I'm having some problems with my boiler (very VERY slow heating of the rads) so I phoned Worcester Bosch to arrange a boiler service.
The sales girl was extremely pushy in trying to get me to accept a =A3185 service, which includes up to 2 major parts but not the heat exchanger. I have to pay =A3185 even if no parts need changing.
I told her that as far I knew the problem could be that the flues or sensors needed cleaning and a standard service would cover that. "Oh no", she said "the standard service doesn't look inside the boiler". If the standard service found any problems, it would require a separate callout which could be weeks later, and would itself cost a minimum of =A3185, charged at the time of the standard service. Oh, and by the way the earliest a standard service could be arranged is February 19th.
I told her I'd take that standard service on Feb 19th.
Is this normal behaviour for Worcester Bosch? If I was a timid old lady I would be intimidated into accepting the =A3185 service without question.
I paid for a call-out from WB a couple of years ago - it failed to=20 resolve the problem, and they were called out again within a few days=20 (not sure if they were trying to say it would be a seperate fee again,=20 but if so, I argued the point and won)
It failed *again* within days, at which point I started to ask just=20 what their expected lifespan was for individual components as I felt=20 it was worth taking further (trading standards etc), as mine was only=20 two years old at this point (i'll have the emails here somewhere)
...here we go...
(and FWIW I believe the _actual_ fault was caused by the PSU on the=20 back of the board, not any of the individual components)
-------Email #1-------
Hello Mr Wilson.
Any parts replaced have a one-year warranty, in addition to our=20 standard 30-day recall policy.
It's hard for me to comment on the reasons why you've needed two replacement PCBs without being able to look at the call-out history of your appliance. To do this I need your postcode and house number; if=20 you would like me to look into it further do email these details in.
Yours,
Alison Harding Support Services
-----Original Message-----
I`ve just had a call-out / repair done on my boiler via yourselves, but I note that no mention is made regarding a warranty for the components replaced.
The board was replaced (the second since the system was installed in March 2004), the air pressure switch, and fan assembly.
Can you tell me what the expected lifespan is for these components and whether there is a warranty on them ? (two boards in two years does not instill confidence in your products !)
The boiler is a 28SiII in case it helps you track quality control issues.
Thanks
-------Email #2-------
SIM> I have checked the call-out history for you. It doesn't appear=20 SIM> that there's an ongoing or recurring fault given that it's almost SIM> two years ago when we first replaced the PCB and we haven't been SIM> out again until now.
I didn't suggest it was on ongoing / recurring fault, but wanted to know what the expected lifespan for a board* should be.
*or any of your components for that matter
How many fault calls do you expect to have to make to a boiler that has been in service for just under two years ?
-------Email #3-------
Dear Mr Wilson=20
Alison has passed your email enquiry on to me to see if we can offer=20 any assistance with the problems experienced on your 28si Boiler. I=20 have checked our records and note that the PCB has now been replaced=20 on two occasions, back in 2004 and again on 15th March. It is often=20 the case that our engineers will replace a PCB as part of a fault=20 finding exercise or a precaution because it can be adversely affected=20 by other faults within an appliance. =20
Nevertheless, I can understand your concern and as the boiler is only=20 two years old I would like to arrange to convert the =A3185 already paid=20 into a Maintenance Contract which will not only pay for the current=20 repairs but also cover the appliance for the next 12 months for all=20 call out, labour and parts. The scheme, currently =A3148.44 p.a. also=20 provides a full boiler service by one of our engineers within the=20 year.
I hope this gesture will provide some peace of mind in the longer=20 term. If acceptable, please advise and our Contracts Team will make=20 the necessary arrangements. =20
In the meantime, I trust the visit tomorrow will resolve the current=20 problem but I will note on your customer site that should a further=20 fault develop we must send a senior technician out, free of charge of=20 course.
Why...? It sounds like they will do sod all, certainly not what you need.
There are many genuine business opportunities to charge people for doing things they actually need; unfortunately some Cos seem more focussed on charging people for doing absolutely nothing.
Or what do they do in this 'service': check the colour of the flame..? Wipe down the exterior surface..?
Cost me over 200 quid to have a blocked drain jetted. 30 mins work but at least he did the job. But the first guy charged me 70 quid for doing nothing (even thu I described the issue, Mr "no job to big or small" didn't tell me on the phone he didn't have the right equipment, as if I would pay 70 quid for someone to come out with a toilet plunger..).
Dunno but why do you want them to come out? There are all sorts of things that could be wrong with your system, unconnected with the boiler, causing the problem you describe. Suggest you get a local heating engineer to look at it. They should be able to deal with most issues with the boiler, too. If it looks as if the boiler needs serious attention *then* it might be worth getting W-B out to do it.
IIRC cover from Homeserve or similar for the whole system is cheaper than the WB boiler contract. Swinton are supposed to offer a good deal but they don't have a website worthy of the name.
The way to deal with this approach is to diagnose the boiler fault yourself and then call them out if. A) you fail in the above endeavour. B) The parts will cost a significant fraction of the £185 C) You are not up to the competence level required for the repair.
Their business model is
1) Most faults are easily fixed a good few being 'cockpit errors'.
2) The technicians are kept busy and can do many 'fixes' each day.
3) The true cost of the parts is nothing like the retail price tag. (A boiler made of parts would probably come to ten times the cost of the entire new unit!).
4) The really big loss is the heat exchanger and that's extra.
5) I bet the small print has some get out clauses for worst case installations and/or they can claim it's wrongly installed.
They will lose on a small number of jobs. Maybe the diagnosis is unclear/ difficult.
I took the cover off the boiler and realised that the pump wasn't working, so phoned Worcester back and changed my mind. They came the next day, replaced the pump and also fixed the hot water pre-heat which had been unreliable for some time.
=A3185 for pump replacement and extra tuning I don't mind. What made me angry was the fact that I would have to pay =A3185 even if there was no fault at all with the boiler.
It is not a call out charge. It a fixed price charge which covers a lot but not everything.
As I said the way to get the best out of such deals is to make sure YOU only call them out for the big repairs and let the ignorati [1] call them out for broken timers, themrostats and accidentally switching it off.etc.
You are right. But if the problem had not been with the boiler - which initially was a possibility - it would have amounted to the same thing as a call-out charge.
Again you are right. But those "ignorati" include timid old ladies, and they are being ripped-off by the aggressive selling tactics of the Worcester Service sales team.
You are right. But if the problem had not been with the boiler - which initially was a possibility - it would have amounted to the same thing as a call-out charge.
Again you are right. But those "ignorati" include timid old ladies, and they are being ripped-off by the aggressive selling tactics of the Worcester Service sales team.
WB recently told me that they don't routinely send written confirmation of an engineer's visit. I said that seemed rather odd since any parts replaced would be guaranteed for 12 months, and how would I know which parts that applied to. The paperwork arrived next day, about 9 months after the event. I'd call that sharp practice
A landlords gas safety inspection costs 50 quid (inc VAT).
So I would say 50quid 'call out'/'first hour' after that no fix, no fee. Then there is at least an incentive to send somebody with some experience rather than anyone with corgi certification (which is for some reason taken as a 'gold' standard, when it is really the absolute minimum requirement).
185 quid is a rip-off. Actually you can buy 1 year central heating system cover for less than that, including the safety inspection.
I recently had them out - I was certain the gas valve was at fault, although it could easily have been the PCB. So, for =A3185 I considered it acceptable, perhaps good, value given:
- I phoned them at 10pm and they were available to call the next day despite the 'silly season' run up to Christmas
- no surprises re cost - they'd replace upto two major parts for that price, and the PCB/valve are both around the =A3100 mark
- no finding someone out of Yellow Pages, and all the risks this brings
- a courtesy phonecall half an hour before calling round
- a van full of WB parts so easily able to swap parts in/out for an immediate fix
- WB-trained engineer, with a loaded-laptop of technical bumph, giving high confidence of a successful fault-find and fix
All in all I was very happy and, just as importantly, I *knew* I was going to be happy given the above - that level of certainty is worth something in my book particularly on the last available day before Christmas. Sure, it might've been different if the failure was a simple/cheap component or something I could've done but, for me in this case, I knew it wasn't go to be and I wouldn't have got them (or anyone) out if I thought otherwise.
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