A Shade Greener – ASG boilers – Everlasting Boilers – Maintenance and repair to boiler***Refund FOS***

[TMG111]

Apologies for my silence for so long. I have submitted my complaint to the Ombudsman who initially found in my favour but Ashadegreener have appealed and I'm waiting for final verdict.

[BankFodder]

Thank you for letting us know.

I think it will be very helpful to people to keep a running commentary on this website. Presumably you receive correspondence from the ombudsman – it hasn't been sent confidentially and personally I don't see a problem with putting up some good extracts of it at any rate on this forum. Also you could possibly tell people what your complaint was about how you expressed it and also how long it's taken with the ombudsman and the general procedure.

This is the kind of thing that will help people who come to this forum or anywhere else – but don't actually want to post anything themselves.

The more information there is about complaining about A Shade Greener than the more it will go around the Internet and the more people will be alerted to the problems.

 

[BankFodder]

By the way, in what way did ASG "appeal" the ombudsman's decision? Was this simply an initial view by an adjudicator? Because the decision by the ombudsman would be final and I'm not aware that there is any appeal.

[Bunnyrabbit2509]

Sorry to jump On the thread but the initial ruling is done by an adjudicator and then you can appeal and get a final decision off the ombudsman. Asg initially appealed mine but then I went to gas safe and supplies extra evidence which changed my redress. 

Edited March 19, 2020 by Bunnyrabbit2509

[BankFodder]

Thank you for this. So I gather that the OP received a preliminary view from the adjudicator which was then challenged by ASG.

Maybe when you start your own thread later on you can give us the whole story and how it happened.

Also if you have contact with the OP on this thread, maybe you could persuade them that they don't need to play Secret Squirrel here. It is better to be open and straight dealing so that everybody benefits from the information. Anything else is protective of ASG.

[TMG111]

An Investigator for the Ombudsman's office sent me this ;

 

Quote

 

'an ombudsman will review your complaint

 

Because the business did not agree with the decision I reached, an ombudsman will now review your complaint and make a final decision.  If the ombudsman’s conclusions are different to mine, they will explain why and let you reply before they give you their decision.

 

We should already have all the information the ombudsman needs to reach a decision. But if we need anything more from you, we will let you know.'

 

 

[BankFodder]

Thank you for this. It's helpful.

It would still be useful if you told us the entire story so far. It would be interesting to see the adjudicator's initial view so that people will understand the process better rather than have to wait for the final outcome. This may allow people to formulate their ombudsman complaint in a more effective way to avoid pitfalls.

[AndyOrch]

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faqs/all/can-appeal-ombudsmans-decision

[BankFodder]

It's a shame that we don't have information about the whole story and the basis of the FOS complaint.

It's partly because people are so on forthcoming about their dealings with ASG, that ASG – a Shade Greener – are able to control the pace of complaints so effectively.

I noticed that on the ASG Facebook group, people are complaining about being intimidated and bullied by ASG – but in fact allowing themselves to be corralled into a private forum where the details of particular complaints and the roots two solutions are not openly discussed, effectively amounts to allowing oneself to be intimidated and bullied and also allows other victims to be placed squarely into the same position.

A great shame that there is no solidarity

[TMG111]

I have an update to this thread which will follow shortly.

[TMG111]

I had started a complaint with FOS nearly 2 years ago when ASG sent someone out to repair my boiler and charged me nearly £200 despite my separate boiler maintenance contract,  yeah the one that means you never have to worry about your boiler breaking down again!

 

They alleged that despite my system being power flushed just 2 years before when the boiler was installed and, having had it serviced twice, I was still liable for the repair bill as I had not taken care of the central heating system. 

 

forward another 12 months or so to November 2019 and the same issue occurred.

ASG refused to even send out an engineer citing that as I had not had my system flushed (again) then they would not be liable.

 

I asked the FOS to take in to account this further break down and that I had had to pay a further £200 for a repair, I argued that I was paying for a maintenance contract which they refused to honour.

 

During this 3rd party repair, the engineer took apart the Boiler Mag filter which captures metallic debris before it enters the boiler which could potentially cause it to fail. This was completely full of black particles which took ages to clean off. 

 

I also provided evidence that they had sent numerous daily text messages since around March this year threatening that if i didn't get my boiler serviced in May then the contract would be breached and I would be liable for all monies. This was despite me telling them that I had someone shielding in my home and sending them a link to the boiler manufacturer's website telling customers that service schedules had been extended due to Covid-19. These messages and letters were also forwarded to FOS.

 

Having looked at the ASG contract, The FOS asked why this Boiler Mag isn't cleaned at every service as it seems to play a very basic but vital role in keeping the boiler from damage. ASG's response was that it was only included in the first service and is the responsibility of the customer to clean during subsequent services. The FOS said this was not mentioned in the contract at all and that it was completely unreasonable to expect a lay person to know about this.

 

They were ordered to repay the repair costs, pay for me to have the system powerflushed and they were also told to repay four years worth of monthly maintenance payments +8% interest. ASG also agreed not to raise the interest rate on the monthly boiler payments for the remainder of the schedule.

 

So thankfully I don't have to have any further contact with this 'company' again other than to pay for the boiler. 

 

 

[AndyOrch]

Well done TMJ and many thanks for the update......good result....have they refunded your four years worth of monthly maintenance payments +8% interest ?

 

Andy

[dx100uk]

wow thats a result

poppy cockle about it being your responsibility to clean the mag filter.

 

if you are collecting black stuff ((PS) find the old radiator thats rusting up inside as that will kill the boiler soon- get it changed out ..very cheap!!)

 

your mag filter should not be gumming up much over 12mts unless there is something wrong in the system.

 

 

[TMG111]

Hi Andy, yes they did + another £600 for flush and repair! I was surprised that they just accepted the FOS terms without a whimper. Cheque received and cashed.

 

 

@dx100uk Agreed. I read people having similar issues with getting repairs from ASG, not sure if it was on here or another site but they seem to adopt the same line about it being the customers responsibility to keep their system fresh and clean. My system was powerflushed in 2016 and by 2018 it was similar to having 4 blocked arteries. I have my doubts as to whether it was done.

Edited July 14, 2020 by TMG111
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