Boiler still smells do I have to pay?

[Restoration man]

Hello

A few of you will recognise my name I had a couple of posts regarding a boiler that stinks of gas a burnt products smell after it goes off.

We've had the local service company which is a large company that covers huge service contracts for the local council etc 6 times with a mixture of 3 different engineers and they can't fix it. Also I'm not impressed with their fault finding skills they do basic diagnostics on the boiler operation say it's ok and to call if it happens again.

As a couple of you have advised it's time to try another company.

Where do we stand with charges if they haven't fixed it. We can't be paying £400 to £500 for an unfixed boiler. But we don't want them back to try again.

I'm in Scotland from a trading standards point of view.

Going to try Ideals fixed price deal as recommended on here.

Thanks

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Well firstly, you will have to inform the service company that the issue you have paid them for, has not been resolved. And you either want a full refund or a guaranteed fix.
Or ask for refund and inform them you have lost confidence in their ability to solve the issue. Therefore you would not be asking them back to do the work.

 

[Agile]

It all depends on what you asked them to do.

If you asked them to come and look for the fault then generally yes. They have come and looked as requested.

If you asked them to fix the fault then generally no as they have not done so.

But it is a fine dividing line.

They have spent time and paid their staff. Unless they were negligent why should they not get paid?

 

[DP]

Tony do you not advocate that a repairer should not be paid if he cannot effect a repair?

 

[Restoration man]

Agile

It's the usual story there is no written contract etc. The boiler had been serviced 4 weeks prior to the smell. But it happens when the boiler switches off at 10.30 and we wouldn't normally go and see if the boiler smells. So we told the service company that since the service possibly immediately or not it's started stinking off gas when it goes off at night. They obviously say well put someone out to check it. Then after 6 visits we want to use someone else but have had folk here for about 10 hours worth of time but no fix.

 

[Steelmasons]

I'll ask again .... Did you follow the advice and shut off the appliance isolation valve immediately after the burner shut down?..if so did you encounter any odours?????

 

[Restoration man]

What a funny forum this is. Must be the toughest forum in the uk. Rrrrrrrrrrrr. Lol.

Anyway I DID take the advice. As soon as the boiler went off I shut the stop cock immediately under the boiler. Made no difference. The smell still came and lasted for the same time.

 

[Agile]

So why did you not tell us at the time?

To attempt to remotely diagnose problems we need ALL relevant information.

In spite of your initial assertion that it was natural gas you were smelling, it now seems that you were instead smelling the products of combustion!

Tony

 

[Dan Robinson]

Anyway I DID take the advice. As soon as the boiler went off I shut the stop cock immediately under the boiler. Made no difference. The smell still came and lasted for the same time

So why do you think it is the boiler causing the smell?

 

[ianmcd]

well if the boiler now has no supply of gas how can it be the boiler causing the smell ????, no gas can not equal burnt gas ,as you called it in your last post, you can not burn something that is not there

 

[shambolic]

Please don't get a fixed price repair from ideal.
Thanks.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Please don't get a fixed price repair from ideal.
Thanks.

I've already told him it's a bloody blocked drain.

 

[Restoration man]

I'm confused. I'm getting grief here. This post was asking advice on where I stand with the engineers who can't fix the problem as you've advised I try someone else.

You've started trying to fix the boiler again. Which is good for me.

I did in the original fix it post say I'd turned the stop cock off under the boiler. And the smell continues on until it's dissipated which is obviously quicker if a window is opened.

This has gone on for 6 weeks. The smell only happens when the boiler goes off.

I've always made it clear it was a burnt smell possibly flu gas smell because I got slated for calling it a USED gas smell. Was educated to call it burnt products.

How can turning the gas stop cock off imediatly when the boiler goes off prove it's not the boiler. If the fan wasn't working the boiler would be full of natural gas and burnt products depending where in the cycle it was surely. The fan runs after the boiler goes off to flush with fresh air.

 

[Restoration man]

When a boiler is off is there a natural draw by the flu through the route the gas would normally take like a house chimney that constantly pulls or is the air inside the boiler completely stagnant once it's turned off and the fan stops?

 

[Aquaheat]

To answer the original question posted the YES, YES YOU DO!

You have requested a company to look at your appliance and check its safety. You are smelling an erroneous smell and they have enlightened you with their diagnosis. You have then lent on them to push YOUR diagnosis to assume it is the boiler?

You need to pay them what is due for all your time wasting and then pay out again to either get another contractor out or to pay for a course or 20 that will teach you this so that you are not calling out companies and trying to find a reason not to pay them!!

Jon