Energia Boiler Repair Call Out Charge

BeatNikDub · 07-01-2015 11:32am #1

Hi Folks.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.
It isn't an issue as such but a practice by Energia I am frankly pretty stunned about.

Our boiler has been on the blink and as we are with Energia we decided to go with their boiler repair introductory offer.
The call out charge is €79 euro, which is fine. I originally thought as we are customers this would go on our bill, but it has to be paid upfront when you make the booking. Which again is fine, it has to be paid at some stage anyway!

My outrage is at the extra possible charge they inform you about when booking. Basically the engineer will call you 30 minutes before arrival and whether you answer or not still call to house (still ok, in fact I was thinking - that's good, it is easy to miss a call) BUT, if no one answers they will charge you an EXTRA €30 ON TOP of the call out charge of €79 and leave.

I genuinely do not understand this charge. Payment has already been made so surely costs are covered for this possible unfortunate incident which really would be of more annoyance to the person who made the booking than the engineer, no? Am I missing something here?

L1011 · 07-01-2015 12:12pm

I presume they're not going to charge the €79 for the re-booking in this scenario. In that case, its just a €30 fee for a missed appointment.

clint_silver · 07-01-2015 12:45pm

BeatNikDub wrote: »

Hi Folks.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.
It isn't an issue as such but a practice by Energia I am frankly pretty stunned about.

Our boiler has been on the blink and as we are with Energia we decided to go with their boiler repair introductory offer.
The call out charge is €79 euro, which is fine. I originally thought as we are customers this would go on our bill, but it has to be paid upfront when you make the booking. Which again is fine, it has to be paid at some stage anyway!

My outrage is at the extra possible charge they inform you about when booking. Basically the engineer will call you 30 minutes before arrival and whether you answer or not still call to house (still ok, in fact I was thinking - that's good, it is easy to miss a call) BUT, if no one answers they will charge you an EXTRA €30 ON TOP of the call out charge of €79 and leave.

I genuinely do not understand this charge. Payment has already been made so surely costs are covered for this possible unfortunate incident which really would be of more annoyance to the person who made the booking than the engineer, no? Am I missing something here?

So you book a guy who charges for his time, Id guess you get a rough time when he's gonna be there, youre not there for whatever reason but you don't want to pay the guy for turning up as requested by you at the agreed time?

No issue here for me. Be there at the agreed time, or get someone to be there at the agreed time to let the guy in, or ring Energia to say you wont be there and re-arrange, or pay the 30e callout fee.

they charge for time. If you werent there at the agreed time, youre the one whos wasted it. Poor business model if they didnt charge for it.

irelandrover · 07-01-2015 12:52pm

BeatNikDub wrote: »

Hi Folks.

My outrage is at the extra possible charge they inform you about when booking. Basically the engineer will call you 30 minutes before arrival and whether you answer or not still call to house (still ok, in fact I was thinking - that's good, it is easy to miss a call) BUT, if no one answers they will charge you an EXTRA €30 ON TOP of the call out charge of €79 and leave.

clint_silver wrote: »

So you book a guy who charges for his time, Id guess you get a rough time when he's gonna be there, youre not there for whatever reason but you don't want to pay the guy for turning up as requested by you at the agreed time?

No issue here for me. Be there at the agreed time, or get someone to be there at the agreed time to let the guy in, or ring Energia to say you wont be there and re-arrange, or pay the 30e callout fee.

they charge for time. If you werent there at the agreed time, youre the one whos wasted it. Poor business model if they didnt charge for it.

But they pay even if they miss the engineer. If they miss the engineer however they pay 109 euro instead of 79 euro.

clint_silver · 07-01-2015 12:58pm

irelandrover wrote: »

But they pay even if they miss the engineer. If they miss the engineer however they pay 109 euro instead of 79 euro.

? huh.

Its 79e to service the boiler.
Its a 30e charge if youre not at the house when the guy calls wasting his time.
Same if you missed a medical appointment where theres a charge for missed appointments. they charge for time.

The guy still has to come back and service the boiler which is what the 79e is for.

irelandrover · 07-01-2015 1:05pm

clint_silver wrote: »

? huh.

Its 79e to service the boiler.
Its a 30e charge if youre not at the house when the guy calls wasting his time.
Same if you missed a medical appointment where theres a charge for missed appointments. they charge for time.

The guy still has to come back and service the boiler which is what the 79e is for.

Where in the original post did you read that the engineer will come back to the house free of charge? I read it as they have to book a new call out and pay again.

clint_silver · 07-01-2015 1:18pm

I can see how you read that from the way its worded, but thats not right. OP has still paid for the service that theyre entitled to. The 30e is only for the missed call.
They dont lose that 79e. ie, they can ring up and re-arrange. just like any missed appointment.

BeatNikDub · 07-01-2015 1:53pm

No no, if you miss the appointment the cost is €109 and then you must pay €79 again to re-arrange.

I totally agree that time is wasted if people aren't there and that but surely that is covered in the pre payment of the 79 euro call out charge. I don't understand the 30 euro on TOP of that and then having to pay all over again for them to come back.

Melendez · 07-01-2015 2:19pm

This post has been deleted.

BeatNikDub · 07-01-2015 2:29pm

So what they said on the phone is incorrect?
Thank goodness, I honestly couldn't understand all those extra costs.

Regardless I still understand the 30 euro extra charge.
Its like booking to go to the doctor and paying the 60 euro in advance upon booking and if for some reason you cant make it they charge you another 30 euro so you pay 90 quid for nothing. Mistakes can happen and things crop up and I would have thought the original payment in advance of call out was to cover that.

Maybe the information about having to pay another upfront payment is wrong when rearranging, I certainly hope so. I really do. I had quite liked Energia up until this point!

Beano · 07-01-2015 2:51pm

if it is the case that you dont have to pay the €79 again if you arent in and have to pay €30 again then i dont see a problem with that. otherwise they would have people making appointments and not bothering to be there as there would be no penalty for doing so.

A Dub in Glasgo · 07-01-2015 2:58pm

Here is what it says on the website

Beano · 07-01-2015 3:20pm

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Here is what it says on the website

that all sounds reasonable

A Dub in Glasgo · 07-01-2015 3:23pm

BeatNikDub wrote: »

So what they said on the phone is incorrect?
Thank goodness, I honestly couldn't understand all those extra costs.

Regardless I still understand the 30 euro extra charge.
Its like booking to go to the doctor and paying the 60 euro in advance upon booking and if for some reason you cant make it they charge you another 30 euro so you pay 90 quid for nothing. Mistakes can happen and things crop up and I would have thought the original payment in advance of call out was to cover that.

Maybe the information about having to pay another upfront payment is wrong when rearranging, I certainly hope so. I really do. I had quite liked Energia up until this point!

It is recompense for time wasters. If you are in, you will not be charged the €30 fee for time wasting

BeatNikDub · 07-01-2015 3:45pm

Indeed, I just still don't see the need for it. If someone has already paid 79 euros they are hardly not going to be there! I just find it exceedingly harsh.

BeatNikDub · 07-01-2015 3:47pm

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Here is what it says on the website

Sorry, I still think €109 euro is just too much money for no service actually offered. If someone is taking the piss and just doesn't bother their ass being there they already have their 79 euro call out fee paid so there should be no problem? Engineer can go and have a cuppa before his next appointment!

clint_silver · 07-01-2015 4:39pm

BeatNikDub wrote: »

Sorry, I still think €109 euro is just too much money for no service actually offered. If someone is taking the piss and just doesn't bother their ass being there they already have their 79 euro call out fee paid so there should be no problem? Engineer can go and have a cuppa before his next appointment!

For service people, more so than any other profession, Time = Money.

They have to go back to you. 2 journeys. double the time. no way to run a business if one of those journeys was spent drinking tea.

A Dub in Glasgo · 07-01-2015 4:45pm

BeatNikDub wrote: »

Sorry, I still think €109 euro is just too much money for no service actually offered. If someone is taking the piss and just doesn't bother their ass being there they already have their 79 euro call out fee paid so there should be no problem? Engineer can go and have a cuppa before his next appointment!

You are not understanding this at all, it is a fee of €30 for the missed appointment, you do not need to pay another €79 to get your boiler serviced. You just need to make sure that next time you are not a time waster

BeatNikDub · 12-01-2015 12:04pm

Again, I still think it is an unnecessary charge when you have already paid up front. We will just have to disagree on this, especially when I know now they are registered plumbers out there that have no call out charge at all.

Anyway, they didn't call on the day like advised but thankfully turned up.

Was told it was the pump and possibly something else and would not give any details of possible price. Engineer advised they have to submit a report to energia and then energia would call back within 2 hours to discuss. We never got a call and I had to follow up the following day. We have been quoted almost €500 for the new pump and fitting so have absolutely decided to go and get some other quotes elsewhere.

clint_silver · 12-01-2015 1:08pm

BeatNikDub wrote: »

Again, I still think it is an unnecessary charge when you have already paid up front. We will just have to disagree on this, especially when I know now they are registered plumbers out there that have no call out charge at all.

You're really not getting this. You're not getting charged extra for doing the service, you're getting charged 30e for wasting his time. its still only 79 for him to call out and do the service.

Ring a plumber who has no call out fee. Agree a time for him to call out. Don't be there at the agreed time. Ring him again and see will he call out.

BeatNikDub · 12-01-2015 1:18pm

And you aren't getting me either!

I would never not be there for an appointment but mistakes can happen. As it is you have to take time of work, plus the amount of service people that just don;t turn up after time off is arranged is rather high too, however there is no way of getting anything back for that! If I have already paid 80 euro before they even call, there is no way in hell I would just not be there. I still genuinely think the 30 euro is a charge that is too much, the call out fee is already covered and paid for in advance.

BeatNikDub · 12-01-2015 1:21pm

Plus now I am being quoted 500 euros for a job that is being quoted at 200 euros elsewhere.
Something definitely a miss.

clint_silver · 12-01-2015 1:39pm

BeatNikDub wrote: »

Plus now I am being quoted 500 euros for a job that is being quoted at 200 euros elsewhere.
Something definitely a miss.

now that's a real consumer issue.

slimjimmc · 12-01-2015 2:06pm

BeatNikDub wrote: »

And you aren't getting me either!

I would never not be there for an appointment but mistakes can happen. As it is you have to take time of work, plus the amount of service people that just don;t turn up after time off is arranged is rather high too, however there is no way of getting anything back for that! If I have already paid 80 euro before they even call, there is no way in hell I would just not be there. I still genuinely think the 30 euro is a charge that is too much, the call out fee is already covered and paid for in advance.

The callout fee for one visit is included in the €79, it does not include another visit to come back when you are there.

A charge for this is pretty standard. Bord Gais Energy also charge €30 when the customer fails to fulfil their duty of enabling access at the appointed time.
http://www.bordgaisenergy.ie/docs/home-services/BGE-CBCR-PSP-0514_(BGSE028)_Boiler_Repair_A5_v4.pdf

3.3 Your Responsibilities: It is your responsibility to provide the Service Engineer with the necessary access to the Property at the time of our appointment(s) to carry out the Boiler Repair. If we are not able to gain access to your Property at the time of any appointment, because you are not available to provide access we will not be able to carry out the Boiler Repair and it is your responsibility to arrange another appointment. If we are not able to gain access to your Property at the time of an appointment, we will inform you that we were not able to carry out the Boiler Repair for this reason and we will charge you a cancellation fee equal to €30.

coylemj · 12-01-2015 6:06pm

OP, the good people doing central heating, building, plumbing and most other household services get their business from 'word of mouth' recommendations, you should talk to your neighbours, get a local guy to service your boiler and cut out the middleman. By using a local guy you'll also be guaranteed a reliable service if you have to call him out for an urgent repair and it will probably cost you a hell of a lot less than some guy supplied by an energy company who are probably taking a cut of the action.

I've read this thread from top to bottom and I cannot believe that you worked out that a visit to fix your boiler costs €79 but if you're not there it will cost €109!

Energia Boiler Repair Call Out Charge

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