My new Alpha boiler was installed in Feb 2007 and it has a 3 year
warranty dependent on getting it serviced every 12 months . I phoned
the original installers today to be told that they do not do services
which I found surprising altho' they are a very small company so maybe
have enough to handle doing other work .

I then phoned Alpha and they gave me numbers of two places they use .
The first company said they did not do services until Summertime as
they are busy doing breakdowns and said they believed most companies
did the same . When I explained about the need for the service because
of the warranty she expressed surprise about the service not being
included in the warranty ( but should I be surprised at that in this
day and age )
Called the other place ...called Homeserve... and they said the same
so
" Stuff this" I said and opened up Thomson's Local Directory and
called the first place ( Corgi) that I spotted and they are doing it
on Monday .
£91 incl vat .I don't know if that is typical but it gets it done .

They did mention the cost if they find anything but I doubt they will
but even if they do they will not be fixing it .Alpha can do that .

Is it common for companies not do do services in Winter months ?
and why Don't Alpha do services ?
It would get them money.
Stuart

Stuart B wrote in message
news
My new Alpha boiler was installed in Feb 2007 and it has a 3 year
warranty dependent on getting it serviced every 12 months . I phoned
the original installers today to be told that they do not do services
which I found surprising altho' they are a very small company so maybe
have enough to handle doing other work .

I then phoned Alpha and they gave me numbers of two places they use .
The first company said they did not do services until Summertime as
they are busy doing breakdowns and said they believed most companies
did the same . When I explained about the need for the service because
of the warranty she expressed surprise about the service not being
included in the warranty ( but should I be surprised at that in this
day and age )
Called the other place ...called Homeserve... and they said the same
so
" Stuff this" I said and opened up Thomson's Local Directory and
called the first place ( Corgi) that I spotted and they are doing it
on Monday .
£91 incl vat .I don't know if that is typical but it gets it done .

They did mention the cost if they find anything but I doubt they will
but even if they do they will not be fixing it .Alpha can do that .

Is it common for companies not do do services in Winter months ?
and why Don't Alpha do services ?
It would get them money.
Stuart

It's so you can't complain too much when they order parts you don't need and
keep you waiting weeks.
It wouldn't be so much of a problem in the summer.

On 2008-01-18 21:25:04 +0000, Stuart B said:

My new Alpha boiler was installed in Feb 2007 and it has a 3 year
warranty dependent on getting it serviced every 12 months . I phoned
the original installers today to be told that they do not do services
which I found surprising altho' they are a very small company so maybe
have enough to handle doing other work .

I then phoned Alpha and they gave me numbers of two places they use .
The first company said they did not do services until Summertime as
they are busy doing breakdowns and said they believed most companies
did the same . When I explained about the need for the service because
of the warranty she expressed surprise about the service not being
included in the warranty ( but should I be surprised at that in this
day and age )
Called the other place ...called Homeserve... and they said the same
so
" Stuff this" I said and opened up Thomson's Local Directory and
called the first place ( Corgi) that I spotted and they are doing it
on Monday .
£91 incl vat .I don't know if that is typical but it gets it done .

They did mention the cost if they find anything but I doubt they will
but even if they do they will not be fixing it .Alpha can do that .

Is it common for companies not do do services in Winter months ?
and why Don't Alpha do services ?
It would get them money.
Stuart

Two reasons:

- They can probably make more money from call out charges to fix
breakdowns.....

- They have a finite number of staff and can keep them busy during
winter with breakdowns, there being more of those in the winter. If
they added services to the winter activity, they would end up being
overstaffed in the summer.

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-01-18 21:25:04 +0000, Stuart B said:

My new Alpha boiler was installed in Feb 2007 and it has a 3 year
warranty dependent on getting it serviced every 12 months . I phoned
the original installers today to be told that they do not do services
which I found surprising altho' they are a very small company so maybe
have enough to handle doing other work .

I then phoned Alpha and they gave me numbers of two places they use .
The first company said they did not do services until Summertime as
they are busy doing breakdowns and said they believed most companies
did the same . When I explained about the need for the service because
of the warranty she expressed surprise about the service not being
included in the warranty ( but should I be surprised at that in this
day and age )
Called the other place ...called Homeserve... and they said the same
so
" Stuff this" I said and opened up Thomson's Local Directory and
called the first place ( Corgi) that I spotted and they are doing it
on Monday .
£91 incl vat .I don't know if that is typical but it gets it done .

They did mention the cost if they find anything but I doubt they will
but even if they do they will not be fixing it .Alpha can do that .

Is it common for companies not do do services in Winter months ?
and why Don't Alpha do services ?
It would get them money.
Stuart

Two reasons:

- They can probably make more money from call out charges to fix
breakdowns.....

- They have a finite number of staff and can keep them busy during
winter with breakdowns, there being more of those in the winter. If
they added services to the winter activity, they would end up being
overstaffed in the summer.


Most insurance companies have a higher rate which includes the annual
service for about £50. Not much use in this case though.

In article ,
Stuart B wrote:
" Stuff this" I said and opened up Thomson's Local Directory and
called the first place ( Corgi) that I spotted and they are doing it
on Monday .
£91 incl vat .I don't know if that is typical but it gets it done .

They did mention the cost if they find anything but I doubt they will
but even if they do they will not be fixing it .Alpha can do that .

I'd be inclined to put the 91 quid in a high interest account and take the
gamble as to the boiler giving problems. The so called service usually is
no more than a check that things are ok - and if not the boiler
installation details should say what's required.

--
*Can fat people go skinny-dipping?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:36:33 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Stuart B wrote:
" Stuff this" I said and opened up Thomson's Local Directory and
called the first place ( Corgi) that I spotted and they are doing it
on Monday .
£91 incl vat .I don't know if that is typical but it gets it done .

They did mention the cost if they find anything but I doubt they will
but even if they do they will not be fixing it .Alpha can do that .

I'd be inclined to put the 91 quid in a high interest account and take the
gamble as to the boiler giving problems. The so called service usually is
no more than a check that things are ok - and if not the boiler
installation details should say what's required.

Well I did consider that but I had it in my head that a condition of
the Alpha 3 year warranty was that the boiler had to be serviced every
12 months and the first 12 months is almost up .However,having looked
again at the documentaion for the boiler and the Alpha website ,I
cannot see where it says this .I wouldn't want something to happen
requiring repair and them turning round and say it was because it
wasn't servived annually .
I have managed to get the charge down to £72 to match the " Booking On
Internet" price .

Stuart

In article ,
Stuart B wrote:
I'd be inclined to put the 91 quid in a high interest account and take the
gamble as to the boiler giving problems. The so called service usually is
no more than a check that things are ok - and if not the boiler
installation details should say what's required.

Well I did consider that but I had it in my head that a condition of
the Alpha 3 year warranty was that the boiler had to be serviced every
12 months and the first 12 months is almost up .However,having looked
again at the documentaion for the boiler and the Alpha website ,I
cannot see where it says this .I wouldn't want something to happen
requiring repair and them turning round and say it was because it
wasn't servived annually .
I have managed to get the charge down to £72 to match the " Booking On
Internet" price .

If push came to shove and a court was involved they'd have to prove the
lack of 'service' had caused the failure. It's not like a car where
routine servicing is required to prevent wear, etc.

--
*If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make terrible?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:36:33 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
Stuart B wrote:
" Stuff this" I said and opened up Thomson's Local Directory and called
the first place ( Corgi) that I spotted and they are doing it on Monday
.
£91 incl vat .I don't know if that is typical but it gets it done .

They did mention the cost if they find anything but I doubt they will
but even if they do they will not be fixing it .Alpha can do that .

I'd be inclined to put the 91 quid in a high interest account and take
the gamble as to the boiler giving problems. The so called service
usually is no more than a check that things are ok - and if not the
boiler installation details should say what's required.


with a 3 year warranty dependent on the 'service history'. You would be
gambling the next two years against a problem.

On my new van I decide to pay the high cost of a 'service' after the 12
months at the expensive and questionably competent main dealer. The
second year I took it to the local garage and had it 'serviced' for a
third the cost but I forewent the last years warranty (which indeed
turned out not to be needed).



--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html

In article , Ed Sirett
wrote:
On Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:36:33 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article , Stuart B
wrote:
" Stuff this" I said and opened up Thomson's Local Directory and
called the first place ( Corgi) that I spotted and they are doing it
on Monday . £91 incl vat .I don't know if that is typical but it gets
it done .

They did mention the cost if they find anything but I doubt they will
but even if they do they will not be fixing it .Alpha can do that .

I'd be inclined to put the 91 quid in a high interest account and take
the gamble as to the boiler giving problems. The so called service
usually is no more than a check that things are ok - and if not the
boiler installation details should say what's required.


with a 3 year warranty dependent on the 'service history'. You would be
gambling the next two years against a problem.

I'm not so sure. Makers can put whatever conditions they fancy into a
warranty - but they don't effect your rights in law. And recent judgements
suggest things like a boiler should fault free for 5 years. Of course many
might not want the bother of having to confront a manufacturer.

On my new van I decide to pay the high cost of a 'service' after the 12
months at the expensive and questionably competent main dealer. The
second year I took it to the local garage and had it 'serviced' for a
third the cost but I forewent the last years warranty (which indeed
turned out not to be needed).

I think that has also been outlawed - the requirement to use a dealer for
servicing for a warranty to be upheld. All that's needed is a record of
proper servicing having been carried out. Which is pretty basic stuff in
most modern vehicles.



-

--
*Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:11:27 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article , Ed Sirett
wrote:
On Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:36:33 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article , Stuart B
wrote:
" Stuff this" I said and opened up Thomson's Local Directory and
called the first place ( Corgi) that I spotted and they are doing it
on Monday . £91 incl vat .I don't know if that is typical but it gets
it done .

They did mention the cost if they find anything but I doubt they will
but even if they do they will not be fixing it .Alpha can do that .

I'd be inclined to put the 91 quid in a high interest account and take
the gamble as to the boiler giving problems. The so called service
usually is no more than a check that things are ok - and if not the
boiler installation details should say what's required.


with a 3 year warranty dependent on the 'service history'. You would be
gambling the next two years against a problem.

I'm not so sure. Makers can put whatever conditions they fancy into a
warranty - but they don't effect your rights in law. And recent judgements
suggest things like a boiler should fault free for 5 years. Of course many
might not want the bother of having to confront a manufacturer.

On my new van I decide to pay the high cost of a 'service' after the 12
months at the expensive and questionably competent main dealer. The
second year I took it to the local garage and had it 'serviced' for a
third the cost but I forewent the last years warranty (which indeed
turned out not to be needed).

I think that has also been outlawed - the requirement to use a dealer for
servicing for a warranty to be upheld. All that's needed is a record of
proper servicing having been carried out. Which is pretty basic stuff in
most modern vehicles.



-

You are correct about car servicing .That "rule" was outlawed or
removed a while back .
AlphaBoilers have said in an e-mail to me that not doing an annual
service will not invalidate the 3 year warranty .I have printed it out
and kept it with the boiler documentation.

Well I got the guy out to do the service and ,as I suspected would
happen ,I'd have been as well not getting it done and save myself the
£73 . I was hard pressed to see what he actually did for the money .I
got the impression he was fiddling around to make me think he WAS
doing things but I could see he wasn't . He knew from speaking to me
that there had been no problems except for a small leak that Alpha had
fixed . He certainly didn't do all the things listed for a service in
the Alpha documentation .
From speaking to him it was clear he was an Ex Scottish Gas fitter now
working on his own but also on the books of the company that I
contacted .
Acht well..once bitten twice shy .

..