Return of Radiators

nathanjpj

Hi

We recently purchased two rads and had them installed.

The plumber ordered one rad correctly, but the other was the wrong model. He also made some errors:

Both rads were strapped to the wall, but we had requested they be installed freestanding, and we ordered additional legs to do so. Stelrad (manufacturer) have confirmed the legs are for freestanding installation. He didn't clean up after installing one of the rads, and left a pile of brick dust on the skirting board which cannot be reached for cleaning (you can see it as they are column rads). He damaged our floorboards during installation (sawing them when we wanted them lifted) and didn't even replace one of them. One of the rads is leaking.

We are pleased with the rads, but the legs we ordered, to have them freestanding, are really ugly. We didn't get a chance to see these before purchase, and they are now redundant anyway, due to the rads being strapped to the wall.

What rights do we have now? Ideally, we just want to tell him to come back and take the rads away. The work was poor, one rad is the wrong one, and they look ugly due to the awful feet.

Do we have any rights?

The plumber carried out the work unsupervised, but we made ourselves available should he have had installation questions

bris

No rights to have them removed, you wanted them free standing, you got them free standing. It's not the plumbers fault the legs are ugly, you ordered them.


Get a can of compressed air from the pound shop and blow the brick dust away. Why would he have installation questions, are you expert plumbers too?


Why did you let him install the wrong radiator, you obviously new it was the wrong one but went ahead and ordered feet for it anyway.


If one of the radiators is still leaking this is really your only complaint, is it still leaking?

Mr.Generous

I think with stuff like this you need to be really clear BEFORE the job is done.

If you want it done a certain way say so. Not afterwards, oh i wanted the boards lifting rather than cutting. It can be done, cut a big enough hole to fit valve through or drain down whole system. Otherwise not so easy. It would add cost too. When I am asked to fit stuff I do it the normal way unless stated up front by the customer they want something else done. Then I weigh it up and decide what to do and what to charge.

Some people are happy to pay more - some not. But you can't wait until its done then say I wanted it done differently.

rads sometimes weep after fitting, probably wants nipping up. rad valves have to be really tight some have a metal on metal seal you have to really squeeze the wrench. If leaking call plumber back.

Next job discuss and agree what is to be done, If worried confirm by email for a record.

nathanjpj

bris wrote: »

No rights to have them removed, you wanted them free standing, you got them free standing. It's not the plumbers fault the legs are ugly, you ordered them.


Get a can of compressed air from the pound shop and blow the brick dust away. Why would he have installation questions, are you expert plumbers too?


Why did you let him install the wrong radiator, you obviously new it was the wrong one but went ahead and ordered feet for it anyway.


If one of the radiators is still leaking this is really your only complaint, is it still leaking?

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

We wanted them freestanding, and asked for them to be freestanding, but he strapped them to our walls.

We are not expert plumbers, no, and we assumed the floorboards, which are original 1029s and very good condition, would be lifted to install. We stopped him as soon as he started, but by then had damaged the floorboards. This we could ignore, since we didn't specify, but we did think he might ask.

We will try the compressed air, thanks, but doubt this would clean up properly. It looks like the rad needs removing for cleaning, it's really filthy.

As soon as we saw one rad was wrong, we called the boss plumber and explained. He said he would come to see it but never did. He is now claiming we didn't specify the model but we did. Why would we order two different models?!?

The rad is still leaking, yes.

Best, N

nathanjpj

Mr.Generous wrote: »

I think with stuff like this you need to be really clear BEFORE the job is done.

If you want it done a certain way say so. Not afterwards, oh i wanted the boards lifting rather than cutting. It can be done, cut a big enough hole to fit valve through or drain down whole system. Otherwise not so easy. It would add cost too. When I am asked to fit stuff I do it the normal way unless stated up front by the customer they want something else done. Then I weigh it up and decide what to do and what to charge.

Some people are happy to pay more - some not. But you can't wait until its done then say I wanted it done differently.

rads sometimes weep after fitting, probably wants nipping up. rad valves have to be really tight some have a metal on metal seal you have to really squeeze the wrench. If leaking call plumber back.

Next job discuss and agree what is to be done, If worried confirm by email for a record.

Hiya

Thanks for the reply.

We did specify everything before. Only thing we didn't discuss is the floorboards. We assumed he would lift them, and stopped him when he started sawing. But we are confused why he didn't ask which way to handle the floorboards when there were different approaches. But, we are willing to forget this damage and move on.

He has said he will fit the leak, of course, but he will not take back the wrong model rad!?! We said immediately that it was the wrong one, but he installed it anyway in lieu of his boss coming to check it out. Boss never came.

As for the feet, all we saw was a drawing, and the feet are not the same as the drawing. Surely we have a right to return as we didn't see them beforehand?!? Isn't this a consumer right?

Best, N

nathanjpj

Great news.. the plumber has agreed to accept return of the rads and feet, but he will not uninstall them.


He's given us a bill for £400 for the four hours work, well above the South Wales rate.


Can we ask for a deduction for the poor quality of work, or bill him for the uninstallation?

unholyangel

nathanjpj wrote: »

Great news.. the plumber has agreed to accept return of the rads and feet, but he will not uninstall them.


He's given us a bill for £400 for the four hours work, well above the South Wales rate.


Can we ask for a deduction for the poor quality of work, or bill him for the uninstallation?

How did you enter into a contract with the trader? What did they tell you the price for installation would be? I presume the contract included them supplying & fitting the radiators?

nathanjpj

We were quoted £1,000 for the whole job. He won't tell us the cost of the rads.


We will need to pay for removal/return of the rads and to correct the damage he did.

forgotmyname

Next time you may want to put everything in writing. All your wishes.

Picking flies after saying i thought he would ask is not the way, he would just say if you wanted the job done a particular way then you should have put it into black and white before he started work and probably before he priced the job.

You need to do this with most jobs if you want to avoid hassle of he said she said.

nathanjpj

Good advice. It's difficult when you don't know much about plumbing / construction / electrics, etc. I don't always know what to ask for, what is usual, unusual etc. I kinda need tradesmen to ask the questions, like, in this job, as our floorboards are perfect condition, so I expected them to be lifted, not sawn.


Live and learn I guess, but working out all the right questions to ask, with no knowledge, is difficult.

Fosterdog

It's not always possible to lift the boards, if the board runs under a wall lifting it will do more damage to the surrounding area than sawing the board. I've just had some pipework and rads changed in my house and where most of the boards were lifted for access to some of the pipes where the boards run under an internal wall with a shower directly behind the wall the boards had to be sawn. Even where the boards were lifted there were small amounts of damage to the lifted and surrounding boards, when they have been down a long time they are almost impossible to lift without some kind of marking or damage no matter how skilled and careful the tradesman is.