New boiler......

As people always say, ask 20 questions and get 20 different answers regarding a new boiler.
We have finally gone for a Vaillant ecotec 837 purely down to output. We wanted a boiler which gave us maximum output for the size of property we have.
There are others on the market, but as always answers wide and varied for all. The reviews and there's plenty of them in favour and not in favour dependant on where you are and what type of fitter you get to install the unit, with after care and servicing.

Seems to me that we as a country have lost our customer service in this area.
We get things fitted and hope that they will work only to find out that follow ups and support for what we have paid out for is severly lacking in care. Part with your money any people do not want to know as this means they are losing money and time caoming back to a job which should have been sorted prior to leaving. Any and all glitches should be ironed out and installers require to be updated on fault finding with each model.

I shall wait and see how this new model works out for us, and hope that these glitches do not suprise us as the call out fees are to much without any repairs.

Duty of care seems to have deserted the british employment circle and Joe Cowboy gets its claws into most people who have a little hard earned cash to spend on what is deemed as an essential now.

Bodge it and rip off come to mind with most companies and individuals who choose to work in a private dwelling.

Bring back the honest hardworking people who care about what they do and how they do it.

No job to small and no fault left to manifest.

I like a lot of us on here, am proud to be british and wish others were too.

 

As a retired builder plumber I see it now and again. One elderly lady has a carer and she said her husband did repairs. Old lady employed him to repair her porch he charged £2.500 and she paid him. This was a one man job for max 1 day £800 would have been about right. Yes I could have poked my nose in but like most retired folk it is none of my business. Local authority / carer lady/ who am I / no stay out of it.

 

You're right - by and large suppliers of just about anything in this country are happy to take your money and run, customer service seems to extend as far as getting you to buy the most expensive (irrespective of whether it's right for your needs), and as for 'after care', well you're frequently on your own.

Over the years, I've literally lost count of the number of times I've argued with shops who refuse to do anything about faulty goods simply because the guarantee ran out ' .. a month ago' and it's a sad fact that my experience and thorough knowledge of the Sale of Goods Act (gained and in my previous life working for the Serious Fraud Office) has often proved invaluable.

Despite their claims British Gas made the biggest ba**s-up imaginable of re-wiring our house; their 'boiler service' consisted of taking off the front cover, checking for emissions and putting the cover back on again!; more water came out of the connectors than ever went into the new washing machine when Curry's fitted it; my local VW dealer has tried to tell my daughter that the malfunctioning driver's window on the car she bought new from them has been down to 'ice on the window'; 'dirt on the window' and on one famous occasion 'excessive use'!!; in all instances, a local company or tradesman has had to be called to rectify the situation and often it's been done in half the time and if not necessarily cheaper, certainly more efficiently.

These days, whenever possible - and in truth that's not often - I buy from independent retailers or use local tradesmen and why? Because it's their reputation at stake. I've recently had to buy a new TV, the independent retailer is some 30 miles away, yet I've been buying TVs from him for the last 20-odd years simply because he won't try and sell me a 42" 'thing' when all I want is something much smaller, he'll happily deliver, set it up, make sure you understand the controls and is always willing to come back and fix any problems or 'glitches' as part of his customer service, no wonder I keep going back and recommend him to others.

 

Landimad,

I've never had problems apart from age issues on my Vaillant combination boilers, so I think you've made a good choice.

When I moved into my last house there was one already there, I lived there nine years and the chap that serviced it now does my present one which is seven years old and still no major issues. He told me that he still services the one in the previous house which would make it seventeen years old at least now!

 

I had to make this choice when I moved into my cottage a year ago, the boiler here was 12 years old and very noisy so I had to choose a new one!!!! I eventually chose a Worcester and so far have been very pleased with it, good luck with your Vaillant.

Val

 

New boiler gets delivered today and hope that when it is fitted tomorrow we get hot water and central heating. If all goes well this will be another big pay out and headache over.

 

New boiler and associate parts have arrived today, only thing is they forgot the Magnaclean filter which I specifically wanted to safeguard the pump. Oh well they will have to come back and fit that at a later date.

 

Sorry that will have to be ordered and fitted later. Good thing I had cleaned and flushed the system prior to them fitting.

Yippee its being fitted as I type.

 

Changed the filter to a Spyrotech as the fitter had one on board. Does the same and can fill the fernox in the same place.
Anyway the new system is quiet and on the timer, hope this will be it for the time we have left in this property. So happy all are now able to warm up and have a hot shower.

 

I worked in call centre for boiler breakdowns for two years and covered a lot of boilers for various companies. I would advise never buy a cheap Ideal boiler (only the Ideal Logic+). The sad thing is they used to be top of the game when it came to boilers many years ago but now they are pretty rubbish. My parents have an Ideal Mexico which was in the house when they moved in and it's still going strong, that would make it at least 24 years old.

An important thing to note is that you shouldn't get them serviced when they're this old as a lot of the parts inside will have fused together so when they get taken apart they don't go back together again. A knock on problem is that the parts are probably not available anymore or have to be manufactured on demand. They'll only make the batch of parts when they have enough ordered (I know of one story where a customer had to wait 6 months for a Ferroli part to be made and shipped from Italy, leaving his family without ch or dhw). Now that's modern customer service!

I would say Worcester are the best out there and the price reflects this, Vailliant EcoTec are just behind. (Both their customer care are pretty good, I think Worcester have their own engineers also so they should have all the parts in their van). Any other names I wouldn't really bother with.

When it comes to boiler cover and or repairs, avoid the following names:

Scottish Power
EagaHeating
Warmsure
Carillion

These are the companies the call centre I worked in covered, customer care is not what we were employed for...

Always go for the sole trader engineer when out of warranty and you need a repair, they'll happily drive to the parts centre and pick up what is needed. This is afterall their livelihood.

The engineer that works for a huge public company more often than not just isn't bothered if they leave you in the cold for weeks on end. They get paid regardless.

 

British Gas maintenance contract
Annual service engineer arrives, pocket full of new boiler information leaflets
Oh I have done the service but you need a new boiler here is a leaflet
But you have not accessed the boiler yet just the fire, the Boiler Matrix is behind that
"What's a matrix?"

My brother same British Gas maintenance contract
Your system needs a full flush not covered by the contract, we can do it tomorrow for
£800, call independent plumber, system does not need a flush as the water is clean and has protective fluid sealed in it, but will do it if he wishes for £120 including new fluid

Son In Law/Daughter exactly the same as above £800 flush not covered, and leaflets for new system to replace three year old system, same from another independent plumber
Flush not required, £40 for adjustment of ignition gap including call out

Three out of three British Gas contract rip offs = 100%

I agree GAS "CAN" BE DANGEROUS but they are forcing people to DIY

I can do a far better job, only I do not due to the possible consequences, I manage water and electric myself I even plumb Lead with no problem whilst plumbers fear to tread

British Gas Stressed my parents out, to cause death
Your Lead pipes are dangerous, they had no money so had ONE fire and meter connected
Still a smell of gas
They condemned the piping and cut it all off for the winter period
Still a smell of gas
Eight months later they discovered, that when they replaced the street main, they had not sealed the connection to their house and raw gas was escaping from the mains into the cellar

Jack McH