gas boiler repair - customer service query

C

CAA

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This is my first time dealing with repairmen having just recently purchased my first home, and I'm hoping someone can tell me whether my experience is normal customer service...

Our boiler was flooded during the last heavy rain (because the flue was improperly installed) and the electrics short circuited. We call the gas engineer out who normally serviced the boiler because the previous home owner said he was good. He showed up right away to assess the damage and concluded that a whole new boiler would be needed. Over the past week and a half he said he would come back every day but never showed up - causing me to stay home from work off and on for over a week waiting for him. Sometimes he would call to cancel the appointment (an hour or two after he was supposed to be there) but most of the time I would have to call him the next day to find out why he never showed up. Everytime there was a different excuse about being bogged down with a previous job, parts not coming in, etc. At one point, I suggested maybe I should go find someone who wasn't as busy but he told me I would still be responsible for the cost of the boiler since he had already ordered it.

The engineer FINALLY arrived on Friday night at 5pm (having said he would be there for 2pm) and worked for 1 hour, saying he would be back at 8:30am on Saturday. He didn't show up until 2pm on Saturday and by that time both my husband and I had gone to work and left a key for him in case he showed up. He rang me Saturday afternoon saying he could finish the job but only if I came home right away with a cheque for 2300 euro for the new boiler. Since I couldn't get home to give him a cheque he said he would not finish the job because he had to be paid right away. I expressed some dissatisfaction with the fact that he had never told me he would need money up front to finish the job and had I known in advance I could have arranged to have left a cheque for him and he said that was standard practice and it was not normal to bill/invoice someone after the fact for the work and that I should have known I needed to have the money waiting for him on Saturday.

We are now going on 2 weeks with no hot water or heat because of this engineer's behaviour. Both my husband and I have head colds from hell now having suffered from a dampish house and cold showers for so long! I am particularly upset that he had the opportunity to finish the the job on Saturday but chose not to because he could not get the money up front - I feel it is not fair for him to hold our heat "hostage" for the weekend after being so inconsiderate of our time for the past 2 weeks. We trusted him to come day after day for us, so the least he could do is trust us to pay a bill in return.

Can someone please tell me if this sort of carry on is normal in the boiler repair industry? Am I right to complain about all the missed appointments? Is it normal for an engineer to not finish a job until it's paid for? If not, is there any official body I can complain to for this poor level of customer service from a gas repair company?

Thanks in advance for any advice. -CAA
 
Not a whole lot you can do if he is self employed. you can check if he is BG registered through their website. Even then, they will not get involved unless their is a safety concern with his work.

How much work has he done? is the new boiler on site? Saying that you are liable for the boiler because it is ordered is rubbish. Most boilers come stairght off the shelf and even if they are ordered, orders get cancelled all the time with no charge.

It sounds like he may have been burnt in the past by a client but this is no excuse for the way he is acting. Payment plan should be discussed with client before the job starts. It is also very rare to pay in full before the job is completed. In nearly every case a retainer is held by client until the applaince is up and running and the client is shown how to control etc.

Sounds like you got yourself a bit of a grump. You have yet to pay him so that gives you all the power.


PS, is the €2300 euro for supplying and fitting boiler?
 
Thanks for the informative reply, DJ. He is BG registered, so I guess if he delays connection much longer, I can give them a call. At the moment, the new boiler is installed but not connected and the flue still needs to be adjusted so that rain can't get in again.

To answer your last question, the 2300 euro is for supply and fit of the boiler and readjusting the flu (which had been set at an angle for condensing boilers and allowed rain straight in). Our insurance company is covering the cost because the damage was caused by that heavy rain a couple weeks ago. The insurance company said 2500 euro was the going rate for these things, though I have heard of other people outside dublin who paid only 1500 for a new boiler alone.

I think the guy is technically competent, but I'm shocked at the way he jerks around customers by not showing up for appointments and leaving us without heat for another whole weekend because he didn't want to finish a job without being paid first. It just seems cruel, and I'd hate to think that is normal practice in the industry as I'll be dreading the next call to a boiler repair co. if it is!
 
It certainly sounds like very poor customer service, but to be honest, you probably have to just ignore this. You need him to finish the job. He probably needs to pay the supplier for the boiler. Find a compromise. Pay him something between €1k and €2k, depending on what is outstanding. Leave enough outstanding to keep him interested.
 
He won't have to pay for the boile upfront, will be on something like 60days credit with his supplier (normal practice)

I would pay for NOTHING until the job has been completed to satisfaction, and would make it clear to him, that when he entered into a CONTRACT (all be it verbal) with you to carry out the job, he did not specify the payment was to be upfront and before completion of the job!

Stand firm, the boiler is on the wall and in your house, and he cannot remove it without your permission as far as I am aware. Tell him payment is here and waiting for him on completion of the work.

Also, why would he have to adjust the flue now? if it has been set for a condensing appliance originall and since April 1st this year you are only allowed to fit condensing boilers why would the flue adjustment be an issue???????????????

If he has just fitted the same type of boiler he has done you out of 10-30% savings year on year from your gas bill by fitting a standrd efficieny appliance!
 
I have been reading all of this and the only thing I am left wondering about is why the boiler needed to be replaced in the first place. Unless it was very old to start with. There is not much in a boiler which can be effected by water, except the PCB. These are fairly (very) crude on boilers, easy to replace/repair or get a reconditioned one. They are also protected by fast blow fuses, incase they get wet / short out.
 
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