I am a heating engineer and occasionally have to respond to what some would call emergencies. I was called a month ago regarding a boiler that didn’t seem to be delivering any hot water, the member of the public was very distraught as they had had no hot water for 3 days. They had called a number of heating engineers but none had actually turned up as they promised.
I agreed to go round to have a look and explained there would be a call-out charge but couldn’t promise that it could be fixed immediately as the boiler might need a new/replacement part. The caller said that was fine but could I come round within the next hour as she needed to go to work, I agreed.
On arrival at the property I inspected the boiler and quickly realised that I could resolve the problem there and then. I got the boiler working again and the customer was obviously pleased with the outcome. I drew up an invoice and gave it to the customer. The customer then said that I would need to talk to the landlord to get the bill paid. At no time did the customer say that they would not be paying the bill or weren’t responsible for the flat & boiler.
I said that the customer should pay the bill as they had requested the work to be carried out but they just refused and said it wasn’t their responsibility. At this time admittedly I became frustrated and said that the customer should have explained to me the circumstances before I carried out the work. I left the flat saying that I would be speaking to the landlord and that I wouldn’t be visiting the customer again.
On calling the landlord, who lives in Europe rather than the UK, the landlord said that her tenant had complained about my level of customer service and that the boiler was now working but I shouldn’t be paid the full call-out amount as my attitude wasn’t acceptable. The landlord said I could write an email explaining what had happened and they would then decide if they would pay the full amount of the invoice. however since they never received a quote/estimate it would be odd to pay the full amount as the tenant never even told the landlord there was a problem with the boiler.
(Based on a true experience)