How do you handle wise guys?

[johnny2007]

In my heydays I had a selection of people who I told I was always busy.
That's because they wanted best quality and little or no payment.
Around our area the tradesmen use to meet in pubs and exchange stories about short handed customers.
It wasn't unusual for these customers to be boycotted by all trades.
There's a "smart" woman who's still waiting for me to be free so I can start her extension.
15 years ago I told her to put down a £500 deposit to go on my waiting list and sign a contract.
Never seen the £500 despite her several attempts at conning me.

 

[mcmoby69]

It has also been suggested there might be a frost stat somewhere, triggering the boiler in coldest part of night?
As yet no frost stat found.

Frost stat kicking in? Seriously? I know it's colder further oop norf than I am, but it's far from frost stat weather, or it's set up wrong.

If you think they are taking the ****, send a reminder, then a final demand. Then issue court papers. Don't mess about.
Easy to do with MCOL.
Shouldn't be a problem if you are confident you have done everything right work wise.

 

[Bodd]

Frost stat kicking in? Seriously? I know it's colder further oop norf than I am, but it's far from frost stat weather, or it's set up wrong.

If you think they are taking the ****, send a reminder, then a final demand. Then issue court papers. Don't mess about.
Easy to do with MCOL.
Shouldn't be a problem if you are confident you have done everything right work wise.

It's worth a good will visit first. And can only help his case

 

[mcmoby69]

It's worth a good will visit first. And can only help his case

Completely agree, but when they get the invoice and it goes quiet, then only suggest it's not working when he rings them?
Anyone normal would be back on to the installer and say so in the first instance.

 

[Keithmac]

It's amazing you all leave without payment and there is an element of trust.

In our shop no job leaves without being paid in full.

I do take time with customers to explain complex jobs and how to start and store their vehicles if there are odd quirks etc, also email pictures of all jobs foc.

In a twist of fate I ended up repairing the heating engineers motorcyle the day after he serviced our Combi Boiler, all from having a chat when he'd finished the service.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Keith, did you charge him for a power flush he didn't need?



Andy

 

[Keithmac]

Keith, did you charge him for a power flush he didn't need?



Andy

It's an 11 year old Worcester Bosch Combi. This was It's 10th service.

He said it was in excellent condition and nothing to worry about (that goes a long way in my book!)

I mentioned how everybody seems to hate working on them and he said they were a good reliable boiler (expansion vessels are a pain in the arse to change though).

I did him a favour and got his bike in at ours next day, only just bought it but after testing wasn't charging and regulator had failed.

He seems a good honest bloke so worth keeping sweet!.

 

[DP]

It's an 11 year old Worcester Bosch Combi. This was It's 10th service.

He said it was in excellent condition and nothing to worry about (that goes a long way in my book!)

I mentioned how everybody seems to hate working on them and he said they were a good reliable boiler (expansion vessels are a pain in the arse to change though).

I did him a favour and got his bike in at ours next day, only just bought it but after testing wasn't charging and regulator had failed.

He seems a good honest bloke so worth keeping sweet!.

Keith, did you service the boiler?
If yes, what does the service comprise.
Why is that boiler such a bad boiler.

Just asking, I know a few guys whose pet hate is almost every boiler. I see every boiler as a challenge, some it is like playing with the hand Granada with pin out- you learn the ways of the beast, then it is plain sailing. Lot feel an Ideal Isar, Icos and Logics are horrendous boiler, I like them and would prefer them over some other brands. WB, again, I don’t hesitate to tackle the brand though some repairs are referred to manufacturers as these can be time consuming and costly to repair.

 

[Mike2007]

Completely agree, but when they get the invoice and it goes quiet, then only suggest it's not working when he rings them?
Anyone normal would be back on to the installer and say so in the first instance.

The system is fully operational, as tested before leaving.
What he says is that the intermittent fault is still there.
I think the Hive is probably now to blame after lots of people complaining about erratic Hive behaviour.

 

[Swwils]

The system is fully operational, as tested before leaving.
What he says is that the intermittent fault is still there.
I think the Hive is probably now to blame after lots of people complaining about erratic Hive behaviour.

These kind of faults are very real, and often totally unknown until they are problematic - even in service critical operations where there is instantaneous support and dedicated triage and properly designed circuits.

The Keck 1, the largest optical telescope in the world at the time was made partially inoperable by a 30 year old status LED. One of the logic cards amplifiers had a open collector design, where the status led for rotation limit, along side a resistor performed a crucial (but unrecognised) voltage pull up. Without the pull up of the status LED, the logic gate output would not rise to a proper high level, thus the instrument rotator servo amplifiers would not enable. No servo amplifier means the rotator will not rotate. No rotator equals no science data.

 

[ianmcd]

What did you actually fit the Hive ? if so what boiler is it ?

 

[johnny2007]

The Keck 1, the largest optical telescope in the world at the time was made partially inoperable by a 30 year old status LED. One of the logic cards amplifiers had a open collector design, where the status led for rotation limit, along side a resistor performed a crucial (but unrecognised) voltage pull up. Without the pull up of the status LED, the logic gate output would not rise to a proper high level, thus the instrument rotator servo amplifiers would not enable. No servo amplifier means the rotator will not rotate. No rotator equals no science data.

Perfectly clear

 

[Swwils]

Perfectly clear

All manual checks worked. Everything looked like it should work. No flaws in the schematics. A common design feature to use an indicator led for pull up.

Sometimes stuff can just have a totally unknown and novel failure mode.

 

[Lower]

The system is fully operational, as tested before leaving.
What he says is that the intermittent fault is still there.
I think the Hive is probably now to blame after lots of people complaining about erratic Hive behaviour.

If it’s an intermittent fault, has it occurred to you that maybe you didn’t find it and if still exists?

 

[Keithmac]

Keith, did you service the boiler?
If yes, what does the service comprise.
Why is that boiler such a bad boiler.

Just asking, I know a few guys whose pet hate is almost every boiler. I see every boiler as a challenge, some it is like playing with the hand Granada with pin out- you learn the ways of the beast, then it is plain sailing. Lot feel an Ideal Isar, Icos and Logics are horrendous boiler, I like them and would prefer them over some other brands. WB, again, I don’t hesitate to tackle the brand though some repairs are referred to manufacturers as these can be time consuming and costly to repair.

No the Heating Engineer serviced the boiler and I repaired the Heating Engineer's Motorcycle.

As far as I can see they are an excellent boiler, 11 trouble free years this year.

I suppose it's the same as Motorcycles, some are easy and some more involved but I'll have a go at fixing any of them personally (I like a challenge..).