Boiler Insurance Cover Claim - Help?!?

fembot77

Hi there....

We live in a new build (7 years old now) and 4 years ago my next door neighbours boiler went bang just before xmas and as it was out of warrenty & she didnt have insurance she ended up paying out for new boiler installation ect. So thinking that i didnt have the funds if it happend to us i would take out insurance. We have a Potterton promax 15 HE which is covered by domestic & general so i took out their platimum insurance cover (i.e. boiler, controls, system, labour charges, annual service & scale damage) at a cost of 17.99 a month. we have kept up to date with out annual service and untill now never had any problems. In early feb we had our annual service, the engineer was here less than half hour, didnt take anything out, but looked with a torch & said everything was fine. On his way out i asked the question about one of our radiators that has never worked since we moved in but as its one of 2 in the living room it wasnt really needed, He said its most likely the thermostat & to get a replacement as the pins often get stuck. I phone dom gen who said yes i was covered for a replacement & they would send out someone to repair. 2 weeks later engineer called replaced the thermostat but on turning on the heating it still didnt work despite all other rads becoming hot & left a calling card with the "system blockage/sludge" box ticked.
He didnt advise that we needed to do anything so thought nothing of it as you cant miss what youve never had. Then our boiler started dripping from underneath. I phoned dom gen who promptly told me i wasnt covered due to sludge in the system and i needed this cleaned before they would carry our any repairs. I questioned how an engineer could asertain if there was sludge in the system without doing any investigation or taking water samples and that all other rads worked and that one has never worked in 7 years. anyway after much heated debate they eventually agreed to send out someone to do a water test which was on friday he did the water test and said we would have to wait for the results but the sludge reading didnt look too bad but it did look like I had high acidity levels & would require a system flush to get ridhe also took the cover off the boiler and said by the look of it my heat exchange was corroded and thats whats causing the dripping. So back on the phone to dom gen who assured me that if i had my system flushed (at my own expense) they would replace the heat exchange. System flush was done yesterday by a local independant plumber who also had a quick look to give his unbiased opinion. He stated that the boiler in general is very dirty with debris, the electrodes have not been cleaned & the heat excahange is not corroded & there are cauliflowers (:o) on the connecting pipes suggesting they have not been replaced and may have failed with age. He also said that the nut that attaches the condensing flue to the top of the boiler is rusty & maybe letting in the condensation water (hence leak & or water marks). In his opinion the annual service (certainly the most recent) has not been carried out properly. The servicing guide & a sticker on the side of the boiler suggests that the inhibitor levels need to be checked at every service in accordance to manufacturers instuctions otherwise it will invalidate the appliance warrenty. This clearly has not been done otherwise I would not have high acidity so again they have not fufilled their side of the bargain. Oneother point is that i have not been given a log book or indeed seen a copy of one that the engineers are supposed to fill out & sign.

Apologies for the long winded post but im now £400 down for the flush which i believe if the annual service had been carried out properly should never have happened & without heating and only have hot water from the emmersion.
Domestic & general have escalated as they say its a corroded & cracked heat exchange caused by high acidity levels in my system therefore they wont repair and im disputing the fact based on my independant engineers opinion & have specified 3-5 working days for a call back!!!

Can anyone help as to what rights i have?

heres hoping... regards