My groupon boiler service

[mrbg07546]

Hi I got a boiler service from groupon. It was only 37 quid so I took the risk.

service went ok but he pointed out the following.

he did say he needed to check of metal on outside of flu, and flu was sticking out too much. He rang valiant and they said it’s ok.

he said the boiler flu needs a sleeve outside

he said the fuse next to boiler needs to be 13a. Is this still the case with thermostat plug??

 

[muggles]

He's right that the flue is too long. It's also missing a weathering collar, which would have been supplied with it. Presumably your installers couldn't be assed to cut the flue to the right size, so binned the collar as it would have made the issue glaringly obvious - it fits onto a ridge at the junction of the flue and terminal.

He's wrong on the fuse, it should be 5a max, normally 3a for a gas boiler.

How long was he there for? Presumably for £37, not long enough to do anything other than criticise the installation...

 

[mrbg07546]

1 hour. He is building up business

 

[mrbg07546]

He's right that the flue is too long. It's also missing a weathering collar, which would have been supplied with it. Presumably your installers couldn't be assed to cut the flue to the right size, so binned the collar as it would have made the issue glaringly obvious - it fits onto a ridge at the junction of the flue and terminal.

He's wrong on the fuse, it should be 5a max, normally 3a for a gas boiler.

How long was he there for? Presumably for £37, not long enough to do anything other than criticise the installation...

He actually rang valiant and they said it’s ok to have glue that long as metal is waterproof.

 

[Gasguru]

The problem with these stupid groupon offers is a proper service could actually cost from £40 (for an old simple boiler) to £150 or more (for a modern condensing boiler that requires electrodes, burner seals etc) and if yours is the later it won't be a proper service. Groupon rely on new entrants into the gas trade that have little experience of what a service takes and are desperate for work.

I wonder how old the burner gasket is on your Vaillant...the seal should be changed every 5 years with a heat exchanger cleanout and it's around £15.00. Did the trap get cleaned, vessel pressure checked?

It's totally unethical of Groupon to have these deals...it's one thing having a deal on an oven clean but a gas boiler service...

 

[mrbg07546]

The guy I usually get it serviced from is 65. He changes seal every year.

 

[Mottie]

Vaillant charge £85 inc vat according to their website and you can book online.

 

[John D v2.0]

Ours we found that cleaning out the burner and changing the seal were not part of the service as standard unless it's an old style seal.
I checked that out in the manual and it does seem to be the case so you might not be being ripped off.
All it seemed to include was cleaning the condensate and pumping the pressure vessel, everything else was just inspection and testing.
This is also a vaillant but about 8 years old.
The boiler was connected to a light switch on a 15A circuit which was changed to a 3A fcu, so it's worth having things checked even if they were already workings. But your thermostat wouldn't need a separate fuse if it's just plugged in.

 

[sbgasman]

You don’t live in Coventry do you? You could have had gasbusters round .

 

[sbgasman]

.

 

[Mottie]

Who you gonna call?

 

[sbgasman]

Groupon take 60/70% of the money so the guy might be getting around £15 to do the so called service, if as you say he is trying to build up his business then he’s going about it the wrong way, to put it politely groupons customers are very careful with their money so you aren’t going to be earning a lot of money,they also are always on the lookout for a bargain so have no loyalty to you , so he’s giving his services away for next to nothing,without the benefit of building a customer base . Mottie ,gasbusters is a guy from Coventry who has been on a short course to become a gasman , he is working in customers houses with let’s be kind and say not a lot of experience,a bit like the OPs guy.

 

[ianmcd]

he is working in customers houses with let’s be kind and say not a lot of experience,a bit like the OPs guy.

And that is why he is importing customers, just like Labour do voters