EON engineer created a leak

eldn

 

Hi,

Has anyone had to deal with similar situation?

I reported a specific leak in HIU through the Webchat. An EON engineer came to my flat to fix it. He struggled to remove the white rack that covers the HIU and while pushing, he created a leak above the HIU and cold water started to leak a lot. He put a temporary fix and told me he would come back to change the piece.

He recognised his responsibility in front of me and that he had to come back to fix it. Later, his manager told him that EON is not responsible for the leaks outside the HIU and that he couldn't come back to fix it.

This is unacceptable behaviour. Now the so-called engineer claims that the leak was already there, although I have evidence from the webchat transcript that I reported only one leak inside the HIU. If they were another such big leak I would have reported it too...

It's basically my words against his but it shows how little consideration and professionalism EON has. Their engineer create a leak and just run away now. He was probably put under pressure by his manager as they know that I have no much evidence to prove his responsibility.

What kind of fraud is EON to behave like that? Anyone had to deal with such situation?

​​​​​​​Thanks.

 J

QrizB

You need to register a complaint. Give them a chance to fix it.

eldn

I did of course but they say the engineer claims that the leak was already there and so they refused to take any responsibility or give any compensation. 

I will continue with further actions but at some point it will become hard to prove anything. EON behave like thugs here...

The engineer recognised his fault verbally, promised to come back fix it and now just runs away. I would expect this behaviour from a random guy but not from a large company like EON.

QrizB

Speak to Citizen's Advice?

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

C_Mababejive

whats HIU ?

QrizB

C_Mababejive said:

whats HIU ?

Heat Interface Unit, used for district heating systems (whewre several properties share a common boiler, eg. in flats or a similar development).

eldn

Yes indeed.

And so the energy supplier, here EON, is responsible for anything to do with the pipes inside that HIU. But their engineer damaged my pipes just above this HIU while trying to remove the cover of the HIU. And now claims he didn't do it and he is not responsible for that part. Unbelievable crook! 

Inigo_Montoya

do you have any home legal protection insurance (often comes packaged with your house insurance) that you can use to cover the costs of taking legal action against EON ?

Swipe

eldn said:

But their engineer damaged my pipes just above this HIU while trying to remove the cover of the HIU. And now claims he didn't do it and he is not responsible for that part. Unbelievable crook! 

Take photos and raise a formal complaint by email

eldn

Thanks for your replies. I did raise a complaint but their dispute team says that the engineer claims that the damage was already there and so it's basically his words against mine.

I don't seem to find a legal fees protection in the home insurance but I'll check that with them. However the issue is how to prove that the engineer did it. I have two arguments, anyone knows if they are strong enough from a legal perspective?

1) I have is a record of the chat (writing) when I reported the issue and where I reported only one leak (that he fixed inside the HIU) and no other leak so if there was another leak (the one he created) I would have surely reported it too... 

2) The engineer did put a temporary fix to the leak he caused and set a second appointment to come bac fix it. But EON claims that he didn't know that he wasn't supposed to fix any issue in that area. This doesn't make sense, they are basically saying that their own engineers don't know what they are supposed or not supposed to fix. My point is that if he tried to fix it, it means he recognised that he caused it and so felt responsible for putting a temporary fix even though it's not an area he was supposed to fix.


My advice after this situation is to always video-record any task that an engineer does. I believed EON Heat because they are a large company but they seem to be the worst. Very dishonest company.

Regards.

MWT

There is no particular weight to either of those points sadly.

From their perspective they would maintain the following:

Just because you only reported one leak in the area you knew they were responsible for doesn't mean there wasn't another one as well, you just didn't know it was there, or worse knew and always intended to blame them for it to get a free fix..

The temporary fix was a good-will gesture which the engineer shouldn't have done, but did as a gesture, not an obligation...

It really is difficult to prove your version vs his unfortunately...