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Gas Works

Who's liable for the 2nd Engineers additional fees?

Anonymous user 09/03/2024 - 3.20 PM

Hi folks, Not sure if anyone has any experience with 'local heroes' platform. Anyways, I had our HW motorised valve replaced by an engineer booked from "local heroes" They have a 12-month guarantee on work and parts should anything go wrong, where we should first contact the engineer first if there are any problems before contacting the Platform. We tried explaining that after his HW Zone valve replacement (S plan), we could only turn on HW when CH was on and Vice Versa. He was pretty arrogant and strongly believed he did nothing wrong with his job and left it 'working fine.' I suggested (after looking online/asking experts here) that it could be the wiring fault. yet he refused to believe me and would not come to check it out let alone rectify it. I gave him plenty of opportunities to investigate. We then contacted the platform who asked their so-called "in-house engineers" what they thought and even they didn't believe me when i said, "could it possibly be a wiring fault for the problems we were facing". They then said I could book another engineer to diagnose. If it was directly related it would be under the guarantee, otherwise if it was something else it would be designated a 2nd job and obvious fees would apply. The conclusion was: the 2nd engineer identified it to be a wiring fault as expected and rectified it. therefore under normal circumstances shouldn't the 2nd payment be the platforms/first engineers' liability? The platform has opened up a case, but honestly, shouldn't I be within my rights to not have to pay anything under their guarantee. Addition: The only reason this was a question was that I called up BG and they said from what they know, I shouldn't have to pay for it. getting me confused with all the legalities. The platforms guarantee: 1. If something goes wrong in the first 12 months, call your Local Hero and explain the issue. Heroes must be given the opportunity to put things right first. If you would rather discuss it with a member of our team then contact us http://localheroes.com/contact 2. The Hero will fix the problem. If they can’t make it, we’ll send another tradesperson

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4 Answers

Mend Your Home

Rating: 5 out of 5
Crawley
The site advertises, it's like being mad that the Friday ads or yellow pages won't pay you for an engineer you hired from their book. You are responsible for who you hire unless the site policy states they take responsibility for these type of things. Best option is to take action against the engineer who didn't do the job correctly in the first place in order to get your money back. The 2nd engineer did the job correctly and needs to be paid.
Answered21 March 2021
1

jase heating & plumbing Burton

Rating: 5 out of 5
Gloucester
If a second engineer is called out, you are liable for his fees. You should then be claiming back the fee from the first engineer/platform under their guarantee terms.
Answered21 March 2021
0

Anonymous user

Whilst I agree the second engineer should be paid, it would / should be the platform that pays as per the part and workmanship is covered under a 12 month warranty stated in their terms and conditions.
Answered24 March 2021
0

CTSGROUP

Rating: 4.9 out of 5
Coventry
Sadly it would appear that complaints are dealt with post action, and as such yes the second engineer gets paid whilst you open a dispute on the first and then use the evidence from the second engineer to win the dispute. There is that old saying "Buyers Beware" In other words the legal writing will argue that you should have checked the repair was satisfactory before paying (Unless you had to pay up front in which case your case is strong). You are "in the right" .. you simply have to follow their protocols, and don't lose sleep over this, it could cost you more time and money as i can see you are putting a lot of energy into this. You gave the original engineer the opportunity to return and fix their work, their refusal is a breach of the terms offered by the site and that puts you in a strong position. If the original engineer was employed via local heroes by you then paid by you directly then the issue is with the engineer and you can open a claim via the courts online, but expect to pay for this too. In either case a lesson has been learned and i would not make myself ill fighting too hard. Just follow the protocol and next time find a local engineer who will look after your system into the future and don't pay until the job is completed to your satisfaction. 12 months warranty means the repair was covered but the procedure (bringing a second engineer after paying the first) seems pretty ridiculous. Steer clear in future, and good luck :)
Answered29 March 2021
0