- Joined
- 2 Nov 2023
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- 8
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I organised a service and gas safety check for my tenants boiler (Vaillant Ecotec Pro 28), the servicing went well and the boiler was declared to be in good working order, the following morning my tenant contacted me to let me know the boiler was making a noise and struggling to provide hot water, the boiler needed a reset and then it was okay for a day or 2 and would then require another reset. I contacted the boiler service company to report the fault. The response was as follows:
"if there was a fault which could be the result of items that we conduct during a service (such as a water leak or a pressure fault etc) then of course it would lend more evidence to the fault potentially being caused by the engineer. However, performing a boiler service would not create a new fault to occur on a boiler, in some cases it can cause underlying faults to occur (as servicing is literally stress testing the appliance at its maximum working capacity). Unfortunately it is very common for faults to occur after a service, this certainly is not a surprise to hear but of course I can understand that the convenient timing of this taking place, would make you question the engineers attendance.
If you are not happy to make payment prior to the visit, then I could offer you the chance to have an engineer attend without requesting payment from yourself. On conclusion of this diagnostic the engineer would then confirm the cause of this fault, if the cause is confirmed to be an underlying fault - then we would expect the £xx be paid on conclusion of the diagnostic. If the engineer confirms the fault was caused by actions taken by our engineer (actions not related to standard checks as part of a service or gas safety) then we can discuss a refund/repair further. You can also be present with the diagnostic engineer whilst he is on site if you would like to have a guarantee."
I arranged for the diagnostics engineer to attend the property last week and he was able to witness the fault, and diagnose a faulty PCB board and fan, the repair would cost around £600. As the boiler is over 10 years old they also recommended a new boiler at around £2.5k. However the plot thickened and the engineer fiddled around with some internal components, his main focus was on the air inlet pipe to the fan whereby he disconnected and reconnected the pipe, after this the noise went and the fluctuating temperature readings on the PCB board disappeared. The problem is intermittent so I expected the fault to happen again the following day, however ever since the diagnostics visit the fault has disappeared and the boiler is back to good working order as before the service. I have now challenged the service company as the boiler appears to have been fixed somehow whilst the diagnostics took place, they are insistent that the fault is underlying and that it has nothing to do with the boiler service therefore I should pay for the diagnostics appointment. However, my argument is the boiler no longer has a fault and the PCB board / fan diagnostic is incorrect. It seems that something was not put back in place during the boiler service which led to the noise and the boiler being unable to heat water on demand.
The facts are the boiler doesn't have the fault now, it didn't have the fault before the service, had the fault after the service and the fault disappeared when the gas engineer checked out the issues. I have been told to replace the PCB board and fan but the fault no longer exists.
When challenging the service company this was their response
"I understand your perspective here - However, as the engineer noted the issues relate to the fan and PCB, this does confirm that the faults were not the result of any previous service or inspection. As these 2 items are not touched or tampered with when performing a service. The reason the engineer is able to return the boiler to a good working level now - is because he can take account for the existing faults and attempt to rectify them. However, these underlying faults were not present during initial testing so the engineer could not advise or attempt to rectify them. The engineer has now taken steps to rectify this and I am glad he was able to do so - However, as noted previously this is certainly the case that the faults were underlying on the appliance due to faulty components and not the result of the past inspection."
I told them I don't believe these faults were underlying as they no longer exist since the diagnostics, but they are insistent that I have an issue with the PCB board and fan. If the boiler is working perfectly well since the diagnostics then why are they insisting I still have these problems? Surely the resolution of the faults point to an issue during the service which has now been resolved during the diagnostics, therefore I should not be paying for the diagnostics appointment as it appears they created the fault. I feel I am being fobbed off and unless I filmed the service and diagnostics I have no leg to stand on. I feel like I'm being told a load of rubbish in order for me to pay up for fixing their own error. Would it be worth reporting this to Gas Safe Register or any other type of ombudsman? I feel injustice
"if there was a fault which could be the result of items that we conduct during a service (such as a water leak or a pressure fault etc) then of course it would lend more evidence to the fault potentially being caused by the engineer. However, performing a boiler service would not create a new fault to occur on a boiler, in some cases it can cause underlying faults to occur (as servicing is literally stress testing the appliance at its maximum working capacity). Unfortunately it is very common for faults to occur after a service, this certainly is not a surprise to hear but of course I can understand that the convenient timing of this taking place, would make you question the engineers attendance.
If you are not happy to make payment prior to the visit, then I could offer you the chance to have an engineer attend without requesting payment from yourself. On conclusion of this diagnostic the engineer would then confirm the cause of this fault, if the cause is confirmed to be an underlying fault - then we would expect the £xx be paid on conclusion of the diagnostic. If the engineer confirms the fault was caused by actions taken by our engineer (actions not related to standard checks as part of a service or gas safety) then we can discuss a refund/repair further. You can also be present with the diagnostic engineer whilst he is on site if you would like to have a guarantee."
I arranged for the diagnostics engineer to attend the property last week and he was able to witness the fault, and diagnose a faulty PCB board and fan, the repair would cost around £600. As the boiler is over 10 years old they also recommended a new boiler at around £2.5k. However the plot thickened and the engineer fiddled around with some internal components, his main focus was on the air inlet pipe to the fan whereby he disconnected and reconnected the pipe, after this the noise went and the fluctuating temperature readings on the PCB board disappeared. The problem is intermittent so I expected the fault to happen again the following day, however ever since the diagnostics visit the fault has disappeared and the boiler is back to good working order as before the service. I have now challenged the service company as the boiler appears to have been fixed somehow whilst the diagnostics took place, they are insistent that the fault is underlying and that it has nothing to do with the boiler service therefore I should pay for the diagnostics appointment. However, my argument is the boiler no longer has a fault and the PCB board / fan diagnostic is incorrect. It seems that something was not put back in place during the boiler service which led to the noise and the boiler being unable to heat water on demand.
The facts are the boiler doesn't have the fault now, it didn't have the fault before the service, had the fault after the service and the fault disappeared when the gas engineer checked out the issues. I have been told to replace the PCB board and fan but the fault no longer exists.
When challenging the service company this was their response
"I understand your perspective here - However, as the engineer noted the issues relate to the fan and PCB, this does confirm that the faults were not the result of any previous service or inspection. As these 2 items are not touched or tampered with when performing a service. The reason the engineer is able to return the boiler to a good working level now - is because he can take account for the existing faults and attempt to rectify them. However, these underlying faults were not present during initial testing so the engineer could not advise or attempt to rectify them. The engineer has now taken steps to rectify this and I am glad he was able to do so - However, as noted previously this is certainly the case that the faults were underlying on the appliance due to faulty components and not the result of the past inspection."
I told them I don't believe these faults were underlying as they no longer exist since the diagnostics, but they are insistent that I have an issue with the PCB board and fan. If the boiler is working perfectly well since the diagnostics then why are they insisting I still have these problems? Surely the resolution of the faults point to an issue during the service which has now been resolved during the diagnostics, therefore I should not be paying for the diagnostics appointment as it appears they created the fault. I feel I am being fobbed off and unless I filmed the service and diagnostics I have no leg to stand on. I feel like I'm being told a load of rubbish in order for me to pay up for fixing their own error. Would it be worth reporting this to Gas Safe Register or any other type of ombudsman? I feel injustice
