Suspected illegal gas fitter

nomisward

I have had a new boiler fitted by somebody who I now suspect has done it illegally. The job was passed onto him by a registered gas safe engineer who was too busy so I stupidly didn't check him out.
He's messed us about for the past 10 days after originally saying he could start the following afternoon and have it fitted the next day.
The job is still not finished I.e control panel and thermostat not fitted, and upstairs radiators not working. I've today had another plumber in to look who has confirmed the job hadn't been done properly.
I've had no contact with the original engineer since Saturday and he's failed to confirm his gas safe number. With this in mind how do I stand with refusing payment as it's obviously going to cost me to get it put right?

nomisward

Forgot to add I have yet to pay a penny

southcoastrgi

Don't pay & don't let him do anymore work until he has shown you his card with his pic on it & check what's written on the back as to what he's allowed to do
If you have his name & or company name you can check with Gas Safe to check if he's registered

wolfehouse

check it out before paying any money out.
get his number and phone gas safe directly to check it out.
and make sure the name matches who he really is.


I had dealing with someone pretending to be a corgi fitter
showed a card with picture, number and everything.
and corgi would not do anything about it as he was not registered.
trading standards shrugged and said how common it was but weren't keen to do anything either.

CardiffCityrgi

Get his name and number and phone gas safe.

Make sure he is the guy on the card. Also check he has the relevant qualifications aswell.( this will be listed on his card)

Do not let him reenter the property until you are satisfied.
And if he is not qualified and you get someone else in then remove all materials supplied by said illegal. You don't want any future warranty claims to be affected.

nomisward

After leaving him a message asking for his gas safe number, he's not got back to me surprise surprise!
Does anyone know for definate if I'm entitled to refuse to pay him for his illegal work? My new registered plumber has said he can sign the boiler off but only if he refits it all himself.

McKneff

You don't know for sure that he is not a gas safe engineer, you are assuming that because he has not got back to you. There could be a hundred reasons why he has not done so.


As advised, you need to contact GAS SAFE to see if he is registered.


Do everything in writing so that you have a paper trail.

Gordon_Hose

Stop focussing on not paying him, and make getting his Gas Safe number your top priority.

Go round his house if you have to.

cyclonebri1

Don't go round to his house, that is truly crap advise.

You google gas safe, you look for his name, or any GS guys within a set area.

If you don't find him you report him if he has said he is qualified.


Don't pay a penny until you have the boiler logbook and proof that he has registered the boiler as having been installed by him as a a qualified Gas guy.

If I'm wrong here I trust the registered guys to correct me please?

andyhop

Does the installer not work for the company who you originally contracted the work to?

It is not uncommon for other employees to install under a company's gas safe ID number

2013yearofthehouse

Even without his number you could try and find him on the gas safe website: http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk

If you use the "find a gas safe registered business" for your postcode and search through the names. If you click on "see our engineers" under each listing, it will show you photos of each person. Both individuals who work by themselves are listed as well as businesses with multiple engineers.