My insurer said my boiler was beyond repair. I fixed it for £160
I know properties always go wrong. Whether it's a tap that develops a drip, a tile that slips or a toilet that blocks, properties always need something fixing.
Routine maintenance is a must if you want to keep your place in good condition, but what about those times when emergencies strike? Like when a roof tile slips and the rain is cascading into your bedroom? Or when the boiler breaks down and it's minus five and no milder weather in sight?
It was the latter two issues which caught my attention when I was buying my home insurance policy. For just an extra £50 fee, I could buy a home emergency bolt-on for the year. The package sounded ideal. I'd clocked that it only covered up to £750 of works, and having checked the small print about the boiler (many have clauses where they don't cover boilers more than 10 years old), I decided there wasn't anything there that would preclude the cover of my 40-year-old Potterton boiler.
Seven months after taking out the policy, my boiler decided to stop working. I was about to call a local plumber, but then I remembered I had the home emergency bolt-on, so I called them up. It was 10am. They told me nobody could come that day, but an engineer would attend the next day. Deciding I'd put up with a portable heater and delay my hot shower, I agreed.
The next day, the engineer arrived. He took one look at the yellowing carcass and suppressed a laugh.
'Wow, I ain't seen one of these for years, love!'
I nodded and sagely informed him the Potterton Profile was bullet-proof and if he could diagnose and fix the issue, I'd be grateful.
A lot of grunting and groaning ensued, which I ignored, and then he turned to me, his professional game face on and declared it was the overheat thermostat that was faulty, but the parts were obsolete.
Searching the part online, I replied: 'But Potterton have them for sale here?'
'Nah, but you need the thermostatic knob as well, it's not safe to carry out the repair otherwise.'
'Yes, they have those in stock as well,' I replied, holding my phone screen for him to see.
'Yeah, but we have to get stock from authorised suppliers,' he said.
'Right,' I said.
'Bye,' he said.
A couple of hours passed, then I called the home emergency insurance to find out what was happening. They replied the engineer had informed them the parts were obsolete and the boiler was 'beyond economical repair'.
'But you can buy the parts,' I spluttered, 'I showed the engineer them.'
They repeated the line about authorised suppliers.
Sensing I was going to get nowhere, I hung up and called a local plumber. 'Yeah, I can get those parts,' he said, 'but I won't be able to do the job until tomorrow. It'll be £160.'
I called back the insurance company who were adamant the boiler couldn't be repaired, and despite my insistence that a local plumber was able to do the job, I had nowhere further to go than the complaints department.
With the boiler fixed (for the quoted £160) I sent the insurance company the bill for reimbursement.
It took them several weeks to investigate my complaint, and while they claim an engineer attended, they did recognise I was given the wrong information and offered to reimburse the bill along with £40 compensation.
What's the moral of this story?
Second opinions are critical. If I'd been the previous elderly owner of my property, I'm pretty sure she would have taken – and trusted – the opinion of the insurance plumber. This would have meant several thousand pounds would have been shelled out for a new boiler versus the £160 repair.
But this happens all too often, and I'm not just talking about insurance policies and their ways of working.
Property repairs and maintenance should be clear-cut: you should be able to say objectively what the issue is and fix it. But actually, that very rarely happens. Problems are often misdiagnosed, symptoms can be subjective, and the solutions can vary according to who you ask.
The most important thing if you want to get a property problem fixed is to always ask for a recommended contractor and get at least two opinions. As much as you want to trust big companies, known names and your usual reliable independent contractor, you should never take the first person's word for the truth – it may end up costing you more than it should.
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