Who's fault after boiler leak ?

Hoops2000

Hi All
Would appreciate some advice if anyone has it.
We have an annual boiler maintenance contract with one of the major suppliers Home Energy Services.
Our boiler developed a fault and required a new part that was not covered by the contract. We agreed to pay the additional costs of the the part and fitting.
The part was fitted on Saturday, did not notice anything until Sunday when we returned from shopping and noticed that the boiler was leaking mains pressure water into the airing cupboard which spread to the hall and 2 other rooms, the new part had a faulty O ring
The company have an exclusion in their contract which denies all consequential loss other than their negligence. They are saying they fitted the part in good faith and therefore not at fault.
We have between £1,500 and £2,000 of damage plus still wet carpets and underlay.

Do you think we stand a chance with the small claims court? Any comments gratefully received

David

wealdroam

Hoops2000 wrote: »

Hi All
Would appreciate some advice if anyone has it.
We have an annual boiler maintenance contract with one of the major suppliers Home Energy Services.
Our boiler developed a fault and required a new part that was not covered by the contract. We agreed to pay the additional costs of the the part and fitting.
The part was fitted on Saturday, did not notice anything until Sunday when we returned from shopping and noticed that the boiler was leaking mains pressure water into the airing cupboard which spread to the hall and 2 other rooms, the new part had a faulty O ring
The company have an exclusion in their contract which denies all consequential loss other than their negligence. They are saying they fitted the part in good faith and therefore not at fault.
We have between £1,500 and £2,000 of damage plus still wet carpets and underlay.

Do you think we stand a chance with the small claims court? Any comments gratefully received

David

Isn't this what home insurance is for?

Notify your insurers and let them deal with it.

Master_Blaster

wealdroam wrote: »

Isn't this what home insurance is for?

Notify your insurers and let them deal with it.

Best way forward.

Get it done and the supplier and manufacturer can argue it out later if the insurance company go after them.

Hoops2000

Agree ideally this would have been our first course, unfortunately we had another escape of water from a shower earlier in the year, this would be a second large claim on the policy and affect future premiums, don't see why we should lose out. That is of course assuming we have home insurance.

wealdroam

Hoops2000 wrote: »

That is of course assuming we have home insurance.

Yes, I was making that assumption.
Are you telling us different?

browneyedbazzi

Can you post the exact wording of the exclusion clause in the contract?
Where is the clause? Is it prominent in the contract or hidden on page 57 in small print? Was it brought to your attention at any point?

Whether or not it can be relied upon depends on the wording and whether it was properly brought to your attention. Without seeing the clause and knowing the circumstances it'll be impossible for anyone to offer an informed view.

Master_Blaster

Hoops2000 wrote: »

Agree ideally this would have been our first course, unfortunately we had another escape of water from a shower earlier in the year, this would be a second large claim on the policy and affect future premiums, don't see why we should lose out. That is of course assuming we have home insurance.

But you've got home insurance.

Hoops2000

We do have insurance by really reluctant to go down this route due to the additional premiums, it went up £100 due to the previous loss so say another £100 over 5 years = £500

The policy wording is 10 pages of readible text approx 7,000 words. Was never pointed out directly

This is an extract which looks like cut and dried however ....

6.12 OUR LIABILITY
We are liable for death or personal injury caused by Our negligence. We are responsible for any direct loss that is a foreseeable consequence of Our breaching this Contract, Our negligence or Our breach of statutory duty. We are not liable for any other loss,including:

•Any indirect or consequential loss or damage of any nature
•losses caused by an event or circumstances beyond Our reasonable control
•any business losses

bris

Even if you could sue you still have to mitigate the loss, the courts would want to see how you did that. Insurance mitigates this loss so your claim would fail.

Master_Blaster

Hoops2000 wrote: »

We do have insurance by really reluctant to go down this route due to the additional premiums, it went up £100 due to the previous loss so say another £100 over 5 years = £500

The policy wording is 10 pages of readible text approx 7,000 words. Was never pointed out directly

This is an extract which looks like cut and dried however ....

6.12 OUR LIABILITY
We are liable for death or personal injury caused by Our negligence. We are responsible for any direct loss that is a foreseeable consequence of Our breaching this Contract, Our negligence or Our breach of statutory duty. We are not liable for any other loss,including:

•Any indirect or consequential loss or damage of any nature
•losses caused by an event or circumstances beyond Our reasonable control
•any business losses

Right well in that case hire the stuff to dry out your carpets. If that fails buy new, get someone else in to fix the boiler and anything else. Keep all your receipts and try your hand in court. Job done next please.

wealdroam

So having fitted this replacement part, did the repairer not check for water leaks?

If not, then that may well be considered negligence, and they are responsible for consequential losses due to their negligence.

Similarly, if they did check for leaks and didn't spot the leak.

But they do agree that they are responsible for supplying and fitting a faulty part, don't they?