been to pick one up, however he couldn’t be bothered to drive there again in one day so went home, then came back the next morning fitted it and left, no word about cost or anything. Today though an invoice came through the door all it said was fan fitted and circuit board fitted and it comes to £493.50! I thought it would be much less! Especially as they serviced my boiler, and it was the fan that broke (something I would of thought they would check...).

If you have any ideas or things you can think I can say to them to reduce this a bit please tell me!

Thank you,
Rob :mad:

owned_by_2_Siamese

I had a very similar experience over New Year. Our 18 month old BAXI condensing combi boiler just went loopy - and no water/heating. To cut a long story short we had to have a new circuit board (cost of part £220) and a new fan unit (£230) - we had to wait a week with no heating/whot water as ther were no circuit boards anywhere ( I bought BAXI over all the others as I though they were reliable and spares easy to get - how wrong I was) The cost of labour was 3 visits at a minimum call out of one hour. So the total bill would have been more than £600 odd. Fortunatley we were insured - so we only had to sign for the work (hence the costs were shown)
I'm no expert - but for the fan, circuit board, VAT and some labour etc - your bill doesnt seem unreasonable compared to what it would have cost us.
I know its a mute point but I cheerfully pay my £13 a month for the boiler insurance - even on a newish boiler - I've had a good three years worth of premiums back already- and judging by its performance I suspect there may be a few more probolems on the way.

Cardew

Those of us with old boilers(mine is 19 years old) are continually told how modern condensing boilers are much more efficient.

Yet there is plenty of evidence that these boilers, which are stuffed full of electronics, are far less reliable; and examples of breakdowns and expensive repairs, like the 2 cases above, are commonplace. There was an article in the Daily Telegraph recently that stated 10 years life is the most you can expect from modern boilers.

The situation is further complicated by having no dependable data available on which manufacturer/model is the most reliable. That ‘manufacturer X’ made a reliable boiler 5 or 10 years ago, is absolutely no guarantee that their latest model is reliable as it will almost certainly have been redesigned and fitted with ‘bought in’ electronics.

The other scandal is the cost of electronic circuit boards. There is no way these relatively simple devices can cost the £hundreds that we are charged.

I’ll hang on to my old and inefficient boiler as long as possible.

RobCrin

Thanks for your replies! I feel a bit better knowing that other people have been charged that amount and its not just me!

I have just found out about British gas repairs, https://www.britishgas.biz/oca_calculator/Prices.aspx?bgc=y&l=NATIONAL

according to that it would have cost me £144 for everything? Or is that just for them to come and look at it? It seems quite good (A hell of a lot better than what I have been billed for!

Also I’m thinking of ringing the gas company I used up and asking for a copy of the receipts for the items they put in, do you think they will give me them...or do they actually need to give me then if I say I want them?? What makes me the most angry with this bill is that a few months ago they did a service and told me everything was fine…obviously it wasn’t!

And Cardew I know what you mean, I don’t understand how a simple circuit board can cost so much money! I’m sure they cost peanuts to make nowadays!!

Dandirt

What make and model of boiler is it, Rob?

Dan

RobCrin

Hi Dan!

Its a Worcester 24CDi...if that rings any bells

ormus

http://home.btconnect.com/abtap.com/cat.html
scroll down to see this one.

Worcester 24CDI RSF (Man. Part No. 87483002190) £109.97 +vat.

Grumps

£493.50 seems a lot to me.

As for the fan going soon after it was serviced? I don't see any significance in that. It is basically an electric motor and either works or doesn't. If it was a bearing failure then this should have been picked up at the time of the service. But if the electrical side has gone 'open circuit' then it would be no different to the alternator on your car failing soon after that was serviced.

Did they leave the old parts with you?

If not, then I would suggest that the replacement of the circuit board was a mis-diagnosis. If he spent that length of time on the phone then clearly he had little knowledge of what he was doing (I suggest) and just plumped for the 'easy option' without checking the peripheral devices.

Request an itemised bill.

In relation to Condensing Boilers, I read somewhere that research has shown that although they are far more efficient in theory, in the average domestic environment, they are in practice not as efficient as the theory suggests, because they seldom reach their optimum operating temperature.

And if anyone is in the process of scrapping a Potterton Netaheat, I'd be grateful if they could salvage the Air Pressure valve for me.

Dandirt

Hi Rob

Pretty sure that what's happened here is as Grumps said :

He couldn't find the fault ( Gordon Bennett - a duff fan is just so-o-o easy !!)so, after speaking to Worcester, he's gone for the circuit board (all the novices do it "it looks complicated, so it MUST be that")

Fit new board - oh dear, still not working ! Eek! it's the fan. Oh well, tell customer the fan's taken the circuit board out as well.
SOR-REE, but that just not normal! (I mean, if he just changed the board with the original duff fan still in situ, how come it didn't take out the replacement board when he switched on to try it?)

Sorry to sound flippant Rob - I sympathise with you mate, but I reckon you've bought a circuit board there that you didn't need (and not a cheap one, either).

Dan

ollyk

RobCrin wrote:

Hey all,
My boiler recently broke, and I called out some gas people that quite recently serviced my boiler as they seemed quite good, polite etc. One person came round, he spent about 20 mins on the phone to the suppliers of the boiler (which I could have done!) then decided he needed to get a new circuit board, so he went for an hour or so, came back with one, but then found out it was the fan which had gone which had burnt out the circuit board so then he had to drive to the same place he had just been to pick one up, however he couldn’t be bothered to drive there again in one day so went home, then came back the next morning fitted it and left, no word about cost or anything. Today though an invoice came through the door all it said was fan fitted and circuit board fitted and it comes to £493.50! I thought it would be much less! Especially as they serviced my boiler, and it was the fan that broke (something I would of thought they would check...).

If you have any ideas or things you can think I can say to them to reduce this a bit please tell me!

Thank you,
Rob :mad:

Rob two things. Ask for the replacement parts back. I personally think any engineer should always ask the customer if they can take the parts away!
2. Ask them for a written statement of what happened. See, if the fan took the board out as he said, then why did he not have to replace the 2nd board after testing the boiler, and discovering the same fault?
Don't let them get away with this it is theft!
Isn't taking the old parts away without permision theft aswell?

Canucklehead

Hi

Having read your OP at no point do you ask HOW MUCH is it likely to cost!!!
Would you take your car to a garage and say 'fix it' and walk away??
Always ask for approx cost before going ahead with anything.
Maybe the company would be prepared to come back and take out the new bits (you haven't paid for )and put the old ones back.

Corgi Guy.