Pay for Engineer if they say it's not their fault - can this be right??

Guy500

Our shower has a fault after 3 months - it now only gives out very hot or very cold water.

The company - Triton - says they will send an engineer round, but if it turns out that it is not a fault with the unit, they will charge us £85.

They have given us a couple of simple tests to do - like check the pressure and the shower head, but say that even if these are fine, they might judge that the fault is not with the unit and we will need to pay.

This doesn't feel very right. We are not plumbers or experts to be able to know where the issue is. I appreciate that there is some risk involved here, but the solution can't be to put ALL of this risk on the customer.

So it's a gamble for us. If we decide not to take the risk, we will end up paying for a new shower unit and installation. If we accept the risk, we may get everything sorted in the engineer's visit and pay nothing, or we may end up paying £85 PLUS a new shower unit and installation.

Do we have any rights here, or are these companies able to put all the risk on the customer and put us in this position of uncertainty and financial vulnerability?

[Deleted User]

It doesn't feel very customer friendly, although I 'sort of' understand where they are coming from. If their unit isn't at fault, why should they stand the cost of their engineer's visit?

have you noticed a drop in water pressure? What about your direct neighbours? Is the actual flow of water from the shower head still powerful? These are the only things I can think of checking.

From a 'non expert' point of view (for what it's worth), it seems more like a thermostat issue within the shower unit ...

onomatopoeia99

Guy500 wrote: »

So it's a gamble for us. If we decide not to take the risk, we will end up paying for a new shower unit and installation. If we accept the risk, we may get everything sorted in the engineer's visit and pay nothing, or we may end up paying £85 PLUS a new shower unit and installation.

Do we have any rights here, or are these companies able to put all the risk on the customer and put us in this position of uncertainty and financial vulnerability?

You have a right to a working shower IF it is still in warranty AND correctly installed in accordance with the manufacturer guidelines AND connected to working water and (depending on shower type) electricity supplies. You do not have a right to free fault diagnosis if all of the conditions in my preceeding sentence are not met. It's not up to the shower company to diagnose that (for example) your water supply is not working, it's simply not their responsibility, so why should they pay for it?



Your level of expertise is irrelevant here as to whether or not you should pay, though I have observed a distressing trend over the last three decades of the British public increasingly refusing to take responsibility for decisions about their lives and homes, instead wanting their hands held at every turn.

comeandgo

Who fitted your shower? Could you ask their advise?

Risteard

Triton are completely in the right on this. I'm not sure how you could think or imagine otherwise to be honest.

Jackmydad

What type of shower is it?
An electric or a mixer?
As already said, you can't really expect Triton to stand the cost of something that is a problem with your plumbing, or a failure to follow the installation instructions.

fezster

Guy500 wrote: »

Our shower has a fault after 3 months

Who installed it? Get them back to fix it.

TELLIT01

fezster wrote: »

Who installed it? Get them back to fix it.

That's my immediate thought as well. It's not unreasonable for the manufacturer to say that if the problem is not a fault within the shower 'mechanics' they will charge for the visit. The engineer will have to be paid for their time and travel, so why should the company be out of pocket if it's a bodged installation?

jk0

Assuming an electric shower, it is now summer, so you need to set your shower to half power. (Leaving it on full power will give the symptoms you describe: Either too hot, or shut down due to high temperature.)

Guy500

Thanks jk0. How would I change the shower to half power? Do you mean just using the weaker setting (sadly this makes no difference), or something else?

ukjoel

Mira do same thing.

I think its due to so many people having water pressure issues affecting the shower.