Disputed Boiler Invoice

EmMcC

Hi! We called an engineer out from a large national company to deal with a leak and rattle coming from our boiler. The engineer did something to fix the leak and assured us all was ok, but the rattle reoccurred within a few days. We called the same company out again, and they apparently diagnosed a different problem, and now want to charge us for both call outs. And the boiler still needs to be repaired. My view is that the first engineer should have correctly diagnosed the problem. My question is - if I refuse to pay, what risk is there to us? How do we officially dispute this? The disputes department of the company insists we pay. Thanks for any help!

tacpot12

I would suggest that you offer to pay the cost of any parts that were replaced n the second visit, but not parts that were replaced on the first visit (unless they provide evidence that these parts actually needed replacing), and offer to only pay one call out charge. I would put this offer in writing asap as well as verbally. 

Wait to see see if they want to take you to court; if they do, you should counter-sue for your loss of earning having to take a second day off work for them to fix the issue properly. 

You could write a pre-emptive letter of complaint to try to get them to avoid sending you a letter before action. Their Terms & Conditions probably say that you have to pay for every call out, but the second visit wasn't a call out, it was a request for them to provide some warranty support for the earlier fix. A court will expect that you would get the manufacturers warranty on any new parts fitted. They determined that their first fix was not adequate and required further work.