Do I pay call out fee if problem not fixed?

[bobbycock79]

More of a WWYD. Boiler has packed up, no heating for 2 days and engineers like hens teeth. Found one today willing to come around and "have a look" at the end of his day. Very nice guy, tried a few things, but ultimately couldn't fix it. He was here for about 35 mins. As he was leaving I asked him what do I owe for call out and he looked embarrassed and said " I don't know, I didn't fix the problem so you decide". Now I feel awkward, I have no idea what to pay or what the etiquette is. Any suggestions of a fair amount would be gratefully received. I'm not on the breadline but like everyone having to be careful and a no doubt big bill coming up. I'm also panicking a bit as it's obviously freezing and I have 3 young kids with no heating, thankfully we do have hot water with immersion .

Yes, the call out fee is just for that.

£40??
Depends on what the call out rates are in your area.

If he couldn't fix it there and then what is he doing? ordering parts?

I would pay the call out fee if it was leading to him taking further actions to get it fixed for you. Maybe getting parts and coming back tomorrow morning for example.

If he just walked away saying he had no idea what was wrong with it and left me to find someone who knew what they were doing he would get nothing.

What happened next? He left? Did he leave payment information?

I wouldn't pay him anything but I need people to be absolutely clear with me about these things.

He is a professional and should have rates accordingly.

thanks for replies. He said we'd need an engineer specific for our (old) boiler and so no, he's not coming back to do anything else.
I am ringing the emergency home insurance in the morning (phonelines close at 5.30pm I's assume emergency might have been 24 hrs) to see what they say. I guess we'll all be in bed like the grandparents in Charlie and the choc factory this evening.

Is he coming back, ordering a part? I would expect to pay a call out as a minimum.

I would expect to pay the call out fee. It's a bit annoying that he was so vague though, personally I'd rather just be told how much I owed!

He's given you his time and he should be paid for it. Annoying he's being so vague though.

£40 - 50.

Even if he didn't fix it, I would have expected a diagnosis and a plan for repair. If he has looked and can't work it out, then I wouldn't pay him anything. Because he is just wasting peoples time if he doesn't have the skills to diagnose a heating fault.

Is he a qualified and gas safe registered boiler engineer or some cowboy who thought he could come out and top up your pressure/de ice you condensate pipe, say he fixed it and charge you engineer prices?

The person saying they'd pay nothing 🤯 terrible that! I'd at least give him £30-£40, he should be confident enough in his work to ask you for this, ans professional enough to have told you the call out charge beforehand.

I think most people who are saying pay nothing is because it sounds like the guy misrepresented himself and is not actually a boiler engineer who could fix it.

I have never known a boiler engineer to walk away saying they don't know and to get someone else in.

Yes of course you do.

Right.

So, how did he suggest you pay?

Don’t be so dramatic. We don’t have heating (nothing broken we just don’t have heating), you’ll be fine for a few nights.
Buy or borrow a little plug in thing.

Ask him what his normal call out price is or his hourly rate and pay that (double if hourly rate).

Is it very cold/been below 0 where you are? Did he/have you checked you condensate pipe isn't frozen?

There are lots of youtube videos on how to defrost it, dh had to do it last year for ours - simple poor warm water over the outside pipe, and then check your manual on how to reset the boiler.

@Thehamsterthatcametotea

How do you not have heating? Even when we lived in caves, we had fires.

Happens quite a lot actually
british gas and domestic and general did it to us and told us to call out the boilers manufacturers specific engineer team.

OP I would just pay call out charge

@bobbycock79 how old is the boiler? what kind is it?

The callout fee is to come out and diagnose/fix the problem, if he has neither diagnosed, or coming back with a fix, or fixed, I would not be wanting to pay.

Yes, you would pay a call out fee

Like I said, I need people to be clear.

If you want a call out fee you need to tell me how much it is when I ask.

'I don't know, you decide' doesn't work for me.

I could set up in business requiring a call out fee and not being able to fix anything, a license to print money.

Itsnot unusual to suggest a manufacturer specific engineer comes out - they do a fixed price fix which can be the best route forward when the boiler has a vague or intermittent fault. Otherwise you just have to start with the most likely problem and go from there. That quickly gets expensive when you’re buying parts that ‘might’ be the issue. Worcester do a three parts fixed repair charge service for example.
Your engineer just doesn’t want you to be paying out for lots of random parts - they’re doing you a favour.