How Do I Word This ? Filing for compensation , unqualified gas engineer

MoroFenrir

I'm wanting to know how to word a letter , to file for complaint / compensation against an engineering company who send a engineer who was NOT licenced to work on gas boilers , out to work on my gas boiler …

Here’s the story .

I rent a house through an Estate Agents , they are managed / a part of Sequence homes .
When I need a repair , I report it through an online service which is managed by Sequence homes .
Sequence homes then hires contractors for the repair.



To cut a long story short Boiler stops working Saturday , I report it on Sunday, sequence get in touch on Monday and engineers come out on Wednesday .


The engineering company which sequence hired , which is gas safety approved ( / licenced / checked or whatever it is.. ) sent out a engineer to check my boiler.


He took it apart , but could not repair it that day as it needed another part which he had to order .


This man was very very (What’s a polite term for thick? ) … He asked for my wifi password , as he was googling what to do , and in the 20 minute process of twizzling all the dials around the wrong way before he opened the boiler , he also broke my control dial on my boiler , which is a pain as I don’t have a room thermostat and this is my only way of controlling the heating!


After ringing and ringing sequence today (Thursday) finally finding out why he’s not returned to fix my boiler, I found out from sequence that though the company they hired is gas safety checked, the engineer they sent out will not be returning or doing anything more with my boiler as he IS NOT gas safety licenced / checked and is not legally allowed to !


Sequence have hired new (qualified) contractors, and it will be at least two more days before my boiler gets repaired ( 7 days without hot water , or heating .. how fun) . I’ve also demanded that they do a new gas safety check and carbon monoxide test when they come.


Sequence / William H Brown are taking legal action against this contracting company for sending out an engineer who was not qualified to work on gas appliances, and have asked for me to email them a statement about my experience with the engineer to add to their legal action case .


This man is dangerous , and could have killed us in our sleep , knowingly messing with a gas boiler when he’s not qualified…carbon monoxide poisoning is no joke .


We want to file a complaint against the company , and ask for compensation for him carrying out work unqualified and endangering lives by being so irresponsible .


How can we word this ? Do we include it in our statement to the estate agents as they are already taking legal action, and see if they can claim compensation on my behalf? or should I go through the no win / no fee route ? Do I have a chance?


At the minute I feel so sick… this selfish stranger came into my home and the man could have literally killed us.

lincroft1710

What losses have you actually suffered?

MoroFenrir

Haven't suffered any losses , other than having a man illegally (unbeknownst to me) carrying out repairs he was unqualified to do...but I could have lost my life !

The man is messing with (including taking apart) gas boilers which he is not qualified or licenced to do !

lincroft1710

If you have suffered no losses, you cannot sue for compensation.

Courts will not award compensation for "I might have" or "I could have".

marksoton

MoroFenrir wrote: »

Haven't suffered any losses , /QUOTE]

Then any compensation ( if any) would be minimal and not worth chasing.

agrinnall

Rather than just think of what you can get out of it (as pointed out, that's probably nothing much), perhaps you could do society a favour and follow this link.

https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/help-and-advice/complaints-report-an-illegal/

MoroFenrir

They've already been reported.

teddysmum

As has been said, you can't get compensation for what could have happened or we'd all be filing against someone, as most have had some kind of heart stopping moment.


However,I assume that your gas system has been checked over by a Gas Safe registered person, as not having this done would be cause to still be worried.

D_M_E

If he broke the control panel for the boiler then this is your only loss and you should be able to claim for the cost of that.

Also, if they made a charge for his "services" or callout fee for him then you should also be able to claim for any such charge as well.

G_M

D_M_E wrote: »

If he broke the control panel for the boiler then this is your only loss and you should be able to claim for the cost of that.

Also, if they made a charge for his "services" or callout fee for him then you should also be able to claim for any such charge as well.

my understading is that the OP is a tenant. Is this not correct?

So any damage done to the boiler is the ladlord's loss, not the OP's - therefore nothing to claim.

The 'engineer' was working illegally on the boiler, has been reported (presumably to HSE) and (again presumably) appropriate action will be taken.

As others have said, OP could claim/sue for any actual financial loss incurred, but from what we've been told, there was none.

You should write to the LL/agents describing what happened, so as to assist any criminal action.

You should also report the state of the boiler - just as you normally do with any repairing issue. The boiler should then be repaired.

Obviously this time, when an 'engineer' turns up you will ask to see his ID and you'll check it against the GasSafe Register here:

https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/find-an-engineer/

TBagpuss

Op, as others have said, you have not suffered any loss so you cannot calim compensation.

In your statement for the land lord be factual, not emotional: e.g. "The man did not seem to know what he was doing - he asked for my wi-fi password so he could do a google search for instructions" (not, he was thick as 2 short planks)

"He damaged the controls of the boiler, which meant that a further repar was needed"
"as a result of his actions, we were left for an additional 3 days with no heating or hot water, in December"

Any compensation will go to your ladlord, as they are the ones who will incur the cost of the new repairs. However, but coioperating with your landlord you will be helping ensure that this is less likely to happen to anyone else, with more serious conequences, as the particualr individual will no longer be working, and the company will, one would hope, be more careful about checking their employees qualifications in future.