TO PAY OR NOT TO PAY....?

[chrishutt]

I think the real issue here is the competence and professionalism of the heating engineer. Clearly a fully competent engineer who does his best to diagnose a problem but is unable to, at least within a reasonable time, due to the obscurity or intermittency of the problem, nevertheless deserves to be paid for his time.

I don't think a reasonable customer would really mind paying up either, if he was confident that the engineer had applied a good standard of competence, knowledge and experience to diagnosing the problem, although in many cases the engineer may only ask for a reduced fee as a goodwill gesture.

But there will always be a suspicion in the mind of the customer that failure to diagnose is a sign of incompetence. And it's clear from many posts on this forum that there are many incompetent "heating engineers" out there, so such a suspicion is far from groundless.

 

[ChrisR]

Perhaps one hour should be a limit.

If there's a manual, you can get good access to the boiler, the boiler has been maintained and has only one fault, which is not intermittent, it would be unusual not to reach a good diagnosis within one hour.

If some of those aren't true, then it might not be possible to be certain. Either way, I think it's long enough I think, to ask the customer if they want you to procede - at further cost.


An important issue is whether the manual is available. Boilers are unusual in terms of household applliances, in that their manuals come with them. So it's the customer's responsibility to keep it. Failing that, the manufacturer's technical help line is a backup which as we all know, isn't always available.
Given the manual, there's always a solution suggested. How often will it correct, is another matter!

 

[Agile]

I am happy to offer a no-fix no-fee, but thats because I can always diagnose real faults which present on my visit.

If I am unable to find a fault because it is only apparent at 0600 in the morning than I visit free and make no charge, so what? We charge for all the other visits!

Some visit for Agents are clearly due to provocative tenants. We did a repair and then were called back to find the tenant had used a screwdriver to open the filling valve and leave it open. It turned out he was being evicted for non payment of the rent.

I also take the view that I am the presumed expert and its my responsibility to bring any info I need like MI.

The original fault which Gareth has described does not sound very difficult to diagnose to me but I dont give advice on forums on topics which should only be dealt with by a CORGI engineer.

Tony

 

[ChrisR]

I am the presumed expert and its my responsibility to bring any info I need like MI.

I would agree, but one doesn't always know what the boiler is going to be - sometimes its owner doesn't know! And we can't carry them all.
I would agree that this particular fault doesn't sound too baffling.

We can all "always diagnose" given sufficient information, but it isn't always available. So then the diagnosis has to cover more than one pcb, say.

No-fix no-fee? OK - so you say what the parts cost and the customer can't afford it, preferring to press the red button three times a day. He doesn't want the fix, so he has no reason to pay for the diagnosis.

 

[Agile]

We actually charge for the diagnosis, so technically its a no diagnosis-no fee.

We try to limit our visits to situations where the make and model are specified and an idea given of the problem. Its not worth our time going to unknown situations as we cannot take the likely spares and a second visit becomes necessary ( at no extra charge! ).

The client then has three options, let us fit the part, do it himself or get someone cheaper. Since we fit most spares at only the cost of the part we usually fit the parts not its not essential.

Tony