Author: graybo

The engineer arrived on time this morning. Amazing. And he was a really nice chap too.
The problem is a split in the heat exchanger. He’s isolated the boiler so that we can use the cold water system and he is going to give us a price to supply and install a replacement exchanger. Cost so far: £80. Urk.
I want hot water and I want it now!

Uh-oh. Looks like we need a heating engineer. Our boiler is leaking steam and dripping water on to the floor. I’ve just positioned a bucket to catch the drips and switched it off to prevent it shorting itself (the water is dripping onto some of the cables at the bottom of the boiler).
UPDATE: the engineer should be here in not more than 90 minutes at the rate of £60 per hour plus parts and VAT (but no call-out charge). Yikes. I think we may have to look seriously at the cost of a contract to cover this sort of thing.
UPDATE: two-and-a-half hours later, the engineer has still not arrived. He has been "delayed" apparently, although I had to phone them to find that out. I can tell by the shocked expressions on your faces that you are amazed that a service supplier could give such poor delivery – me too!
FURTHER UPDATE: five-and-a-half hours after my original call, I’ve just had a call from the plumbers to say that the engineer won’t be here until tomorrow morning, some time between 9.30 and 10am. I’ve had to shut off the water at the mains as there is no way to isolate the boiler, so we now have no water for anything. Great. And I was going to go out for a curry tonight and have had to call it off so that I can clean up.
At least there is beer in the fridge, so I’m not without something to drink.
YOU GUESSED IT: now expected sometime "early this afternoon".
26 HOURS AFTER THE ORIGINAL CALL: I’ve just told them where to go, in no uncertain terms. If you ever have the opportunity to deal with a company going by the name of ReactFast Plumbing and Heating Engineers, avoid them at all costs. I don’t think it is reasonable to keep telling a client that you will be there in 60-90 minutes when clearly that is not the case.
I’ve just called a local CORGI-registered self-employed chap. Much better. He talked through the problem with me and immediately arranged to be here first thing tomorrow morning, between 8 and 8.30am. We shall have to prove the pudding by eating, but I’m much more optimistic. In the meantime, I haven’t had a shower (H has been to her gym), so I’d steer well clear if I were you.