Vaillant turbo max condenser boiler 4 years old
My boiler has a fault. It roars like mad when drawing hot water off. The hot water is only lukewarm and then turns cold and then back to lukewarm as more water is drawn off. The central heating functions but switches off at different times even though the setting is switched to permanent.
The issue i have is a price issue. I dont have a service contract and my wife has recently come out of hospital after a heart attack so hot water and heating is a must.A midlands company with regional engineers was contacted and i was quoted £65 per hour labour plus cost of parts plus VAT. i was expecting a competent engineer to at least diagnose the faults within a couple of hours max so was expecting at least £130 plus vat minimum.
The engineer has currently took 5 hours incuding a 50 minute trip for spare parts the application of which did not solve the problem . He contacted Vaillant technical support for advice as he coulod not establish the casue of the problem. They have told him he requires another part relating to the heat exchanger which they say is blocked.He left me on Monday withthe central heating working. Approximately 2 hours later i spotted the boiler was leaking under pressure so switched it off. The cost of parts so far is in excess of £185 plus another £135 for the other part required which im waiting on delivery for. All in all if this part does the trick it will be nearly £800 to shell out. What i would like to know is is this a reasonable and fair length of time to diagnose this fault or am i paying thjrough the nose for an incompetent engineer? By the way this company wanted paying nearly £600 for work done so far on Monday afternoon when the guy had not fixed the thing. i told him and the company no cash would change hands till it was fixed . Also this firm refuse to take a cheque and are insisting on payment by credit card or debit card. So am i being ripped off? Should i dispute the labour charges and the fact i will have to apy for parts which did not solve the problem???
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
bill
My boiler has a fault. It roars like mad when drawing hot water off. The hot water is only lukewarm and then turns cold and then back to lukewarm as more water is drawn off. The central heating functions but switches off at different times even though the setting is switched to permanent.
The issue i have is a price issue. I dont have a service contract and my wife has recently come out of hospital after a heart attack so hot water and heating is a must.A midlands company with regional engineers was contacted and i was quoted £65 per hour labour plus cost of parts plus VAT. i was expecting a competent engineer to at least diagnose the faults within a couple of hours max so was expecting at least £130 plus vat minimum.
The engineer has currently took 5 hours incuding a 50 minute trip for spare parts the application of which did not solve the problem . He contacted Vaillant technical support for advice as he coulod not establish the casue of the problem. They have told him he requires another part relating to the heat exchanger which they say is blocked.He left me on Monday withthe central heating working. Approximately 2 hours later i spotted the boiler was leaking under pressure so switched it off. The cost of parts so far is in excess of £185 plus another £135 for the other part required which im waiting on delivery for. All in all if this part does the trick it will be nearly £800 to shell out. What i would like to know is is this a reasonable and fair length of time to diagnose this fault or am i paying thjrough the nose for an incompetent engineer? By the way this company wanted paying nearly £600 for work done so far on Monday afternoon when the guy had not fixed the thing. i told him and the company no cash would change hands till it was fixed . Also this firm refuse to take a cheque and are insisting on payment by credit card or debit card. So am i being ripped off? Should i dispute the labour charges and the fact i will have to apy for parts which did not solve the problem???
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
bill