Overcharged for boiler repair, company refusing to acknowledge my existence

Stephaniebates11

This is a bit of a long one. My partner called a boiler company to fix our boiler (of course). The guy came out, said it was the fan, ended up not being the fan but the circuit board, so he said he didn’t need to replace the fan. We paid, got the email invoice next day and we have been charged for the fan.

Now despite us having our call records, the company is denying we ever contacted them, said they never came out to our address, and can’t help us. Like I said, we have the call records to prove it but it looks like they have deleted everything about us from their end. They won’t give us a company address to send a formal letter, and the name they give us on the phone (Leakless plumbing) is different to the account we sent the money to (A J Plumbing). I have contacted the bank who said they can’t help us because it’s not a scam and I need to dispute it with the company but I’m at a complete stalemate now because they refuse that they are involved at all! Can provide more details if relevant, just need help with how to proceed. I have contacted every variation of AJ Plumbing in my area to no avail. Tried citizens advice but they can’t help either without a business address

Other information that might be relevant:

I had another boiler repair guy come out since then and confirm in writing that the fan has not been replaced recently

Bank won’t help because it was a bank transfer I can’t chargeback and it’s a civil dispute

The invoice only has an email address on it and of course they don’t respond to any emails

The email, phone number and bank account are all under different names

mta999

Long shot - you could ask the police to get involved to trace them as it is a criminal offence to work on a gas boiler without being on the gas safety register and I bet they are not from what you say. They could be putting a lot of people at risk.

elsien

How did you get the bank details to pay them?Are there not company details on the invoice?
How did they explain the different company name at the time?

Stephaniebates11

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81889063#Comment_81889063

he gave them to my partner when he was at the house. No details on the invoice except the amount to pay and the email

Stephaniebates11

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81889032#Comment_81889032

I have reported to the gas safety register because they’re not on the list it appears

ButterCheese

You might have been served by cowboys. It's not uncommon for tradesmen to work for a registered company but also for themselves. Hence the dicrepancy between the company name and the payee name. This in itself is not concerning, but they obviously don't want to refund you for a fan that they didn't fit, so are ignoring you.

I would just report it (as you've already done) and see what happens. Not much else you can do apart from physically tracking them down and potentially creating a conflict.

If it's any consolation, this has recently happened to both me and someone else I know, it's getting more common. Luckily we did not lsoe any money (we paid them for an inspection, which they did, but then they ghosted us when we asked them to do the remedial work).