Boiler Servicing Rip Off

HUMBUG

I had a new boiler installed last year (cost me £3.5k to comply with all the new building regulations). The Glow Worm boiler is guaranteed for only 2 years , but the invoice by the plumber (who bought the boiler from Glow Worm says 5 years) so unsure what the guarantee period is legally. Anyhow, to get the extra 1 yr guarantee you have to get the boiler serviced within the first year of installation. So I request my original installer to do the service (£75 call out charge ex vat). A gentleman arrives (he's at least 22 stone and had trouble getting off the floor once he kneeled down) , but very polite , etc and obviously quite knowledgeable. He switches on the override button on my CH programmable box to switch it on, presses a few buttons on the boiler controls (as per service manual), then goes outside with some CO2 probe , sticks it deep inside the flue and takes some meter reading . Everything fine, so then writes out an invoice and I pay him £90 (he couldn't get the front boiler casing off because it needed a special screwdriver bit). I can't fault the plumber because the service booklet says in bold, that if the combustion tests are okay , there is no need for a full service. The plumber then strongly advises me to take out a service care plan with Glow Worm because the boiler is quite complex and they normally charge a £300 call out charge for problems outside the guarantee period. He also says that maybe next year, there is some sort of vessel that captures the condensing sediment that may need emptying - never heard of this before as I thought it got drained away.
Just can't help but feel depressingly ripped off by the building regs , the boiler making companies and the plumbing industry. Surely , the plumbers should lower their call out charge if a full service is not required.
He also informs me that if the combustion tests are done on old boilers, the CO2 probes are so ultra sensitive that they will most certainly fail and they'd have to shut down the boiler (if they can conduct the probe test). If you have a flue that goes through your house roof, then they cannot conduct the test properly , so can't really shut it down. So maybe my old boiler didn't need replacing if the probes are that sensitive (my CO2 alarms never went off ). The problem with all this scaremongering caused by these new tests and building regulatory rules is that people will end up being too scared to get their old boilers serviced (in case the engineers shut them down) and an escalation of dangerous situations.

dj1471

The going rate for a service round here is £50 - £60, shop around next time. I'd be most concerned that he couldn't (or wouldn't) open the boiler casing - was he actually gas safe registered? In any case he can't have done a full service so I'd be expecting him back to complete it, otherwise ask for your money back.

http://www.which.co.uk/documents/pdf/boiler-servicing-checklist-pdf-412872.pdf

HUMBUG

dj1471 wrote: »

The going rate for a service round here is £50 - £60, shop around next time. I'd be most concerned that he couldn't (or wouldn't) open the boiler casing - was he actually gas safe registered? In any case he can't have done a full service so I'd be expecting him back to complete it, otherwise ask for your money back.

http://www.which.co.uk/documents/pdf/boiler-servicing-checklist-pdf-412872.pdf

Many thanks for this . I have just visited their office and handed them this checklist. He has obviously not even completed a cursory check properly . He told me that he was retired but just does the odd few days to help out his old company . I think he is gas registered but if he is retired , does that not invalidate his registration ? Don't know but I don't think I want him to revisit me.
PS. I've phoned around and the going rate quoted is between £75-85 ex vat . This is in the Harrow area so prices normally reflect high London rates.

southcoastrgi

Companies like this really p1ss me off, GW use use torx bolts hardly anything special, he should have at least cleaned out the condense trap, id be going back to them & ask to see his gas safe card & if he doesn't have one report him to Gas Safe then tell them you want a proper service as per the MI,

Sounds to me you have been fed a bunch of lies, what make & model was your old boiler & what was wrong with it ?

discat11

Had a full service this morning on boiler, gas fire and kitchen gas hob including gas safe certificate (as I'm selling the house) and it was £100 all in which I was perfectly happy with.

Chap was round mine for around 2 hours and took the front of the boiler off, 'smoke checked' the chimney and all flues and pipes.

If that is what you had done then I'd say £90 was a good price, if it's a heck of a lot less then vice versa.

HUMBUG

southcoastrgi wrote: »

Companies like this really p1ss me off, GW use use torx bolts hardly anything special, he should have at least cleaned out the condense trap, id be going back to them & ask to see his gas safe card & if he doesn't have one report him to Gas Safe then tell them you want a proper service as per the MI,

Sounds to me you have been fed a bunch of lies, what make & model was your old boiler & what was wrong with it ?

To be honest the engineer who shut my boiler down was there for 3+ hours doing checks. Nothing wrong with the heat exchanger but he said the burner was cracked (and took some photos but I couldn't tell if this was the truth or not) . His basis for shutting down my old Gloworm boiler (I don't remember the model now but it was 25 years old) was the CO combustion reading which was massively over the safety threshold (but my CO alarm was never triggered). I had to trust the engineer and their ultra sensitive CO probes rather than my CO kindle monitor. Cost me 3.5k with all the building reg requirements which broke me last year. I suspect the old boiler did need replacing because it also had asbestos seals which worried me quite a bit. I've checked the guy out on Gas Safe registration website and his name and picture is there but he told me he was retired and just helping out for a few days in the week . The gas safe registration number seems to cover all the employees in this company so wondering whether this retired gentlemen is still authorised to do these checks.

HUMBUG

discat11 wrote: »

Had a full service this morning on boiler, gas fire and kitchen gas hob including gas safe certificate (as I'm selling the house) and it was £100 all in which I was perfectly happy with.

Chap was round mine for around 2 hours and took the front of the boiler off, 'smoke checked' the chimney and all flues and pipes.

If that is what you had done then I'd say £90 was a good price, if it's a heck of a lot less then vice versa.

Is this a London based company because that seems very cheap? My engineer was over 22 stone and told me he had 2 knee replacements. When he got down on the floor he couldn't get up without putting his whole weight on my kitchen units (I thought he'd collapse them). I honestly think the guy thought he'd get away with just doing an external visual check rather than internal because my boiler is only a year old. I used the same company that installed it but now I regret to say that the quality across their employees seems inconsistent. The guy who installed my 'boiler/sealed vessel/Fernox filter/HWT' and other adhoc bits and pieces was ultra professional so I felt confident to re-use the same company (how wrong could I be). Anyhow, I phoned Gas Safe technical dept and he said that the engineer should have opened the front case to check for possible new leaks , etc and maybe emptied the trap (as mentioned). So now I'm waiting for a phone call from my engineer to address my concerns , plus he never cleaned the Fernox filter because he didn't have the special black plastic spanner (which should have been given to me by the first installer last year- but didn't). Blimey, so much trouble to just get a service done is doing my head in.

teddysmum

Our WB needs 5 years of servicing to cover the warranty and would have been 7 if we'd used an accredited fitter.

I used the same company for the service, last February and paid £60. Both workers attended and the boiler front was definitely taken off, as I commented on how noisy the boiler sounded with this removed.

andrewmp

http://www.homeserve.com/insurance/gas-boiler-breakdown-cover-with-annual-boiler-service-flexi-95

Try that, £36 per year and includes a free full boiler service.

Nilrem

HUMBUG wrote: »

but my CO alarm was never triggered)

Your CO alarm may not have triggered as the boiler was still managing to get enough vented externally, but that doesn't mean the appliance was safe to continue using as if it's over the limit now it could get far worse by the time you next get it serviced.


The engineers test is to check the actual burn, not the room level as room levels can be affected by things like when you last opened a door so a it might be fine during the day when you're in and out but at night with the door shut it could reach dangerous levels.
it's one of the reasons some of the better CO alarms have not just an active alarm, but an indicator that they've been triggered in the past.

Basically if the boiler is reading high something is wrong with it or it's installation and the mechanics are not allowed to leave it at that because it is a safety issue.

EssexExile

andrewmp wrote: »

http://www.homeserve.com/insurance/gas-boiler-breakdown-cover-with-annual-boiler-service-flexi-95

Try that, £36 per year and includes a free full boiler service.

The offer of a free gas boiler service is only available on certain highlighted products on our website, https://www.homeserve.com

and only in the first year.

Always read the small print.;)