Botch job by plumber, invoice sent over a year later

Sun4

Last year our boiler wasn't working properly so we hired a local Gas Safe registered heating engineer to fix the problem. First he told us that our system needed flushing – he duly did this but boiler still didn't work. He then said we needed a new thermostat which he fitted. Boiler still didn't work. Lastly, he said we needed new controllers which he fitted. Boiler still didn't work. At this point we lost the will to live and called in a Baxi engineer who said the casing was loose, fixed it and boiler worked; he also said that we didn't need any of the other work that had been carried out. We heard nothing more from first engineer although we asked for an invoice. Today, 13 months later, an invoice for almost £1,200 has turned up. Are we obliged to pay? We had no written quote and engineer failed to fix boiler. Any help hugely appreciated.

irishjohn

Did you ask for an invoice in writing?

Did he complete any worksheets for you to sign on each visit?

Have you checked that he is indeed Corgi Registered and not masquerading as such?

Initially if you made no request in writing for an invoice I would be inclined to ignore it, while researching the price of the parts he fitted. I would perhaps be willing to offer to pay the cost price of the parts as you have the benefit of new parts although they were not needed. I would not be prepared to pay anything else - By flushing the system before checking the boiler he would seem to be indicating he is not particularly efficient.

If you pay him for the parts you are kindly ensuring he is not out of pocet - his wasted and unpaid time is his own problem.

Sun4

Thank you so much John. I would be happy to pay for parts. I have no written communication at all - other than today's invoice.

irishjohn

If there was no previous written communication either way then ignore for the time being. I am presuming that the invoice sent was not broken down into parts and labour with dates of visits etc - so at the moment there is little to use in the way of evidence should he decide to take a small claim against you. Make sure you can find your invoice for the Baxi Engineer job.

It will then be up to you to decide on what to do if there is any follow up from this first engineer. You could either respond simply saying you are not prepared to pay for his visits which failed to find and correct the problem, or you could ask for a breakdown invoice showing parts, materials and labour all itemised to enable you to consider what it would be appropriate to offer in full and final settlement.

robatwork

He has done some work, provided some goods, and he is entitled to some payment.

So now it's about agreeing an amount.

As suggested, ask him for a breakdown of labour vs parts, do some research yourself, and come up with a reasonable settlement. Doesn't sound like he deserves much over a couple of hundred....

Zandoni

robatwork wrote: »

He has done some work, provided some goods, and he is entitled to some payment.

So now it's about agreeing an amount.

As suggested, ask him for a breakdown of labour vs parts, do some research yourself, and come up with a reasonable settlement. Doesn't sound like he deserves much over a couple of hundred....

I certainly wouldn't be rushing to pay anything. The so called engineer might of done some work but it was all unnecessary, not to mention waiting a year to invoice it.

Marktheshark

Ignore until LBC stage, then ,I Would offer to pay the part of cost of the parts he supplied as they are "betterment" minus a figure for the old parts he kept which were not faulty
As for Labour I would point out that his performance was less than incompetent leading to the calling out of a more competent person who found the fault to be a very simple easy fix of a loose casing.
State unfortunately , you were hired to perform a competent service and fix what was a very basic and simple fault spotted by the competent engineer within the first minute.
You are not paying for his incompetence in failing to perform what was a most simple basic maintenance task.
He was hired to "fix the boiler", which he failed at miserably, he was not hired to run up a large bill due to his shear incompetence and fumbling replacing unnecessary parts.
Add in that the competent engineer had to check and rectify some of the parts he fitted unnecessary and due to his fear of the incompetence of the standard of work and perform a full safety inspection on the work which created a "loss" in a larger bill to rectify the poor fitting.
In fact I would like you to provide me with a Gas safe registration for the period you were working here as the incompetence was regarded as very basic errors leading me to suspect you must not be qualified.
State you shall not only defend the claim, butt issue a counter claim for the second loss of having to hire someone who was at least competent and managed to perform the simple task competently.

Sun4

Thank you all so much. I will wait a bit as suggested and then write to plumber using all your advice. I feel so much better now. Thanks again.

Sun4

Hi everyone, I thought I'd update you on this issue. After much argument and aggressive unreasonableness from first engineer, we offered to pay his invoice minus the £360 we paid to the Baxi engineer. We didn't hear anything so decided to pay the offered amount to put an end to this nightmare. As far as we were concerned it was matter closed. Now, many weeks later, we have a received a letter from a debt collecting agency threatening us with court action if we don't pay the remainder of the bill. Should we go to court? What are our chances of winning? I am so fed up with the whole thing now. All advice greatly appreciated.

hollydays

So did you ask for a breakdown as advised.

bris

How would the Baxi engineer know the other parts weren't needed? Did he have all the old parts tested.


I have never heard of a boiler not working because of a loose case, can you elaborate on that? It doesn't make sense.