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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not have to pay £150 for this service?...

40 replies

BooseysMom · 28/10/2022 21:55

Ok, so we have an air source heating system which has to be serviced annually (apparently) and we booked an engineer to do this at the hefty sum of £120 plus VAT. He not only arrived 3 hours late but proceeded to talk non-stop at DH trying to sell us other things we haven't needed before. He managed to make this last an hour. Then he fiddled around with the outside fan, removed some black bits from the filter, didn't replace the filter which we thought was a basic necessity and promptly left with the promise of quoting us for this lagging we haven't needed before now. AIBU to think this is a complete rip off? Should we refuse to pay? And does anyone know if these air source systems really need annual servicing? I'm sure DH could do what he did no problem and save us £150!

OP posts:
bigfamilygrowingupfast · 29/10/2022 08:43

Pay but complain. My friend paid about the same but for her boiler to be serviced. He turned up an hour late, was incredibly rude to her and spent 10 minutes at the house before leaving.
She went mad at them on the phone and they came back the next day and did a very thorough check of everything for her!

Brigante9 · 29/10/2022 09:43

I think you need to pay this time, but as your warranty has expired, you could probably do it next time. I would have queried the filter not being changed.

girlmom21 · 29/10/2022 09:45

He wanted to keep an eye on him and watch what he was actually doing!

What's the point in watching what he's doing without mentioning if he's done something wrong/not done it at all?

Original poster
BooseysMom · 29/10/2022 21:25

He didn’t do a very good job did he! Didn’t ask any questions about the filter etc?

My thoughts exactly!

OP posts:
Original poster
BooseysMom · 29/10/2022 21:28

If you don’t want to pay to get your boiler serviced then don’t, but you can’t have a service and then refuse to pay. And £150 sounds perfectly reasonable.

You're kidding right?! The plumber charged less than half of this and did a very thorough job. He earned every penny. This engineer, on the other hand, clearly didn't have much to do so to him it was easy money.

OP posts:
Original poster
BooseysMom · 29/10/2022 21:32

First paragraph of previous post was meant to be in bold, sorry!

OP posts:
MyMumSaysALot · 29/10/2022 21:40

I remember getting my car serviced in my early 20’s and learning to carve my initials in the air filter with my fingernail to stop unscrupulous mechanics from cheating me and making sure they changed it.
Finally I found a trustworthy person I could take my car to and not have to worry I was being charged for work that wasn’t being done.
It’s a sad day when you have to watch someone over their shoulder to make sure they complete the job you’re paying them £££/$$$ for.

Original poster
BooseysMom · 01/11/2022 06:13

Yes it's a right rip-off. My DB said a boiler service should only cost around £80 so these companies are clearly over-charging because its air-source heating

OP posts:
MavisChunch29 · 01/11/2022 06:20

I would ask for local recomendations on a FB group, get it serviced again in a couple of years, and look online or in manuals what you should be doing to maintain it yourself in between.

red4321 · 01/11/2022 06:45

luxxlisbon · 28/10/2022 22:15

Surely it needs an annual service to maintain the warranty, just like a boiler. Obviously it is a choice whether to keep up with them or not.

None of the things you have mentioned would be a reason to not pay.

I have an air source heat pump and this wasn't a condition of our warranty.

I've never paid for an annual service, just visits when things have gone wrong or it's stopped working efficiently. In our case, it's for a pool so not affecting the heating of the house but the charge out rates are often £200 per hour just to come and look at it so I share your pain.

Razzle5 · 01/11/2022 11:29

I can’t shake this image of the OP’s dh hovering around the engineer like a smelly fart, not saying a word, but then whinging to the op as soon as the engineer leaves

Razzle5 · 01/11/2022 11:30

red4321 · 01/11/2022 06:45

I have an air source heat pump and this wasn't a condition of our warranty.

I've never paid for an annual service, just visits when things have gone wrong or it's stopped working efficiently. In our case, it's for a pool so not affecting the heating of the house but the charge out rates are often £200 per hour just to come and look at it so I share your pain.

Show quote history

The point of a service visit is to try to avoid when things go wrong or “not working efficiently”

red4321 · 01/11/2022 11:51

That is true but, with the specific faults in question, it wouldn't have made any difference so I'd have been paying more overall.

Saz12 · 01/11/2022 12:33

Those with mains gas have always paid less for purchasing boilers, servicing them, repairing them etc than those with oil, lpg, biomass, air/ground source. I’m assuming because economies of scale. So you can’t compare to what a mains gas boiler should cost to service....Sadly...

You’re paying for him checking the unit as well as doing some maintenance to filters or whatever. But I’m not surprised you feel ripped off, particularly given that he was THREE hours late!!!!!

Original poster
BooseysMom · 02/11/2022 09:24

Saz12 · 01/11/2022 12:33

Those with mains gas have always paid less for purchasing boilers, servicing them, repairing them etc than those with oil, lpg, biomass, air/ground source. I’m assuming because economies of scale. So you can’t compare to what a mains gas boiler should cost to service....Sadly...

You’re paying for him checking the unit as well as doing some maintenance to filters or whatever. But I’m not surprised you feel ripped off, particularly given that he was THREE hours late!!!!!

Yep exactly...thank you! They haven't invoiced us yet. He was going to get us a quote on lagging which we really don't want or need. I think the fact we have paid £120+ a year to have it "serviced " is crazy..we should have just saved that money in case of breakdown as a pp says do maintenance ourselves as far as we are able.

OP posts:
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