Heating engineer gone AWOL - not sure where we stand......

phoebe1989seb

Hi all,

Apologies in advance for such a long post, but I want to set all the facts down (and have a rant, lol!)........

We are part way through a major building project including building a new kitchen extension. This required the oil-fired boiler installed in the house by the previous owner in 2011 to be temporarily removed in order to be re-sited in the new building.

Back in May we received a quote from a local heating engineer which we were happy with. We had also had a quote from a large firm from some 60 miles away that had been used by the previous owner but we didn't like their attitude when they carried out some other work and having met the local guy who seemed very professional, we decided to give the work to someone local.

As our project was hampered by all the bad weather this summer we took longer to reach the position where we were ready for the boiler to be re-installed than we'd expected, but during July we were finally ready and contacted the heating engineer to let him know we were ready for the first fix.

He came round to check the layout of the kitchen and utility (where the boiler is to be sited) and said he'd be here on Wednesday. Wednesday came and went and no sign. DH called his mobile - no response. We texted him - nothing. Eventually DH called his home number and his wife said "oh, he meant next Wednesday, not this one" - which DH is convinced wasn't the case. Anyhow, come the following Wednesday he did turn up, did the first fix (couple of days work if I remember correctly) then off he went, promising that as soon as we were ready for him to actually fit the boiler he would drop everything and fit us in - this being 'cos he knew we'd been without hot water for so long........since April :eek:

DH then set to work getting the floor screed laid in both kitchen and utility, plastering the utility room and getting the limestone floor laid. Before he was finished he texted the heating engineer to say we'd be ready the next week and he promised to come round over the weekend to get the boiler moved into the room in preparation, which he did. His parting words to DH were, "I'll be here on Tuesday to install the boiler" - that was Tuesday 11th September.......and guess what, he didn't show up

We have made every attempt to contact him - calls to mobile and land line, texts and as a last resort DH even went twice to his house, but no-one was home. We have practically begged him via text to at least let us know if there is some issue - family problem etc - that is preventing him from returning to finish the job, but we've not heard anything in response. DH is just cross that he hasn't had the courtesy to let us know why he hasn't been back and I'm fuming as we've now had no hot water,or heating, except a log burner) for over five months!

What's more, we even recommended him to a neighbour who had been without heating & hot water for three months - he went to fit their boiler and we later discovered that he was actually there the day he had promised to come to us, yet although he had plenty of time the same day to come to our house he didn't :mad: We are pleased our neighbour got their work done, but can't understand why he has left us in the lurch......

In the meantime our builder has recommended another heating engineer who he says would be prepared to finish the job and so enable us to have hot water and heating before Winter sets in. The price agreed for the work with the original guy was £850. We've not paid him anything as he never requested any monies up front and we always intended to pay in full on completion of the work. We have a sack truck of his here and DH (who is not normally like that at all) is threatening to refuse to pay him anything if he does turn up, but I'm not sure that would be right - however, it's also not right that he should just disappear like this, but I'm not sure where we would stand if we have to resort to getting someone else to take over the job.......

Any advice would be hugely appreciated, thanks guys

nickj_2

just get someone else to do it

spannerzone

You've given him many chances to explain his situation and he hasn't - sadly many buildings/trades seem to stick their heads in the sand rather than just be honest with people. I guess some emergency has cropped up, who knows!

Anyway, get someone else to finish the job because you could be waiting for ever otherwise and then I'd say it would still be right to pay him for the work he did so far just to get him out the picture for good but that's your choice.

phoebe1989seb

Thanks guys - I guess he's left us with little option really. If we want hot water and heating in the near future we'll have to get someone else to finish the job I can't understand why some trades people don't seem to want work though - he's not the first we've encountered to quote/start a job then vanish unfortunately, yet DH and are not PITA customers, lol!

It also seems strange that despite living in a semi-rural community where there is no gas (only bottled or oil), there appear to be very few heating guys that do oil.....when we first attempted to get quotes for this work we could literally only find four who covered our location and two of those never returned our calls

We don't really want to not pay him for what he's done so far - we've never refused to pay anyone before - but if he doesn't resurface I haven't got a clue as to how much he's owed.........and we're certainly not going to pay out twice if someone else has to finish the job and it ends up costing double!

southcoastrgi

are you sure he's not just on holiday especially as your OH went round to his house twice & no one was in, the other prob you may have is you have already said you had trouble getting someone in the first place so by the time you find another installer the orginal one may be back, as he has already done the work with regard to pipework etc you would be paying for someone else to spend time just tracing pipework etc, i'm not sticking up for him as he should have let you know what was happening.

phoebe1989seb

southcoastrgi wrote: »

are you sure he's not just on holiday especially as your OH went round to his house twice & no one was in, the other prob you may have is you have already said you had trouble getting someone in the first place so by the time you find another installer the orginal one may be back, as he has already done the work with regard to pipework etc you would be paying for someone else to spend time just tracing pipework etc, i'm not sticking up for him as he should have let you know what was happening.

Thanks southcoastrgi - yes, it did cross our minds that he had gone on holiday, but you would have thought the least he could have done was let us know he wouldn't be coming when he'd planned to. I appreciate what you're saying and do think we're in a bit of a 'cleft stick' so to speak, but at five months without hot water it really is getting beyond a joke!

We wouldn't mind so much for ourselves - and luckily we have no young family at home - as DH and I are used to roughing it, having done big projects before, but we were s'posed to be having my elderly dad to stay (he's currently in respite in a care home after a fall) but can't even begin to think about this all the while we've no heating or hot water :mad:

gas4you

I would write a letter informing him that unless you hear from him within 7 days you will place the remainder of the work with another plumber.

Send it recorded post.

phoebe1989seb

gas4you wrote: »

I would write a letter informing him that unless you hear from him within 7 days you will place the remainder of the work with another plumber.

Send it recorded post.

Good idea gas4you - might try that....although we seriously need to get the work finished asap as five and a half months without hot water/heating is getting beyond a joke and whilst it's not this particular guy's fault that the building work has dragged on, if it wasn't for him we would have had the boiler in two weeks ago.

As it is we have had to put our builders off from completing the next stage of work and as such are running up additional costs

SplanK

If I were you, I would just go ahead and get the work complete esp if there is no contract for him to complete the work. I would also ask the new guy for an estimate for the work already complete as to how much he would have charged, maybe let him know the hours worked already to increase accuracy of the quote. Even if it was fully contracted for the unreliable guy to complete, I think you would have good enough reason to claim a breach.

Getting the quote for the work already done should give you an idea of the value of the work complete so you can pay the un-reliable guy and make sure he is not trying to pull a fast one. By the sounds of it, appart from one slight misscommunication regarding days, you have been happy with him up until this vanishing act

I would send the unreliable guy a letter stating that you no longer require any further service and request an invoice for the work complete. I would maybe mention you are sending the letter because you have not been able to contact him by phone/in person should help keep things calm. Keep a copy and maybe even send it recorded Sometimes these things have a habit of turning nasty quickly so keeping decent records early on helps a lot!

phoebe1989seb

Thanks for all your advice guys

Just after my last post we actually received an email from the AWOL guy in which he said he'd been away for a few days - which doesn't really explain why he didn't come back when he said he would - and that he could come to fit the boiler this Thursday........

We've replied saying 'ok, but please don't let us down again!' - hopefully he'll keep to his word this time

phoebe1989seb

Hi all,

Just wanted to update this thread -

Well, our oil guy did reappear on the Thursday (27th) as promised, with no apology just a brief explanation that his labourer had had *women problems* and that he had taken him to sort things out (!!!) - although why he couldn't have responded to our many texts and calls I don't know. Anyway, he took two days to realise he needed a part that was essential to complete the job - and he didn't make this announcement till 5pm on Friday

He assured us he would nip to the plumbers' merchant on Saturday morning to get said part and much to our surprse he did - in fact by Saturday evening (176 days since the boiler was originally disconnected and removed) we finally had hot water again

Only problem now was that he hadn't got round to dealing with the heating side of things so his parting shot was that he'd be back Monday afternoon to do this. On Monday 1st Oct his van was spotted in the village at our neighbour's house so DH popped long and asked what time we should expect him - he said 'get the kettle on, I'll be there in a bit' and that was the last we saw of him....................again :mad:

This time we've made no attempt to chase him as DH was of the opinion he wouldn't let us down again and would 'turn up' - but over a week later it's gone way beyond a joke now!

I'm absolutely peed off and at the end of my tether as my mum is s'posed to be coming here to stay at the end of this week - she's in her 80s with Alzheimers' and can't be expected to sit in an old stone house with no central heating

DH admits he'll now have to chase him as he obviously isn't just going to turn up and says he's inclined to drip feed his payment in the same way he has drip fed our work - not sure what to do really though.....