Domestic & General Repairer Broke the Boiler and not taking resposibilty.

[funkar]

Hello Everyone,

I would like to explain a situation I am in and will be very much thankful if someone can help me by advising the options I have.

 

It’s about a boiler repair which was carried out by two of Domestic & General’s authorised repairers, I will call them repairer-1 and repairer-2 to keep their identity hidden and DomGen to Domestic & General.

 

Before starting, in nutshell, since 28th Sep 2012 till now 18th of Jan 2013 (17 Weeks) I had nearly 6 visits but boiler couldn’t be repaired and rather damaged by repairer-2. DomGen and repairer-1&2 are teamed up together not to admit their fault and at the end using sludge in the system card.

 

Here are the details;

 

On 28th Sep 2012 and 1st of Nov 2012 Repairer -1 visited, tried to repair but failed and reported that low system pressure is the cause of the boiler not working. That’s not true, I am having excessive water pressure which has caused pipes to burst couple of time and damaged the shop ceiling and stock downstairs. Their solicitor’s letters claiming compensation for the damage are proof of that.

 

 

I then Called DomGen again to send any other repairer as the repairer-1 has failed.

 

They sent Repairer-2 as they have only 2 authorised repairers covering my area. Repairer -2 visited on 13th Nov 2012 but no luck and went away saying they need to order few parts.

 

They never called back so I had to call them and book them in again for 28th Nov 2012. The Repairer-2 came and did what started a new problem. The Repairer-2 couldn’t figure out how to open the front fascia and casing. Infect it was one of the old Ideal Europa boiler whose front fascia and casing needs some patients to open which repairer-2 never had.

 

Repairer-2 used excessive force and finally ripped the front fascia (Control Panel) off which was having control knobs on it and connected back to PCB. The Casing was still intact. Repairer -2 left the scene with bits hanging down the boiler knowingly that there are kids at the home. Repairer-2 said before leaving that he needs to order new front Fascia as this one is damaged.

 

On 4th of December 2012 I called up Repairer-2 to find out whats happening and they said it will take 9-10 days to get the part in. I couldn’t do anything except calling DomGen and told them there are kids at home and boiler is not working for long time. In those days temperature was below freezing.

 

On 6th of December Repairer-2 called me and said they can’t find the front fascia as it’s obsolete and we have to write the boiler off. Later on that day, DomGen Called and confirmed that they have to write it off and will let me know the settlement figure soon.

 

Next day DomGen called and offered £341.99 as settlement figure. I refused to accept it saying that boiler is being written off due to Repairer-2’s mistake and I should have a boiler replacement by Repairer-2. Instead of £341.99. £341.99 will not do anything for me. New boiler will cost me at least £1500 and why should I pay for repairer-2’s negligence.

 

DomGen said they will speak to Repairer-2 and will come back to me. After few days, I called myself to DomGen as they didn’t call and inquired. They said they have instructed the Repairer-2 to speak to you and resolve the issue. I told them they havn’t called. DomGen said we will call them again today and they will call you to discuss it or resolve it but at our end we can only offer you £341.99.

 

Repairer-2 never called me to resolve the dispute so I had to take the initiative and called them on 18th Dec 2012 after giving them enough time. They admitted the damage to front fascia but refused to compensate or replace the boiler and referred me to DomGen for £341.99.

 

On 20th December 2012, I sent recorded delivery letters to Repairer-1, Repairer-1’s Director and DomGen demanding full boiler replacement and costs of temporary accommodation for my tenants ( I’ll explain later about temp accommodation) within seven days of this letter which should be 27th Dec 2012.

 

No-one contacted me after 7 days. After 21 days of these letters, I drafted a letter and Sent to Trading Standards of DomGen Council, Repairer-2’s Council, Subjected Property’s Council and FSA. These letters were drafted on 10th Jan 2013 and sent out on 13th Jan 2012 with Boiler’s pictures showing the damage caused by repairer-2. I haven’t received any reply back from any of these yet.

 

On 14th of Jan 2013, DomGen called me (after 24 days of my recorded letter) saying that they have spoken to Repairer-2 about your demand and repairer-2 is saying that boiler is not being written off because of front control panel damage but actually being written off due to corroded casing of the boiler.

 

I told DomGen that you are coming up with another excuse and trying to cover Repairer-2. I completely disagree with their statement and want a third party to come and inspect the boiler’s casing as it’s not corroded. I also told DomGen that I have sent letters to Trading Standards & FSA and I am taking it further up. On this she asked if I had any response from any of them and I replied it’s just been sent out yesterday. She put me on hold for 3-4 minutes and came back saying that we can send a third company to see the casing and that company is Repairer-1.

 

I said I don’t trust Repairer-1 would be neutral enough as both of these are on your panel and they might cover each other so I will doubt the transparency of Repairer-1’s report. Even phone numbers of both Repairer-1 and Repairer-2 ends on 8888 which clearly shows a link although both operate from different locations.

 

DomGen said that I am not co-operating if I refuse Repairer-1 to come and inspect. I had no other choice than accepting it. I was clear that there is no way some one can say that casing is corroded. Next day repairer-1 came and started turning on the boiler, I told him that you are here to look at the casing as we are in a dispute of casing being corroded.

 

He didn’t give much attention to my point and started opening the bits of boiler. He opened the pump of the boiler, some water spilled on the bottom of the boiler from pump. He started to stream that spilled water into a bottle saying that it looks like there is sludge in the water. I told him you are dropping this water on the bottom of the boiler where lot of dirt, debry and sludge sitting for long time.

 

Now you are mixing it all with system water and pouring it into bottle. No wonder it will look like dirty and sludged water. He carried on. Once finished, I asked him do you think the casing is corroded ? after couple of left and rights he admitted that casing is not corroded. He left but forgot his sludged water to take with him for lab test. I also told him that I have changed whole of the pipe work in the property recently just to deal with high mains pressure and there should be no sludge in any ways. If you find some dirty water in the pump it could only because of the pump not used for many months.

 

Next day on 17th Jan 2013, DomGen calls me and says that you have sludge in your system and we don’t cover sludge damage so we cannot compensate you any more than our first offer of £341.99. I reminded her you sent someone to find out about if the casing is corroded or not and which is not and now you are taking a U-Turn and playing the sludge card.

 

How about previous writing off due to front control panel damage ? She refused to talk about anything else but the sludge. After all, she ended the conversation saying that she can only offer £341.99 which was offered on the very first day.

 

This is end of Boiler’s story.

 

Now, as I mentioned at one point about my Tenant’s temporary accommodation. On 22nd of October 2012, 5 weeks after the boiler breakdown, the social services of my local council on tenants request served me an enforcement notice on defective boiler and ordered to get it working in 10 days.

 

While all the peoblems were going on with DomGen, I was dealing with my Council’s environmental authorities too regarding the cold and no hot water in the house. I tried to kept them updated and calm for a while but when it started to get out of hands I had to relocate my tenants to a temporary accommodation. If I don’t do it council would have done it.

 

I moved them on 5th of December 2012 after Repairer-2 broke the front panel and dispute started between me and DomGen. Since 5th of December 2012, the tenants are in a temporary accommodation which is costing me £640 per week (£91.42 per day).

 

When I sent letters to DomGen, Repairer-2, FSA and trading Standard, I mentioned about this cost to be paid as I had to relocate my tenants just because of Repairer-2’s negligence and bad workmanship.

 

Quite detailed !!! isn’t it ???

Don’t want to miss anything and really thanks to those who came to this point reading all the way down.

 

What shall I do now ??

Shall I speak to a solicitor ?? this will involve extra costs on board. Or shall I wait for trading Standards and FSA to come back.

 

Shall I file small claim in county court ? At onne point DomGen said that this case doesn’t come under FSA as DomGen is only providing service and passing the job to Repairer-2 so trading standard should look into it for Repairer-2 or small claim on Repairer-2 but not FSA ?

 

Is this correct what DomGen Said ?

 

Thanks again for reading through and any replying with your valuable suggestions. I am taking a stand on truth and will not bow down till the justice is served against these big Sharks.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Conniff
Reducing to a font size that doesn't hurt.

[i hate bailiffs]

You could send them a letter before action for the cost to replace /fix there mess

it would be small claims court

 

don't threaten court unless you will actually go to court with it

[funkar]

You could send them a letter before action for the cost to replace /fix there mess

it would be small claims court

 

don't threaten court unless you will actually go to court with it

 

 

 

 

Letter to DomGen or Repairer-2? Or both??

[i hate bailiffs]

Letter to DomGen or Repairer-2? Or both??

 

i would of thought domgem as they employ the repairers/destroyers by the sounds of it

[Surfer01]

Your contract is with DomGen and not their repairers. It is their responsibility to ensure that they employ suitably qualified people to do the job. Perhaps the best way forward is to get an independent in to do a report and then submit it to DomGen as part of your claim. Also valid if it goes to court.

I am not sure of the T & Cs of your contract but in th event they are unable to repair a boiler, are they oblige to replace it? How long having you been paying DomGen for boiler cover?

[funkar]

Thanks,

Policy is in its first year. DomGen normally offers cash settlement as their policy but in my case the boiler is being written off due to their employed repairer's negligence and not because of normal wear and tear.

[Guest Michael Rosen-Domestic and General Brand Manager]

Hi, I am really sorry to hear you are having problems. If you email me at customerhelpatdomesticandgeneral.com I'll try to resolve this for you. Just send me your agreement numberThanksMichaelPR & Brand ManagerDomestic & General

[funkar]

Thanks Michael, realy appreciate your help. I've just sent you an email, plz check.

[funkar]

Just to let the readers know,

DomGen is still on same stance and not ready to admit their fault rather every time coming up with new reasons of not to admit their repairer's mistake.

I am heading to legal intervention now. Lets see.

I had more than 10 policies with DomGen which i cancelled last week and decided to put this money in savings for events like this. i m sure i will rather save a lot of money this way.