Requesting a boiler service, and actually getting one.

mcculloch29

A couple of weeks ago, I called out a local firm to service my boiler, and after a ten minute visit, discovered that I had actually paid £50 for a landlord's safety check, not a full service. I'm not a landlord.

I needed a full service, and to add insult to injury the lad who looked at the boiler left me without hot water and heating, having assured me it was working well.

Following a 9 am phone call the following day, the boss of the company then came out and fixed it, but it still wasn't right.

I then managed to get an independent tradesman to service the boiler, and he arrived on Monday. He was here for an hour and properly serviced the boiler, for £50.
He also repaired a fault which should have been uncovered on the safety check.
I've heard similar stories.

I used to have a service contract with British Gas, but after paying over £400 a year for them to cancel five separate appointments to service the boiler, I gratefully accepted the offer of a new boiler a few years ago, through the now defunct Warm Front scheme.

So, if you are calling someone out to 'service' the boiler, make it absolutely crystal-clear what you actually require, and what you will get for your money.

I repeatedly referred to 'a service' when booking the safety check, but that wasn't what I got.

My gut feeling is that the company - a large, local one - was snowed under with work, and delivered the landlord's safety check knowing that it wasn't what I wanted.

But hey, £50 for 10 minutes work is not to be sniffed at.