New Heating System - Reputable Company, Unregistered Engineer

My name is Mud

Hello all,

Some very disconcerting events have happened to me in the last few months, with an installation of a new heating system for our house (which was being renovated). Just looking for some advise.

Im not going to name any names here, as I am contemplating a legal case.

We hired a reputable company to install a new heating system (smart controls, new rads, new boiler etc). This company seemed the best, very friendly to deal with and would look after the SEAI paperwork and BER assessment etc. They assure that they only use RGII certified engineers to install the systems, which is the only way you can claim the grant as far as I am aware.

To cut a long story short, the engineer assigned to us was an absolute nightmare for the whole installation, and all issues have now come to a head with an RGII complaint being logged. Essentially gas was switched on to the property and no certificate of conformance was supplied when it was switched on. A number of requests were made to the company to get the certificate, with nothing forthcoming. Subsequently, a gas leak occured and emergency work was carried out by a third party to rectify the situation (and the 3rd party gave a certificate upon completion)

Upon investigation of my complaint, the RGII advised that the engineer in question was not certified at the time of performing the installation, which may be the main reason that the certificate of conformance was not forthcoming. So now the CER are getting involved with safety inspections required. A secondary engineer from the company has subsequently furnished a certificate of conformace after coming to the property to finish some remedial works.

My question is do I have any legal recourse? I have not paid the company the final fees due, and I have no intention until I am satisfied all work is complete. Now with RGII and CER getting involved, I thinking otherwise.

Any advise of experiences here would be great.

Cheers,

MNIM

Dtp1979

My name is Mud wrote: »

Hello all,

Some very disconcerting events have happened to me in the last few months, with an installation of a new heating system for our house (which was being renovated). Just looking for some advise.

Im not going to name any names here, as I am contemplating a legal case.

We hired a reputable company to install a new heating system (smart controls, new rads, new boiler etc). This company seemed the best, very friendly to deal with and would look after the SEAI paperwork and BER assessment etc. They assure that they only use RGII certified engineers to install the systems, which is the only way you can claim the grant as far as I am aware.

To cut a long story short, the engineer assigned to us was an absolute nightmare for the whole installation, and all issues have now come to a head with an RGII complaint being logged. Essentially gas was switched on to the property and no certificate of conformance was supplied when it was switched on. A number of requests were made to the company to get the certificate, with nothing forthcoming. Subsequently, a gas leak occured and emergency work was carried out by a third party to rectify the situation (and the 3rd party gave a certificate upon completion)

Upon investigation of my complaint, the RGII advised that the engineer in question was not certified at the time of performing the installation, which may be the main reason that the certificate of conformance was not forthcoming. So now the CER are getting involved with safety inspections required. A secondary engineer from the company has subsequently furnished a certificate of conformace after coming to the property to finish some remedial works.

My question is do I have any legal recourse? I have not paid the company the final fees due, and I have no intention until I am satisfied all work is complete. Now with RGII and CER getting involved, I thinking otherwise.

Any advise of experiences here would be great.

Cheers,

MNIM

For a start you are supposed to look after the seai paperwork, not the company. If you wish to go the legal route then you probably have a strong case as it should be deemed an illegal installation as the installer was not Rgi certified therefore he broke the law. Going with big companies like this usually means they hire anyone they can and try to get the work do ASAP with little regard for quality.

Calahonda52

So they provided a non registered engineer....
The work has all been done now and CER and RGII are sorting out that side as well as assuring you that the gas side is done correctly.
So that leaves the question are u happy with the non gas related work.

I would pay them no more and tell them, in writing, why and tell them you are considering your legal position.
To recover any more from them you need to go legal with all that cost and time and hassle so is that game worth the candle?

Its a different story if they sue you for the balance, which I doubt they would do: you just give your lawyer the file: just make sure you have it complete.

Re DTP's point, Can you sue for an illegal installation or is that up to CER/RGII?

I don't know.

You instructed a company to do work for you which must meet a given legal standard which the installation company has not met cheapening the installation, this puts you in a difficult position as the installer is not deemed competent which can effect your boilers warranty, any home insurance claims etc.. you or the installers can't prove every aspect of the installation is correct as the installer wasn't a RGI.

you may want to ring the manufactures and ask them do you still have a warranty, you could also ask them if they have a local accredited installer that could get to come and look at the installation.

you need to talk to a solicitor for any legal advice because non can be given here but as you haven't received what you agreed to pay for I can imagine a solicitor telling them to do something with a off in it, Gary

Dtp1979

Calahonda52 wrote: »

So they provided a non registered engineer....
The work has all been done now and CER and RGII are sorting out that side as well as assuring you that the gas side is done correctly.
So that leaves the question are u happy with the non gas related work.

I would pay them no more and tell them, in writing, why and tell them you are considering your legal position.
To recover any more from them you need to go legal with all that cost and time and hassle so is that game worth the candle?

Its a different story if they sue you for the balance, which I doubt they would do: you just give your lawyer the file: just make sure you have it complete.

Re DTP's point, Can you sue for an illegal installation or is that up to CER/RGII?

I don't know.

Not sure to be honest

My name is Mud

Just a short update to this.

The CER came around to the house and took a statement from myself as the formal disciplinary procedure needs to be followed. The CER rep is also an RGI, so he was able to inspect the whole installation, and issued a notification of hazard for non-conformance on a number of items within the installation. Turns out the engineer took a number of shortcuts on the job.

This hazard notice was also furnished to the original contractors who deployed the secondary engineer to remedy, and also issued a commissioning cert for the boiler itself.

In the end I settled up the outstanding balance to the contractor, less the cost of all the emergency works required. Maybe I am a foolish to do so, but I would rather not have the bad karma of not paying my bills following me around, nor be known as a "compo" type of person.

Who knows which way the CER disciplinary procedure will work out, and if the engineer will get fined or de-registered (he is now listed as registered), but time will tell. The CER are also investigating the company as well, and they are co-operating I am told.

Lesson learnt from my end of things, i'll probably be using a smaller-scale operator for servicing and maintenace as they work on reputation and need their RGI status to stay in business!

And I wont be using the original contractor for anything ever again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.