Advice regarding issue with boiler cover

Seng84

As a result of the storms last week we were without electric for over a week, when the electric finally turned back on the surge electric blew the boiler. 
I contacted the boiler repair company and they sent someone the following day who was clearly completely unfit to complete the work and there were a number of issues regarding his conduct (sat outside the address on the phone for 20 minutes), health and safety (had me helping him and had a blow torch in my face). He also rang his son to see if they had some parts in the house that could be used, he was diagnosing the issues with the boiler from advice from anonymous contributors to a forum on the internet. Finally, he rang a former colleague from a different job if he could advise him on how to repair the boiler.
Sure enough after fitting two parts he said another part was needed but it would have to be ordered in and I would get a phone call. After 5 hours of being in the address he removed the parts he had installed and left
I spoke with the company that night and they said he had deemed it beyond economical repair so my options were to pay £350 to get it fixed with them or pay a further £14 a month for ten years and they would have a new boiler installed within 48 hours. It is clearly their business plan to seize any opportunity where a boiler can be deemed to be beyond economical repair and sell a new boiler over a ridiculous timespan. I was that desperate that I was initially tempted as only £14 a month extra and a brand new boiler can seem attractive when you think you are on the verge of shelling out 100s/1000s a few weeks before Christmas. It worries me that plenty of vulnerable people will take this option and be replacing boilers that don't need replacing which would have ended up costing £2200 plus an additional £1500 in boiler cover
Once I came to my senses I decided to complain and the following day a manager eventually agreed that they would pay for the manufacturers to repair it as a priority, 72 hours after that phone call  someone has come today from the manufacturer and repairded it within 40 minutes. He said the required parts would cost arround £150 plus labour so I suspect the total cost will be around the £200 mark which seems a far cry from being 'beyond economical repair' as a result of a number of  replacement parts that weren't needed at all which was their initial diagnosis. He was also very critical of the work that had been done and the state the boiler had been left in

The advice I am looking for is how I should complain/request compensation. We have had to live elsewhere as a result of the failures of this work and I am extremely unhappy that an attempt was made to sell me a new boiler. I am also unhappy with the standards of behaviour received and the amount of time on the phone/loss of earnings that we have accrued. 

Any help or advice would be appreciated

Aylesbury_Duck

Set out a factual, unemotional account of events, and include your actual evidenced losses incurred as a result of their work - not any costs you incurred as a result of the electrical surge, because that's not the insurer's liability.

Seng84

Thanks, that was my plan but I wondered who I should send that to? Should I go through their own complaints procedure or an ombudsman or regulator. Their website says consumers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) however that appears to only be cover if the company goes bust which obviously isnt the case here

re: your last comment. It is my opinion that the unnecessary costs accrued after his attendance were the liability of their company. Had they sent someone competent I would not have accrued additional costs and I feel I should be compensated for having an inhabitable house for 4 days.

Ergates

Send it via their complains procedure initially.  Any ombudsman would only get involved once you've tried that.

You'll need to calculate and list what the additional costs accrued were.

Seng84

Thanks again,

I haven't accrued too many costs to be honest however I still feel I should be compensated as the reckless actions of their representative have left my house inhabitable 

Aylesbury_Duck

Seng84 said:

Thanks again,

I haven't accrued too many costs to be honest however I still feel I should be compensated as the reckless actions of their representative have left my house inhabitable 

That sounds contradictory.  If it's uninhabitable, surely you've accrued costs?   Where did you live for four days?

Seng84

At my other halfs mother's address. There will have been minimal actual costs accrued which we would have accepted in normal circumstances

Ergates

It's also not fair to say their "reckless" actions left your house uninhabitable - it was the power cut and then the surge which did that.  The first engineer merely failed to repair the boiler.  Nothing your described fits a definition of "reckless" either - just just weren't very good at their job.

You could argue that due to their inability to repair your boiler, your house remained uninhabitable for 4 days longer than it otherwise might have done if they'd sent a competent engineer first time round.

If, as you say, you didn't really suffer any material loss, then you're probably going to struggle to get much out of them.  You could write them a clear letter, setting out your position - making sure you stick to relevant facts:  They sent and engineer out who wasn't able to fix the boiler and then declared it "beyond economic repair" leaving your facing a large bill.   But then different engineer looks at it and says it can be fixed for £200 (and was also critical of the work done by the other engineer).

Leave out things that aren't directly pertinent to that, or are matters of opinion - e.g. the stuff about the first engineer sitting outside on this phone (so what?) or *your* opinion of his work (you're not a heating engineer).

See if you can get some kind of goodwill gesture out of them.

Aylesbury_Duck

Seng84 said:

At my other halfs mother's address. There will have been minimal actual costs accrued which we would have accepted in normal circumstances

In which case, you're seeking a goodwill payment rather than compensation.  The distinction can be important because if you ask for compensation, they might reasonably ask you to present your actual extra costs.  If those amount to £2.50 on phone calls or something similarly trivial, when what you're really after is, say, £100, they may just reimburse the £2.50.

All you're owed for something that might have happened but didn't, is an apology.

sheramber

A friend was told by a BG engineer that her boiler could not be repaired as the parts were no longer available due to its age. She would need a new boiler.

She contacted the boiler manufacturer direct and they confirmed that they held the necessary part which they were happy to sell to her.

She complained to BG and they sent her £50.