Legal Advice - WHAT ARE MY RIGHTS?

[starfish]

Hello Again,

I am the lady with powermax boiler problem...im sure most of you have seen one or two of the posts that I have put up this week. Anyway, aftr being conned of 560 pounds for supposedly fixing a boiler that still does not work, I called them back and asked them to come back a do the job properly considering how much I paid. They started telling me that I will have to pay for more hours of labour@£38 per half hour and pay for an ignition lead which will be about £30 pounds. I told then I will pay for the part but i will not pay for any more labour as i had already paid for 3 hours yesterday.....well they said there is nothing they can do so I asked them to come back and take out the useless parts that they bought and give me a refund on my money........and then the insults start!!! They say "who the hell do you think you are" and "who the hell do i think im speaking to" then after all sorts of ranting (when i tell them i shall be seeking legal advice as BG suggested)they drop the phone on me.

Can anyone out there pls tell me what my rights are as I have paid out almost £600 pounds for nothing but insult. Do I contact CORGI or a CAB?

Will be grateful for any kind of advice.

Regards,

Starfish.

 

[oilman]

CAB, and trading standards, and a legal advice line. trading standards probably have a thick file on these people.

 

[Diyisfun]

Not being an expert,
CORGI I would think would side with them, but be sympathetic to you, CAB, Would probably advise writing and threaten small claims court.

I think I would write to the plumber advising if they do not sort it that you will get an independent plumber & invoice them, stating if they fail to pay on receipt of invoice you would take them to small claims court.

I think you need to get your boiler sorted sooner rather than latter.

You will probably get plenty of differing advice, at the end its down to the route you fancy taking. Good luck

 

[corgiman]

try trading standards

 

[starfish]

Thank you guys.....have called trading standards and citizens advice and they said they will take the matter up for me and try and get some of my money back for me.

Ive got BG coming out tomorrow so fingers crossed will have some kinda heating b4 the evening.

 

[Mikeyboy]

Let us know the outcome . Are you having British Gas , and Heat-team arriving on a joint visit ?

 

[ollski]

Let us know the outcome . Are you having British Gas , and Heat-team arriving on a joint visit ?

The gas valve is now a new model and Bg no longer require baxi/pott to set them.

 

[Baxi-Remeha]

ahhh thank god for that, no more waiting for them to turn up.......lol..(jk)..

ignition problems with powermax 155, i would be checking the electrodes, ignition board, never had a problem with the leads....

 

[starfish]

No Im just having BG come over as BAXI wont have an engineer for me till Monday plus BG is a lot cheaper. Will definitely let you know what the outcome is and will DEFINITELY let you know what of the outcome from Trading Standards is with regards to the dodgy boiler company.

 

[Mikeyboy]

Check ebay ,powermax 155 , London area .

 

[corgiman]

why mikey??

 

[Softus]

Legally, the answer is simple, but the remedy will probably be hard to obtain. If you're prepared to take legal action, then expect it to take three months before you get to the point of obtaining judgement. But please read on.

You have a contract with the repairer. Most people in this situation have a verbal agreement, not a written one, but this is still a legal contract.

It boils down (no pun intended) to what you expected the repairer to achieve, whether or not he achieved it, and whether or not he shares your expectation. Since he's already shown signs that he will not come back to work for nothing, you are in dispute.

You might feel forlorn and that it's his word against yours, but bear in mind that a court will consider not only your account of events, and the repairer's account, but also, and most importantly, what the court rules to be a reasonable expectation in the circumstances.

In some cases, a series of strong letters from a solicitor (the repairer will laugh at you if you write) will succeed without resorting to court action, but if he's resolute then you'll end up arguing in front of a judge or magistrate.

This is where the CAB, or a qualified legal professional, will advise you on the likelihood of a successful outcome from a court action. And don't forget that if you obtain a judgement in your favour, you still have to collect the money.

I have my own opinion, which may or may not be the popularly held one (others might post here and confirm this), which is that it's unreasonable to carry out work for a total cost (to you) of £560 and leave the boiler in a non-working state.

As a start, I suggest that you ask the repairer for a written copy of their terms and conditions of trading, and details of whatever warranty they offer for their work.

As for getting in a second repairer, and charging the cost of this to the first repairer, be careful. You must be able to show that you gave the first repairer a reasonable (that word again) opportunity to correct whatever you claim is wrong. This is where you must write him a letter setting out your view of the situation. My strong advice to you is to make this letter very simple, not hostile, not critical, not personal, and clearly setting your understanding and your expectation of what should happen. Do not threaten, and do not mention legal action.

If he fails to remedy, or perhaps even fails to reply, then write again, this time explaining that you hold him liable for the cost of putting right the fault since he charged for doing so and yet failed. This time explain that you have taken legal advice (which the CAB will do, informally) and you will take legal action if does not meet that liability.

Good luck. Be patient, be calm, and, above all, be reasonable, and you will impress a court (if you go that far) and strengthen your case.

 

[ollski]

I have my own opinion, which may or may not be the popularly held one (others might post here and confirm this), which is that it's unreasonable to carry out work for a total cost (to you) of £560 and leave the boiler in a non-working state.

I'm no lawyer, but why on earth should you have to pay for parts which were not required?, that is just ridiculous, am I alone in putting the original part back in if I mis diagnose?. I imagine they will be due a fee purely for coming out but 560 when they have neither diagnosed or repaired any fault??

 

[corgiman]

nope if i cock up i leave the part i fitted in, in that case the client wins and I loose

luckily it dont happen often

lol

 

[Softus]

I'm no lawyer, but why on earth should you have to pay for parts which were not required?

I take it that you agree with me, ollski, but, to answer your question, this situation could easily arise if that was the way that the repairer did business. If he made his terms clear to the customer before being called out, then he would be perfectly entitled to charge for parts and labour, with no comeback whatsoever.

...that is just ridiculous

Erm, no, it isn't, it's just unusual. And, IMHO (and yours it seems), it's unreasonable.

...am I alone in putting the original part back in if I mis diagnose?

No, but it depends on the component, and whether or not it was reasonable to install it as part of the diagnostic process.