Evening all
I am after a bit of advise on how best to deal with the following situation:
We had a brand new combo boiler fitted just under 4 years ago with a 5 year warranty. The boiler has been fully serviced every year.
However every November, when the boiler starts to get a bit more use the same part seems to fail on the boiler. It's a small micro switch that needs replacing every time. The boiler manufacturers come out and swap the part under warranty, we have a record of every time.
This has just happened again for the 4th time in 4 years and we are getting fed up of it to say the least.
The plumber who fitted the boiler says its a fault on the boiler and the manufacturers should replace the faulty boiler, but the manufacturers say it's just the part and they will replace that part under warranty.
The warranty will run out next year and we are not willing to pay to have this part replaced every year.
We feel the boiler is faulty and not fit for service, so the question is:
What is the best way to approach this?
Do we go straight to the manufacturer and ask for a replacement boiler or do we go through the plumber who originally fitted it?
Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
It's too late to ask for a replacement boiler (under the sale of goods act) so it would have to be done under the warranty again. It seems that there may be another problem causing that component to fail so it might be worth pursuing this with the manufacturers and give them the history. Hopefully they should look at it sympathetically and offer some help.
Your complaint rests with the company that supplied it, rather than the plumber who fitted it ( unless he works for them).
Rod
Thanks for the reply rod
The boiler was supplied and fitted by the plumber (independent heating engineer with his own company). He is blaming the boiler, and obviously not his own work!!
The manufacturers engineer is due out this week to replace the part again. They know the history of the boiler as they have been out to replace the part every year. I will ask for some advise on why this keeps happening, the last one didn't seem to know and was just interested in replacing the part.
Which boiler is it?
sime murelle
As soon as the warranty expires try and get the boiler onto contract with BG etc, as no other independent will work on SIME boilers as they are well known for being unreliable and having small/expensive faults.
Just to be clear, if you purchased the boiler and the installation from the heating engineer then your contract lies with them and not the manufacturer. At the end of the warranty the free support will end and the heating engineer will happily blame the boiler manufacturer even though he probably specified it in the first place. The plumber is not likely to pursue a claim on your behalf with the manufacturer as he has nothing to gain. You could have a go about "not fit for purpose" but you are unlikely to get very far unless the plumber is either a) a philanthropist or b) possessed of a very guilty conscience.
British Gas Maintenance contract seems to be the best way to go.
Doesn't the new part have 12 months warranty every time they fit it?
Just an idea;
Perhaps treat the part as a consumable, buy a number of replacement switches and
every annual service get the engineer to replace it.
I don't think you'll get very far with sale of goods 4 years on, you've basically accepted it.
You could squeeze the manufacturer for the spare part foc?
I would join Which legal service and wait for the next switch to fail. I think their lawyers would take on the manufacturer on the grounds the fault was there when you bought the boiler.
It's likely a new combi, and these have a life cycle of circa 10 years (so I've found out). We had a conventional boiler replaced with a new-tangled combi during a bathroom refit in '99. It was beyond economical repair by 2009. I was shocked. Now on the second Worcester Bosch (supposed to be the best but I'm skeptical).
As the other respondent said, stock up on the spare part. And start saving for a total replacement in 5 years!
If it's the micro switch then buy a few now while you can. I'd say 10 should be enough.
Also, as has been mentioned, get on a basic BG service contract if you can. That way when the switch fails BG will come for free to fix it, they'll tell you they have to order the part (4-5 days min) so you produce the part for the engineer and bingo you're back in business.
Boiler life for most modern boiler is 10 years tops. That's why I'm reluctant to have my boiler replaced.
The part will be in next day, if it's a common fault there's a good chance the BG engineer will have the part in his van.Originally Posted by aldfort
Thanks for all the replies gents :)
Its just very frustrating given the time scales. switch brakes, engineer replaces, boiler fine for another 10/12 months then it goes again!! I think it is a design fault with a very sensitive switch, which they can do nothing about other than replace it every year.
A lot of useful info for me to discuss with the engineer when he comes to swap the switch again. I was always very doubtful about getting a replacement boiler, just thought i would see what other people thought.
I like the idea of buying a number of micro switches, i will find out the part number and have a look online, i will also ask the engineer about buying direct from them.
I will also look into a BG contract.
Another idea, given the annual replacement required (which both we and the manufs have full records of), and not wanting to pay for call out once the initial 5 yr warranty has expired, was to ask the manuf to extend their warranty by another 5 years?
I am hoping they may oblige even if its for a small fee :), All their new boilers come with a 10 year warranty.
If we can make it last another 5 years with just changing this part every year then we can look at replacing the boiler.
thanks again gents and i'll will update when the engineer has been.
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