Nightmare

[mark/uk]

Where do i start?

The Boiler is a halstead ace 82, i posted a few months back as to what the problem was on here and i'll go thought it again.

First symptoms was when the hot water wouldn't get hot and heating wouldn't fire up, gradually it would only for it to fire for a few seconds then cut out (as if it's trying but not making it) last week it wouldn't fire up at all so i phoned this corgi guy to come and see it.

Right on arrival he said it was the thermistors replaced two and said they needed replacing and that was the problem charging £115 quid.

Half an hour after he left the same problem again (boiler trying to kick up for a few secs) called him up, he came back out and basically said that i needed a new pump did something to the boiler to get it going again but after he left it started to leak water from the pump well the bottom nut (don't think he tightened it properly so called him up again and questioned how he could charge me £115 and the boiler STILL not working if not worse! Yesterday he came out and changed the pump head with one he had (he had to make adjustments to the head too!) but this morning we have a leak AGAIN and its flashing (the green led)

Would appreciate some feedback from you guys on both the corgi guy and the problem.

 

[chrishutt]

Sounds like the £orgi guy doesn't know what he's doing. Mind you, at £115 for changing a couple of thermistors maybe he knows exactly what he's doing - ripping off customers. did he fit new thermistors or just swap them over?

If you feel like having a long, complicated battle over it, you could try making a complaint to £orgi, but I expect they'd say that they are only concerned with gas safety, which may not have been compromised. I would argue that since £orgi lead the public to expect that £orgi registered gas installers are competent they have a clear responsibility to act against manifestly incompetent installers.

 

[mark/uk]

Apparently they were new ones and he has been out a few times but to me he has just made the problems worse i did pay him by cheque and i'm thinking of cancelling it - what do you think?

 

[chrishutt]

I'd stop the cheque. Your contract with him was that he should fix the boiler which he hasn't done. To protect yourself if it gets referred to the small claims court, I'd write a polite letter to him explaining your action in stopping the cheque, citing his obvious inability to carry out the service requested and further damage to the boiler caused by him.

The leaking pump may be because the pump head is not compatible with the pump body. I don't know Halsteads at all, nor do I want to from what I hear, so can't advise more on how to fix it. It might be worth considering a new boiler - how old is the Halstead?

 

[breezer]

i am not so sure the bloke intended to "rip anyone off" have you ever thought that he thought changing the thermistors would solve the problem?

I wonder if you did stop the cheque could he take you (the OP) to small claims court, since he has done work for you and you defaulted on payment. (that would be how the court may look at it)

I do how ever agree he has not fixed the fault you asked him to, I suggest you say that as the new themistors did not solve the problem he put the old ones back (not your fault if they are in the bin) and you pay for waht ever when the fault is fixed

or get some one else to have a look, but before they do , tell them what has been done and are they "competant" with your make / model of boiler

 

[mark/uk]

Yeah i think that too Chris, the Halstead is only about 5 years old if that!

 

[mark/uk]

Breezer the way i see it is he has come out and made more of a problem and has charged me 115 quid.

Can see what you are saying thought regarding the smalls claims court and i'm undecided on what to do, maybe a ring to the trading standards is the way to go.

BTW how much is it to supply and fit two thermistors?

 

[pannierstan]

My advice would be to actually not pay whoever comes there and then but say that you will test the appliance for a few days and then make payment via post.
I enjoy working on combi repairs and if I ever carry out a repair that I am not 100% will sort a problem then I actually will not take a payment on the day and ask the customer to test it out.
Never had a problem with payment and never had an unhappy customer.
Life is never perfect though

Stan

 

[mark/uk]

pannierstan you near Sheffield mate?

 

[pannierstan]

pannierstan you near Sheffield mate?

About 45 miles away sorry. Dont think I could be competative at that distance. Besides got the inlaws here today and fully booked next week

Stan

 

[olly_k]

Are these thermistors the small electronic bead type jobbies or were they actually thermocouples?
1. Why would two fail simultaneously, especially without a fault elsewhere and did he investigate this? i.e. A v. high voltage could have surged due to pcb failure or a part of the boiler getting too hot beyond it's designed parameters?
2. Surely a repair tech. / engineer should be able to test such a simple component as a thermistor? Meter in resistance mode, watch the change as you dip into a cup of hot water?

 

[EliteHeat]

My advice would be to actually not pay whoever comes there and then but say that you will test the appliance for a few days and then make payment via post.

All of those prepared to work like this, please form an orderly queue.

 

[Agile]

I consider £115 to diagnose the fault and supply and fit two sensors is quite reasonable and about what we would expect to charge.

You can quite reasonably expect him to correctly diagnose the fault and he does not seem to have done that.

If you have any intention of not paying something then you should give him to opportunity of coming back to find the real fault. You may not be so keen to do that in which case I would say that you should only pay say £35 for the two sensors.

Unfortunately, I am smarting from an unreasonable customer of mine. He called me to fix the boiler which I did by replacing the PCB and charged a total of £160. He paid £100 cash and a cheque for £60 which he has now stopped.

A couple of days later he accused me of changing over the CH and HW connections on the timeclock. When he had cooled down a little I got him to do some tests on the timeclock and I determined the motor valve was faulty. He accused me of damaging that !

He called the boiler manufacturer who told him "it was unlikely that I could have damaged the motor valve but I might have done so".

He has now called CORGI and even though its not a gas issue they are going to send their inspector sometime. If the inspector is sensible then thats probably a good thing for me.

Tony

 

[EliteHeat]

Blimey! he really, really doesn't like you does he?

Surely you are going to force the issue and sue him?

 

[gas4you]

My advice would be to actually not pay whoever comes there and then but say that you will test the appliance for a few days and then make payment via post.

All of those prepared to work like this, please form an orderly queue.

I'll join the queue I do the same if I am uncertain of the fault.

I only charge for the final repair that fixes it. It's my own fault if I take on a boiler that I don't know well enough to diagnose and fix, not the customers.

Hence why I always never go out to Worcesters and a few others.