Is my CH engineer stringing me along?

[weehector]

Bit of a tale of woe - no central heating or hot water after 10 days and not sure whether I should lose it or cut my losses and call British Gas. Please advise how I should behave!

Thurs 16th Nov: boiler breaks down, no CH or hot water > we call the CH engineer who says he'll investigate the next day

Fri 17th Nov: CH engineer turns up at the time promised (0930). Advises we need new switches, he'll order them up and fit on Monday. We borrow electric heaters, shower at friends' houses and dig in for a cold weekend. Late Friday, we get a voice message advising that the part is out of stock and it will be Tuesday before it can be fitted.

Tues 21st Nov: CH engineer turns up, fits part and leaves. It's working when he leaves but breaks within 30 mins. Cost of parts and labour -#190 - we pay #150 as that is all we have in cash in the house and the engineer says he'll come back and collect remaining #40 that evening. We call and advise that it's not working and we are told that they will take a look at it the next morning.

Wednesday 22nd Nov: we leave a key and CH engineer goes back in while we are at work. He advises that an ignition board is faulty, they should have noticed and advise they will cover cost of part & fit the next day.

Thursday 23rd Nov: we come home to a cold house. CH engineer has been in because #40 is gone and the key hasn't been left. No messages so we leave a message. No reply that evening.

Friday 24th Nov: am - we finally get the CH engineer on the phone. The wrong part arrived yesterday which they discovered when they tried to fit it. Advised that the correct part has been ordered, is arriving today and will be fitted today. They will txt when fitted. We come home to a cold house again. Txt message and phone message go un-answered.

Sat 25th Nov: another voice message left asking to let us know when part will be fitted goes an-answered.

So, we've paid #190 and still have no CH or hot water after 10 days. We'd have coped with this if we'd known we had to but we've been told that it would be fixed Tues/Thurs/Fri this week which leaves us running about town going to friends for showers and cancelling visits from guests on a day to day basis. It's snowing in Scotland now and the 7 yr old is refusing to get out from under the covers in the morning.

I'm too cold and grumpy after 10 days of no hot water or CH to know if I'm being rational because at the moment I want to threaten trade association/CAB/lawyers & or drink 2 x bottles of wine and slag them off on every trade ratings sites and social media platform available. The lack of communication or information is the real rub tbh.

So 2 questions - is this reasonable service and what should I do or say next if they don't turn up or respond tomorrow?

I think they're probably being honest but it's just one of those pain jobs where it's difficult to diagnose precisely. Their communicating sounds poor but I think of they're busy they only communicate if they have something to say.
This is why boiler engineers are quick to condemn boilers as fitting a new one is a predictable process they can schedule in and get finished in one go with no hidden costs or faults.
Hope you get it sorted soon, just keep chasing.

it would be useful to know the model and age of the boiler.

It might or might not be a common part.

Sadly at this time of year, when it gets cold, workload in the heating trade rockets.

Presumably you have a combi boiler, so no hot water cylinder that you could heat electrically.

This is why we paid the premium for British Gas, because we had an 18 year old boiler, they serviced it every year but it started going wrong, a lot.

We knew the BG engineers by their first names!

We would call at 8am and they would be out that morning.

We actually ended up with them due to a local chap not being able to diagnose the problem and he said if you ring BG they will come out for £99 (at the time) and do a first fault fix for that price but you have to then go on their home care scheme.

It was completely worth it when you have children. Our heating stopped working on Christmas eve one year, they offered to come out Christmas day!

Sack off your local chap and ring BG. I bet they can come out and fix it faster. They carry more parts.

Given you have already parted with £190 it's difficult to switch. BG can usually get any part next day if they order before 8pm and engineers as severely pressurised to make first time completions and are disciplined if I job goes to multiple visits. So this would have been unlikely to have occurred with BG but equally you have already spent £190. Jobs can be difficult to fix, but the lack of communication is truly shocking.

We have a potterton boiler which three Scottish power boiler engineers were unable to diagnose and fix and insisted I needed a new boiler.

Called the manufacturers in despair and turns out they have their own boiler insurance policies and use engineers who actually know how to sort out potterton boilers.

Resulting in boiler fixed and Scottish power dumped. It's been fine ever since.

Consider contacting manufacturers.

Thanks, all for your responses. CH engineer turned up yesterday and we now have a toasty home. Will be considering boiler care options carefully!