Dad is entitled to a Council grant to have his GCH system updated upto
about £3k. The surveyor who came round said all the requisite work
should easily be covered in the grant.
The workman from the company who came round was very friendly on his
first visit; today he came to check pipes etc etc.

By all accounts he was a right surly ***** today and rude to both my
wife [who was round helping my parents] and my mum.
I can live with the "I won't be moving anything when I come to do the
work; make sure this ain't here, that is gone; get someone to remove
this cabinet [where the combi boiler will go in the kitchen] at your
own expense"

He then laughed at the idea of the grant money covering the work and
said we'd [I say we in lieu of dad] would have to meet the short-fall
and it would be significant.
He also woldn't be taking out the old bakc-boiler or the gas fire that
is its front-end. Or rather he could but it would be "private" job and
he'd quote separately for it. Dad would thus be left with a non-
functional gas fire in the living room and a "dead" boiler behind the
chimney [to which there is access via a full-length wooden side
panel].

Most worrying for me though was he insisted that my wife signed a
waiver than if there was any problems with the piping etc following
the install then he wasn't liable. He refused to go until this was
done as it was an "integral" part of the job.

Surely this can't be correct?
Wife called the surveyor back who was also concerned about these
issues but the family were very coy in discussing the matter fully
with her. It has been left that we shall contact her back when his
quote for the work comes through. She did say there is 1 fitter on the
books that is very work shy and wonders if he was the one who came
round.

I was very miffed when I got home to discover all this [and still am,
obviously] but clarification about "normal" working practice would
help.
Thanks