Faulty gas fire within warranty. Installer and shop blaming each other

[BerylStreep]

I would appreciate some advice. I bought a gas fire and had it installed at the end of June last year. It has stopped working.

I contacted the shop I bought it from, and they came out to look at the fire. The guy who came out thought that it was a pressure problem with the pipes (I.e. an installation issue). He said he is happy to arrange an engineer from the manufacturer to come out to do a warranty visit, but that if the engineer says it is an installation issue, the manufacturer will charge me £100 for the visit. The guy who came out therefore suggested that I get the installer to come out and double check that the pressure is ok before he arranges a warranty visit.

I phoned the corgi registered installer today, and he says that he will come out to check it, but will charge a call-out fee.

The installer tried to rip us off in relation to another job he did for us, and so I am loathe to pay him any money, especially as the fire is only 7 months old.

I left a message for the installer saying not to bother coming out, but that if I am charged £100 by the manufacturer in the event that it is an installation issue, I will be seeking this amount from him.

Does this sound reasonable? Where do I stand legally?

Hmm I would suggest you find an installer registered with buywithconfidence.gov.uk so you know they are not shonky and ask him to come and check it for a fixed fee. It should not cost much to have it just inspected. Your problem then is that if it is a pressure problem, then the original installer would be obliged to fix it and if he's an arse will he do a good job?

Who provided the commissioning certificate for it? They have some liability here.

Thanks for the reply. Is the commissioning certificate the installation cert?

The installer provided me with a cert when he put the fire in.

My dh is a SAFE (corgi no longer regulates the Gas Register) registered Gas Engineer. He would normally go out free off charge and check any issues and if he can resolve it then he would. If it's a fault with the fire after his checks he would then call out the manufacturer to see the problem and solve it.

If you are not happy regarding the installer and it is him, then it would be advisable to get GAS SAFE involved and get them to come out to the fire if it is an installation problem as he's obviously trying to not get involved.

I'd phone the engineer again and ask him to come out and be upfront that you are not paying and that he needs to check what he installed. I would say if the commissioning of the fire was signed off by the installer then he needs to sort this out and accept responsibility.

Yes, what groovee said (thank you for saying it better than I could in my sleep deprived state).

Thanks for the advice. I phoned Gas Safe, and they advised that they think the installer should be coming out to check his work without a fee. They have said they will deal with this as a complaint, and will send out an inspector to check the work, giving the installer the opportunity to be there.

It may be nothing to do with the installation, but I was that he wouldn't stand over his work without trying to charge me. I paid him £800 to install the fire!

Did that include the fire that's a he'll of a lot

No, the fire was £1200, installation £800 which included lining the flue.

Next time just tell him you're going to report it to the Gas Safe Register. I think it costs about £2500 to register on it plus you have to take exams every few years so if they don't like your work and strike you off you're a bit screwed. I hope the inspector resolves the problem.

Well the Gas Safe Inspector came out today, along with the installer. The Inspector had him up and down stairs, in the loft, outside, checking fires etc for 1 1/2 hours. He came to the conclusion that there is a blockage in the pipe leading to the fire, and has issued a defect notice to the installer requiring him to put it right.
Yay!
There is no way that the installer would have been so thorough in testing the installation if he had done it himself. Apparently the gas pressure is half what is supposed to be.

There was however a lot of bloke bonding when they were here, which pissed me off somewhat - who knew there could be so many interesting gas stories to keep blokes entertained?

Anyway, I have cancelled the warranty visit, and hopefully the issue will be sorted.