Potterton Suprima

[ChrisR]

Why, he's a bloke in business, to make money; mending boilers is a side effect.....
Pump would have worn out one day anyway......

Was thinking I should ask him to replace the PCB for free seeing as I have already paid him £176.

Why? There's no suggestion the pcb is faulty yet. Even if it is, where's your contract?


Watch it, it's a jungle out there like it or not - naivety and ignorance are your fault. Get stroppy and you have to be prepared to take a hit.

 

[timmy74]

if it is the chb try a air pressure switch and electrode before spending lots of dosh on pcb

 

[BigD]

Wow - what a positive image you paint of the plumbing trade. What I expect is to pay someone to resolve a problem, without them guessing at what it could be and expecting me to pay if they're wrong.

Naivety & ingorance I think is a bit strong. He said to my wife ' if its not the CH pump I'll eat my hat'. Lucking forward to that then I could sell tickets for that and make the £176 back

Seriously though, they are a local business with a good reputation. It wasn't someone I rang from the free-ads. I'll try the diplomatic reasoning approach and see how I get on.

 

[ollski]

Personally I would think that if the work was done to resolve a specific proplem which it didn't succeed in doing, then a realistic outcome would be getting the labour charge knocked off the pcb replacement.

 

[geoff@cetltd]

Well, you're both art fault

Him for being an incompetent CORGI fitter (and let's not forget that he should be able to diagnose which of two items are at fault with a simple measurement)

You for not having acquired enough understanding of somerthing which is fairly simple to have investigated it yourself

If you don't want to get ripped off, then develop sufficient understanding of the problem

I'd definitely make sure that whatever you have paid for which was unnecessary gets repaid

trading standards are your friend if you don't get a positive response

 

[ChrisR]

If he'd thought it was the pcb he could have earned as much by changing it, for less work. He may have checked the pump in some way and found it slow, or listened to it and thought it noisy, etc, but not been sure if that would have caused the symptoms... we haven't got much to go on.

He probably didn't change the pump just to get more work, but what he did has proved to be not the sole cause of the problem. He said at the time "if it isn't the pump" expressing the doubt that it might not be, and you let him proceed. You had the chance to quiz him and say, "what if..?"

Now you want him to start giving you parts and working for nothing.
Do you blame your doctor if the pills he prescribes first don't work? When would you start wanting money from him? It's YOU paying for the NHS.

You haven't even bothered to see what motorised valves you have, as suggested - all you came up with is "Don't know about motorised valves etc ". Too lazy to spend a few minutes finding out? It would take a lot less time that the people trying to help you have spent in answering.

All you've done is moan about the guy and apparently made no effort at all to help get a resolution, or an understanding, of your problem.

A fool and his money...

 

[Softus]

Do we have a case of a CORGI fitter incorrectly diaqgnosing a problem?

Maybe, but what's certain is that we have a case of you being a provocative pratt once again.

 

[BigD]

Personally I would think that if the work was done to resolve a specific proplem which it didn't succeed in doing, then a realistic outcome would be getting the labour charge knocked off the pcb replacement.

Ollski, thats the sort of constructive response I was looking for. Thanks I'll may suggest that.

Raden - thats a fair point, thanks

ChrisR. If he'd have said I'm not sure what it is, but I'll try the pump first, I'd have told him not to do it. However, as I mentioned in previous post, he sounded convinced it was the pump, so I let him go ahead. Ideally I should have been there, but I was at work. Again, as mentioned in my previous post, I did investigate the problem, by coming on here. I was fairly sure it would be the PCB and I told him this. So, anyway............

Do I cut my loses and get a recon PCB and replace myself. Or, see if he'll replace the PCB at cost (or less if I'm lucky).

Positive replies only please. I can do without further comments on how wasteful I am with my money

 

[ChrisR]

As I see it you have no reason to expect favours from this guy.
He did say he wasn't sure. You told us, remember?

Now you've decided you want him to put a pcb in. Rrp about £250. You could probably squeeze him into putting it in for £30 or so labour.
Whoopee doo.

As has been pointed out, the fault is not inconsistent with being caused by a faulty ten quid sensor.

You deserve your man. His skills at reading the plumbing signs are matched by yours at reading English.

 

[BigD]

As I see it you have no reason to expect favours from this guy.
He did say he wasn't sure. You told us, remember?

Now you've decided you want him to put a pcb in. Rrp about £250. You could probably squeeze him into putting it in for £30 or so labour.
Whoopee doo.

As has been pointed out, the fault is not inconsistent with being caused by a faulty ten quid sensor.

You deserve your man. His skills at reading the plumbing signs are matched by yours at reading English.

You always have to finish off with some insulting remark. And since when do you have the right to comment on my ability to read english.

I have frequented numerous help forums, and to be honest your comments have been the least constructive, not only of my posts, but of any post I have read, anywhere. I thought the whole idea behind these forums was to help those not in the know. You should be more understanding that not everyone has the same knowledge (or wants to have the knowledge as you) and just needs some basic constructive advice. If this isn't the case, then I've obviously come to the wrong place.

Just to re-iterate, this isn't a cowboy plumber from the free-ads/yellow pages. They are a local firm with a positive reputation. I'm not expecting them to dissappear, not return my calls or get abusive. What I was after was some indication on my rights, or perhaps what you would expect a local respectable firm to do to rectify the situation. What is the normal/usual remedy from a respectable plumber?

 

[croydoncorgi]

If the firm wants you as a customer, they'll try to accommodate you.
Otherwise, they won't.
Draw your own conclusions! Initial appearances of competence, longevity, etc. may be deceptive!

In the end, if you pass the job of repairing a boiler to a reputable firm, you should expect it to be handed back repaired. You should also ASK (NOT tell) them to advise you of a MAXIMUM cost based on their initial examination of the problem and then expect them to stay within it.

But if you muddy the waters by second-guessing what they're doing and asking them to do specific things based on YOUR analysis of the problem you're paying THEM to diagnose and fix - don't be too surprised if cost and mutual peed-offness escalate.

The unfortunate thing about the Suprima in particular is that the old-style PCBs are SO unreliable that it's become a knee-jerk reaction to blame the PCB for every fault.

 

[markvirgo]

A refurb is the reason for the boiler being not needed and i guarantee it.


??

A house refurb. bigger combi/condensing boiler fitted due to extension.

 

[markvirgo]

Do I cut my loses and get a recon PCB and replace myself. Or, see if he'll replace the PCB at cost (or less if I'm lucky).

Positive replies only please. I can do without further comments on how wasteful I am with my money

I can send you any part you require for cheap from my boiler or you can have the whole thing for free if you can collect it. this is not a con. it is just to good to throw away. although i will have to soon as the builder finishes this week.

 

[BigD]

Thanks Mark. Nice to see some good old fashioned helpfulness. I'm going to ASK the guy what he proposes to do about the situation and take it from there. Hopefully a positive solution will be reached tomorrow. I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[ChrisR]

And since when do you have the right to comment on my ability to read english.

Easy. Since I and others keep telling you the same things, which you don't seem to want to hear. There's no law saying anyone has to suffer fools gladly.

I have frequented numerous help forums, and to be honest your comments have been the least constructive, not only of my posts, but of any post I have read, anywhere.

Go back and look again - who broke down and spelled out the possibilities for you? You're just chucking lame insults. Very good.

I thought the whole idea behind these forums was to help those not in the know. You should be more understanding that not everyone has the same knowledge (or wants to have the knowledge as you) and just needs some basic constructive advice.

You're being given advice. Which is, Don't get hung up on it being the pcb, and certainly don't start demanding a free/cheap replacement or you'll be worse off. If it only exhibits the fault on one of CH or HW, why should it be the pcb, which can't tell the difference? You just don't want to listen. You're being given advice and reasons for it. You're objecting to the reasons and pretending the advice isn't there.

then I've obviously come to the wrong place.

You have. If you don't want to be confused by information, just keep being the one who is soon parted from his money. Good luck in your quest for a forum which gives you unbridled support for your fanciful notions, which seems to be what you're looking for.