Roof repairs - still leaking

[IShouldProbablyHooverMore]

Looking for opinions please. Don't know if I'm expecting too much, being unreasonable etc.

Had some roof repairs in 2021, around £9k, £2.5k of which was repairs to chimney on back roof. Roofer (who came highly recommended from multiple people) had replaced flashing around the chimney breast, which is what he believed was causing water ingress into two back bedrooms.
Got the worst room replastered end of last year, started decorating (so this is another £1500+) and then noticed leak patches in same place as before. Original roofer came back out, jumped on the roof and said our chimney is badly cracked. We can't see this because of the roof layout, which I think is important. He said he'd come over one weekend before Christmas and seal the cracks, but then couldn't because of the weather. He still won't be pinned down on a date, and the ingress is getting worse.
Bearing in mind we can't see the back of the chimney, but they could when they were fixing it, I believe, perhaps unreasonably so, that this is something they should have noticed and factored in when doing first round of repairs. And we'd have happily paid - we just wanted the roof fixed. The fact that the current leak is in exact same spots also suggests, to me, that the repairs they made didn't actually fix anything (maybe that's a moot point).

I'm about to email the roofer to try and pin down a date to fix. When he came round he intimated that he would do it free of charge, but we've not received a quote so who knows. I feel so frustrated - my son's bedroom wall is an absolute mess. But do we just accept that he fixed what he thought was the problem, and roofing isn't an exact science or whatever? Or do I need to be a bit more forceful in my email.

Sorry, long - grateful for thoughts.

I should add - the walls were papered with woodchip so any continuing leaks between repair and plastering wouldn't have been obvious.

Bumping in the hope someone might be able to advise.

Chimneys are awful when they start to leak.
it probably wanted repointing at least. Bricks can become porous overtime due to the heat and soot. They can be painted with weatherseal after repointing but it has to be repeated every couple of years. Is the pot the correct one and is it capped?
If you don’t need the chimney you could just remove it.

Bearing in mind we can't see the back of the chimney, but they could when they were fixing it
Hindsight, but ask them to take a phone photo next time.

Email them to confirm push for the date and that this will be FOC as unfinished from the initial work.

The chimney's rendered, not sure if that makes the leaking worse. We're looking into removal as well, but cost might make this a 2024 job.
The pot is correct, it's capped. The roofer did say he's pretty certain the cracks are the problem (but then he said last time it was the flashing).

Good point about photos. He took some this time. He implied the sealing would be FOC, I think he knows they were missed first time round - but I'll ask for confirmation.

It's not unusual for the actual source of a leak to be the less obvious possible cause. But it's odd the builder didn't see the cracking when the flashing was replaced and offer to do the work whilst he was up there.

Roofers, like all the other trades, are in high demand at the moment. You're going to have to be persistent (without being nagging) to get a slot in his schedule. Get straight to the point with your email, be firm. If the reply doesn't include the answer to your question, reply asking the question again.

Thanks @DogInATent, appreciate your advic

I'd be wary of them 'sealing' the cracks, what are they proposing to seal them with?! If there is cracking to the render then I'd be recommending hacking the existing off and re-rendering, so you'll need a plasterer not a roofer.

Are you sure its the chimney? Water has a habit of entering at one place but revealing itself at another. Had the whole roof been checked and all the guttering, soffits, fascias etc?

Our chimney's in an odd place. Almost definitely that causing the problem, but roof, guttering etc. has been checked (we had a fair bit of work done at the time). TBH, any sealing is a temporary fix, and we know this. The chimney will be removed, we just can't afford to do it immediately.

Despite being frustrated with the situation, I do trust the roofer. I think the cracks were missed, he realised this (probably because they weren't so bad then), so was going to fix them ASAP.

Then bad weather hit, and we've been forgotten because he's so busy. He does rendering too (albeit small jobs, not whole houses), so trust him with the patching up. We know it's temporary.

My main concern was where we stand with asking him to do the temporary fix for free. I've emailed him today, let's see what he says.

We had a similar problem with one of our chimneys back in 2014,we got a builder out and he told us that the flaunching had collapsed.
He repaired it,we waited three months to redecorate and a week after we applied the finishing touches the chimney breast was soaking wet again.
We ended up getting another builder to remove the chimney stack.

It's so frustrating isn't it @WickedSerious? Fortunately I'd only done the primer and first coat. Our next door neighbour had their chimney removed last year so we're going to chat to him. I just want to be able to move forward with finishing the room.

It was infuriating,@IShouldProbablyHooverMore ,I thought I was seeing things the second time it happened.

Good luck getting it sorted.