British Gas service engineer broke combi boiler

meanmum

We had our Homecare annual service visit to our old but perfectly functioning boiler - in the process, the engineer managed to break a piece of metal off the combustion chamber, rendering the boiler unsafe. He made a phone call, and told us the part was unobtainable (& had apparently never been offered as a spare part) - at which point he decommissioned the boiler & we started getting in quotes for a replacement.
However, after a few minutes of googling, I have now found the replacement part from several sources - I now plan to discuss this with BG, and hope to persuade them to source and fit the part. Do you think I have any chance of this?
I'm unhappy that 1. Their engineer broke the boiler (although I'm not suggesting it was deliberate) & 2. They made so little effort to find a replacement part.
Are these service engineers given any form of financial reward for scrapping boilers?

roddydogs

Their fault, their responsibility, surely even if it means a new boiler. They might ask for something as you would obviously be getting a new boiler.
Homecare is a shoddy organisation, dont think they take on new customers.

macman

Why would they not be liable-either for repair or replacement? Are they disputing that they caused the damage?
I'd ask for their agreement to you obtaining the part yourself, getting it fitted by an independent GSR RGI and recharge it to Homecare. Then cancel your contract, which you don't need anyway.

fluffymuffy

I read a few posts on here about British Gas coming out to do the annual service and declaring the boiler to be dangerous and cutting it off there and then. And then it actually happened to a friend of mine. No doubt there are dangerous boilers out there but I sense a scam here. I cancelled my policy with BG. I'll be going to an independent company from now on.

Mr_Ted

Would be interesting to know make, model of boiler , and the part that was damaged;)

meanmum

It's a Vaillant VCW-GB 242 E. installed 27 years ago. To be fair, I think the damage was not his fault, it was probably one of those times when "it just came away in his hands". As he unscrewed the front panel from the combustion chamber, a piece from the edge of the side of the chamber cracked off (the bit the front panel screwed into). Apparently this will leave it able to leak.
Having looked at it in more detail, The combustion chamber is quite big and contains a lot of "stuff", with connections etc passing though it - so I can now see it would be a horrible job to replace (& would need lots of seals, grommets etc - which may be unavailable).
I have googled for the spare part and found one (part number 118466) described by several suppliers as suitable for this boiler - however on the only photo I can see it looks like the wrong part.......so maybe BG are right.
I'd be really interested to hear from any boiler experts on here please.
In the meantime I'm still getting quotes for full replacements.

Mr_Ted

What you obviously need to do is to verify availability of all parts required, cost of parts, and cost of repairs, and then compare to any quotes for new Boiler!

Photo of the damaged part would be nice, if you can, to see the extent of what may be required?

I would go to a local reputable RGI and get 2 quotes, 1 for repair(if possible) and 1 for replacing (In accordance with currents regulations)

;)Have to add that or SCRGI will think I'm slipping

meanmum

The cost of any parts & repair would be covered by our BG Homecare contract - but only if the parts are available (from their approved suppliers). It sounds like it would be difficult for me to ascertain that all the required parts are available.
The piece of metal could very easily be welded back on - but the BG engineer said this would be illegal.

mr.pj

fluffymuffy wrote: »

I read a few posts on here about British Gas coming out to do the annual service and declaring the boiler to be dangerous and cutting it off there and then. And then it actually happened to a friend of mine. No doubt there are dangerous boilers out there but I sense a scam here. I cancelled my policy with BG. I'll be going to an independent company from now on.

From personal experience i've found a couple of boilers this summer that have had issues i've picked up on the annual service that leaves them unsafe. Luckily in most cases i've been able to rectify it with a part but in some cases where the boiler is old that part is unobtainable and the boiler can't be left unsafe