Duty of Care by Boiler companies to eldery

Pollycat

Okell said:

eskbanker said:

Addrianne said:

Do Ideal Boilers not have a Duty of Care to their vulnerable customers

I don't believe that boiler suppliers are in scope but there is the Priority Services Register which allows the vulnerable to be prioritised by energy suppliers, so if you're not already on that but feel you should be then probably worth pursuing that?

https://www.thepsr.co.uk/

Thanks for that.  My wife and I are both pensionable age so it's handy to know.

I'd advise @Adrianne to contact them anyway to see if they can offer any useful advice

Do you consider yourselves vulnerable though?
Me & OH are both pensioners too but would not consider ourselves as vulnerable.

The PSR website says:

The Priority Services Register (PSR) is free to join. It helps utility companies, including energy suppliers, electricity, gas and water networks like us to look after customers who have extra communication, access or safety needs. It helps us tailor our services to support households who need extra help with everyday energy matters like bills, and also in the unlikely event of a power cut, gas or water supply interruption.

I'd rather really vulnerable people - regardless of age - have priority to repair services.

I do agree with the other posters that an appointment within 2 days - and on a Saturday is really good service.

Arunmor

Our heating went kaput on Sunday night man coming today Friday.

The discussion went along the lines of; "Aw jeez please Steve any chance of earlier"

"Well this is what happens with you lot you never bother getting your service done until the weather turns then you're all on the bloody phone at the same time.  It will be Friday"

"OK that'll be fine"

Fortunately we still have a Stuv Stove that turns the house into a sauna and her indoors keeps adding more wood so the house will still be warm in the morning.

OP get your boiler serviced in September next year.

Undervalued

Addrianne said:

Long story short. We have an Ideal Boiler under guarantee, 3 years old. My husband is approaching 80, I'm in my 70's. We had our boiler serviced yesterday by a trained independant technician. During the service their was a heat exchange fault . The boiler requires a new part. Ideal Boilers have been contacted 6 times since yesterday  by us. The first available appointment for their engineer to call is 23 November. We have no heating or hot water. Do Ideal Boilers not have a Duty of Care to their vulnerable customers to provide Urgent call outs when the temperature is currently so low. We are boiling kettles for washing and have no heating in our home. At the moment it is 1 degree at 1pm with a low tonight of -1 forecast.

Short answer is no unless priority service is one of the terms of any contract you have with them.

Even then, as others have said the timescale you have quoted seems perfectly reasonable. No company can have unlimited engineers available the moment the temperature suddenly drops, not can they have every possible spare part on every van.

Many British gas engineers work six days a week in winter, balanced by 3 or 4 days a week in summer for just this reason and I expect Ideal have a similar arrangement with their staff. 

RefluentBeans

I assume you own the house and this isn’t resented accommodation? I feel if you’re in your own house it is on you to make sure your boilers are working; if in rented accommodation most landlords have a set ‘priority’ of jobs and a boiler issue in winter is often in the highest priority, and should be chasing your landlord. 

Hope it gets sorted soon OP. 

Okell

Pollycat said:

Okell said:

eskbanker said:

Addrianne said:

Do Ideal Boilers not have a Duty of Care to their vulnerable customers

I don't believe that boiler suppliers are in scope but there is the Priority Services Register which allows the vulnerable to be prioritised by energy suppliers, so if you're not already on that but feel you should be then probably worth pursuing that?

https://www.thepsr.co.uk/

Thanks for that.  My wife and I are both pensionable age so it's handy to know.

I'd advise @Adrianne to contact them anyway to see if they can offer any useful advice

Do you consider yourselves vulnerable though?...

No I don't - I consider ourselves to be well prepared.  (I think I was trying to be facetious.  Never works on t'interweb)

You're right that age isn't necessarily relevant.

My sister's nearly 80 and her partner's nearly 90.  Despite both being relatively wealthy they're house is always freezing and the thermostat is set at 17(!)  But if their boiler broke down they're both extremely practical people and would be well prepared to cope for a few days.  (He's always up ladders clearing the gutters and working in the garden fixing fences etc.)

user1977

RefluentBeans said:

I assume you own the house and this isn’t resented accommodation?

Seems clear they own, if you look at their other threads.