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Original poster

Should I pay the bill?

30 replies

Babynumberone369 · 27/04/2023 19:00

Hello, after people's views please!

Earlier this year I decided to get rid of my log burner (because I could never light it) and get a gas fire. I was recommended a company by a friend.

When I called they told me I needed a £50 survey to establish the viability of a gas fire. At the time of the survey the chap said all was good and pointed to a gas pipe and said I had gas.

The quote was £1,700, £1,100 for the fire and granite, £600 for fitting.

When they came to fit it they took my fire out and then told me there was no gas. The fire went in but with no gas I couldn't use it, and they couldnt test and comission it. They then sent a quote for £800 to run gas to it which I couldn't afford.

I've since spoken to 3 other companies that said they'd have checked the supply was live on the survey..

I've said I'll pay £200 for fitting it but I'm not happy to pay the full amount as they haven't completed the job and didn't show due care and diligence doing the survey.

Do you think I'm being unfair? They're threatening court so a bit worried!!

Thank you!

OP posts:
trisfreya · 27/04/2023 19:03

Was it the same company that told you you had gas that did the fitting?

Original poster
Babynumberone369 · 27/04/2023 19:04

@trisfreya yes it was the same company

OP posts:
makemineadoublee · 27/04/2023 19:06

Did you pay for them to test the gas was live as part of your survey?

If you had a log burner I don’t know why they’d think you had gas. Had you had a gas fire there before?

but yes you have to pay them for the work completed

onepieceoflollipop · 27/04/2023 19:08

I may have the wrong end of the stick here…

If this is all the same company (who did the survey, supplied the new fire, removed the old one and started to instal the new one?) surely you owe them nothing as they have messed up.

the survey that they insisted on to establish the viability of a gas fire?

It’s their error and in your position I would write a concise and assertive letter to them spelling it out.

onepieceoflollipop · 27/04/2023 19:09

To add to my post above - ask them what their so called survey was actually for. I’d also be prepared to seek legal advice and inform them of this,

fruitbrewhaha · 27/04/2023 19:09

onepieceoflollipop · 27/04/2023 19:08

I may have the wrong end of the stick here…

If this is all the same company (who did the survey, supplied the new fire, removed the old one and started to instal the new one?) surely you owe them nothing as they have messed up.

the survey that they insisted on to establish the viability of a gas fire?

It’s their error and in your position I would write a concise and assertive letter to them spelling it out.

This, what’s the point of a survey if they don’t check the viability of the gas fire. They have messed up

fruitbrewhaha · 27/04/2023 19:10

Did they leave the inoperable gas fire or take it with them?

Original poster
Babynumberone369 · 27/04/2023 19:18

@onepieceoflollipop I asked the same and he said it was to check the size of the hole the fire would go in. I assumed it would be to check a fire could be installed and everything that went with that! I've sent a fairly formal letter but he just emails me in capital letters!

@makemineadoublee there is a gas pipe so must have been one there before. He assumed it must still be live and its not. They just said survey, I guess I assumed the gas supply would be part of that!

OP posts:
Original poster
Babynumberone369 · 27/04/2023 19:19

@fruitbrewhaha they left it, looks nice, just doesn't heat!

OP posts:
onepieceoflollipop · 27/04/2023 19:21

He sounds a right bully sending shouty emails to you.
Plus now saying it was to check the size of the hole…anyone even a woman 😉 could have done that.
do you have anything in writing regarding the necessity of having the viability survey?
I’d get some legal advice hopefully you could just pay for a formal letter see if that makes him back off.
I’d work on setting out the main points very clearly and concisely in writing (as a starting point for a solicitor) and ask for all your money back including the fake survey.

onepieceoflollipop · 27/04/2023 19:23

Why are you offering to pay £200 for fitting something they haven’t actually fitted? Or is that the surround. I’d be tempted to ask them to put it back to how it was as it’s useless at the moment.

GoodChat · 27/04/2023 19:25

Did he not check the gas worked as you already told him it did?

GoodChat · 27/04/2023 19:25

onepieceoflollipop · 27/04/2023 19:23

Why are you offering to pay £200 for fitting something they haven’t actually fitted? Or is that the surround. I’d be tempted to ask them to put it back to how it was as it’s useless at the moment.

They have fitted it. It's just not connected to a gas supply.

onepieceoflollipop · 27/04/2023 19:27

@GoodChat I take your point but that would be like fitting a sink or shower knowing there is no water supply and therefore useless?
Surely a decent ‘fitter’ would check the gas again before doing all that work?

Original poster
Babynumberone369 · 27/04/2023 19:29

@onepieceoflollipop as they'd put the fire in I thought I'd better offer something but the more shouty emails I get, the less inclined I am.. That was exactly my thought about women and tape measures! 😀

Thank you for the reassurance, I'll stand my ground and get a letter sorted 😊

OP posts:
GoodChat · 27/04/2023 19:29

onepieceoflollipop · 27/04/2023 19:27

@GoodChat I take your point but that would be like fitting a sink or shower knowing there is no water supply and therefore useless?
Surely a decent ‘fitter’ would check the gas again before doing all that work?

Oh I agree. They're definitely not a decent fitter.

ChopperC110P · 27/04/2023 19:31

If they’d hadn’t made the error of assuming your gas pipe was live, then you would have had to pay the extra cost anyway. You just would have known about it up front. I’d certainly go back and offer to pay £200 of the £800 cost as it was their error. I would agree to half the cost, up to £400 because the only error on their part was missing it at the quoting stage. If they’d tested the gas pipe, you’d have had a £800 higher quote.

onepieceoflollipop · 27/04/2023 19:34

@Babynumberone369 - good luck with it all.

I have very low tolerance for bullying men but I know it can make you feel unsettled. I had a small run in (verbally) with a floor fitter who tried to make me feel ‘silly’ and said he couldn’t move my dishwasher due to ‘health and safety’.
He suggested I should phone my husband! I casually disconnected and moved it myself and asked him to call me when it needed moving back. The look on his face was worth it but I never used that company again.
.

Original poster
Babynumberone369 · 27/04/2023 19:37

@onepieceoflollipop Good for you!! I'm sure some men are worse to women than they would be if a man was dealing with the same situation.

OP posts:
Kazzyhoward · 27/04/2023 19:39

I can, with almost 99% certainty, say that the fire retailer/fitter isn't GasSafe registered themselves and so couldn't legally have tested there was an adequate gas supply during their "survey".

It's pretty common for gas fire retailers to only do the "grunge" work themselves, i.e. the building work (making the vent hole, fitting the vent, fitting in the fire with concrete and heat sealant, etc) and assembly of the fire itself, and then get in a registered GasSafe engineer to actually connect the gas supply pipe and do the legal installation checks.

That's happened to us twice, using different "big" local fire firms. We had no end of trouble with both suppliers because of their shoddy/amateur installation. After the first time, we checked with the second firm that the owner (who installed them) was GasSafe himself and were told he was. We stupidly didn't check him against the online GasSafe register. As with the first firm, his work was shoddy and, as with the first firm, "someone else" came at the end of the job to connect the gas pipe! After we left there was a horrendous toxic smell and he kept fobbing us off saying it was the coal dust burning off, but after weeks of keeping the windows wide open and him coming out a couple of times to check it over, we'd had enough and called out the manufacturer's engineer to check it over. He came, took it apart and promptly turned off the gas supply, disconnected it and put warning "do not use" stickers all over it saying it hadn't been assembled nor fitted correctly and needed to be completely removed and re-assembled requiring the vent hole in a different place as the "fitter" had put some components together the wrong way round! We went ballistic with the shop owner and insisted he drop everything to come back and correct his foul up and get his GasSafe engineer back to reconnect it all.

We ended up reporting both him and his GasSafe engineer to GasSafe and the manufacturer for leaving us with a dangerous installation.

Original poster
Babynumberone369 · 27/04/2023 19:40

@ChopperC110P I think if I'd known I'd have got an electric fire to save the faff. The new pipe has to go right round the outside of the house. I knew I'd have issues getting the £1,100 back for the fire so on the spot I said just leave it and I'll figure something out. Which I haven't!

OP posts:
fruitbrewhaha · 27/04/2023 19:48

thats an idea, negotiate the cost of sorting out the gas line.

how long did it take to ‘fit’ the fire and how many people?
how many hours to get it functioning? How are they coming up with £800?

Malloryhitops · 27/04/2023 19:54

They sound like complete cowboys tbh, I wouldn’t be paying them. What was the point of their survey if not the viability of what they were supplying. And if they did an adequate survey they would have figured out the gas supply issue that would have been in your initial quote. Seek legal advice.

PonkyPonky · 27/04/2023 19:56

When they gave you the quote was it a written quote detailing exactly what they were going to do for this amount? If it says connect to gas, test and leave operational then they have not done what the contract between you stipulates. However, they obviously now do need to do additional works (that would have been needed anyway regardless of if they picked it up at survey or not). So I think there is a compromise to be had here. Though it sounds like he’s not willing to do that. If you have that written quote detailing what they were going to carry out then I’d be tempted to call his bluff and tell him to go to small claims. I can’t see how he would win with that in place. If you didn’t get a written quote from them then this is obviously much shakier ground

Original poster
Babynumberone369 · 27/04/2023 20:00

@PonkyPonky I did get the quote in writing which states they would connect, test and commission the fire. He's saying its not his fault there's no gas so pay up.
I think I'll do that and see what he does!

OP posts:
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