Condensate Trap

[Phill Peck]

Thanks muggles, I will try and find someone who is happy to invoice.

I think you'll find if you are honest and upfront eg tell them that u don't have the money for immediate payment but will have it when you get paid next week for example. Some may be put off but I'd be more likely to go if someone were honest with me upfront.
My terms are payment on completion but I would stretch this to help someone out if I felt they were genuine.

 

[Agile]

I always need payment with cash in a tenanted property because I cannot chase tenants for payments.

A tenant wanted to pay by card because she did not have the readies. I don't take cards and suggested that she would have to find a firm that did but their charges would probably be higher anyway.

A few days later she called me again to say she had called someone who charged £6 more than me but on her card. But he did not fix it and said it needed replacing but still charged anyway.

She had found the cash to call me and I came round and fixed it for her. But I discovered that the others had ADDED a fault by intentionally breaking a sensor connection!

So she ended up paying about £180 in total when it would have been less than half of that if only she had found the cash to pay me at the outset.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I need heating as I have a 4 year old.

My 7 year old's safety is far more important to me than the stress if making him put on a jumper. Don't think the heating had come on in his room yet either fit that matter.

 

[Paular]

As per my previous comment, I totally understand what people were saying. I didn't realise the dangers of the problem until the others pointed it out (I am a single mum hence coming onto this forum for advice) so I'm not sure why the comment from Dan was posted!!!! No advice there, just seems to be a dig at me.

I have just logged onto the forum today to let you know my boiler is still switched off and I have a British Gas Engineer coming tomorrow (they have agreed to invoice me). Thanks again for your advice yesterday and for making me aware of the dangers.

 

[Paular]

Update - engineer came, has to order part. Put tape around split in hose so I can have heating. Still dripping water slightly but he said it wasn't dangerous.

 

[muggles]

Hmm that's on his head, I wouldn't trust a bit of tape

Would be interesting to know how much British Gas are charging you? They're normally much more expensive than local independents

 

[Paular]

I'm sure he would have tested it for carbon monoxide before he left. BG are charging £99 for fixing the fault but I had to take out their insurance which is what I wanted so I don't have to go through this again. They are invoicing me so I don't have to pay the £99 up front. He is coming back tomorrow morning with the new part.

 

[muggles]

Ah, the old "we'll fix it cheap if we can sell you insurance" con. You do realise you'd be better off if you just put the money you're paying into insurance into a bank account don't you? It'd cost you less in the long run. How much a month have they persuaded you out of I wonder?

 

[Paular]

If I put it into the bank it will get spent on something else as there is always something to pay out for. I've been thinking of getting insurance out for a while as I know boilers can cost a fortune if they go wrong. They are charging me a discount price of £15 pm which covers the boiler and radiators (I'd rather pay this small sum each month than stressing over a huge bill. At least now it will get fixed and I have heating otherwise we would have been without it for over a week.

 

[muggles]

So... £180 a year, plus at least a £60 surcharge (sometimes as much as £90) every time you call them out. Did you spot that in the small print? If it's not there somewhere I'll eat my hat, but it means you'll always have to keep that much aside to pay them or they won't come out anyway. There's no way you'd average a £180 per year spend on a Promax, they're pretty solid boilers. Sorry to say it, but they've taken advantage of your desperation

The only person who wins with boiler insurance is the insurer. Once they start feeling that they're losing money repairing your boiler they'll start pushing you to have it replaced

 

[Paular]

I understand your comment and to be fair I hate insurances, I don't have any on appliances in the house. Im just happy to have heating and hot water for me and my little girl. The thought of not having this for over a week, maybe two weeks when the weather is getting colder is unimaginable. Don't know how we coped when I was little with just a gas fire in the front room, makes me shiver thinking about it

 

[Phill Peck]

Update - engineer came, has to order part. Put tape around split in hose so I can have heating. Still dripping water slightly but he said it wasn't dangerous.