Help -I've been misold a boiler and I don't know what to do

Sheepish

New Member
Apr 12, 2014
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Bit of a long story to follow I'm afraid:

A salesman from Boilerking UK came to see me at my home address. As part of his sale pitch he stated that I would be saving at least £30 per month as well as the cost of boiler cover as they provided a 24 hr service if anything went wrong. He stated that this was even the case on Christmas Day and that they had local engineers so would not be reliant on them coming from St Helens if I needed them.
I am now aware that this is not the case at all as I found following the installation.
A surveyor attended the following day and he made notes for the installers regarding a number of issues.
These included the boiler being in a cupboard above a bath, no working stopcock tap inside the house, the only one was in kitchen cupboards but is jammed shut, and also that the flue that needed replacing was above the kitchen sloping roof. I was advised by him that installation would take 3-4 hours.
I made arrangements for the boiler to be installed on Thursday 2nd April, I was told that the system would be flushed and then the boiler installed.
On the 2nd April I rang boilerking to ascertain when the engineer would be arriving as I had been led to believe this would be first thing. It was then I was advised that the flush would take place on Thursday and installation on Friday. I then had to make arrangements to take more time off work as this had not been made clear to me.
The men arrived at 10.50am and completed the flush by 12.30pm but I was told that they had been sent to two jobs prior to mine.
The following morning, two men were sent to install the boiler. They were not happy with the job from the minute they arrived. They had not bought the correct ladders for the roof work, had not been told that access to the boiler was from the bath and were not happy that they had been laid off for 2 weeks prior to my job and had been bought back on a Friday. They arrived at 8.40 and finally left at 13.50.
During this time I received a further call from boilerking wanting to book the electrician. I had not been told that the boiler would not be completely installed. I made an appointment for the following Wednesday and arranged to take more time off work.
The installers explained the boiler controls to me, and when they left I went to set my timer for the boiler. I found that the fuse had been taken out and left on top of it.
I contacted boilerking to find out why and was told this was because the electrician had not been. I explained that I had to be up for work at 5.30am and would like the heating on then, I was told to turn the heating on when I got up. I have a 3 storey house with stone floors which wouldn’t have heated before I left for work so had to have the heating on through the night.
Later that evening I noticed that two of the three radiators that had been fitted with new valves were leaking. I tried all evening to contact boilerking both on the number given on my paperwork for any problems after installation and on the main number on their website. No one answered. I tried again all day on Saturday and Sunday but it was not until 8.30am on Monday that I managed to get hold of anyone.
I explained the situation and was told that they did not have a 24 hour helpline, and that no one did. I explained that I had been told this was the case by the salesman and was told that no boiler company had that. (British Gas & Npower definitely have 24 hour numbers to contact someone). I was also told that this was an issue with installing on a Friday.
It was agreed that someone would attend that afternoon to check the leaks which they did. They fixed one by tightening in but realised that the pipework for the other had been nicked.
I also ensured that the electrician and the installer were reatteding on Tuesday to finish the job properly.
They arrived on Tuesday morning and finished around 2. They did not fit the wireless thermostat that I had ordered as the electrician deemed it too complicated for me and unecessary as I already had a wired one. He did replace this with a newer looking one.
I have found brass screws and rings around the house, luckily neither me nor my dog have stood on these but this could easily have been the case.

I was clearly misold the boiler when I was told that I have 24 hours cover when it is clear that I don’t.
I was also been charged for a wireless thermostat which was deemed too complicated for me.
What I was led to believe was 1 day job turned into me taking 4 days leave from my work for the installers & electricians.
The guys that turned up for the flush were great and apologetic that I was unaware they weren’t fitting the boiler.
The two that turned up to install were obviously not happy with the work that needed doing and that they were having to work on a Friday.

I wrote a letter of complaint to Boilerking on Thursday and was contacted by the manager who agreed that I had received a dreadful service and that he would ensure that the 24 cover would be discussed at the managers next meeting and he was hopeful that this was something they could provide in the future. He agreed to refund for the wireless thermostat.

I am fuming, if I had known that the cost of the boiler installation etc, a whopping £2500 dod not include 24 cover I would not have accepted their contract.

My question is where do I stand with this? No one witnessed the conversation with the salesman, the work has now been completed and the finance package is with Barclays bank
 

Anastas

New Member
Oct 7, 2014
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Hi
I'm sorry to hear of your predicamant. i too have been missold a boiler by BoilerKing. I was told an annual service would be included but found out 6 weeks later i would have to pay £84 a year for this. I have also had a nightmare with them with a dangerous installation and a repair bill which is going to cost me about £3000.

Was your job registered with the Home Insulation and Energy Systems (HIES) Quality Assured Contractors Scheme? It may be worth checking out their website to see if they can help. From experience - ask GasSafe to do an inspection (it's free). They found all sorts of problems with my installation and ended up shutting it down. Long story short - had no heat or hot water for 8 days and no shower or fire for (so far) 6 weeks. The instructions for the thermostat have been badly translated and are complete gobbledegook.
If BoilerKing have admitted they gave you poor service - do you have this in writing? May be worth asking Citizens Advice to have a look at it.

If you could get compensated an amount to cover an independent 24 hour service contract it may go some way to putting things back on track.

Good luck.
 

Sheepish

New Member
Apr 12, 2014
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Now worried about the safety of my BoilerKing UK boiler

Thanks for your reply - I will contact HIES as the job was registered with them Unfortunately I read your reply too late for a free Gas Safe check, it has to be done within 6 months of fitting but will contact them for advice after reading you reply
I will recheck my correspondence but I don't think they made any admissions in writing. I did get a call a couple of months after i posted this asking if I would consider deleting this post as they were concerned it made them look bad and they had tried to deal with my issues
In fact all they have done is refund me for the thermostat which they did not fit.
They did mention that they would be providing a 24 hour cover but could not give me a start time for this and having tried to contact them at a weekend, it is definitely not in place.

I would definitely not recommend boiler king uk, especially after reading your post.
I hope you manage to sort your issue out, and thanks for taking the time to
reply
 

Sheepish

New Member
Apr 12, 2014
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And after making a few enquiries it seems that by not giving me the wireless thermostat I wanted but was too stupid to understand I could have been wasting money. At present the thermostat is in the lounge however I have an open fire in this room which when lit, then turns off the heating in the rest of the house so I have to wack the heating temp up to turn it back on. If I had had the wireless controller as I first ordered this could have been in a different room not affected by the log fire.
I am now paying a different installer to do this simple job which could have been done at time of boiler installation.
Boilerking uk - rubbish service and aftercare.
 

happy_chappy

New Member
Jan 22, 2015
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Boiler King is a rubbish company. Use them at your peril!!! They are mid to high price range but what they promise and what they deliver aren't the same. They get big rebates from Vaillant so will automatically push Vaillant over any other manufacturer. The sales agents have no technical background so can't really tell you what's right for your property.

Booked time off work to get job done. One sub-contractor plumber turned up, told me he can't do the job on his own. I don't blame him but there's a gap between what has been promised and what the plumber gets told. Also said it won't be a one day job but more like 2 -3 days.

I would expect a national company to put the customer first. Turn up with protection for shoes (no muddy shoes), plastic sheets and covers to protect flooring and carpets. Along with full knowledge of the job in hand. Not one guy with no extra care or service than bob down the road. It's the little extra touches that can set a company apart from its competition. This company fails miserably. My advice is go local and save yourself money. More like Burger King than Boiler King.
 
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roachman50

New Member
Feb 10, 2015
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Southend on Sea
Boiler King? What rubbish. STAY WELL CLEAR OF THEM. The salesman told my parents, who are both well into their seventies, they would be getting a combi boiler, fully installed and serviced annually at no extra cost, and the installation would be one day. They duly signed up at a cost of over £3000. Today, 10/2/15, the plumber turned up with the boiler and told my parents the work would take about 3 days to complete. He began the work then said the boiler is the wrong one and he needed to check with the office, even though he did not have any notification of this on any paperwork and he had indeed brought a combi with him. The office told him the boiler should not be the combi but a standard vaillant 418. These boilers retail at less than £800. Unfortunately all the salesman said did not go down onto paper and was not in the paperwork they received regarding the direct debit, and there was no written contract that should have been sent to my parents. My father spoke to a manager at the office and he was told the cost for a combi would be over £4000 and he could re-sign the paperwork if he wanted this to go ahead, he declined and protested and was told by the plumber that this is not the first time this has happened. It might seem a good deal at the time of signing up but the advice here is stay well clear of boiler king for fear of being ripped off big time. My parents have certainly been preyed on. Unfortunately I did not know anything about this service until they had signed for it.